Mushroom, kimchi and sweet potato pie, beetroot ravioli and other family favourites from the celebrated chef
When Bruno Loubet’s mother died – “she was very old,” he clarifies, swiftly – his brothers and sisters went to clear out the family house in south-west France. “They found 500 jars of preserves in the cellar,” the 56-year-old chef exclaims. “Five hundred! Hidden everywhere: in cupboards, in the coal bin. Obviously she didn’t even need 20 jars.”
Loubet, who spent most of his working life in Britain – latterly at his London restaurants Bistrot Bruno Loubet and the Grain Store – has been reflecting a lot on his childhood – a period that inspires three of the recipes on these pages. Mostly, though, he has begun to appreciate how many trends in cooking are not new at all. Pickling, fermenting, foraging, nose-to-tail eating: all were part of life growing up in a place that not long before had been occupied by Nazi Germany.
Related: Bruno Loubet and the way of the vegetable
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