

Quintessentially today - deconstructing a recipe
"charred broccoli and spring onion salad with tahini dressing" Once again I was going to write about something else and then I saw this...
Jan 9, 2021


Cumberland sauce and gravy
"The best of all sauces for cold meat." Elizabeth David Now why am I writing this? Well I am working my way through my Christmas...
Jan 7, 2021


Chop suey and Immigrant food
This is the inspiration for today's post. It's a painting called Chop Suey by the American artist Edward Hopper, recently sold for...
Jan 6, 2021


The last of Christmas - Brussels sprouts
"The Marmite of the Christmas dinner table." Countryside Marmite is one of those umami things, so I can only assume that the writer of...
Jan 5, 2021


Stuffing - what the turkey is really all about
"the way it manages to sponge up the heart and soul of the bird. Time to give stuffing a second thought." Nigel Slater In my family for...
Jan 2, 2021


Pigs in blankets or pig in a blanket - not the same
Still on Christmas - sorry still a couple more things to say about Christmas. Maybe it's not having cooked the Christmas turkey for the...
Dec 31, 2020


Marzipan and Eccles cakes
I have made a list of topics to write a post on - currently mostly with a Christmassy bent even though Christmas is now done and dusted...
Dec 29, 2020


Saying goodbye to leftover turkey
"All that leftover turkey traditionally calls for curry" Felicity Cloake Now when did that tradition begin, if indeed it is a tradition?...
Dec 28, 2020


Cranberry sauce
"I got the idea that the 'toffs' had cranberry sauce and the 'proles' had bread sauce. After all where on earth would poor Lancastrians...
Dec 26, 2020


Bread sauce
"everyone loves bread, even in a conceptually questionable form such as a goo." Ruby Lott-Lavigna - Vice I seem to have started a mini...
Dec 22, 2020


Cacio e pepe - doing your own thing
"beautiful in its three-ingredient simplicity, cheap and quick to put together – but very easy to get wrong." Felicity Cloake - The...
Dec 18, 2020


Doro wat - lucky dip part 2
"patiently tending pots over the fire, coaxing flavour out of stone soup." Niki Kopcke - The Guardian This is the dish that I turned to...
Dec 17, 2020


The Christmas ham takeover
"always surplus to requirements given the 6kg of cold poultry sitting in the fridge" Felicity Cloake I know I've said it before but it...
Dec 14, 2020


Lucky dip - old English red cabbage
"The longer it stews, the more nutty and succulent it becomes, without losing its character: in fact it seems to taste better with...
Dec 8, 2020


Christmas is coming - help!
"it is rare anyone gets your presents perfectly right, and then they just sit there all year being, well ... not quite right." Nigel...
Dec 4, 2020


Another plum solution - Chinese plum sauce
"the mahogany, aniseed-scented stuff you smear over soft pancakes just before you wrap your shredded duck and matchsticks of ice-cold...
Dec 2, 2020


So many plums, so I'm trying fruit leather
"I could of course just leave the fruit on the tree for the birds, but that seems wasteful somehow. You have a tree laden with fruit so...
Dec 1, 2020


Salade Niçoise and breaking rules
"Call me old-fashioned, but surely the whole point of a classic recipe is that the punter knows, within an olive or two, what they are...
Nov 24, 2020


Mashed potato is not the same as purée de pommes de terre
"There is no wrong way to mash a potato; only multiple right ways to serve a purpose." Yotam Ottolenghi On the left British mashed...
Nov 23, 2020


Five spice powder
"its presence in foods becomes positively haunting, and it elevates fatty, meaty dishes to mysterious heights. It warms and cools the...
Nov 22, 2020

