The perfect 15-minute chocolate mousse
There’s an inherent pleasure in having something by heart. Poetry at school. Lines in plays. Song lyrics. The things that…
My take on marry me chicken
I am not in the habit of bringing viral TikTok recipes here. It is a safe space, away from digestive…
There’s no beating the comfort of cabinet pudding
The British hold a steamed pudding close to their hearts. Like a culinary hot-water bottle, it may not be terribly…
Cheese and onion pasties: how to make a Greggs classic at home
‘That’s not a pasty!’ my husband declares loftily, eyeing up what most definitely is a veritable clutch of cheese and…
Why are roast potatoes so hard to get right?
Roast potatoes shouldn’t be complicated. We’re talking two ingredients, plus some salt and maybe herbs if you’re feeling fancy. It’s…
I’m a Christmas pudding convert
I used to be a Christmas pudding denier. I couldn’t see the attraction of a dense pudding made mostly of…
The glory of gravy
In Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island, when Ben Gunn is found by Jim Hawkins, sunburnt and wide-eyed after three years…
How to make the perfect pecan pie
A pecan pie has been on my kitchen table for the past few days, due to circumstances rendering every other…
Cullen skink is comfort in a bowl
They say not to judge a book by its cover – but what about judging a recipe by its name?…
Would you spend £30 on a Charlie Bigham’s ready meal?
Ready meals: the after-work time-saver, the dinner-party cheat – or a poor imitation of proper, cooked food? The proto-ready meal…
The secrets of sachertorte
My theory is that sachertorte is a victim of its own success. Over the past 150 years, it has become…
Bacon and egg pie, the perfect throw-it-together, please-the-whole-family dish
There are a handful of elements that make me nervous about tackling particular classic recipes. First, if it’s a dish…
The secrets of a British apple pie
‘As American as apple pie’, or so the saying goes. But what happens if the apple pie in question isn’t…
Save our sausages!
Who first thought of grinding up all those little unused odds and sods from an animal carcass and stuffing them…
Whatever happened to chicken à la king?
As sure as eggs is eggs, what was once comfort food will be reinvented as fine dining. Lancashire hotpots will…
What to do with the last of the summer’s apples
The double-edged sword of eating with the seasons is the glut. A blunt, un-pretty word, which is a joy in…
The glorious richness of rillettes
I admit to feeling a little intimidated by charcuterie. I have a clutch of books on my shelf all laying…
The magic of Danish dream cake
I am, for the most part, a rule follower and a people pleaser. It’s one of the reasons I love…
Salad cream is more than a poor man’s mayonnaise
Salad cream makes me feel oddly patriotic. It’s one of those products that is so distinctively British that it has…
The importance of bread as a symbol of Ukrainian resistance
Two authors writing in response to the war use baking as a prism through which to view the country’s heritage and its defiance of Putin
The key to a great American key lime pie
A few years ago, a friend wrote a cookery book for the UK market, full of gorgeous dishes, many of…
I love sausages!
‘Sausages,’ my son says to me, leaning forward from the back of the car, with the authority and confidence only…
Should family history, however painful, be memorialised forever?
What to hold on to and what to let go of is Samantha Ellis’s dilemma when trying to explain the complexities of their Judeo-Iraqi heritage to her young son
It’s time to reclaim tapioca pudding
‘Nothing will surely ever taste so hateful as nursery tapioca,’ wrote Elizabeth David. She’s not alone in her hatred of…
Devilled kidneys: a heavenly breakfast
Iam standing in my kitchen preparing kidneys for devilling. Snipping their white cores away piece by piece until they come…
