Chef Magazine for Thailand December/January | Page 56

by: Andy Lynes
First, Catch
By Thom Eagle
What’s the USP? When is a cookbook not
a cookbook? When its a ‘hymn to an early
spring meal’, all 226 pages of it. This is
food writing in the purest sense, a series
of extended essays ruminating on the
process of cooking a single meal; a sort of
exercise in culinary mindfulness.
Who’s the author? Thom Eagle is the
head chef of Little Duck: The Picklery, a
‘fermenting kitchen and wine bar’ in East
London (unsurprisingly, there is a fair
amount on fermentation in the book) and
writes the food blog ‘In Search of Lost
Time’. First, Catch is his debut in print.
What does it look like? A novel. For-
get glossy photographs, this is all text
interspersed with some black and white
line drawings of pots, pans and assorted
ingredients by artist Aurelia Lange.
Killer recipes? Here’s the thing, Eagle
says ‘recipes are lies’ so there aren’t any.
At least not in the list-of-ingredients-fol-
lowed-by-a-method format that we all
know and love. Instead, they are snuck
in by stealth, so for example, a recipe
for quick cured lamb loin, complete with
measurements for the simple salt and
54
sugar cure appears spread over three
pages at the end of chapter one, ‘On
Curing With Salt’ and one for salsa verde
is nestled quietly in chapter 10 ‘On Wild
and Domestic Celeries’.
What will I love? Eagle is a thoughtful
sort of bloke with a particular view on all
things culinary which gives the book a
distinctive tone. When was the last time
you heard someone say that they ‘go out
of their way’ to visit old salt-pans’? Eagle
has travelled from Kent to Sicily to look at
the damn things, trips which have helped
him, and now in turn his readers, ‘appre-
ciate the importance of salt throughout
our history’.
What won’t I like? Eagle is very self
consciously ‘a writer’ (he studied Amer-
ican Literature at uni) and consequently
there is a fair bit of ‘food writing’ to get
through; raw vegetables aren’t seasoned
but ‘subjected to the violence of lem-
on and salt’ which you’ll either think is
incredibly creative writing or just plain
irritating, depending on your taste in
literature.
Should I buy it? It maybe a little preten-
tious and overwritten, and it’s debatable
whether the ‘stealth’ recipes are an
improvement on the traditional format,
but Eagle has genuine insight into the
practical and philosophical sides of cook-
ing, as well as extensive knowledge of in-
ternational cuisines and culinary history,
making First, Catch well worth reading.
£16.99, Quadrille