Lateral Cooking

‘A rigorous, nuts-and-bolts bible of a book’ Jay Rayner, Observer

‘Lateral Cooking…uncovers the very syntax of cookery’ Yotam Ottolenghi

‘Astonishing and totally addictive’ Brian Eno

The groundbreaking book that reveals the principles underpinning all recipe creation, from the author of the bestselling The Flavour Thesaurus

Do you feel you that you follow recipes slavishly without understanding how they actually work? Would you like to feel freer to adapt, to experiment, to play with flavours?

Niki Segnit, author of the landmark book The Flavour Thesaurus, gives you the tools to do just that. Lateral Cooking is organised into 77 ‘starting-point’ recipes, including plenty of tips for substituting ingredients and reducing the phenomenal variety of world cuisine down to its bare essentials – and then building it back up again.

So, under ‘Bread’, we learn that flatbreads, oatcakes, buckwheat noodles, chapattis and tortillas are all variations on one theme. A few simple tweaks and you can make soda bread, scones or cobbler. And so on, through breads and batters, broths, stews and dals, one dish leading to another.

Lateral Cooking is as inspirational and entertaining a read as it is a practical guide. Once you have the hang of each starting point, a wealth of new flavour combinations awaits, each related in Niki’s signature combination of culinary science, history, chefs’ wisdom and personal anecdote. You will realise that recipes that you had thought were outside of your experience are reassuringly similar to things you’ve made a dozen times before. It will give you the confidence to experiment with flavour, and the variations that follow are a springboard of inspiration to the contents of your fridge and kitchen cupboards. You will, in short, learn to cook ‘by heart’– and that’s where the fun really begins.

“It is hard to convey just what a staggering achievement Lateral Cooking is. Segnit is truly a one-woman Larousse. Only the scope is so much wider and deeper: this book covers continents! … I can lose myself in it any time, from any page, and you could cook from it over a whole lifetime, and still be learning” –  Nigella Lawson,

“The cookbooks that teach you the most are the rare ones, experimental or not, that are so well written that you find yourself reading them greedily on a perpetual loop. Lateral Cooking is one of them” –  Bee Wilson, Times Literary Supplement

“A rigorous, nuts-and-bolts bible of a book, which works from the premise that there are base recipes from which all others can be built… It’s elegantly designed and extremely broad” –  Jay Rayner, Observer

“My most anticipated book of the year” –  Helen Goh,

“Witty, playful and conversational” –  Diana Henry, Sunday Telegraph

“This year’s star book… It’s a cracker: a hefty volume with a simple premise… Segnit has an appealing authorial voice: funny, friendly and authoritative” –  Evening Standard,

“Segnit is a brilliantly clever cook who sometimes seems to have eaten every great dish in the world, but the real joy is her exuberant voice, which feels like listening to a witty friend” –  Sunday Times

“Book of the decade, if you ask me… Every cook should have it” –  Elisabeth Luard,

“Knowledgeable and humorous, with a focus on flavour and technique, this cookbook is informative, useful and sure to become a kitchen bible to many” –  Guardian, ‘Best Books of 2018’

“In a year that’s been a bonanza for cookbooks, this is the one I’d put top of my list” –  Independent

“Want to graduate from a rigid recipe-follower to an instinctive, ingredient-led cook? Niki Segnit shows you how” –  Waitrose Food

“What makes this book really special, just like The Flavour Thesaurus, aside from Niki’s impressive expertise, is her humour and personality. It’s a joy to read” –  Olive magazine,

“A textbook you’ll turn to for all your culinary core techniques and queries” –  Good Housekeeping

“It’s a book you’ll buy not so much for the recipes, though there are plenty, but the insights it will give you on how the whole process of cooking works… a cracking read” –  Fiona Beckett,

“One of the most exciting cookery books I’ve read this year” –  Literary Review

“Niki Segnit is back with a new cookbook to break the mould (again)” –  Huffington Post

“It is an absolute triumph, want to take a week off work to read it and cook as I go… cannot recommend enough! If you loved The Flavour Thesaurus, this is basically Christmas ” –  Rukmini Iyer,

“Lateral Cooking is a beautifully simple book that just makes sense. I’m hooked again” –  Kenny Tutt,

“Niki Segnit’s Lateral Cooking is a spectacularly good cookbook. If it were a novel, it’d be a shoo-in for the Booker” –  Elisabeth Luard, The Oldie

“It’s a clever idea… a fabulous read” –  Harry Wallop, The Times

“Gorgeous, informative book” –  Chef Valentina Harris,

“This should be alongside The Silver Spoon and Le Repertoire, that’s where it’s going on my shelf” –  Mat Follas,

“A collection of ideas and inspiration – my kind of thinking” –  Frances Quinn,

“Shows, more effectively than any other cookery writer to date, how one thing in the kitchen leads to another” –  Times Literary Supplement

“A cookbook full of open-ended recipes” –  Yotam Ottolenghi,

“An enjoyable read” –  Delicious magazine,

“This isn’t a reference book, it’s an engrossing read for foodies” –  What’s Hot Blog

“A cooking bible… a must-have in every kitchen, I’m blown away!” –  Amy Treasure Blog

“From the author of