Cooking for parties

An awful lot of people seem to want Jay Rayner dead, if the regularity with which he hears that question is anything to go by. Rather than dwell too much on that fact, in ‘My Last Supper’ Jay embarks on a journey through his life in food, in pursuit of the meal to end all meals. His quest takes him from oysters on the Essex coast to sourdough in San Francisco, and from his love affair with a particular Swiss vinegar to the bacon sarnies of his student days. There are rhapsodies about spare ribs, butter epiphanies aplenty and tales of a secret childhood addiction to Revels. Jay also shares his own home recipes, including many ways to transform a pig into a godly thing – from porchetta to pork belly teriyaki. Part memoir, part investigation of the ingredients that fill our table, the end result is a truly global journey through food and our relationship with what we eat.