The Christmas Chronicles: Notes, stories & 100 essential recipes for midwinter

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In this episode we’ll continue our tour of Nuremberg and take in the magnificence of the city’s Christmas windows. I’ll explain my deep, life-long love of the cold months, and give you my recipe for traditional mince pies to welcome in December… As the vast, domed pudding is spooned into bowls and the brandy butter is passed around, the cry of ‘Oh, none for me, thank you’ must be one of the most depressing sounds of the season.” What is Christmas if not a time for indulgence?! There is variance in the writing and some passages are beautiful. The recipes and photographs look good and I will be trying out several recipes this winter.

Chronicles: A Podcast Nigel Slater - Apple Podcasts A Cook‘s Chronicles: A Podcast Nigel Slater - Apple Podcasts

The book itself is semi autobiography, part seasonal musing and yes part cook book. The result for me at least is a festive and very nostalgic look at the season - if you were not living it (as we are at the time of me thing this up) you could almost imagine the frost on the window panes or the feeling on your face as the crisp winter air hits it for the first time as you step outside. As compared to now when you can go an entire winter with no snow and the temperature is so high that you have to keep mowing the lawn. Slater has two elder brothers, Adrian and John. John was the child of a neighbour, and was adopted by Slater's parents before the writer was born. reread: My annual reread! I loved this, of course. Nigel Slater is my favourite food writer, but this time around the snobbery and derision placed on products, practises and traditions that make these recipes doable for people with lower incomes and less time than a full time celebrity chef has to offer really grated on me. It made it feel exclusionary which is a thing that food, cooking and Christmas should never be in my opinion. Learn more about what each cookie category does and choose your settings (toggle right to opt in or left to opt out). Cookie policy Allow All I would highly recommend this compendium of recipes and thoughts about the winter season which reads like a personal journal. I don't know if I'll ever make any of his recipes since I'd have to convert them from grams and milliliters but I can drool and dream.In 1998 Slater hosted the Channel 4 series Nigel Slater's Real Food Show. He returned to TV in 2006 hosting the chat/food show A Taste of My Life for BBC One. Nigel Slater is a true food writer, as he prefers to be called, rather than chef or TV personality. I haven't seen his show or eaten his food, but I can attest to the food writer label. He writes about food and it's preparation sensuously and lovingly, in addition to traveling, gardening and decorating his home. In this one he also includes food facts and holiday myths and traditions. Not to mention the photographs! I thoroughly enjoyed reading this slowly and savoring his words, and would like to read the autobiography of his childhood, "Toast". His description of Nuremberg Lebkuchen and the Nurnberger Christkindlesmarkt especially delighted me and led me to seek out a local Christkindl market this December where I was thrilled to find some imported chocolate-covered gingerbread. Outstanding! Then there's his description of panettone, which he titles 'a love story' and describes as 'a fairy cake made by angels.' I definitely agree! What a wonderful winter book. And that is really what it is all about. Winter (and fall or autumn), about the the gloriousness, cosyness and crispness of winter and the food that makes it that much more special. Its all about the cold and crisp months leading up to including Christmas,new Year and into January/February. It is the Winter of my youth.The recipes are divine and I do mean angelic with feet planted firmly in winter.

Nigel Slater: Christmas Cake Recipe - WHSmith Blog Nigel Slater: Christmas Cake Recipe - WHSmith Blog

Mr. Slater is a special, observant, contemplative soul that shared that part of him with us. It is a gift to us, Christmas gift to the world. Thank you, Nigel Slater. Began my annual rereading of this Christmas journal on November 4, 2020--third time around. Delightful!***In this episode we’ll talk about the art of choosing and decorating a perfectly-cut Christmas tree – the lights, jewels, and baubles that festoon the branches – and its importance as a symbol of the season. I’ll also give you my recipe for a fine, fruity chutney to accompany you through the winter months and brighten those stews, casseroles, and pies that sustain us in the cold.

