Headline scoops Potts' ‘love letter’ to butter

Headline has signed Butter: A Celebration by Olivia Potts, winner of the Fortnum and Mason Debut Food Book Award 2020 for A Half Baked Idea (Penguin). 

Lindsey Evans, publishing director of Headline Home, acquired world rights to the “love letter” to butter, from Zoe Ross at United Agents. It will be published on 15th September 2022. 

The publisher describes the book as a joyous immersion in all things buttery, revelling in its alchemical power to transform almost any dish, from good to transcendent. It takes the reader on a butter-fuelled cooking adventure, starting with the science and history of butter and moving on to classic ways of cooking with it.

“This is a book to be savoured for its wonderful writing, as well as for its irresistible recipes and expert introduction to patisserie, too,” its synopsis continues. “Full of history, anecdotes and, of course, delicious recipes resplendent with butter.”

In the book Potts looks at a different butter pairing or application in each chapter, from eggs to meat, sugar to carbs, potatoes to fruit, showing that butter has a role to play alongside every type of food and in a huge array of recipes.

Evans said: “From the moment I read the opening lines of Olivia’s proposal, I knew I had to publish this glorious cookbook. It extols the virtues of one of our best-loved ingredients and shows its myriad uses in all kinds of recipes. In short, butter is a comforting joy and Olivia shows us how to embrace it, including over 120 recipes in celebration of this transformative ingredient.”

Potts added it was “the book I’ve wanted to write for years” and that it promises to be “an antidote to diet cookery books and an unadulterated celebration of a delicious and versatile ingredient”, adding that “Everything is better with butter.”