Posts by Tom Johnston

A bit like Lord Reith’s BBC my mission has been both to entertain and to educate. The problem is that you were the ones who were intended to be educated, not me. Mind you, I consider my weekly Italian lesson a failure if my teacher hasn’t learned something new: similarly, the amount of knowledge I’ve…

As I said on Wednesday, you can do anything (well, anything that’s legal, decent, truthful and honest – this column has standards) with jalapeños that you could do with most other chillies. You’ll all have your own favourites, so let’s travel a little. Firstly, snacking in the States. Some years ago my eldest offspring was…

Most of us have a favourite season. Mine is autumn. Ask many of my fellow autumnal devotees what they love, and many will cite the colours. In one sense, I do too, but more from the cook’s perspective. Last week the vivid purple of brambles had centre stage. Round about now, magazine editors are adorning…

What has gone wrong with the world? While some types of foraging may be a little esoteric – mushrooms, for example, potentially deadly if you don’t know what you’re doing – nothing could be simpler than bramble picking. Well, apart from the jaggy bits, and the permanent staining. I have recently returned from a holiday…

We really aim to be seasonal here, and today we hit double top. The partridge season started at the beginning  of September. While it has been a rotten year for grouse, partridge are plentiful. September is also prime time for wild mushrooms. If you forage for your own, you won’t need me to tell you…

This is a recipe for those of you with a sweet tooth. It comes courtesy of sister-in-law Alison, whose company we are currently enjoying, the first time in two years. As most of you know, baking, bread excepted, is not really my thing, so I’m forever grateful to the guest contributors such as Alison who…

Or, if you want to translate literally, jump in the mouth as the Romans do. You can see why, even on British menus, they stick to the original. I mention it in today’s Tom Eats! so I thought I might include the recipe. It’s incredibly easy to make. The fact that my last attempt wasn’t…

Well, I couldn’t tantalise you with a brief history of the stuff (see Wednesday’s On The Side column) and not give you some to eat, could I? You know by now about the cream allergy, so you’re not going to be getting any of the rich stuff, nor one of these unctuous ones where you start…