Adrian Chiles

Broadcaster and Writer

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adrian_Chiles

Biography

Adrian's worked as a radio and tv broadcaster, first for the BBC then ITV and now the BBC again, since 1994. He's presented, amongst other things, Working Lunch, The Apprentice - You're Fired, The One Show, lots of documentaries and plenty of sport, mainly football. On radio he's worked for Radio 5 Live on and off since it launched in 1994. He's currently presenting 5 Live Daily on Mondays and Tuesdays, and working on a TV documentary about faith around the Mediterranean. Food-wise he had a radio series cooking for and interviewing various people in his home - Stirling Moss, Vinnie Jones and Billy Bragg amongst many others. He also once did a demonstration of Croatian cooking on BBC2's Full On Food. And also, for Working Lunch, tried his hand at cooking in a restaurant kitchen for an evening and found himself to be hopelessly inadequate. He lives with his sourdough starter in West London.

My Learn-to-Cook Book

Ursula Sedgwick

First one I remember using. Step by step instructions on how to scramble eggs etc. Can still see the cartoon drawings clearly in my mind like it was yesterday.

Eat Your Greens

Sophie Grigson

Loved the TV series and always got on well with her recipes. Favourite: Parsnip, Carrot and Cauliflower Korma.

English Food

Jane Grigson

Easily the most battered book in my collection. Love her writing. Favourite: Turkey Giblet Gravy and Puff Pastry.

Trattoria

Patricia Wells

No idea where I got this from. Bistro is her most famous book and one I've only just bought. Her sourdough recipe is the only one I've come across that definitely works.

The Book of Jewish Food

Claudia Roden

Great writing, and every dish you cook from it seems to sizzle and smell with thousands of years of culinary and cultural endeavour.

Farmhouse Cookery: Recipes from the Country Kitchen

Reader's Digest

Everyone's Mum seem to have this book. Can't imagine a kitchen without a copy.

The Prawn Cocktail Years

Simon Hopkinson and Lindsey Bareham

Nostalgia for the food of the seventies and eighties, which is when I was growing up and eating out for the first time.

A Book of Mediterranean Food

Elizabeth David

Any of her books would make my list. This gets there by virtue of the incredibly simple recipes for Fasoulia and Stifado.

The Curry Secret: How to Cook Real Indian Restaurant Meals at Home

Kris Dhillon

Elizabeth David's Christmas