Master it

Winner of the André Simon Food Book Award.

A personal cookery lesson from one of our finest cookery teachers.

Nowadays we seem to know a lot about food, but much less about actual cooking. In Master It, Rory O’Connell will teach you simple but essential skills to make you a truly good cook. At the heart of his approach are good ingredients, carefully prepared, and used in recipes that are tried, tested, carefully measured, and full of the essential tips and details that will make your dishes a success.

Each chapter will teach you a particular technique – preparing a soup, roasting meat, making biscuits – and include a collection of fresh, seasonal recipes to use it in, from wild garlic soup, to roast pork with fennel seeds, chilli and garlic, to caramel and almond thins.

Reviews

‘If you pursue O'Connell's chatty pages on grilled sea bass or casserole-roast chicken with watercress, the result should be a small masterpiece.’ Independent, Books of the Year

‘Rory O’Connell, a dedicated teacher and inspiring chef, offers all the basic knowledge you need to cook with ease, to perfection and ethically, while guiding you through a repertoire of entirely delicious, eclectic, aromatic, enchanting recipes.’ Claudia Roden

‘Rory O’Connell cooks like an angel – with this book, you can too.’ Thomasina Miers

‘Rory’s cooking is thoughtful, heartfelt and generous. His knowledge is immense and his attention to detail second to none. To sit at Rory's table is pure joy. I don’t know if everybody has a favourite cook but I know I do. Mine is Rory O’Connell!’ Skye Gyngell

‘As you read “Master It” you hear Rory's warm, patient voice guiding you through the basics. I loved learning to cook from Rory, and with this book everyone can experience his incredible wisdom in the kitchen.’ Stevie Parle

‘O'Connell offers an elegant template to an understanding of good food. A grounding in everything you need to know, effortlessly explained. The man is revered by Claudia Roden – need we say more?’ Observer Food Monthly, ‘Food Books of the Year’

About the author

Rory O’Connell is Darina Allen’s brother, co-founder of The Ballymaloe Cookery School and one of its main teachers. He worked for many years with Myrtle Allen as chef at The Ballymaloe House Hotel in Cork as well as with Alice Waters at Chez Panisse in California. In his thirty years of teaching he has taught many of the now stars of the British and Irish cooking scene: Thomasina Miers, Rachel Allen and Stevie Parle.