Cooking
Grasshopper Pie is like a teenage fever dream
Grasshopper pie is an unlikely dish: bright green, mint-flavoured, combined with obscure liqueurs and set with marshmallows, all sitting in…
My quest for the perfect muffuletta
Everyone knows the story of the Earl of Sandwich: keen not to interrupt a late night card game at his…
I’ve fallen in love with crème caramel
If you’ve stuck out my cookery writing for long enough, you’ll know that I am a bit of a Labrador…
Chicken Milanese is the king of homemade fast food
When it comes to home cooking, we’re obsessed with optimisation. Today this manifests itself in reels on Instagram offering a…
Embrace the squidge of a custard slice
Ihad a culinary revelation this week. I like to think I’m an egalitarian when it comes to food – I…
Beef olives – classic comfort food, without an olive in sight
We all did mad things during the first Covid lockdown. For some it was getting a dog or starting up…
The joy of iced buns
‘It’s just a hot dog bun with icing!’ the iced-bun detractors will shriek. I’m a lady with a lot of…
Man vs lobster
She was doing a postgrad course in a town by the sea, and a strange thing happened to us one…
How to win MasterChef
‘Warmer, sharper and funnier than ever,’ claims one reviewer of ‘the BBC’s disgraced cookery show’ MasterChef. But this is nonsense.…
The extraordinary simplicity of oeuf mayonnaise
‘Sometimes, in the search for originality, the most obvious dishes are forgotten,’ says Elizabeth David, the doyenne of cookery, in…
My shameful confession: I’m not a good baker
Contrary to popular conception, I’m not a great baker. I was hired by Bake Off for my judging experience, not…
How do you make a tart that doesn’t really exist?
There are few things more delicious than falling down a rabbit hole. No, don’t worry, I’m not serving up a…
Expect toddlers and parlour games at today’s dinner parties
The cost of babysitters can make accepting dinner invitations very expensive, so a host should ensure that friends feel free to bring their children too, says Jago Rackham
This Easter, eat rabbit
Dissonance is necessary around Easter. Fluffy lambs and chicks are everywhere: on cards and decorations, in countless chocolate forms and…
Why rabbit makes the best Easter lunch (yes, really)
Dissonance is necessary around Easter. Fluffy lambs and chicks are everywhere: on cards and decorations, in countless chocolate forms and…
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 get Britain eating healthily again
Another week, another government offensive against childhood obesity. This time it’s a fresh round of pleas for new levies on…
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…
The secrets of sachertorte
My theory is that sachertorte is a victim of its own success. Over the past 150 years, it has become…
