The Christmas Chronicles: Notes, stories & 100 essential recipes for midwinter
£22.40£26.60 (-16%)
WINNER OF THE FORTNUM & MASON AWARDS BEST FOOD BOOK 2018
From the BBC1 presenter and bestselling author of Eat, The Kitchen Diaries and Toast comes a new book featuring everything you need for the winter solstice.
The Christmas Chronicles is the story of Nigel Slater’s love for winter, the scent of fir and spruce, ghost stories read with a glass of sloe gin, and beeswax candles with shadows dancing on the ceiling. With recipes, decorations, fables and quick fireside suppers, Nigel guides you through the essential preparations for Christmas and the New Year, with everything you need to enjoy the winter months.
Taking you from 1 November all the way to the end of January, The Christmas Chronicles covers everything from Bonfire Night, Christmas and New Year to Epiphany. Throughout the season, Nigel offers over 100 recipes to see you through the build-up, the celebrations and the aftermath. Here are much-loved classics such as goose and turkey (and making the most of the leftovers), mincemeat and the cake; recipes to make the cold months bearable, like ribsticker bread pudding with Comté and Taleggio, salt crust potatoes with blue cheese and goat’s curd, and hot-smoked salmon, potatoes and dill; as well as bright flavours to welcome the new year, including pink grapefruit marmalade, pear and pickled radish salad and rye, linseed and treacle bread.
Packed with feasts, folktales, myths and memoir and all told in Nigel’s warm and intimate signature style, The Christmas Chronicles is the only book you’ll ever need for winter.
Nigel Slater’s book ‘A Cook’s Book’ was a Sunday Times bestseller w/c 20-12-2021.
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Additional information
| Publisher | Fourth Estate, 1st. Edition : 1st . Printing (19 Oct. 2017) |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Hardcover | 464 pages |
| ISBN-10 | 0008260192 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-0008260194 |
| Dimensions | 15.6 x 4 x 21.6 cm |
by Caroline
“This is the story of my love for winter, the scent of fir and spruce, ghost stories read with a glass of sloe gin, and beeswax candles with shadows dancing on the ceiling” – Nigel Slater
For those of you unfamiliar with Nigel Slater, I can tell you he is a food writer for The Observer newspaper and has presented a number of food and cookery programmes. Instead of the usual take 15 ingredients, combine and bake, Nigel weaves food into his day to day life and this feels like a snapshot into someone’s week, complete with tasty and delicious food that acts as a balm for the soul. In his programme we see his day, a visit to a delicious patisserie or picking up a tasty joint of meat from a cherry cheeked butcher. This food is then lovingly made into a simple and comforting meal. His recipes are never over complicated or have difficult ingredients to source, but are testimony to the nourishment of body and mind that food brings.
The Christmas Chronicles are laid out as a diary starting on the 1st November and ending on 2nd February. As well as providing a snapshot into Nigel Slater’s life in the run up to Christmas, it provides the history and folklore behind many of our favourite winter and Christmas traditions, advice on the best places to buy candles and is packed to the gills with recipes to cover any winter scenario. The author also talks about many of his personal traditions such as starting his new book on Christmas afternoon once the main meal has been eaten and the washing up has been done. It is packed full of visits to foreign countries, Christmas markets aplenty and a sabbatical visit to Japan in February. I was delighted to read about a coffee shop in Vienna and then realised that I had been there! The coffee shop had some of the most beautiful cakes I have ever seen sitting alongside copious amounts of sachertorte and dishes of swirling cream.
The physical book itself is beautiful; A dark grey linen cover with copper gold foiling, the photography inside is delicate especially the snowy scenes. Reading this book is a reminder to slow down and savour whatever you are doing. Remember to enjoy Christmas with all of the 5 senses. It is a humble book, the recipes are delicious and this would make a super present for any ‘foodie’ you may have in your life.
This book is beautiful, delicious recipes, Christmas treats and traditions all bundled up in grey linen goodness. It is a pause in a busy few weeks and much needed.
by Nicci
I have been a fan of Nigel Slater’s TV Programs for a long time now but I have never bought any of his books before this one. As someone who is also a “winter baby” and much prefers the autumn and winter to the spring and summer months, I knew I had to have this book.
Physically the book is a beautiful hardback – I love the simplicity of the grey cloth cover with the gold detailing and there is also a grey ribbon bookmarker which I find very useful. I see that other reviewers have commented on the smaller size of the book (height wise) compared with previous releases but for me I think this is the perfect size as I think it would be too awkward to hold and read due to the weight of it if it was any bigger especially as this is more of a diary to be picked up and read as opposed to just a cookbook which can be left down on a kitchen counter. I would also mention that the paper quality for the pages inside is very thick and expensive feeling – the whole thing just oozes class and quality.
In terms of the inner content – what I have read is everything I would want and expect from Nigel, I can absolutely hear his gentle and soothing voice as I read. I love the anecdotes from his personal life together with the informative pieces of general trivia. There are a few recipes which have caught my attention to try but if I am being honest, I bought this for the diary aspect and not for the recipes. The photographs are absolutely stunning, particularly the ones taken at the German Christmas market and actually if I had one gripe about the book, it is that there are not enough of them.
I docked one star because I would have enjoyed some more of the beautiful photos. Also, as a couple of other reviewers have pointed out, occasionally I found I would be reading a lovely cosy section only for a random negative aspect to be dropped seemingly from nowhere about animals freezing to death or homeless people sleeping on the streets. I just felt that this was unnecessary – I buy books to get away from the harsh realities of the world for a while and I know that this is a diary and essentially based in reality but to keep up the cosy, comforting aspect, I just felt it could have been edited out. I would like to emphasise that this does not happen often and please do not let this one minor criticism put you off what is otherwise a pretty perfect Chronicle.
by LA
Great gift for any foodie. Some great narratives that surround the recipes. A good read on a cold winters day with some nice festive food inspiration
by FD
Really lovely recipe book. I love the way it is more than just Christmas recipes and encompasses the period before and after Christmas. Beautiful is hardback and lovely writing style by Nigel Slater. Recipes are fantastic, too.