week in week out,,simon hopkinson. - Rated 
im sorry to say i was very disappointed with this book,with a title like week in week out i was expecting a recipe book filled with slightly more basic recipes but found things like smoked eel!boiled salted ox tongue,roasted quails,braised pheasant,duck pilaf,chilli crab salad,poached lamb tongue and the photos were very old fashioned very 80's.i dont often find a cook book that i find uninspiring but this really left me cold.i really didnt find one recipe that i thought sounded nice.
Simon Hopkinson - one-time chef appeals equally to professional and home cooks. - Rated 
His new book, Week In Week Out is a collection of 52 `seasonal stories'. It kicks off in winter with such dishes as Devilled Whitebait and Grilled Veal Kidneys with Creamed Onions and Sage. Spring offers Tomatoes stuffed with Crab & Basil, Summer makes the most of Broad Beans with Cream & Mint while for autumn he suggests Scallops with Verjuice & Chives. These recipes echo Simon's philosophy of `cooking for pleasure, rather than slavishness towards fashion'.
This book is not just for the complicated. Check out what he says about something as simple and foolproof as boiling new potatoes. Apparently it's just not good enough to plop them into boiling water, skin intact, as I always do. Oh no, you should take the trouble to scrape them all over which results in potatoes "of another texture". And do you know - he's right.
Simon is dismissive of modern food fads. A lot of restaurants, he feels, serve food to please the chef's ego rather than the customer. His `classic' recipes will stand the test of time simply because they make good - even the best - eating. It's worth remembering that his Roast Chicken and Other Stories, published in 1994, was recently voted the most useful cookery book of all time by Waitrose Food Illustrated.
Good cooking, clear concise recipes and strong flavours will out. And what makes Simon one of the greats is his attention to detail, his loving and understanding approach and, above all, the fantastic food that every home cook can create simply by following his instructions.
Good but not great - Rated 
Simon Hopkinson;s books are fun and well-written, and this book is no exception. Recommended: a good Christmas purchase.
I did however buy, at the same time, Martin Lampen's debut book SAUSAGE IN A BASKET, published at exactly the same time as Simon's. This is a hilarious skewering of the ways food is served up to us in Britain, with all the attendant marketing gimmicks which the hapless British public seem to fall for time and again. Undoubtedly one of the laugh-out-loud funniest books about food I've ever read, and I strongly recommend it. A nice counterpoint to Simon's book (one I suspect Simon himself would enjoy), if you're in the market for two books. And it proves the essential fact that it is not only celebrity chefs who have a valid opinion about food in this country.
Simon does it again! - Rated
There are some things you wait for with childlike excitement and once I'd heard Simon had this book in the offing I couldn't wait. I even pre-ordered.
Straight from it's Amazon packaging into the kitchen. The oil-slicked Caponata and the heady Tiramasu proved once again that from book to plate Simon delivers. You are in a safe pair of hands that guide you in a commonsense way to a competent plate of food.
The knowledge, the care and concern for the recipes and ingredients shine through. Both he and Nigel Slater have raised the bar on creating recipes that translate so well and encourage readers to have a go.
Simon, should you read this, be aware that you can still find tasty Jersey spuds just the way you remember them. Kidney shaped, with a slight iron taste and skins that slough off with your thumb. Lovely. You just have to know where to look. If you are ever over just call me up!
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