Michael Wignall is not a chef who does things by half. Running to more than 400 pages and encompassing 70 complex dishes, his debut book is an ambitious undertaking into which he has clearly poured his heart and soul.
He might not be a fixture on Saturday Morning Kitchen, but Wignall is one of the industry’s most respected and consistent chefs. The Lancashire-born former BMX rider began his career working under Paul Heathcote at Broughton Park in Preston before going on to lead the kitchens at Michael’s Nook Country House, The Devonshire Arms and Waldo’s at Cliveden. From his late 20s onwards, he attracted or retained Michelin stars at every restaurant he headed.
In 2007, Wignall secured two Michelin stars for The Latymer at Pennyhill Park in Bagshot, Surrey, which was awarded two Michelin stars in the 2013 guide. He later succeeded Michael Caines at Gidleigh Park in Devon, retaining its two-star rating and further cementing his reputation for technically accomplished and meticulously presented food.
Having spent much of his career in grand country house hotels, Wignall changed direction in 2018 when he and his wife Johanna took on The Angel at Hetton with James and Jo Wellock. Regarded by many as Britain’s original gastropub, the Yorkshire Dales property had fallen on hard times.
Wignall initially revived it with a menu of elevated pub classics before steadily moving the food towards his more natural territory. Today, The Angel is a Michelin-starred restaurant with rooms built around an ambitious tasting menu, although it retains something of the accessibility and informality of a pub.
After setting the scene through stories from Wignall’s life and career, the book offers an illuminating look at his development process. Each dish begins with a sketch, a selection of which is reproduced in its pages. These drawings are accomplished in their own right, but their real value is in showing how Wignall thinks: the initial distribution of ingredients and shapes is carefully mapped out before the cooking begins.
The sketches also draw attention to his highly distinctive plating style. Wignall often places considerable distance between individual elements, using areas of empty plate that might look awkward in less assured hands. Here, the approach works. The compositions are intricate without appearing cluttered, with each component given room to register both visually and on the palate.
The book’s 70 dishes are informed by the seasons and the landscape surrounding The Angel, but they also draw on techniques and ideas developed across Wignall’s long career. The cooking is precise, complex and often technical, with individual dishes broken down into numerous preparations.
Like an increasing number of high-end restaurant cookbooks aimed primarily at fellow chefs and particularly committed amateurs, Michael Wignall separates the visual presentation of the dishes from the recipes themselves. Photographs and descriptions appear in the main body of the book, while the detailed methods are collected towards the rear.
Lavishly produced and characteristically uncompromising, Michael Wignall is an impressive record of a chef who has spent decades quietly refining a culinary style entirely his own.
Book review: Michael Wignall
Number of pages: 420
Must try recipe: Poached rabbit, Jerusalem artichoke
Publisher and price: Jon Croft Editions, £65