Books

I write my books myself - my books are not ghost written. I also cook all the food for the photos in my books at home where it's much more relaxing than in a studio. I cook on my domestic oven and hobs so you know that cooking times will work. The first book I ever worked on was Keith Floyd's The Best of Floyd, for Michael Joseph in 1995. I'm credited as home economist - which basically means I cooked all the recipes we photographed and gave advice on things that seemed a little strange with the recipes. It was an interesting experience and it made me keen to write my own book one day. Which was exactly what happened next.

Sugar Club Cookbook by Peter Gordon bookcover

Cook at Home with Peter Gordon by Peter Gordon bookcover

A World in my Kitchen by Peter Gordon bookcover

Salads - the new main course by Peter Gordon bookcover

Vegetables - the new food heroes by Peter Gordon bookcover

The Sugar Club Cookbook

This is the first book I wrote. The Sugar Club restaurant opened originally in 1986 in Wellington, New Zealand. It was owned and set up by Ashley Sumner and Vivian Hayman and they employed me as head chef (as it was in all three incarnations of the restaurant). The second Sugar Club opened on All Saints Road in Notting Hill, London, in 1995. It was an immediate success and I was asked by publishers Hodder and Stoughton to write a book of the restaurant's recipes. Never having written more than a letter before I bought myself an Apple Mac and set about learning how to type. I am very proud of this book, and through it I introduced Fusion recipes to the marketplace. It was serialised in The Independent on Sunday. It still sells around the world, having been translated into Dutch, with an American edition as well. The Sugar Club moved into Warwick Street in London's Soho in 1998, and I left the role of head chef in late 1999.

Cook at Home with Peter Gordon

My second book, released in 1999, tackled the fact that I'd convinced people to buy all sorts of exotic ingredients like fish sauce, lime leaves, pomegranate molasses and palm sugar. While these may seem like standard pantry items in 2007 - they certainly weren't back then. Hodder and Stoughton published this for me and chapters included Breakfast, Picnics, and The Tea Trolley. It was serialised in The Times. As with The Sugar Club Cookbook, all illustrations were by Trevor Flynn, design was by Moira Bogue (both of whom have worked on this website) and photographs were by Jean Cazals - who has taken the photographs in all of my books.

A World in my Kitchen

I have been creating recipes and writing for New Zealand House and Garden for over 10 years now. This book is a compilation of those recipes, published by Hodder Moa Beckett (now Hachette Livre NZ Ltd) in New Zealand in 2003. It was then published by Ten Speed Press in the USA in 2005 with glowing cover credits from Charlie Trotter and Jamie Oliver. The recipes are perhaps my most simplest, written specifically for the home cook and written for people who don't have access to Asian markets and the like. You will still find recipes requiring the odd exotic ingredient, but I always offer alternatives.

Salads - the new main course

This was my first book published by Quadrille in the UK 2005. It was serialised in The Sunday Times Style magazine. I took as my premise the fact that at The Providores we are often asked to serve our delicious starter salads as a main course, especially at lunch time. Men and women want lighter food, food which appeals in taste and texture, and salads always look great. There are salads with meat, fish and grains, salads served warm and cold, and even some tasty dessert salads. This was translated into 5 languages with an American edition as well.

Vegetables - the new food heroes

Published by Quadrille in 2006, and again serialised in The Sunday Times Style magazine. I'm no vegetarian, but I find a meal with too few vegetables is far from satisfying. Perhaps it's because while growing up in Wanganui, New Zealand my siblings and I each had our own patch of garden and we used to compete to produce the most tomatoes and beans. My sister Tracey inevitably won - although I'm sure she had more fertile soil than I did! In this book vegetables are the hero, in that they take either centre stage for a vegetarian meal, or they are the supporting cast that lifts the meat or fish hero to new heights.