New British Classics

by Gary Rhodes

Famed for his mouth-watering variations on traditional British favourites, Gary Rhodes sets out on a quest to modernize and enhance many classic dishes, updating them for the millennium with a host of ideas.

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Food, Nonfiction, Reference, British Literature

408 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Gary Rhodes was an English restaurateur, cookery writer, and chef, known for his love of British cuisine. He fronted shows such as MasterChef, MasterChef USA, Hell's Kitchen, and his own series, Rhodes Around Britain. Rhodes also had his own line of cookware and bread mixes.

Reviews

[^ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve long been an admirer of Gary Rhodes’ cooking. He understands what he’s doing. With enthusiasm and a positively missionary zeal, in this book he rights the wrongs of traditional British cooking: such as overcooked flabby vegetables, flat, solid Yorkshire pudding, and flavour-deficient steak & kidney pudding. Whilst good, fresh, mashed potato can be utterly delicious, Rhodes’ mashed potatoes with hazelnuts (oil and chopped nut) is both simple to make and tastes positively heavenly.

I was particularly delighted to find a good recipe for Fig Rolls (a biscuit invented in the reign of Queen Victoria, for the purpose of keeping children ‘regular’). But really every recipe a British cook needs is here: from Bubble and Squeak to Soused Mackeral to Baked Egg Custard Tart.& more.

This is a book that really ought to find a place on the bookshelves of everyone setting up home for the first time, but also for anyone who was taught to cook before, during, or up to forty years after the Second World War.

[Shell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked up a really nice copy of this book last year at a bookfair and it was actually a bit more than what I paid for my other second hand books... but it was worth it and beautifully written which gives examples of the history of some of the food in Britain. I have always enjoyed Gary's shows so to find this amongst the lineup was a real treasure. I have just recently found another of his books and again it is written simply and it is a lovely find. I look forward to reading more in the near future.

[Jen Healey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've had this book for years and hardly done any of the recipes, I must remedy that asap!

[Will Joe MacQuoid · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellence, every recipe!

[Lee Broderick · Rating 4 out of 5]

As far as I recall, Gary Rhodes was the face of Tate & Lyle in the late nineties and that does show in this collection of recipes - the only criticism that can be made of them is that they include an unnecessary amount of sugar, sometimes in recipes that don't really need any at all. That can be easily corrected for though and this remains the best book of its type.

In many ways this is the book that Rhodes was meant to write - his championing of traditional British food helped to see off Nouveau Cuisine, Cuisine Francaise and, eventually, Fusion Cuisine from British restaurants as British chefs entered a new era of confidence in our own produce and traditions. Here he sets out to give British food the treatment usually reserved for French: the history of our cuisine is described, the meal is broken down into courses and types of dishes and hundreds of recipes are provided for 'classic' dishes. These have been adapted from other sources (usually with the addition of sugar!) where the author thinks that that is the definitive version, otherwise he provides his version. All work and, in several cases, his version is proving to be the definitive for a new generation of cooks.

[Steve Bennett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Worth it for the bread and butter pudding + quick roast beef.

[Imogen M · Rating 4 out of 5]

For Gary Rhodes, this is an easy book to follow and the recipes work well. The Yorkshire Pudding recipe is the best I have found and are world famous in my house!