The Plagiarist in the Kitchen

Best known as a provocative novelist, journalist, and filmmaker, Jonathan Meades has also been called "the best amateur chef in the world" by Marco Pierre White. His contention here is that anyone who claims to have invented a dish is delusional, dishonestly contributing to the myth of culinary originality. Meades delivers a polemical but highly usable collection of 125 of his favorite recipes, each one an example of the fine art of culinary plagiarism. These are dishes and methods he has hijacked, adapted, improved upon, and made his own. He tells us why the British never got the hang of garlic. That a purist would never dream of putting cheese in a Gratin Dauphinois. That cooking brains in brown butter cannot be improved upon. And why—despite the advice of Martin Scorsese’s mother—he insists on frying his meatballs. Adorned with his own abstract monochrome images (none of which "illustrate" the stolen recipes they accompany), The Plagiarist in the Kitchen is a stylish object, both useful and instructive. Includes metric measues. 

Jonathan Meades is a writer, journalist, essayist, and film-maker. He is the author of Incest and Morris Dancing. He was the Times' restaurant critic for 15 years, and won the Best Food Journalist in the Glenfiddich Awards.