Henry Herbert

First cookbook I ever owned and I still love looking at it. I never did get the enormous crocodile made for a birthday party.

I got this just before I moved to London to go to catering college. in the time before you tube it was a wealth of skills, tips and dishes. I devoured it up, amazed by what could be done with simple ingredients. I still go to this book time and again.

I loved this book, how even the introductions to a recipe would give insight into another way of cooking a certain dish. It keeps on giving and I love it for that.

This opened my eyes to a whole new way of looking at food. I used to take girlfriends on dates to st John as a test to see if they appreciated food the right way.

As a young chef interested in what it meant to be English, Mrs Grigson showed me what this country had to offer and what had been lost. For a book with no pictures her writing makes you want to try it all.

This book raised the bar in my eyes of what a cook book should be. I read it cover to cover and probably tried three things but I still found it massively inspiring of what is possible.

I love this book. So geeky and bold. I’m not sure if I believe everything he write but I kind of want too. I love the idea of learning to speak Hungarian in a train journey or how to poach salmon in a hotel basin because the water is too hot.

My dad bought me this and it’s a total gem. Not only does it have advice on how to lure a local lass over to make your pie pastry with a bottle of gin, it also has a recipe for a Cormorant. You will have to read it to see what I mean.

Having run a butchery and got quite into bbq in the last few years, this book summed up what I loved most about food. It’s the kind of book that I wish I had written.

When I ran the butchery this book was a great guide and very inspirational. I love how he writes, an excellent story teller.