

World lasagna day
"Where the dish has endured is on the shelves of the supermarket." Sarah Barell/National Geographic I bet you didn't know it was World...
Jul 29, 2022


Coq au vin - slow food or quick and easy?
"The entire recipe for coq au vin in one popular cookbook, now in its third printing, read: 'Cut up two broilers. Brown them in butter...
Jul 25, 2022


There's no such thing as Brown Windsor soup
"Colour fades as flavour deepens." Nigella Lawson This is Jamie Oliver's interpretation of Brown Windsor soup (with pearl barley). The...
Jun 24, 2022


Vindaloo - sweet and sour, not hot
"A Goan vindaloo is not the mind-blowingly spicy curry as it has come to be known in the UK, but a rich, hot, slightly sweet and sour...
Jun 14, 2022


Duxelles - a first recipe
"A few spoonfuls can be used to cut out the early stages of those many recipes which begin with onion and mushrooms sweated slowly...
Jun 4, 2022


Coffee and a chocolate biscuit
"when the going gets tough the tough take a coffee break" I don't often take a coffee break, not like I did when working, when it was a...
May 29, 2022


Devilled eggs
"a culinary amalgam of history and taste" Food Timeline Continuing with the retro thing which has been appearing here and there in...
May 25, 2022


The continental breakfast
"Nothing illustrates the British disdain for Europe like the concept of Continental Breakfast." The History Woman's Blog Inspiration for...
May 24, 2022


Nationalist sausages
"Pride is all very well but a sausage is a sausage" Terry Pratchett There was a short article in The Australian Financial Review at the...
May 23, 2022


Jalfrezi - fusion, leftovers - what's not to love?
The picture here is from The Times of India, and so, one assumes a truly authentic version. Well yes and no, because Jalfrezi is another...
May 14, 2022


Worcestershire sauce
"Worcestershire sauce, it seems, is out — the craze for umami has come and gone, and entirely passed Worcestershire sauce by." Sam Worley...
May 1, 2022


Grains in a salad - ancient or new?
"The vast array of grains marketed as ancient—from quinoa to millet to spelt—are, yes, old. Maybe 3,000 years. Maybe 8,000. Who knows?...
Apr 25, 2022


Smithfield and a London pub's story
"Its a bit cloudy in London but people are already drinking out on the streets - God Bless the pubs." Guillermo del Toro I'm not sure...
Apr 20, 2022


Is there such a thing as mulligatawny soup?
"a cornerstone of the classic British Indian restaurant repertoire, always there, yet never ordered." Felicity Cloake I think this...
Apr 18, 2022


Good Friday, and the Lamb of God
so many questions Let me say up front that I am not at all religious. However I was brought up a Christian - a good Church of England...
Apr 15, 2022


Cooking made us brainy
"fire is needed to fuel the organ that makes possible all the other products of culture, language included: the human brain." Jerry...
Apr 8, 2022


It's Friday
“Friday's a free day. A woman's day.” Neil Gaiman, American Gods I'm starting with that quote, though really I have no idea what it...
Mar 11, 2022


On groundhogs, angels and the number two
"February 2, 2022 is a palindrome date. Because all the digits in the date when written in the d-m-yy (2-2-22) or m-d-yy (2-2-22) format...
Feb 2, 2022


On magic, perfection, mystery, Elizabeth David and Mère Poulard's omelette
"one of life's simplest, quickest and most pleasant dishes." Delia Smith "Once upon a time" begins Elizabeth David's classic essay An...
Jan 24, 2022


Strawberries - Manet, Renoir, Jane Grigson and Snow White
"When Chardin lived, wild strawberries were the only ones. His contemporary, Diderot, described them as being like 'the tip of a...
Jan 12, 2022

