i found, almost amusingly, that the layout of this book was almost as pretty as the layout of the different dishes he makes.

John Lanchester, for The Observer magazine supplement Life in 2003, described the book as "gastroporn". Special photography of the Pierre White and his cooking is captured by Bob Carlos Clarke A ground-breaking book which has been reprinted four times, since it was first published in 1990. The recipes aren’t bad, but they are difficult, and perhaps not worth the investment for the results.With its unique blend of outspoken opinion, recipes, and dramatic photographs, "White Heat" captures the magic and spirit of Marco Pierre White in the heat of his kitchen. Thank him or blame him for the celebrity culture attached to chefs and the increasingly ludicrous glut of TV cookery mania, this book should be seen as a bible to anyone considering working in a professional kitchen or any at-home dabblers in gastronomy. And as Mario Batali said: "[MPW] was savage on the line, and the very first to be become famous for treating his team with a humiliating lack of respect. In 2008 it was recommended by television chef Michael Symon, writing for Women's Health, despite being out of print in America at the time.

Obviously, as any Gormenghastfan can attest, the chef as psychotic martinet is a trope that long preceded nineties foodie culture. Clarke's wife, Lindsay, later said in an interview that Marco went on to gut the shark there and then in the garden, "The stench was unbelievable. Sue Gaisford, reviewing the book for The Independent, described it as a "Marco Pierre White fanzine-with-recipes" and an "ego-trip".The photos, consciously modeled on the Vietnam combat photography of Don McCullin, are fantastic - super-evocative of the buzz of a commercial kitchen during service - and the revised edition includes previously unpublished images. But the French classicism of the food also makes him look like the end of something: 1987 also saw the opening of west London’s River Café and Kensington Place, both of which served the antitheses of his food.

When it arrived, I regretted my choice because this enormous coffee table book was way too big and too nice to really refer to when cooking. But none of that detracts from the impact made by Harveys, a small restaurant on Wandsworth Common, south-west London, which opened in 1987. For legions of chefs White Heat by Marco Pierre White isn’t a cookbook, though it does contain recipes.The photographs showed White in and out of the workplace, including smoking in the kitchen and working with his team, [6] including a young Gordon Ramsay.

The best part of this book was when he talked about this one final dessert recipe that's tucked away at the very end and just went "I hated this dish. Initially published in 1990, White Heat was part autobiography of chef Marco Pierre White and part cookbook, [2] which portrays White's "bad boy" chef image. Fast casual and microbreweries have their place, but the onset of a culture that views crackers as a side dish and home made tater tots as gourmet food needs a gut check at best and a reality check at worst.

My copy is the 25th anniversary, which includes an epilogue on the book's influence on future generations.