How to Butter Toast

Rhymes in a Book That Help You to Cook

Tara Wigley author Alec Doherty illustrator

Format:Hardback

Publisher:HarperCollins Publishers

Published:14th Sep '23

£16.99

Available for immediate dispatch.

How to Butter Toast cover

The new illustrated cookbook from bestselling Ottolenghi food writer and author, with funny, easy & simple cooking rhymes and recipes

How to Butter Toast is the antidote to cookbook-overload. In this fun and entertaining recipe book without any recipes, Ottolenghi co-writer Tara Wigley equips you with rhymes and confidence to cook great food instinctively.

How to Butter Toast is the antidote to cookbook-overload. In this fun and entertaining recipe book without any recipes, Ottolenghi co-writer Tara Wigley equips you with rhymes and confidence to cook great food instinctively.

Melted butter on hot toast and served up on a plate.

It seems like nothing, really, could be clearer or more straight.

But though, in terms of things required, the number is just two,

there is a lot of wiggle room for what there is to do.

Cook and author Tara Wigley had been to cookery school, read hundreds of cookbooks and developed recipes for over a decade. Yet she found the fewer the ingredients in a recipe, the more confusion there was about how best to make it. The result is How to Butter Toast, a collection of rhymes that will enlighten and entertain, reassure and ultimately liberate the culinarily confused.

The rhymes provide reassuring – and memorable – answers to the culinary conundrums we often face: How long should I boil an egg? What’s the best way to crush garlic? How do I make mayonnaise, a martini or indeed the perfect cup of tea? Tara’s playful take on these food quandaries seems effortless but belies her knowledgeable and carefully researched approach to cooking.

Beautifully packaged with bold and witty illustrations throughout, How to Butter Toast is the perfect gift for cooks of all levels. This is the first book in a series Tara is publishing with Pavilion.

‘I can't think of many food authorities who can string together words which are as poignant and profound as they are entertaining and ear-pleasing.’Yotam Ottolenghi

A total joy. Part Dr Seuss, part Ogden Nash, part Julia Child, 100% inspired and inspiringSamin Nosrat

‘Fun and wise, Tara manages to capture the kinds of the things we cogitate about – sometimes without even knowing! – and provides reassuring answers to those confusing everyday conundrums. A collection for when you are weary of recipes and...

‘Full of useful cooking tips and tricks for so many different everyday meals and very tastefully done in gentle rhyme form! Love the uniqueness of this gorgeous little guide, great for family cooking, too!’ Sabrina Ghayour

‘Joyfully bonkers compendium of culinary wisdom.’ The Times, 16 best cookbooks and food writing of 2023

'How to Butter Toast is light-hearted cooking advice told in rhyme. Think Felicity Cloake if she was channeling Ogden Nash'. Niki Segnit

‘In just a couple of hours reading, I feel l've learned more than from reading dozens of recipes. It's something to dip into and return to with delight. A lovely kitchen companion.’ Bee Wilson

‘If you love reading cookbooks as bookbooks then then this is for you.’ Georgie Hayden

‘An ingenious, original, rhyming cookbook.’ Dominique Woolf

‘Can't wait to read it over martinis and poached eggs (probs not together).’ Angela Clutton

‘Brilliant, witty book by one who can write a ditty about anything. A cookbook without recipes – it's a BRILLIANT addition to any book shelf!’ Ravinder Bhogal

‘[A] unique and brilliant rhyming recipe book without any actual recipes but plenty of poems featuring all the clever tips and tricks for making eggs and vinaigrettes and martinis and toast truly your own.’ Martha Delacey

‘Charming’ Nigella Lawson

‘Amazing culinary instruction in poetry’ Tamar Adler

‘Quite unlike any other cookbook you're likely to have come across before. Rather than featuring recipes split into ingredient lists and method steps, it is all written in rhyming verse. Tara's poems offer sage instruction in all manner of essential kitchen tasks, from how to fry an egg to the best way to roast potatoes’ Waitrose Weekend

‘A book packed full of wise words. Useful and fun – something for everyone, whether a beginner or expert in the kitchen' Ed Smith

ISBN: 9780008554712

Dimensions: 227mm x 162mm x 10mm

Weight: 560g

160 pages