Bitter: Flavour-packed recipes to impress

(Hardback)

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A dynamic collection of 80 accessible recipes that reveal how bitter flavours can add depth and complexity to our cooking, making food incredibly moreish. How well do you really understand bitterness Often thought of as an acquired taste, bitter flavours add complexity and depth to a dish - making food incredibly moreish - if, you know how to work with them. Fearlessly bringing together the best flavours and culinary strategies from around the world, Alexina will help you befriend bitterness - one flavour-balancing technique at a time. Using ten ingredients to walk you through every type of bitterness and how to tame it - from grapefruit and bitter oranges, bitter greens, tahini, beer, walnuts, cranberries, tea, coffee, cocoa and liquorice - each recipe will expand your repertoire and open the door to new worlds of deliciousness, using bitterness in both savoury and sweet dishes to elevate the taste of everything you make. These 80 recipes include something to suit every taste and occasion. Start with bold breakfasts recipes, like Banoffee Breakfast Bread, Malted Crepes with Lime & Sugar, and Winter Citrus Fruit Salad, then fill your day with light lunches and weeknight dinners like Roasted Aubergines with Whipped Feta, Grapefruit & Hot Honey, Seared Salmon Tacos with Grapefruit & Avocado and Allspice Lamb Chops with Pickled Walnut Ketchup. Then, impress your guests with Ancho Coffee Beef Short Ribs, Duck Confit with Bitter Orange Salsa Verde and Jerk Pork Belly with Grapefruit Hot Sauce, plus decadent desserts such as Negroni Pavlova, Bitter Chocolate Torte with Passionfruit Sauce and Tiramisu Tres Leches cake.

Reviews

Bitter by Alexina Anatole is a gem of a cookbook - not only are the recipes fresh, fun and innovative, but her well-researched writing on the nature of bitter food is a pleasure to read - knowledgeable and generous. I've come away with ideas to enhance my own cooking as well as a stack of recipes to try out for friends and family. A delightful read. * Rukmini Iyer, author of the Roasting Tin series and India Express *
A detailed deepdive into the wondrous world of one of the trickiest flavour profiles. Stunning and inventive recipes inspired by cuisines from around the world to make you fall in love with bitter! * Ixta Belfrage, author of 'Mezcla' *
Alexina's ability to take very strong, bitter, sharp flavours and marry them together with majesty is incredible * John Torode *
Alexina really impresses me with her originality * Gregg Wallace *
Extremely accomplished * Jay Rayner *

Author Bio

Alexina Anatole started her career on a trading floor in the City of London, but an obsession with food was always present. In the last year of her twenties she decided - after years of watching the show - that she was finally ready to enter MasterChef. Weeks of competing resulted in her reaching the final of the 2021 season, coming runner up to champion Thomas Rhodes. The competition led her to realise that she might actually have a talent for cooking but, more importantly, it helped her to better understand her philosophy around food and flavour. Having read English at Cambridge, she now finds herself becoming a food writer - and thus coming full circle.