A couple of pinecones litter the functioning hearth and the deep, off-white sofas look luxurious, but also reassuringly like a lot of friends have come over and sat on them. ... Unmediated, almost spontaneous. I certainly enjoy the feel of food in my fingers and no doubt aspire to the primitiveness of it all.” In his home, watching him upturn bowls to reveal the grainy underside, the parts of the bowl that hot soup would communicate warmth through to your palms when cradling it, confirms how multisensory his relationship with food still is – echoing the “primitiveness” he mentioned so long ago. Nigel Slater Wiki: Salary, Married, Wedding, Spouse, Family Nigel Slater (born 9 April 1958) is an English food writer, journalist and broadcaster. Revealing the gentle texture of stoneware, or the shine on a glazed bowl, for example, is a tactile sensorial world as important as the qualities of the food itself.”, He mentions how, over the years, Nigel’s collection has grown, giving them both more options of what to work with. Some very classical French recipes look perfect on the simple white plate they were meant to be on, but at other times a plate that is a particular shape or has a particular texture to it, or is maybe quite rough to the touch or has some little speckles in the glaze can just gently work very well,” he says. Ros Byam Shaw, Much like when you see one ant on the ground, and your eyes gradually adjust to reveal hundreds more of them, I became aware of the slow materialisation of other beautiful ceramics placed carefully in Nigel’s large drawing room. He is enticed and excited by the human hand that makes the objects. “This was accidental,” he said, standing in his now-ex laundry, gesturing to over 100 plates, bowls and vessels. When Nigel Slater opens the door of his minimalist Georgian terraced house in London, he’s munching on a buttery hazelnut biscuit. Welcome to House & Garden. “But then again, people get precious about football and about goals and things: who scored what and who did what. Nigel Slater transforms Christmas leftovers into meals which make the prospect of festive entertaining a treat rather than a terror, ensuring that nothing goes to waste. He says that he "knows and uses each and every plate and bowl and continues to admire those who made them", and he now stores them in open shelves that create an industrial feature. You find yourself recognising some of them from his books as if they are movie extras (was that the bowl the aubergine and chickpeas recipe was served in in EAT? Nigel Slater Famously describing himself as ‘a cook who writes’, Nigel Slater is one of Britain’s best-loved food writers and presenters. I don't think there’s anything wrong in putting something in front of somebody that just feels right...something that is a pleasure to hold.”, The coffee in the Steve Harrison mug is gone. Liv Siddall goes round to Nigel’s house to have a look at his growing collection of pots, plates, bowls, cups and everything in between. Print + Digital alerts and find out about everything before anyone else. They're not, as I'd imagine, these entirely serene human beings from another world. In a former Instagram Story, Stacey said she had come across food writer and journalist Nigel's home on his account and that it was now her "new inspo". “I've got the odd rather lovely plate that has never worked, no matter what I put on it. Like many collectors, writer and cook Nigel Slater didn’t realise he was a ceramics enthusiast until it was too late. Or does a collection build up naturally over time like flowers in a garden, or memories in a mind? Episode guide, trailer, review, preview, cast list and where to stream it on demand, on catch up and download. There's also a single desk and a Tudor painting on the wall. Nigel Slater is the author of several bestselling books, including the classics Real Fast Food, Appetite, and the critically acclaimed The Kitchen Diaries. Take a look... SEE: Inside Stacey Dooley's stunning Scandi-inspired new home. Eleanor Ford, By Just as all humans begin life in the womb, all ceramics – even priceless Ming vases, Moorcrofts and Clarice Cliffs – … The ground floor … “I've got some cups that were made in the ‘40s and ‘50s that I bought at auction and I still use them.” He firmly believes in utility and the honoring of craftspeople by practicing it. Recipes that evoke the sunshine flavours of Greece, By Nigel Slater demonstrates straightforward, down to earth cooking, filmed at his home. “I don't know what she'd make of it really,” he shrugs, “if she could have seen into the future and seen her stuff going for ridiculous amounts of money.”, By Deep and crisp and even: a lovely Christmassy chicken, leek and prune pie, and a sweet potato and spinach tart A pie, or perhaps a large golden tart, brought proudly to the table in its dish, always feels like a celebration. The clay is moulded, sliced, kneaded, caressed and put into an oven. These days he concentrates on country music for dancing and listening. I probably am,” he says. With Nigel Slater. Based near Preston, in the north of England , Nigel is an accomplished guitarist, and superb singer. Nigel Slater is a British writer that specializes in writing about food. Via his treasured books and his famed Observer column he urges us to adjust