I should first thank the Great British Menu chefs and the The Great British Bake Off team, especially my fellow judge Paul Hollywood and the Bake-Off contestants. Their inspired creativity and love of cooking was the catalyst that got me back to food writing.
I should also thank a bunch of good friends and great people who made Prue happen. First and foremost, Georgina Fuggle, herself a published food writer, who has endlessly tested, retested and perfected all the recipes in the book. And then David Hawson for his captivating watercolours; David Loftus, for his mouth-watering photographs, which he’d not have achieved without the help of food stylist Pip Spence and her assistant Libby Silbermann who, while following my recipes to the letter, nonetheless made them look more delicious than I could; James Verity of Superfantastic Design for the overall look of what I hope you agree is a beautiful book; Jane Turnbull, great agent and lovely friend; Carole Tonkinson, ever-supportive boss of Bluebird at Pan Macmillan who commissioned the book and has overseen its progress like a nanny; Martha Burley, Bluebird’s brilliant cookery editor; my long-suffering and overworked PA, Francisca Sankson, who has read every word, corrected my punctuation and caught many a boo-boo; Lyn Pearse, her assistant and my some-time housekeeper, who keeps the home fires burning. She’s only matched in this department by my husband John Playfair, who has other virtues too, like making us all laugh and happily eating the failures with only slightly less pleasure than the successes. Thanks to all. For making the production of my first cookbook in 25 years an absolute pleasure. It’s been such fun, I might even write another one.
