A Slice of Fried Gold: Taste my Memories

by Nick Frost

From 'Spaced' and 'Hot Fuzz' to 'Paul' and 'Truth Seekers', Nick Frost has lit up our screens for decades with his perfectly observed, just-the-right-side-of-absurd sketches and films. He's also a keen, self-taught cook: so keen, in fact, that in lockdown, he personally delivered pies to his Instagram followers. This book is his love letter to food, to kitchens and the people in them

Genres: Nonfiction, Audiobook, Biography, Memoir, Food, Humor, Autobiography

338 pages, Hardcover

First published September 28, 2023

About the author

Frost was born in Dagenham, Essex, the son of Tricia and John Frost, office furniture designers. When he was ten, his sister died of an asthma attack aged 18. He attended Beal High School in Ilford. When Frost was 15 his parents' business failed and they lost the family home. They moved in with neighbours where he witnessed his mother having a stroke due to the stress. Frost left school and took a job with a shipping company to support the family. He subsequently spent two years at a kibbutz in Israel. He met actor Simon Pegg while working as a waiter at a North London Mexican restaurant and the two became close friends and flatmates. Pegg and Jessica Hynes wrote a role for Frost in the cult slacker comedy series Spaced that was partly based on Pegg and Frost's lifestyle at the time.

He appeared in corporate training video clips such as Chris Carter and the Coverplan Challenge, a Dixons sales video, before gaining fame as Tim's army-obsessed best friend Mike in Spaced (1999–2001), which aired on Channel 4 for two series. In 2001, Frost played a small role in a one-off episode of Victoria Wood's Acorn Antiques. This was a specially written episode shown during the series called "The Sketch Show Story" that Victoria narrated, in which Frost played an armed robber who shot dead Acorn Antiques' most lovable character, Mrs Overall.

In 2002, Frost wrote and presented the show Danger! 50,000 Volts!, a spoof of the outdoors survival genre in which SAS experts or the like demonstrated how to improvise solutions to dangerous problems. In the same year, Frost co-wrote and starred in The Sofa of Time with Matt King. In 2004, he appeared in Shaun of the Dead, a "romantic zombie comedy", written by Simon Pegg and Spaced director Edgar Wright. In late 2005, Frost starred in the comedy sketch show Man Stroke Woman on BBC Three. A second series of Man Stroke Woman aired on BBC Three in early 2007. In early 2006, Frost played Commander Henderson in two series of the BBC Two science fiction sitcom, Hyperdrive. Also in 2006, he acted in Kinky Boots. Frost had a small appearance in the British comedy Look Around You, a parody of 1970s/1980s technology parodying the format of shows like Tomorrow's World.

Frost and Pegg appeared in a second Pegg-Wright feature film called Hot Fuzz, an action and cop genre homage, set in Gloucestershire. Frost plays bumbling Constable Danny Butterman, who partners up with Pegg's dynamic Nicholas Angel after the latter is transferred from the Metropolitan Police in London. The pair teamed up again for their self-penned 2011 science-fiction comedy film Paul, whose storyline concerned a fugitive alien. The two also starred in Steven Spielberg's The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn as Thomson and Thompson. Frost narrates the Channel 4 reality show Supernanny. He has made fleeting appearances in the Channel 4 surreal medical comedy series Green Wing as "just a man" in pub scenes (when Boyce asks who he is, he responds, "just a man"). In 2013, Frost played the role of Andy Knightley in the third Pegg-Wright feature film called The World's End. In 2014, he played the eponymous character in the Sky Atlantic comedy, Mr. Sloane.

In October 2015, Frost released a memoir titled Truths, Half Truths & Little White Lies (Hodder & Stoughton), detailing his life up to the age of 30.

Reviews

[Billie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nick Frost is a talented storyteller who handles tragedy and comedy with grace and aplomb. He's lived a life that's both painful and wonderful and yet is deeply relatable. Maybe it's a late diagnosed ADHD thing but I found myself in tears at times, feeling both seen and entertained. What a curious feeling.

