James Winter

Executive Editor, Saturday Kitchen

https://www.cactustv.co.uk/team/james-winter

James's recommendations

The Physiology of Taste: Or Meditations on Transcendental Gastronomy

Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin

The first great gourmand and still relevant today. I often browse this and learn something each time I do.

The 30 Minute Cook

Nigel Slater

The recipe book I have used the most and never lets me down.

French Provincial Cooking

Elizabeth David

The journey I wish I could make and still hope to.

Pork & Sons

Stéphane Reynaud

Just a thing of beauty and something that’s been copied quite a bit since.

Delia Smith's Complete Cookery Course

Delia Smith

It taught the nation to cook including me.

The French Laundry Cookbook

Thomas Keller

The greatest chef in the world lays down his how he does it.

Le Guide Culinaire

Auguste Escoffier

The only cook book you really need everything is in it. Yes its minimalist in its descriptions and methods but it’s all in there.

Larousse Gastronomique

Prosper Montagné

Just an immense piece of work and so thorough and reliable. I love it.

Pastry: Savoury & Sweet

Michel Roux

If you really want to make pastry then start here. Its so clearly written and the recipes so well tested and for something as exact as pastry then this makes it essential reading.

elBulli (series)

Albert Adria , Ferran Adria and Juli Soler

The first 'proper' chefs book I bought and studied and realised how little I knew. At the time I thought the UK was everything and this opened my eyes to a world of gastronomy. Its intense and almost undecipherable in places but utterly breathtaking.

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What's playing in James's kitchen?

Anything funky. James Brown, The JBs, Kool & the Gang, Reuben Wilson, The Meters anything.