Most people who retire after a long and successful career prefer to kick back, relax, and put everything related to their former profession behind them, but not chef Fred Ming. When he hung up his toque, he went straight to work on a project he had been formulating in his mind for over a decade.

Today, that goal has been achieved and ?Bermuda Favourites?, a deluxe cookbook featuring both his original and adapted recipes will shortly arrive on local bookshelves.

As befits the former Bermuda College chef instructor, and a man who has always enjoyed a fine professional reputation, the first-time author has left no stone unturned in his desire to produce a book which will not only be treasured by present and future generations, but also will make a significant contribution to our recorded culinary history.

Produced in hardback and printed on high quality stock, its 158 pages begin with a glowing tribute from Mr. Ming?s last employer, former US Consul General Denis Coleman, and ends with a comprehensive index grouping recipes alphabetically within categories.

Mr. Ming precedes his recipes with an Introduction in which he provides an overview of the evolution of Bermuda?s cuisine, before moving on in separate chapters to outline his personal history and eventual involvement in the hospitality industry; a short history of his forebears, ?The Mings of Jubilee Road?, including fond recollections of being raised in their traditions; and acknowledgements to those who have inspired and helped him along the way: his mother Inez, his wife Charlotte, Bobby Miller and Debra Trott, Edwin M.E. Smith, Kunwa and Rama Nagpal, and Neil Hansford-Smith among them. All of which have been written in his typical warm, friendly style.

The author devotes other sections to useful information, including cooking terms and methods, general hints, and measurement conversion charts.

Recipes are divided into sections by topic, such as stocks and sauces, appetisers, soups, vegetables and so on, and page edges of the various sections are colour-coded ? blue for seafood, green for salads, for example.

Ingredients for each recipe are highlighted in cream, and preparation instructions are deliberately easy to follow ? or what Mr. Ming calls the ?KISS? (keep it sweet and simple) method.

Helpful hints, including yield, are included with many recipes, as well as space for personal notes. Colour photographs by Edwin M.E. Smith and Neville Trott illustrate some of the recipes. Mr. Ming explains that part of his motivation for producing ?Bermuda Favourites? was a desire to make the old traditional recipes accessible to today?s less experienced and informed cooks.

?In the olden days, because our grannies cooked every day, they?d put in a teaspoon of this, a tablespoon of that, a cup of the other without actually measuring the ingredients because they could ?eyeball? quantities, but today the average person is not in the kitchen every day, and the novice cook would have to measure everything precisely. Also, the older generations tended to write things down on scraps of paper.?

He is particularly proud that, printing excepted, the cookbook is a 100 percent Bermudian production. Copy editors are himself and his wife, and design is by Edwin M.E. Smith.

By the time ?Bermuda Favourites? arrives on local bookshelves, the project will be 15 years old, although actual preparation of the text took several years. ?I had things on file but time wasn?t on my side as, apart from teaching at the College, I did catering on weekends, but when I retired I said, ?I really need to get started and get the book out?,? Mr. Ming says.

Further impetus came as a result of his participation in the Bermuda Folklife Festival at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC in 2001, and also from the Department of Cultural Affairs?-sponsored lectures on Bermuda food, as a result of which he realised many things were not recorded on paper, and he was determined to see his book completed.

?It is long overdue,? the chef says of the finished product.

Apart from sorting the countless notes and recipes he had accumulated for over a decade, Mr. Ming spent hundreds of hours preparing the text. Since his wife is principal of Clearwater Middle School, was studying for her doctorate at the same time, the couple established a compatible routine.

?She got up at 3 a.m. every day and I would help her with her papers for a period of time, then when I had finished, rather than going back to sleep I would do my own work. When we were on holiday, on the beaches of Cuba and Barbados, and lots of other places, I would find quiet times to rewrite the notes that I took with me. My wife was working on her thesis at the same time, so it worked out well for both of us,? Mr. Ming says.

?In fact, having spent several years waking in the middle of the night to work, he is now finding it difficult returning to a normal sleep pattern ? but not for long, perhaps, because already he is working on his next book, which will also have based around the theme of Bermuda traditions.

As the father of four, only one of whom, son Shawn, has followed in his footsteps and is a culinary lecturer at the Bermuda College, Mr. Ming has always been dedicated to inspiring young Bermudians to set goals and achieve them. As a popular chef instructor, he wanted his students to succeed not only in the culinary profession but also as positive thinkers. ?I told them they were just as good as the next person, and shared with them my experiences in getting ahead in life,? he says. ?Today, all of my students have done well and own their own homes.?

In fact, Mr. Ming concludes a section of his book with the words: ?My mission is to continue to educate people in the hospitality industry and help them find a suitable place in society and the workplace. Anyone who wants advice can always give me a call.?

Meanwhile, of ?Bermuda Favourites?, the well-known chef says: ?I hope it will bring back memories, and for those who don?t have a clue about cooking, here is the answer to your dreamed-of gastronomical delights.?

?Bermuda Favourites? is expected to arrive in local stores shortly, and will retail for $35. Stockists in Hamilton will include the Book Mart, Bermuda Book Store, Washington Mall Magazines, Trimingham?s, A.S. Cooper & Sons, and True Reflections, as well as the Book Cellar in St. George?s, hotel shops, and at outlets in Dockyard. Book signings are also being planned.