[Bethany · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a really interesting way of writing a memoir and having everything framed around food made this a really easy listen. It was weird and a bit whimsical throughout, whilst also grounded it in a love of food and what that means to him.

I don’t really know a lot about Nick Frost, and I don’t think this the book to read if you want to learn more, but what you get in this felt pretty honest. I never would have got this without listening to his Off Menu episode, but it was an enjoyable listen.

[Donna Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Think Nigel Slater's Toast, but with Nick Frost!

Nick Frost is such an awesome chap. I have previously read his biography Truths, Half Truths and Little White Lies, and that's a fascinating read.
This is more snippets and insights with recipes. We have already made the stroganoff twice. Nick frequently describes flavours as complicated or complex, and I'm not sure if it's an accident that this kind of also describes his love and sadness regarding his upbringing and his relationship with his parents.

These are good, hearty dishes and you can see how Nick has built a repertoire for recipes in much the same way as he has for acting.

I think Nigel Slater may have slightly more food innuendos in his books, but this was really nice.

[Alan Coll-Peacock · Rating 4 out of 5]

Part memoir, part recipe book, and part bonkers fiction, reading this book has been one hell of an entertaining and certainly unique experience!
The recipes are varied and piqued my interest, there's a few I'll happily try in the future, and the stories that accompany them going into Nick's family life & history with drink, drugs etc all keep you chugging along through the book. There's a few "stories" from the depths of his mind which add a sense of humour and mild bemusement to it all as well, but if you're reading this book you're obviously a fan of Nick and wouldn't be entirely surprised by what you're reading!
I enjoyed it, the mix of styles was different, but it wasn't something I'd necessarily say you have to go out and buy. A relatively solid 4/5 I'd say

[Ash · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't realise Nick Frost was of the ADHD persuasion. Apparently he suffers from insomnia and has spent night after night teaching himself to make the perfect foccacia. Part memoir, part flight of fancy, and part recipe book, it's a very funny read but I could only take it in small parts.

The book is filled with his quirks; his need to people-please while not wanting to actually engage with anyone, his aversion to undercooked eggs becomes a running joke throughout, and after describing how to wrap garlic bread in foil he writes “sorry to be obvious, but some people are really fucking stupid.” I suspect the stupid ones might be all of us readers, but there's a joy in letting the absurdity take you for an adventure. And I learned some culinary techniques along the way.

[Alaine · Rating 2 out of 5]

I started out enjoying this book even though I'm not that into cooking, and it's a lot about cooking. It was entertaining anyway but as I got further into it, the punctuation errors got on my nerves more and more, and the amusing anecdotes all started falling flat. I powered through to 34% of the way through before realizing I was barely even skim reading anymore. I was clicking from page to page without reading a word because I was so bored. I love Simon Pegg's and Nick Frost's movies but their books fell pretty flat for me.

[Adam Murphy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Slice of Fried Gold by Nick Frost has the humour, food and anecdotal insights for anyone obsessed with food. You are mistaken if you’re expecting a memoir from this talented actor. Granted, he does have a few flashbacks here and there, but they don’t dive especially into his career. I wouldn’t mind; it’s Frost’s book, so he can do whatever he wants. But if you have an appetite for being an epicure, this book should be worth your time.

[Dan Clarke · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's a really unique approach to combine a cook book with a sort of memoir but sadly the execution isn't the best. It doesn't feel like a proper cook book or a proper memoir, somewhere in between that doesnt hit the mark in either genre. The saving grace is Frost's anecdotes which are, as expected, very funny, thought provoking and insightful. Also, pies in a bowl.
I will try Frost's autobiography and see how I get on with that instead.

[🌶 peppersocks 🧦 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reflections and lessons learned/the content of this book made me feel…

What the heck was this?!? Not what I expected but fab for the food and stories

[Tim Hanton]

The most emotionally complex cookbook I’ve ever read. Fucking hilarious too.

