Jacqui Pickles

Jacqui Pickles

Chef

Jacqui Pickles is a private chef and has been cooking since 1983, initially training in France and in the kitchens of Le Gavroche, London. Since 1987, she has run her own business, which at first concentrated on outside catering in London but then expanded to include event management worldwide, until the mid 90s when she started her family. The last 20 years has included consultancy contracts advising in a variety of roles to both retailers and food production companies whilst continuing the catering business with long-standing private and corporate clients in London. Having attended and then taught at La Petite Cuisine, Richmond at the beginning of her career, she loves to teach still from her SW London kitchen - often designing lessons to suit individuals, be they professionals in other fields with more time on their hands, young people wishing to use cookery skills for gap years or in-house cooks of homes or offices.

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Jacqui's favorite cookbooks

Roast Chicken & Other Stories

Roast Chicken & Other Stories

Lindsey Bareham and Simon Hopkinson

Quite honestly anything written by Simon Hopkinson, although I particularly like the ingredient-led chapters here. I relate to so much of what he says as I seem to coincide with so many aspects of his background and time when he was in restaurants.

Available on ckbk now
Bake and Decorate

Bake and Decorate

Fiona Cairns

This really is a bit of a bible for baking. Her third book, Seasonal Baking, is another excellent collection of baking ideas.

Jane Grigson's Fruit Book

Jane Grigson's Fruit Book

Jane Grigson

Fruit Book: Jane Grigson Helped me round the world when cooking for clients abroad and not knowing what would be on the market until I got there (Vegetable book too)

Pastry: Savoury & Sweet

Pastry: Savoury & Sweet

Michel Roux

A go-to book for classic pastry recipes. His beautiful attention to detail keeps him apart and demonstrates how so many young chefs today have gaps in their dessert repertoire through lack of that traditional initial pastry training. I worked in the Albert camp but salute Michel's art with pastry.

Regional Italian Cooking

Regional Italian Cooking

Valentina Harris

I think this may have been the 4th of currently 40 books that Val has written and one that I have been returning to for 25 years. As in life around a dinner table, Val's stories never fail to entertain and they create a further interest in a recipe. Her autobiographical, Fiori di Zucca is packed with the most amazing family history - as well as recipes.

The Square Cookbook (Savoury)

The Square Cookbook (Savoury)

Philip Howard

Both volumes, Savoury and Sweet. These are beautiful books with endless detail for the incredibly diligent amateur or fellow chef. A generous sharing of his secrets of dish planning and techniques for those of us no longer working at that level. A choice celebrating precision.