Elizabeth David

I always have menus on my mind, rethinking and improving them every day with a sense of precision.

Shuchuk's revolving menu, the best bet is the tasting menu, which starts at $99, is informed by his need to recharge ideas coming out of his Bibles, books by Elizabeth David, the Bon Iver of unfussy British cooking, and Alain Ducasse, the David Bowie of haute cuisine.

Their influence has inspired him to push both the serviette and the envelope.

Take, for instance, his sunflower seed risotto, which is fast becoming a house staple.

And I would always like to help her in the kitchen or try something new.

And, you know, I think the British population of cooks, probably Elizabeth David was hugely influential.

And I think Julia Child from my mother's generation was the person mastering the art of French cooking.

Why did you come to London and how did you meet your husband, the architect Richard Rogers?

So, you know, in a remote corner, part of the east coast of Scotland...

You know, mum read Elizabeth David cover to cover, which back then was unusual.

You know, and of course it all sounds very prosaic now and very romantic and lovely, but it was odd back then.

And you were regarded as a bit...

And the only connection with it were the great broadsheets like The Guardian and The Observer and The Sunday Times, which were religiously, devotedly tuned into, read every week.

I never sat down to these gargantuan newspapers.

And, you know, articles by Claudia Rodin, Jane Crickson, Elizabeth David, Elizabeth Luard.

I mean, the pantheon, the roll call of names is off the charts.

Who would you say have been your greatest cooking inspirations or influences?

Well, influences, I'd say Elizabeth David definitely.

And there's so many wonderful food writers these days.

It's hard to pick out anybody.

And I also...

It was that my second biography and my first subject, Elizabeth David, had already been dead.

So it was a question of going through the archives and talking to people who knew her and putting the life together.

With Paddy, he was still alive.

Traveller's cheques were just about a thing.

But basically, you know, going and saying, well, I'd like to have, you know, like Elizabeth David, the great cookery writer who, you know, transformed British cooking into something worth... worth having at that time.

To have an omelette and a glass of wine in a French cafe, well, maybe as long as you had like five francs, 35 centimes actually available too.

Because once you run out of your cash, that was your lot.

I think it sold like 100,000 copies or something like that in over a decade, I believe.

And I think it was even better, sold even better than Elizabeth David's books initially.

Yeah, I think David's first book, a book of Mediterranean food in 1950, it was less well received than Plates du Joux, I believe.

Patience Gray, she seemed to possess an encyclopedic knowledge of plants and herbs and she was deeply interested in all things folklore, so add mysticism and astrology and all that stuff.