[georgia ✨ · Rating 5 out of 5]

God bless Nick Frost’s weird and wonderful brain. I never write reviews here but I just had to share how much I enjoyed this…memoir? Cookbook? Collection of humorous fictional short stories? Self help book? Yeah, good luck categorising this thing, because Nick Frost goes off on a lot of tangents. But luckily for us, he’s also hilarious and a great storyteller, so he weaves it all together and creates something that is not only coherent, but an absolute joy to read (or listen to, as I did) from start to finish.

[Laura Harry · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was fine. I like Nick Frost. I like food. So really, a winning formula. I wasn't sure what it was supposed to be though; recipe book, memoir? Because neither were done particularly well.......the food descriptions didn't make me salivate like listening to Nigel Slater talk about food and the recipes I didn't find massively helpful/informative. The chunks about his life were interspersed quite randomly without a huge amount of depth. I didn't dislike it however, he is a hugely likeable chap. Just a bit ambivalent about it.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not all that eloquently written in a lot of places BUT it’s really made me enjoy cooking again recently, so I think it’s done its job.

That, and Nick Frost is quite plainly open about his back story & mental health struggles that’s quite refreshing to read, without it being preachy or self-helpy in any way.

Sooooo yeah enjoyed it enough for 4 stars after all :)

Shoutout the apple porridge recipe!

[Oscar Pimlett · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really evocative memoir surrounding food, that paints brilliant and vivid pictures of the food and the memories within it, whilst staying very true to Frost’s voice and humour. I think this book pairs the humour that Frost is evidently capable of, with a practical set of recipes and skills for cooking that are framed by sets of thought-provoking memories, culminating in a surprisingly touching final few pages.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very weird read; tone was all over the place. Some beautiful insightful & tough emotional moments combined with his brand of off-the-wall frank sci-fi-y comedy bits with absolutely loads of recipes interspersed.

The beef stroganoff recipe made a delicious meal, and I was very pleased to read a happy ending - I do hope that remains true and fought for.

[Nicola · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cute book. Funny storyteller.

Will try some of the recipes.

Cooking for my family has become a bit predictable, tiresome, boring. Nick has inspired me. Nourishing your family should be something to be proud of and be enjoyable.

Teared up in the last chapter.

[David R · Rating 5 out of 5]

Whimsical, bizarre, at times confusing... but fantastically delicious! A wonderful encyclopedia of tastiness interlaced with emotion, reality and intriguing fiction. How's that for a slice of fried gold?! Yeah boiii

[scott gordon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a recipe book for men. No quantitis given Stuff it, throw in a bit of this and a bit of that. It is autobiographical with recipes sprinkled in. Would have been five stars if there was a recipe index!

[Norma · Rating 3 out of 5]

( Format : Audiobook )
"Don't forget to turn the fringing hob off."

It would probably have helped if I had known in advance who Nick Frost was. And this is especially true since he also narrates.

[Freya Cleasby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow I enjoyed this so much! Nick writes about food in a way that makes you want spend long afternoons cooking delicious meals for loved ones. Equal parts hilarious and heartfelt.

[Amelia Avendano · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a funny person. I am enjoying every page and laughing so much, it really brightens my day

[Daniel Chaventre · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good cookbook and look into the mind of someone ADHD with a sprinkling of auto biography. If you like nick frost it's a must buy

[Jodie F · Rating 5 out of 5]

Personal and informative. I will never make gravy the same!

[Rachael Hopkin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not entirely what I expected but still enjoyable.

[Mat Greener · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just not my style too much about cooking when I wanted to hear amusing anecdotes

[Dan Holliday · Rating 4 out of 5]

Endless Ramblings about food, entertaining enough

[rosie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some very tasty recipes that made me hungry and some really funny and other times bitter sweet stories woven in. Loved! Defo going to give some of the recipes a go

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐ rounded up

[Dan]

DNF at 15% - this wasn’t what I wanted right now but I might come back to it.

[Gary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Utterly enjoyable. Delicious and innovative food writing, with confidence and familiarity. And the bits about Nick self-analysing are sad and all too recognisable.