I don’t consider myself to be completely, creakingly out of touch, but nevertheless I have begun to notice that all too often when a cookbook comes in by an author hitherto unknown to me, I quickly learn that the person in question is, to use the breathless term of choice, “A TikTok Sensation”. For the record, I’m not opposed to the medium on principle (though I’m certainly wary of inviting even more digital distraction into my life) and somewhat shamefacedly confess that the only reason I fail to engage with it is that I can’t remember my TikTok password and, hopelessly, haven’t got it together to create a new one.
Not that Thomas Straker (who apparently has a quarter of a million followers there) is entirely unknown to me; my neighbour Oli (half-French and fully food-focussed) has been raving about his Notting Hill restaurant Strakers, and I had absorbed that he was not just a viral hot property but an experienced and talented chef. (I do rather feel I should have checked out his restaurant first, but I’ll just have to wait until I get back from Australia now.) Anyway, the point is that, generally speaking, the sort of recipes that go viral on TikTok couldn’t conceivably come under the banner of “food you want to eat”, so it is with relief and a glad heart that I tell you right here, right now that as far as I’m concerned the title of Straker’s book is bald truth not preposterous presumption.
As I said, I haven’t yet visited his restaurant, but the recipes here seem very much geared towards the home cook. They’re not exactly basic, but nor are they irrelevantly cheffy in any way. If I throw a few of the recipe titles at you, you’ll see what I mean: Tomato and Anchovy Flatbread (and I have my eye on the Crab Flatbread, too); Artichoke and Parmesan Salad; Chicken Caesar (which lusciously involves a whole roast chicken); Cavolo Nero Soup with Crème Fraîche; a white (ie tomato-less) Pork and Beef Ragù; Chicken, Leek and Bacon Pie; Pork Chops with Plums; Grilled Onions with Romesco; Jam Doughnuts; and Frangipane Fruit Tart. The recipe I’ve chosen to bring to the site and share with you today is the gorgeous – a Classic for a reason – Gnocchi with Sage and Burnt Butter.
Extract taken from Food You Want to Eat by Thomas Straker (Bloomsbury Publishing, £25, Hardback).
Photography © Issy Crocker.
