To see a brilliant reporter at work with a subject that stretches him into overdrive, one needs only look to The Dean & DeLuca Cookbook, where the food writer David Rosengarten has collaborated with Joel Dean and Giorgio DeLuca, of the celebrated New York deli.
The result is a brilliant piece of work, 500 pages of inspired ideas without a photograph or a line drawing to detract from the sheer excitement and intelligence of the culinary ideas.
The book is almost like a manual in style, but without any of the dreary repetitions one tends to find in manuals. Instead, we are given classic recipes from the deli, and then oodles of improvisations and extemporisations based on them. I think this is a masterly work, the clear voice of the writer perfectly capturing the experience and wisdom of Dean and DeLuca, and the sections on techniques are assiduously and imaginatively executed. Every kitchen should have a copy, in fact.
The Dean & DeLuca Cookbook, by David Rosengarten, with Joel Dean and Giorgio DeLuca, Ebury Press (£25 in the UK)