Appetite - Nigel Slater

Nigel Slater's inspirational guide to home cooking.

`I want you to take in the spirit of the recipes and to deviate according to your ingredients and your feelings.

I urge you to break the rules.

I want you to follow your appetite.

' Inspiring and irresistible, `Appetite' takes a hundred simple classics and casts aside the insecurities of normal recipes.

Ingredients are listed, followed by a suggestion of how much you might need, i.

`double cream - start with 100 ml then see how you go'.

Readers will be liberated to use their own judgement, indeed actively encouraged to skip half the ingredients for pared-down versions that will teach them the essence of a dish.

Recipe titles reflect this approach - `a cheap spaghetti supper', `a big pork roast', `a curry to make you sweat'.

Slater's typically unpretentious style and ready wit put the fun back into food.