

Cake for the lumberjacks or a queen?
"baking (and eating) cake can help whatever ails you" David Lebovitz On Monday we are having the Great Easter Egg Hunt - yes still. I...
Mar 30, 2024


Is this a listicle?
"You can write a listicle about any subject which can be divided into bullet points. That’s… pretty much everything." Corinna...
Mar 29, 2024


Odd couple? - Smoked trout and carrots
This is one of those musings on what to do with what I've got in the fridge - and this time it's not a really obvious pairing - smoked...
Mar 28, 2024


An earnest blogger
"So this is it. I have to cook every dish in the book as written by Jane – even if it contains something I don’t like, e.g. whiskey and...
Mar 22, 2024


A is for Alexanders, Z is for Zander - A-Z
"Every culinary endeavour begins with ingredients." Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall What a slightly creepy conjunction of names - Alexanders...
Mar 16, 2024


"Add as many herbs as you like"
"Surely he didn’t mean a whole bunch of rosemary?" Rachel Roddy This post has turned out to be a mix of a couple of ideas that I had...
Mar 14, 2024


Chaos Cooking - new words for an old thing
"Any food idea that makes you smile is a food idea to be embraced." Erin Shaw/Food Republic "there is no "wrong." Only "try again...
Feb 25, 2024


Old fashioned grilling
"That tangle of bars that lights up over the food isn't worthy of the name. In my book a grill is where the heat comes from below the...
Feb 19, 2024


Almost 50 years post Cuisine Minceur
"This was far and away the most influential cookery book of the latter half of the last century. It affected almost everything we eat...
Feb 17, 2024


No date syrup - so ...
"If you can’t find mulberry pekmez, use date syrup instead." Yotam Ottolenghi I put that quote at the top of this post, because it...
Feb 2, 2024


Cruising the net on a sunny afternoon
"In this age of getting what you want and getting it now, the simple pleasure of browsing is often forgotten." Tom Hodgkinson "watching...
Jan 30, 2024


Cuisine heureuse - two men and a first recipe
"Books are so much more than simply a collection of words. They are glimpses into an epoch and the author's soul." François de...
Jan 29, 2024


Almond crumbs - an indecisive lucky dip
"Change is not indecision" Chris Ofili Well that's what I'm telling myself now. I have somehow managed to make myself very confused...
Jan 27, 2024


Changing the form, but retaining the spirit
“When I opened up my first restaurant it was never to cook Greek food the way most people had seen it.” Peter Conistis The dish at left...
Jan 17, 2024


An American in Paris - David Lebovitz
"You can read about a French liqueur, or a cheese like Comté or Brie, but until you go to where it’s made, you can’t truly understand...
Jan 14, 2024


Questions arising - a cookbook present
"Emma Freud: Because you aren’t surrounded by an Indian community in the UK, has your cooking become more anglicised? Chetna Makan:...
Jan 10, 2024


A chef's life - down, up, and down again
"He became an apprentice chef to answer a simple question: did food exist that was better than that which he’d eaten?" Stephen Downes...
Jan 4, 2024


Feasting with The Guardian
"for adventurous eaters and curious cooks." As you know I'm always plugging The Guardian and its team of food writers, recipe creators...
Dec 15, 2023


Tuscany doesn't really do pasta
"all'etrusco on a Tuscan menu is not mere whimsy. these dishes actually forge a solid link with the past and incorporate the three basic...
Nov 30, 2023


Pictures, words, irritations and detours
“A picture is a poem without words.” Horace Today's post was going to be a riff on this painting, which turned up on my desk calendar...
Nov 27, 2023

