

A disagreement with Nigel
"Don't put peas in a quiche. They may go nicely with a ham or crab filling, but they make the custard fall apart. Not to mention the...
Jan 15


When you've got nothing to do - mantı
"According to Turkish legend, if you really want to impress your guests, your mantı should be small enough so that 40 of them can fit in...
Dec 13, 2024


Coleslaw - not what it used to be
"Like many other culinary words – carpaccio, confit, trifle – its meaning has broadened, and now cabbage may not even be present at all."...
Oct 30, 2024


Blending cultures/culture wars in New York
"Chopped cheese isn't a Philly cheesesteak nor is it similar. This is New York, not Philly, bro!" Romel Bruno/Serious Eats This is a...
Aug 29, 2024


Rambling around osso buco
“the meat soft as the leg of an angel who has lived a purely airborne existence.” Billy Collins This post is all down to a first recipe...
Jul 21, 2024


Chicken, saffron, almonds - a Spanish lucky dip
"I felt a little dubious about the combination of ingredients before testing it, the red wine gives a rich colour and flavour, the...
Jun 24, 2024


"Finland is the green vigour of a forest"
"Much Finnish cooking suggests the outdoors, the pleasures of the campfire." Dale Brown - Time/Life The Cooking of Scandinavia Finland...
May 13, 2024


Chicken butter cream - the real deal?
"Who invented the butter chicken? None of them did. It's like asking: Who discovered fire? Butter chicken was probably made at several...
May 6, 2024


Living in a tourist town
"culture feeding tourism feeding culture." Ros Atkins/The Guardian Before I embark on this post just a note to say that there is a...
Feb 23, 2024


Iles flottantes
“a French take on what the English would describe as ‘a nursery pudding’”. We’re reared on suet dumplings and steaming semolina, while...
Feb 5, 2024


Tawook - it's just chicken
"The whole is not merely the sum of the components. It comes back to the same thing - the spirit of cooking." George Haddad This was a...
Jan 28, 2024


Paella or 'rice and stuff'?
"Some say true paella Valenciana must be cooked outside over a fire made of orange branches, dished up with a boxwood spoon and eaten...
Jan 9, 2024


Salmon and pesto
This is going to be our dinner tonight - Delia's Roasted salmon fillets with a crusted pecorino and pesto topping. I'm pretty sure I've...
Jan 6, 2024


When the egg meets flour - a skill
"It is in Emilia (half of the now united Emilia-Romagna region) where the everyday act of hand rolling has been elevated into an everyday...
Jan 2, 2024


I need a bigger table
"Christmas is coming the geese are getting fat." nursery rhyme This is a roast goose. It used to be what we ate at Christmas, but I...
Nov 16, 2023


Not a cassoulet - leftovers 3
"The cassoulet is a dish which may be infinitely varied so long as it is not made into a mockery with a sausage or two heated up with...
Nov 1, 2023


Tradition and black cake
"Tradition is only about what people have or have not done. It's not about what they are capable of doing. And it's not about what they...
Oct 11, 2023


The Country captain dispute(s)
"I have yet to find two explanations for the name of this dish that agree!" Madhur Jaffrey Or two recipes that more or less align come...
Aug 31, 2023


Cheating with tandoori chicken
"To be truly authentic it should, of course, be cooked in an earthen oven called a tandoor" Charmaine Solomon I chose those particular...
Aug 4, 2023


Biryani extremes
"Essentially, it’s your favourite chicken curry (or vegetable or other protein of choice) buried under a mound of delicately spiced...
Jul 22, 2023