the way we eat and, in turn, live, according to the seasons changing with the slow turn of our world. Sometimes I know exactly the plate or the bowl for that particular thing, because I just feel the food looks comfortable on it.”, “Nigel has always been sensitive to how his food will appear in the photographs, and his choice of ceramics, vessels and objects are a natural extension of this,” says Jonathan Lovekin, Nigel’s trusted photographer who has been taking portraits of his freshly-cooked meals for years. And there’s my weekend mug, which is that one over there.”, Nigel, who is known worldwide for his cooking and food writing, is big into ceramics, a world not unlike the culinary one he resides in. Directed by Pete Lawrence. English food writer, journalist and broadcaster. He has written a column for The Observer Magazine for over a decade and is the principal writer for the Observer Food Monthly supplement. But any sort of vegetable thing would look fabulous…” He’s clear to point out that he doesn’t buy pieces deliberately because he knows a certain recipe will look good placed upon it, but that it can be a little thrilling to take a piece home and experiment with pairing it up with food. He loves Japanese ceramics for “the sheer wobbliness of them and the fact that they're imperfect.” Nigel also keeps up with a handful of ceramicists on Instagram who he will order pieces from. SEE: 8 inspirational kitchen storage ideas from Instagram. Spread straight on to bread, baked, used in puds or scoffed in lumps, lovely versatile ricotta is a source of joy. The Rurbanist: Q&A with Nigel Slater. They're actually full of energy. In his 1992 book Real Fast Food he writes: “I find something intrinsically ‘right’ about eating food while holding it in my hands. Later, it is retrieved via the opening of a heavy oven door and the suspenseful reveal of the results of a complete heat-induced transformation. His images are the perfect accompaniment to Nigel’s writing: warm, understated, and reminiscent of the feel of Sunday afternoons or the smell of seasons. 371.8k Followers, 395 Following, 1,077 Posts - See Instagram photos and videos from Nigel Slater (@nigelslater) These are the ceramics, he explained as if he was confessing something naughty, that he tends to acquire through auctions, over the phone. “...That's a very simple plate made by a young potter called Jono Smart,” he says, turning it over. We examine them again. “I just suddenly realized I was developing an interest that was beyond [them being] purely functional.”, By But then you've got this lovely tactile raw clay on the bottom when you hold it...” He picks up another, rougher vessel and explains it’s by Anne Mette Hjortshøj, a ceramicist he met who “works with local clay from where she is on the coast in Denmark,” and now sends her pieces directly to him via her gallery in the north of England. “What I love about it is the fact that you've got this quite smooth surface to put the food on. Nigel Slater's work-from-home lunch recipes. Nigel Slater, Singer / Guitarist . In his laundry, he pointed out plates and bowls that clearly displayed the maker’s mark: the swoosh of glaze that still looked freshly daubed from the bristles of the brush, or the hand-fastened joining of two pieces of clay revealing traces of the slip used to bind them together. His mother died when Nigel was nine year… He lives in Highbury, near Islington in London, England. He has written a much-loved column for The Observer for more than twenty years and is the presenter of the award-winning BBC series Simple Suppers. Now he shares his home with hundreds of ceramic objects which accompany him through his personal and professional life, and who he speaks of as warmly as if they were old friends. When you pick it up, it's got a real texture.” He picks up another by Turkish potter Hüseyin Artik. It is as if this is how food was meant to be eaten all along, with knives, forks and chopsticks being part of a parlour game that somehow got out of hand. You can opt out at any time or find out more by reading our cookie policy. Whether it is a vegetable peeler or a palette knife, it works for me and has become part of my life.”, He really means that. Spotted around the room are his more ornamental pieces. I mean, there are people who think I'm precious enough as it is. “It probably never occurred to them, I would imagine, that in 50 years' time it was going to be selling at Christie's. “I didn't think that ceramics was my world really,” says Nigel as we descend the stairs back to the kitchen, “but it has become so important to me.” For someone who admits he has never bought a proper set of china, and who tried his hand at throwing but didn’t take to it, he’s surrounded himself with a fascinating, personal, functional set of his own. WIN a £500 minibreak with Classic Cottages! “It would calm down something that's quite bright...a very green soup or something...I probably wouldn't put meat or anything brown on it. Nigel Slater’s recipes have been enchanting home cooks for 17 years. Nigel Slater, A cook who writes. Written by @FillouxPastry. Hence my attempt at writing a book about rebuilding a cook’s relationship with nature.”, Sophie Dahl's pick of the House & Garden archive. 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