Outdoor Cooking: River Cottage Handbook No.17

Ever since I discovered the TV show "River Cottage", I have been enchanted with the lifestyle that it portrayed: peaceful little towns and villages, endless pastures, forests, beaches and the ocean. A quiet and winded-down mindset, which gives plenty of time and space to live through the seasons that each year reveals to us, to truly experience life which is so quick to run by us. Major part of the show was, of course, amazing food - locally grown or foraged and prepared with great care by Hugh himself or one of the other chefs. One of these chefs was young Gill Meller. This is how I got to know of him and his work and I have been following him on Instagram ever since. When I learned he had written this book, I knew It had to be something good. By writing "Outdoor cooking" handbook, Gill has managed to capture exactly those "River Cottage" emotions: a day off, spent somewhere on a secluded beach, with a couple of your friends or family and a case of chilled wine. Add a small bunch of seaweed and some freshly caught fish and a true spectacle is within your hand's reach. For hard core meat-eaters there are a plethora of recipes and techniques for earth oven or wood fired oven cooking, spit roasting, grilling and barbecuing. Every recipe features a photo or two of the completed dish but with Gill's writing you never wish there were more; your imagination just runs free. Recipes and tips are really clearly written, simple to understand and more than inspiring to give 'em a shot. Not a single recipe that I cooked from this book has ever failed to produce brilliant dish and amaze the people i made 'em for. Finally, even if you never cook a single thing from the book but instead just daydream of roaming the wilderness, cooking your catch of the day and listening to the cracking of the fire in the evening it is well worth the read. But you will try cooking some of these, trust me! ;)

It takes you through the stages of outdoor cooking although some methods are not very user friendly if you don’t have sufficient room in your garden. Especially cooking in a pit.

This whole collection is AMAZING! Really enjoying reading!!!

Such an informative book that has transformed my outdoor cooking at work.

Using fire to cook is amazing, and this book is good because it adds another level of ideas to outdoor cooking. The pictures are good and actually capture the moment with the smoke and glow of the embers. There are some simple recipes like fried eggs and potatoes and then more detailed recipes like seafood pizza. I've read a lot of outdoor cooking books and have done a lot of cooking myself, and I have to say this has opened up a door that I didn't know was there. It's not just the recipes but the techniques you can use to cook with, clay baked trout for example. This just might go down as my favourite book of the series. Well done Gill, after all these years your passion has materialised into perfection. Highly recommend this book of you like both the fusion of simple and advanced in your cooking.

Amazingly well written book! If enjoy cooking outside some great tips whichever method you’re using....handy size as well vs bulky hardback books designed for kitchens!