Nigel Slater.his budget, his kitchen, his food, him, rumble grump

[Minimammoth]

It had to be done. A Nigel Slater thread just to get it off your chest.
Do we really have the time that you have Nige?
Does he ever cook for more than one?

[ZingWidge]

@ mini and steamed

you two sound like Monica before leaving the apartment - she puts out the bits of food she found plus "a questionable orange"

[ZingWidge]

*in Friends, I mean. I think it was the last episode

[Chrysanthemum5]

The DCs (9+6) love his show. However their all time favourite is Michel Roux Jr - or the man who puts wine in everything as he's known by DD.

[K8Middleton]

Really Nige is perfect for anyone who trawls the supermarket looking for red reduced stickers. That's how you end up with random duck breasts.

[Arisbottle]

I was going to say the same, K8.At the end of our shop we often check the reduced section.

[SilverOldie]

I love Nigel and his book Toast is one of my favourites. Comparing with other tv chefs, he is far more watchable for me than Simon Hopkinson (sorry, don't like him), the bloody awful Nigella and the hideous James Martin.

[Dozer]

His Toast book is really good.

[Mamf74]

I really like Nigel Slater, agree he can be a bit 'intense' on the telly but his slow delivery and prep of stuff means more sticks than the super fast almost panicky delivery of someone like Rachel Allen.

I also love Simon Hopkinson for the same reason, very matter of fact and calm!

Is there one book that the Nige telly recipes come from, or are they a selection from across his books? Some look lovely, and whilst almost anti-recipes I still forget bits & pieces!

[Uverguv]

Did anyone see Nigel (and his beard!) judging the 'produce show' on Countryfile on Sunday? They had put on a country show to celebrate their 25th anniversary but had only invited about 250 'carefully selected' viewers to take part. Consequently they had only about three entries for each of the produce, baking, preserves etc sections. Cue careful camera angles to disguise the empty tables and long winded lyricism about the solitary pot of strawberry jam and six shortbread biscuits. Most amusing. Poor Nigel.

[MacaYoniandCheese]

Awwww...I love Nigel. I feel a kinship with him, as a fellow shy person. I imagine that he had to be talked into doing a TV program and that he's probably WAY out of his comfort zone. It might help if they showed him doing some other stuff besides frequenting bijou delicatessens and artisan markets all the time. Maybe taking out the trash or walking the dog or something besides drooling over brown paper packages tied up with string every five seconds. To make him seem more three dimensional, or something.

I cannot, however, forgive his liberal use of the word 'supper'. It gives me the creeps.

[GinOnTwoWheels]

Perhaps NS only cooks for one because his DP won't eat the creations of his ponciness and only eats terrible processed food like Greggs sausage rolls and McDonalds .

Not quite spare duck breast, but I do I have six duck legs in my freezer that I got for a grand total of £1.70 from the Morrisons reduced fridge on a Sunday afternoon a couple of weeks ago. I'm planning on roasting some and maybe make a chinese pancake style affair as well.

Perhaps I need to dust off my Nigel Slater cookbooks and buy some more as I shop a bit like him in that I will just pick up a load of stuff that looks nice and then get home and get the cookbooks out and realise I need more stuff to actually make what I've got into meals. I don't waste anything but there's just a bit too much food in the house.

I was especially that he talked about using up everything he'd bought and not having anything left at the end of the week .

[Steamedcabbage]

arf at potential Gregg sausage roll eating and "questionable orange"

[Lottapianos]

Some of you lot sound dead jealous of his lack of children and lovely big kitchen. I agree that the ponceyness is a bit much sometimes, and he's really not very good on telly. However, he is a really wonderful writer who absolutely adores food. I also identify with his emotionally abusive/repressed childhood and the hammering that gives your self esteem and how important it is to take good care of yourself as an adult in order to recover.

I would like to be his flatmate I think. I would so enjoy cooking in his fabulous kitchen and we could have endless horrendously boring conversations about beetroot and preserved lemons

[SirChenjin]

Dead jealous of his lack of children? Nope, not in the slightest. His lovely big kitchen? Yep, absolutely I can identify with his childhood too, but I think everyone has a different way of dealing with it.

[ZingWidge]

lotta
I'm very of his beautiful kitchen, that I agree with!

I loved his 12 Tastes of Christmas and I like his presenting style.

[ShoeWhore]

It's funny that Nigel comes across as so serious and earnest on the TV - his early writing is really quite funny, down to earth (eg extolling the virtues of chips and beer) and he often mentions soft spots for various junk foods.

I think he's been overly Tristramed

[ShoeWhore]

I think the kitchen is genuine btw. I remember a guardian article when he first did the kitchen and garden.

[NoelHeadbands]

I think he's marvellous, but on telly he's so coquettish.

The way he peers up through his fringe, a smile playing on his lips and a....pause....before he finishes the sentence. The man practically makes love to the camera!!

Ugh.

[Chubfuddler]

He does have a great kitchen. I like kitchens that don't look like kitchens.

[SoupDragon]

I think he's marvellous, but on telly he's so coquettish.

Seriously? Lord knows what you think of Nigella then! :o

[Davros]

Hasn't anyone seen the TV version of Toast or did I dream it? I am very interested in the idea if using p&m for pepper as I'm also sick of broken or useless pepper mills. Why is it always "pestle and mortar" in ordinary conversation and "mortar and pestle" in the meeja and foodie talk?

[diddl]

I've seen it.

HBC as his stepmum & Ken Stott as his dad.

He was in it at the end as a chef who gave him a job.

[ZingWidge]

davros maybe it's a "fork and knife" type of issue?

[Xiaoxiong]

Noel again I've only seen two episodes - but that's another thing that seems to me to be ginned up by TV producers because it just seems so out of character.

I can almost imagine someone behind the camera shouting at him "make love to the camera! sexier, sexier! food is sex!" and this shy gay man with a face that looks like it's been hacked out of granite who's been forced into making a TV show to promote his books is desperately trying to please them and cringing inside.

[Xiaoxiong]

Get one Davros! Peppercorns in mortar, bash away with pestle. Doesn't take any longer, more control over texture, and feels deliciously primeval