16 Comments

Your cabbage butter worked beautifully with grilled meat (and everything I tried it with!), so I’m eager to try this onion purée. The story about your colleague slowing down and getting the lobster claws right reminds me of my constant battles to get music students to slow down so they can play correctly.

I think this recipe and the writing of this piece are both examples of you getting a nice result from almost no ingredients. Also— I like your advocacy of cookbooks with no pictures.

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Ah, thanks Karl. And good to hear from you. Hope things are good? I play guitar badly now, but there was a time I took lessons from my uncle and worked hard at it. His most important guidance was to learn the scales, learn to play them slowly, then worry about speed.

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Things are good, thanks! Yes, learning to play them slow— that’s the right way to do it.

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Your suggestion of onion puree with vanilla ice cream is not weird by my my husband's & my standards! We often have interesting conversations about food pairings. How about gravy ice cream? 🤔

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Well it certainly sounds interesting.

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I've never tried to make onion puree before, but this is tempting me to try it. You write so brilliantly about food. Thank you!

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Thank you so much. You've really made my day, Wendy.

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Thanks Will, I love onions in any form so this has gone on the to do list. I have Jane Grigson’s book and never notice the lack of pictures as her writing is so descriptive. I hope you enjoyed your holiday break.

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Thanks, it was just a quick trip to Stockholm. All we can manage because of work at the moment. Lovely though.

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Thank you, Chef. English Food is now on my Amazon wishlist. I'm looking forward to reading it, soon. I'm a sucker for books. I'll try your onion puree this weekend when I have time off. I like the use of just butter and not using heavy cream for your puree. As always, I enjoyed reading your article and looking forward to future writings.

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Thanks so much, Ed. And huge thanks for your kind message and support of the newsletter. It means so much.

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You're welcome.

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Grigson is a treat. I reread her vegetable book every couple of years, partly because it is so sensible and partly because it is so useful.

Pictures are overrated in cookery books and all cooking media that isn't intended as marketing, honestly. There's so much they *can't* show you. I mean, you can take a photo of a perfect oeuf mollet and see what the yolk looks like but good luck getting there without knowing something about technique.

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Ever used a Thermomix? It is paradise for things like soubise or bisques.

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I've worked in a few restaurants where we used them. Such smart pieces of kit but not used them for years now. Every time I read about them they have a novel new function. This week I saw a video about how cooks are using a new attachment to peel potatoes in them!

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It does an amazing job with some things ….Shrimp shell butter, lobster shell butter. I grow my own herbs and freeze compound butters of all kinds. A curious one is to use it to grind chickpeas to powder so you can make Socca, but, you can also make a really standup hummus by cooking the the flour, adding all the ingredients after you have a cooked paste. Very light & fluffy.

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