Nigel Slater: ‘I love the crackle of winter’ - The Guardian

I think the really interesting bits of my story was growing up with this terribly dominating dad and a mum who I loved to bits but obviously I lost very early on; and then having to fight with the woman who replaced her ... I kind of think that in a way that that was partly what attracted me to working in the food service industry, was that I finally had a family." As he told The Observer, "The last bit of the book is very foody. But that is how it was. Towards the end I finally get rid of these two people in my life I did not like [his father and stepmother, who had been the family's cleaning lady] - and to be honest I was really very jubilant - and thereafter all I wanted to do was cook." Although best known for uncomplicated, comfort food recipes presented in early bestselling books such as The 30-Minute Cook and Real Cooking, as well as his engaging, memoir-like columns for The Observer, Slater became known to a wider audience with the publication of Toast: The Story of a Boy's Hunger, a moving and award-winning autobiography focused on his love of food, his childhood, his family relationships (his mother died of asthma when he was nine), and his burgeoning sexuality. In this series you’ll be joining Nigel Slater on a crisp walk through midwinter in all its cold, glistening splendour, all the way up to Christmas Day. Along the path there’ll be recipes for some of your festive favourites and some new ideas, too, to excite your palate in these cold months. A dream of a book. Slater ... has produced such a hymn to winter that we'll all be able to cope with it this year' Diana Henry, Telegraph But it's not all about food. There's descriptions of evergreen trees for instance; memories of Christmases past, and family traditions. It often reads like a memoir.This book is written as a series of diary entries from 1 November to 2nd February. Some entries have historical information, some have Nigel’s musings, some have recipes and all are written in a chatty friendly style that makes me feel like it’s ok to refer to the author as Nigel. A straight trunk is essential. A wonky tree is the very devil to put up and its lop-sidedness will bug you all Christmas.” My husband has been eyeing up our leaning tree ever since we put it up on Sunday. I've begun a re-reading of this splendid book which is an ode to winter. I had promised myself I would begin reading on November 1st, where Nigel begins, but I'm a few days late. Winter, however, has begun early around here, with snow on Halloween and an Arctic blast that began on November 11th and is just beginning to loosen its icy grip after three days. Perhaps Nigel can help me to appreciate winter just a little bit more, as I hunker down with an afghan and a mug of hot cider and read about his love affair with winter.** Not completely what I was expecting. I thought it would be a beautiful, cozy read that goes through the meaning of each celebration within the winter holiday season. Instead the writing is more about personal reflections that vary between first and second person & with a hardness/cynicism that always kept me on edge. The writing just isn’t that great from a content, tone, or structure standpoint—I don’t need a reminder about getting hypothermia if I don’t move around in the cold. Wash and dry the salad leaves. Toast the walnuts in a dry pan till golden brown. Halve and deseed the grapes. Crumble the Gorgonzola.

Chronicles: A Podcast | a podcast by Nigel Slater A Cook‘s Chronicles: A Podcast | a podcast by Nigel Slater

I have really enjoyed reading this in teeny snippets over the 3 month period it covers and think that the book is perfectly designed to be read in this way.Nigel Slater is a British food writer, journalist and broadcaster. He has written a column for The Observer Magazine for seventeen years and is the principal writer for the Observer Food Monthly supplement. Prior to this, Slater was food writer for Marie Claire for five years. He also serves as art director for his books. The best food writers combine beauty with practicality, and no one does it more elegantly than Nigel Slater' Jane Shilling, Daily Mail - BOOKS OF THE YEAR From the BBC1 presenter and bestselling author of Eat, The Kitchen Diaries and Toast comes a new book featuring everything you need for the winter solstice. When offered a choice of anything in the bookshop last December, I chose this book. Nearly a year rolled around until I did more than skim it, but it has been a delicious guide to this year’s festive season. So far I’ve made nothing other than the Christmas cake, but that was a project for the month and really the perfect way to celebrate this stuffed compendium of winter’s rituals and culinary traditions. It’s a book that combines recipes with a calendar of Nigel Slater’s approach to Christmas, and it mixes childhood memories with historical tradition and even practical tips. The author’s voice is strong, sometimes even sharp, and highly opinionated. As always, his prose is highly readable and saturated with his own personality. You don’t have to cook from it, although no doubt that would be a bonus. In Season 2: Join Nigel Slater on the story of his life in the kitchen from the first jam tart he made with my mother standing on a chair trying to reach the aga, through to what he is cooking now. Featuring an exclusive interview with his editor, Louise Haines, as well as selected extracts from his audiobook A Cook’s Book.