The Kitchen Magpie: A Delicious Melange of Culinary Curiosities, Fascinating Facts, Amazing Anecdotes and Expert Tips for the Food-lover

Featuring exclusive recipes from top chefs such as Marcus Wareing and Mary Berry, and contributions from Raymond Blanc, Marco Pierre-White, and chef-to-the-stars Kai Chase, this beautifully presented miscellany blends the history of cookery through the ages with expert tips and astonishing facts.

How do you make the perfect pork crackling, the finest fried egg, or roast beef in an oven that's not even switched on? How do you tell a ripe melon? Why is the belly of salmon better than the tail?

Award-winning food writer James Steen tells the tale of swan (and horse) in the British diet, as well as that of crane in the Japanese diet. He also reveals why John Wayne kept his cow at a hotel . . .

James Steen is a journalist and ghostwriter, having collaborated with great chefs such as Marco Pierre White (The Devil in the Kitchen), Raymond Blanc (A Taste of My Life), and Keith Floyd (Stirred But Not Shaken).