Thirty five years ago White Heat by the British Chef Marco Pierre White was first published and would have a huge influence on me and my career as a chef. Above is my well worn first edition of this classic book which would prove to be one of the most timeless restaurant cookbooks ever written.

It is hard to overstate the impact Marco had on the UK restaurant scene at that time. He was a trailblazer with a punk attitude and his early years at his two Michelin starred restaurant Harvey’s in Wandsworth, London would go on to inspire a generation of chefs, most notably his former protégé Gordon Ramsay.

That he chose his friend the late Bob Carlos Clarke to take the monochrome photographs of him at work only added to his aura, they brilliantly capture the period and especially the intense atmosphere of his kitchen. It took a special breed of chef to work there but the food photography by Michel Boys give you the reason why they stuck it.

I remember his first television series broadcast on ITV at the time of this book, Marco invited four of his former Head Chefs to eat with him at Harvey’s and all of those dishes featured on there. The series is available on YouTube and is a fascinating account of a professional chef’s kitchen at that time. Albert Roux, Nico Ladenis, Pierre Koffman and Raymond Blanc all feature with a follow-up, shorter series which featured Keith Floyd.

This came at the start of a revolution in British food, it was such an exciting time to be involved and for the first time London became the favoured food destination for gourmets. There was a new generation of chefs producing modern French and Italian food alongside the emergence of fusion cooking. Think restaurants such as The River Cafe, Bibendum, Oyster Bar and Grill, Alastair Little, Le Manoir aux Quatre Saisons, Chez Nico and Gary Rhodes at The Greenhouse amongst many others.

But Marco was the leader of the pack, after Harvey’s he went on to become the youngest ever three Michelin starred chef when he moved to his restaurant at The Hyde Park Hotel. This was a whirlwind time in a seventeen year career, by the end he would retire with his three stars and pursue his business and media interests. But he left us with this, which I believe is the most significant restaurant book in British food history.