Someone once said that if there’s a heaven, they would want Mark Hix to be in the canteen. Mark’s commitment to cooking seasonally, and his knowledge of our island’s food is unrivalled.
His book, British Regional Food is a belter. It covers the best of ingredients and dishes from the four corners of our land, highlighting what’s good to eat when, and where. Mark is a brilliant thinker, verging on genius, and has been very successful with his various restaurants over the years. I’m fortunate to have eaten in many of his places. I once ate gull’s eggs at his place in Soho, thinking, this is just great, as I dunked them into celery salt and sipped a good beer. Then I devoured a whole sole with wild garlic and little potatoes.
He cooks well and has trained an army of good chefs who understand the importance of seasonal, local food. From his early days at Le Caprice, Mark became friends with many artists, like Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin, and I admire his views on food and art. He’s had a big influence on many, me included.
In this book, he suggests things like buying from a local smokehouse to create something simple at home. There’s a recipe for lardy cake (that old recipe, which reminds me to make some as we haven’t for a while) made with pork fat and dried fruit. Delicious. He heads north to Scotland for a mussel brose.
He also steps back into the past and offers a great recipe for Lamb Cutlets Reform. A dish invented by Alexis Soyer at the Reform Club in the 1830s. Thinking of that makes my mouth water: sweet lamb in breadcrumbs, fried in butter, with a perfectly balanced sauce of beetroot, egg white, truffle and tongue. Yes, all in the same sauce. Absolutely fabulous. A lot of chefs will have this book as a reminder of what proper food is and where it comes from.
