Apart from my incredible Mother who is still cooking delicious food daily for friends and family at the age of eighty-nine I owe a great debt to Julia Child and Marcella Hazan. Both authors have opened my eyes to the possibilities of cooking and have played a large role in raising the standards and interest in food in the States. Like so many people in this country I have learned and been inspired by first Elizabeth David and later Jane Grigson, whose writing and recipes continue to be a source of pleasure and information. I am particularly grateful to Jane Grigson for her never-ending generosity over advice and recipes. Sam Clark, a young chef, now at the River Café in London, was a great help and a delightful companion over some of the testing for this book. I would like to thank Jane Mann for her help with research. I am very grateful to Caroline Hobhouse who not only has been an encouraging editor but has also contributed a recipe to the book. I am also grateful to the authors of those recipes from which I have adapted some of mine.
