Book review: Flavour by Sabrina Ghayour
"Life is too short to eat bland food," writes Sabrina Ghayour in the introduction to her seventh cookbook, fittingly called Flavour
It comes just under a decade after the publication of her debut collection of recipes, Persiana, which featured dishes from the Southern and Eastern shores of the Mediterranean seas.
The Iranian-born, self-taught chef's latest book takes things slightly further afield to countries such as Italy (samosa pasta, spiced aubergine and tomato pasta), Bangkok (cinnamon brioche toast) and the UK (cod flavour bombs), all while making a nod to the Persian and Middle Eastern twists that brought her eponymous supper clubs to fame.
Flavour consists of 100 recipes and countless more flavours, ranging from the sundried kick of pul biber chilli flakes to the earthy, musky notes of turmeric. Beneath the dazzling ingenuity of her dishes there is an unfussiness to her cooking. In her own words, "flavour is comfort, satisfaction and even nostalgia… it never has to be complicated, heavy-handed or extreme".
To that end, she makes simple suggestions to reinvigorate familiar favourites. Gastropub staple fried chicken wings is reimagined with turmeric or tamarind, while a side of baked beans is enrobed in turmeric-spiced yogurt – "one of those recipes that shouldn't work – but it does".
Traditional specialities are also given a boost: French tartines are topped with roasted vegetables, za'atar and labneh, while the lunchtime classic BLT sandwich is rebranded as the BHT (bacon, halloumi, tomatoes and sweet harissa ketchup). There's even the Nargessi kofta loaf, a Persian-style juicy meatloaf filled with whole boiled eggs, which is believed to have inspired the British Scotch egg.
There's something to be said about Ghayour's way of describing food. She writes with precision and technical expertise in a warm, easy-going, conversational style. Chefs who are looking to tell better stories about their own dishes will surely gain something from reading Ghayour, because it promises to be – borrowing her turn of phrase – "wonderfully satisfying".
Flavour by Sabrina Ghayour (Aster, £26)
