Michael Booth

Food writer

Biography

Michael Booth is the award-winning, international best-selling author of six books of non-fiction, including 'Sacré Cordon Bleu: What the French Know About Cooking', a memoir of his time training to be a chef in Paris (adapted as a BBC Radio 4 'Book of the Week'); 'Sushi and Beyond', a Japanese food travelogue (winner of the Guild of Food Writers' Kate Whiteman Award); and his most recent book, 'The Meaning of Rice', also on Japanese cuisine. He writes for a variety of magazines and newspapers at home and abroad, and is Monocle correspondent for Denmark.

Kaiseki: The Exquisite Cuisine of Kyoto's Kikunoi Restaurant

Yoshihiro Murata

The most beautiful cook book of all time by the chef who has done more than any other to introduce the refined art of Japanese multi-course dining to the world. I don’t believe I have made a single recipe from this book but it is such a wonderful object.

Vietnamese Street Food

Tracey Lister and Andreas Pohl

I refer most often to the pages on dipping sauces. They make pretty much anything taste good.

Meyer's Bakery: Bread and Baking in the Nordic Kitchen

Claus Meyer

My copy is in Danish, but this has been translated now (Meyer’s Bakery). Meyer is the doyen of Scandinavian baking. A paradigm-shifter in the kitchen.

Momofuku

David Chang and Peter Meehan

Another paradigm-shifter of a book. Chang doesn’t give a fig for ‘authenticity’, whatever that means. The result: easy-to-recreate deliciousness.

Le Cordon Bleu Complete Cooking Techniques

Jeni Wright , Eric Treuille and Le Cordon Bleu

This was my bible when I studied at Le Cordon Bleu, Paris, and I still refer to it when I have a wobble about technique. It’s faultless.

The Good Housekeeping Cookery Book

Good Housekeeping Institute

Not cool, not trendy, not a book many would admit even to using, but I love it. Crucially, it’s utterly dependable. A gift from my late mother before I left for university; she also gifted me a love of food.

Plaisirs Sucrés

Pierre Hermé

I bought this when living in Paris so it has sentimental as well as practical value. I almost never make a whole piece from this, but often take components and adapt them or find inspiration in Hermé's brilliant flavour pairings.

Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art

Shizuo Tsuji

For a long time this was the only window into the amazing world of traditional Japanese cuisine, and it inspired my first visit to Japan to research ‘Sushi and Beyond’.

Ma Cuisine

Gerard Depardieu

The best celebrity cook book ever. I was lucky enough to interview the great actor and bon vivant at his home in Paris when this came out,and so mine’s signed! Still pinch myself at the memory.

The Family Meal: Home Cooking with Ferran Adriá

Ferran Adria

Who would have thought that the guru of molecular gastronomy would make the most practical and brilliant home cooking book? But this one is genuinely fool-proof, thanks to its revolutionary, step-by-step photos. Practical, inventive, wide-ranging, and scaleable recipes.

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What's playing in Michael's kitchen?

This week it's that Superorganism song 'Everybody Wants to Be Famous'.

Listen to Michael's playlist