Cooking at the Merchant House

Andy Lynes

Freelance journalist and author

Although this is a nominally the cookbook of the now closed and much missed Merchant House restaurant in Ludlow, this is an excellent all round introduction to the craft of cooking. Hill is a superlative chef with a profound understanding of food and flavour and you'll find great recipes for sauces, bread and desserts as well as fabulous main courses like roast pork loin with braised trotter. This is eminently usable for the home cook with recipes for things like baked beans and southern fried chicken. Hill's personality comes through loud and clear in the entertaining narrative passages and in the recipes which could only have been written by him. Where else would you find a recipe for lobster with chickpea, coriander and olive oil sauce or the Hungarian trifle-style dessert of somloi. A timeless classic any serious cook should own.

Russell Brown

Founder of Creative about Cuisine

A lesson in simplicity.

Andrew Peters

Proprietor Green Park Brasserie, Bath Function Rooms, Green Park Express