For the Love of Food: The SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING cookbook from the Michelin-starred chef for easy comfort recipes, perfect for healthy family food for spring 2025

As a retired chef I enjoy reading cookery books for inspiration. I will try a few recipes from each book, choosing more from some books than others. However, Paul Ainsworth's book is unique. Having read it from cover to cover, it's the first book that has inspired me to try every recipe. Many recipes are complex but Chef Ainsworth's instructions are clear and detailed. I feel that anyone with a reasonable cooking ability and a measure of patience would be able to make any of these superb dishes. All I have to do now is decide which recipe to try next.

Well done

I love the clarity of this delightful book , all the recipes are very doable and look to create some special family favouritesCan’t go wrong

This book is ideal for: those looking to elevate your gastropub classics; those who buy fish from the fishmonger, meat from the butcher, cheese from the cheesemonger, etc; cooks who don't mind spending hours cooking; those who plan their meals in advanceThis book is not ideal for: those looking for quick and easy recipes; those without access to the big shops, i.e. relies on Tesco/Sainsbury's local for their groceries; those with limited kitchen space and limited bowls for prep+ Innovative techniques and twists to elevate classics, with+ Clear and straightforward instructions+ Beautifully presented, great photos, great illustrations+ Has labels for vegetarian, gluten-free, and egg-free recipes+ Heartfelt/personal intros+ An enjoyable read if you like reading cookbooks cover to cover, which I do- Recall spotting a few typos ("fist" instead of "first" on p.76, etc)- Generally not a fan of recipes that require a separate recipe listed on a separate page. For example, the fish & chips recipe (p. 111), requires 15g of curry paste (p. 216) that you'd have to prepare in advance. This is impractical for home cooking as it would lead to leftover paste sitting in the fridge, but I recognise that this is how they do it in restaurants/when people cook at scale.The book is more about recreating restaurant-quality dishes at home--more weekend cooking projects and less weekday cooking after work. The ingredient lists are quite long, but they're accessible and can be found in the big shops. A lot of the recipes are very involved, both labour- and time-intensive, but that's what you're here for--he has a Michelin star for a reason!

Very lovely recipes and photos. It's a delight to look at, nice and bright and cheery just like the author.

It is full of our favourites from Mariners - we are only down the road so this means we can cook them at home too!The actual pages were a bit smelly - and I mean in a not so nice way rather than that lovely new book smell. But I'm sure that will ease.Really worth the money for the recipes that you get that I know are decent meals. Great insight to what goes on with Joe Rozier and the Ainsworth team.

Loved your recipes but need a professional kitchen to make themin my bedsit no chance so bed time reading but not, sadly, in my kitchen

I bought this because I'd tried a couple of the author's recipes from a TV slot he did (on James Martin's morning programme) and liked his simple-but-complex take on classics, as well as his experimentation with other, more radical, ideas.So you'll find recipes for such classics as his Scotch Eggs (which are beyond epic) or even The Mariner's (one of his many gastropubs) Ploughman's Lunch. You might think that means his recipes are over-simplified but no, there's depth and complexity here too and his approach is thorough to the point of obsessive.So no, most of these recipes aren't "quick and easy" or even "easy", but the results are brilliant and his food just makes people happy - I defy anyone to munch one of his Scotch Eggs with Chilli Mayo and not feel better about the world :)10/10 - my fave recent cookbook, bar none.