First, Catch: Study of a Spring Meal

Description

'The thing to do is just begin. The question, of course, is where?' So opens Thom Eagle's hymn to a singular early spring meal. A cookbook without recipes, this is an invitation to journey through the mind of a chef as they work. Stand next to Thom in the kitchen as he muses on the very best way to coax flavour out of an onion (slowly, and with more care than you might expect), or considers the crucial role of salt in the creation of the perfect assembly for early green shoots and leaves. In an era when we are so distracted that we eat almost without realising what we've just put in our mouth, this is food and writing to savour, gently steering the cook back towards simplicity, confidence and, above all, taste.

Thom Eagle is a chef, writer, and Young British Foodies-nominated pickler currently based at Little Duck in East London. He blogs at In Search of Lost Thyme. This is his first book.

'A one-off, the kind of food book that I believed was no longer being published ... when I reached the last page, I went back to the beginning' * Bee Wilson, The Times * 'A wonderful taste of fresh air ... First, Catch is almost revolutionary ... His words are delicious, musical heaven' * Wiliam Sitwell * 'Thom Eagle's writing is pure joy - effortless and unaffected. Even such a seemingly banal and simple thing as boiling vegetables is engaging and illuminating in his hands. He is easily one of my favourite writers, and this book deserves to become a classic' * Olia Hercules, author of Mamushka and Kaukasis * 'It feels so tantalisingly transgressive to find a book that looks beautiful, feels lovely in the hand and just contains words - gorgeous, thoughtful essays ... from a talented chef and writer' * Tim Hayward, Financial Times *