The lowdown on kitchen equipment and kits.
After my introduction to sous vide – in which I explained what sous vide means, its history, how it works and the advantages and disadvantages of this cooking technique – I was planning to share a clever, inventive recipe with you… something to show off the cheffy possibilities… something unusual and impressive. I’ve been admiring ... Read more »
Although it’s been around for many years, the technique of cooking food sous vide (under vacuum) in a carefully temperature-controlled water bath has mainly been the preserve of chefs. Professionals have long appreciated the accuracy, consistency and sheer ease of a method that allows them to do the prep and (most of) the cooking of ... Read more »
When I was approached about reviewing the shiny new Samsung Galaxy S4 phone I was a little hesitant. I never blogged about it but twitter followers might remember how much I disliked the Nokia Lumia 800 (Windows) phone I was given to review last year. Genuinely keen to develop a fondness for it given its ... Read more »
Sometimes I see a product and fall utterly in lust with it immediately. The intensity with which I covet said product is often inversely proportional to how much I rationally need it. Indeed, a product I may use once in a blue moon can often hold far greater appeal than one which I’d likely use ... Read more »
A few months ago, I talked about the way we organise the contents of our freezer. Next, it was the turn of the larder – a large under-the-stairs cupboard which stays relatively cool year round thanks to an air brick through the outer wall. Before Before we re-organised, all the shelves looked a bit like ... Read more »
As anyone who read my post about Glazed Vanilla Bean Doughnuts will be aware, we were recently sent a Judge Cookware Multi Basket Deep Fat Fryer to review and I had a list as long as my arm of recipes to try! In an era that’s obsessed with healthy eating for longevity, in which media ... Read more »
I don’t order bottled water in restaurants. We are fortunate enough to live in a country with safe, clean and reasonably plentiful drinking water. It strikes me as crazy to pay (financially and environmentally) to drink bottled water instead. There’s an argument for those who prefer carbonated, in which case buying fizzy bottled water is ... Read more »
When you think of foods that benefit from deep frying, what springs to mind? For me, the list was long… fried chicken, battered fish, proper chips, pakoras, tempura, tortilla chips, sesame prawn toasts, whitebait, crisps – not just potato but courgette, parsnip and beetroot, fried tofu, onion rings, samosas, calamari, gulab jamon, even deep fried ... Read more »
“YOU CAN’T USE THAT GRINDER FOR SPICES! MY COFFEE WILL TASTE OF CURRY!” * That desperate wail will be familiar to any of you who share your house with a coffee lover. We used to have an old blender with a spice grinder attachment but it wasn’t very good so we threw it out years ... Read more »
When I attended a Lakeland product preview event this summer, the products that excited me most were the components that, together, form a cheese making kit. Sold separately, the recommended items are a large stainless steel maslin pan (though any similar large pan would be fine), a digital thermometer, two different cheese moulds, vegetarian rennet ... Read more »
The Place of Onions, in old Lille. After last night’s rainstorm the intense sticky heat has broken and today is cool, breezy, fresh… I love it! A drop of… [more]
We went to Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire at The Void this morning, an amazing VR experience where we got to be Rebel Alliance members going undercover as… [more]