Bitter - by Alexina Anatole (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

Embrace the beauty of bitter flavors.

Bitterness is often dubbed an acquired taste. In this bold cookbook, UK MasterChef 2021 finalist Alexina Anatole shows how it can elevate your cooking and add complexity and depth to a dish. Bringing together the best flavors from around the world with a combination of savory and sweet dishes, Alexina shows you how to cook with bitter ingredients in a way that suits your palate. Spanning ten ingredients that showcase the full range of bitter notes--grapefruit and bitter oranges; bitter greens; tahini; beer; walnuts; cranberries; tea; coffee; cocoa; liquorice--each chapter will add real depth of flavor to your food. Whether you choose to work with bitterness by soothing it with dairy, distracting with acidity or doubling down and going all in, Bitter will make each bite an experience, and inspire you to create meals that impress.

Catering for all dietary preferences, Bitter contains a balanced number of vegan, vegetarian, dairy-free and gluten-free recipes and caters for every occasion: start with bold breakfasts recipes, like Banoffee Breakfast Bread, Malted Crepes with Lime & Sugar, and Winter Citrus Fruit Salad, then fill your day with light lunches and weeknight dinners like Roasted Eggplants with Whipped Feta, Grapefruit & Hot Honey, Seared Salmon Tacos with Grapefruit & Avocado and Allspice Lamb Chops with Pickled Walnut Ketchup. Then, impress your guests with Ancho Coffee Beef Short Ribs, Duck Confit with Bitter Orange Salsa Verde and Jerk Pork Belly with Grapefruit Hot Sauce, plus decadent desserts such as Negroni Pavlova, Bitter Chocolate Torte with Passionfruit Sauce and Tiramisu Tres Leches cake.

Alexina's deep passion for understanding how different culinary traditions create their signature flavors shines through in her recipes, which offer modern twists on classic dishes from around the world.

Review Quotes

"UK MasterChef contestant Anatole debuts with an elegant and enthusiastic ode to a flavor profile that is often "picked last for the team... Anatole's deep dive into bitterness is wonderfully thorough [and] ... the result is an enticing, clever collection that should rehabilitate the reputation of bitter food."--Publishers Weekly

"Any foodie seeking nuance and education about bitter ingredients will have fun exploring Anatole's recipes, many of which sound like they could be served at a five-star restaurant but which are all solidly achievable at home ... Her point is well received for creative cooks: bitter foods (think beer, citrus, tahini, licorice) can be stars in the kitchen too."--Booklist

"A gem of a cookbook ... delightful"--Rukmini Iyer

"Bitterness is the most undesirable of attributes, except when it comes to food... I gravitated greedily towards Alexina Anatole's book... It is the attribute of bitterness that makes people habitually describe foods that possess it as 'an acquired taste', and while this is certainly a book that rewards those of us who have acquired that most enthusiastically already, it also gives a multiplicity of entry points for those who perhaps are yet to be convinced."--Nigella Lawson

"Her ability to take very strong, bitter, sharp flavors and marry them together with majesty is incredible"--John Torode

"Stunning and inventive recipes inspired by cuisines from around the world to make you fall in love with bitterness!"--Ixta Belfrage

About the Author

Alexina Anatole is a chef, TV presenter, and writer based in London. After reaching the final of UK MasterChef in 2021, she made a brave career change from the trading floor to the food world. Anatole also writes Small Wins, a Substack newsletter that enhances your cooking and your life in small, manageable ways. She has been featured on BBC One's Saturday Kitchen, Channel 4's Sunday Brunch, and BBC Radio 4's The Food Programme. She also runs sold-out events, including Sel, London's most intimate supper club, and Cocoa POP, a chocolate-themed pop-up with chocolatier Octavia Lamb. Alexina is of mixed heritage: the granddaughter of chicken farmers from Cambridgeshire, England, and Saint Lucian grandparents who arrived in London during the Windrush era. Part of a series on the five tastes, Sweet is her second book--her first book, Bitter, was published in 2024.