Cooking
Dull food for dull times: the Morrisons family food box reviewed
The Compass Group boast of serving 5.5 billion meals a year, so you might think they would be good at…
The joy of my new British passport
‘Anything you want?’ says Catriona on her way out of the house to go to the shop. I’m standing at…
Piccadilly Circus, delivered: the Wolseley’s home dining reviewed
The Corbin & King dining and home entertaining box includes dishes from the Delaunay, the Wolseley and Brasserie Zédel ‘delivered…
Meal kits are a recipe for mayhem
Caroline was pretty heroic during the first lockdown. She’s used to having no children to deal with between the hours…
Sub-ready-meals of salt and tears: Simply Cook reviewed
Welcome to the sunlit uplands which, for me, contain small plastic tubs of stock, which is just the opening to…
The surprising brilliance of meal kits
Ford’s Kumar Galhotra once remarked that carmaking is 100,000 rational decisions in search of one emotional decision. You spend five…
Me, myself and Thai: my cooking lesson from Cher Thai Eatery
Lockdown is hurting everyone except the chickens. I have bought them a conservatory because Philippa, a Light Sussex, looks like…
Dear Mary: How do I cope with cooking for food snobs?
Q. I have a delightful young goddaughter who, thanks to the virus, I have not seen since last year. Her…
Winning a knife fight with a fish: Newlyn Fresh Fish reviewed
It’s a good day to stab something and tear out its heart. Elaine Lorys is the only female master fishmonger…
My steak cooking lesson turned into a sitcom
Pandemic has brought many truths, the most minor of which is: I can’t cook steak. I thought I could. I…
Dear Mary: How can I help the host at a socially-distant dinner party?
Q. As we attend socially distant events, we expect of our hosts a scrupulous accommodation of our preferences around physical…
Can a chef teach me to cook over Zoom?
We cannot bear more drive-through or take-out or near-fatal snack. I am convinced of the boredom of my female ancestors,…
Prue Leith: My carbon footprint should put me in jail
I made the mistake of saying I thought insects might help feed the world. They are high-protein, cheap to farm…
‘Cook it like a prayer’: Bip Ling’s Christmas curry
This dish is refreshing and super yummy. It’s a recipe that Didas (my Indian grandmother) taught me. The zesty tomato…
Rachel Johnson: everyone in my family is getting quince paste for Christmas
Brrring! Freddy Gray of this parish is on the blower. ‘How about a piece for this week saying he’s won,…
Prue Leith: When did the Samaritans lose their way?
In the past few weeks, on three separate occasions, I have met three different women who for years (one for…
What made the Two Fat Ladies great
Mary Berry’s dependable The Aga Book — a book of the last century and part of my kitchen library —…
A gratifying evocation of 1960s sweets – but I wanted more: Toast reviewed
Nigel Slater is popular because he’s an exceptionally meek cook. Not for him the sprawling restaurant empire or the transatlantic…
I’ve had enough of induction hobs — and I know I’m not the only one
It was a close-run thing for my friend who’s having a new kitchen installed in her house in Chiswick. After…
Prue Leith’s Christmas kitchen nightmares
Christmas in our family seems to guarantee tears and tantrums as well as jingle bells and jollity. Indeed, in my…
Even the BBC’s recipes are politically correct
I’m cooking almost full-time for my poor old Mum and learning on the job: shepherd’s pie, roast pork, cauliflower cheese.…
Cabbages and kings
The first pastry cook Chaïm Soutine painted came out like a collapsed soufflé. The sitter for ‘The Pastry Cook’ (c.1919)…
Penelope Lively’s notebook: Coal holes and pub opera
I have been having my vault done over. Not, as you might think, the family strong room, but the place…
What Quique Dacosta knows that Picasso didn’t
Chefs have a problem. Think of much of the best food you have ever eaten. Caviar, English native oysters, sashimi,…
Rory Sutherland: Why don't Americans have kettles?
I enjoy reading reviews of kitchen gadgetry. Clever new kitchen products are often under-appreciated. Many rituals around food preparation are…
