Kay Plunkett-Hogge is an acclaimed food and drinks writer, and the author of Aperitivo:Drinks And Snacks For The Dolce Vita (Mitchell Beazley, 2017), Adventures Of A Terribly Greedy Girl (Mitchell Beazley, 2017), A Sherry And A Little Plate Of Tapas (Mitchell Beazley, 2016), Heat: Cooking With Chillies (Quercus, 2016) and Make Mine A Martini (Mitchell Beazley, 2014). In addition to her own books, Kay has co-authored a further six books, working with the award-winning chef Bryn Williams on his two books Bryn’s Kitchen and For The Love Of Veg, Academy Award nominated actor Stanley Tucci on his second cookbook The Tucci Table, and with the American pizza guru Chris Bianco. She also co-wrote Leon: Family and Friends with John Vincent and Cook Yourself Thin: Quick and Easy. Born and brought up in 1970s Bangkok, Kay spent her childhood between two kitchens — inside for Western food, outside for Thai — before forging an international career in the film and fashion industries. It is an experience which has given her an in-depth knowledge of cuisines from all over the world. Kay began her food career when she set up a bespoke location catering service for fashion shoots. Since then, she has worked as a food consultant for a variety of restaurants and bars, including Leon, The Formosa Café, Isola del Sole, Ma Goa, The Siam Hotel, Bangkok and The Luang Prabang Motorcycle Club. Her cult book, Make Mine A Martini, was the Financial Times’s pick for drinks book of the year, and led to her induction into the prestigious Gin Guild (in the words of Heston Blumenthal: “She shakes a damn fine cocktail.”). She has written regularly on cocktails for The Daily Telegraph and Sainsbury’s Magazine, has contributed to The Guardian, FT Weekend, and Olive Magazine, and has published recipes in The Times, The Independent, Hello and Borough Market’s Market Life magazine. She now writes a regular monthly column for Delicious Magazine entitled We Need To Talk About… She lives in London with her husband, two cats and a dog.
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This is the seminal book on Thai food. The sheer depth of research is astounding, and the recipes excellent. My copy is falling apart and spattered with stir-fry juices.
Another book that I reach for day after day. The writing is wonderful — a book to show the power of prose in food writing. (There are no photos.) Accessible, warm, friendly, and a great read.
I discovered this book when I lived in Los Angeles. It made me see again the similarities between Provence and Southern California. Wonderful sunny recipes that lift me out of gloomy London and transport me to warmer climes. And her house…!
Mexico and its food have fascinated me from the moment I first went there when I was 12. This book is definitive. If you want to cook Mexican, accept no substitutes.
Diana’s writing is some of the best out there. This is the first cook book I bought after I got married, and it took me on a magic carpet ride into Middle Eastern flavour.
My favourite type of book: a memoir with recipes. It’s beautifully evocative and a huge influence on my own work. Between her and Nora Ephron, that’s how I aspire to write.
I bought this when I lived in New York and it opened up a world of Italian cooking, and revealed how it differed from the Italian American food on my doorstep. Everyone rightly reveres her Classic Italian Cooking, but this one’s where my love for Marcella began.
This is the first cookbook I remember buying. My mum and I used to cook from it all the time.
First published in 1952, this is the first Thai cookbook in English, and features food photography by the late King Rama IX himself. I have the 1971 printing (I’m itching to find a first edition), and it is a constant source of inspiration.
David cooks the kind of food I want to eat and his writing feels effortless. When you read his recipes, it’s like you’re hanging out with him shooting the shit.