Posts by Tom Johnston

Before the break I wrote about a memorable week’s butchery course at the Edinburgh School of Food & Wine. As well as cutting up animals, we did a fair bit of cooking. Course teacher Ash and I lunched very well, and usually quite late, to the discomfiture of trouble and strife L. Not only did…

Last week we mentioned in passing strawberry coulis. Making a sorbet, or its crunchier cousin a granita, are just variations on the theme though the technique is slightly different. I’ll repeat last week’s disclaimer that the requisite degree of sweetness will depend on your berries and your personal taste. In true cheffy style I should…

We’re starting to get into prime strawberry season,  one of summer’s principal delights. I refer of course to British strawberries, not these ghastly forced things, consistency of wood, which arrive bearing hundreds if not thousands of air miles. But be warned. In the early part of the growing season on this sceptred isle, you will…

As the rain bounces off my window, I have two inspirations for today’s column. The first of these was reading that someone somewhere had decreed May to be the National Barbecue Month. In fairness, the weather in Scotland in May can often be surprisingly good. Sadly, not this year. I have cleaned my barbie in…

Claire Macdonald A few weeks ago I had the great pleasure of meeting Lady Claire Macdonald. Not only meeting her, but getting her permission to reproduce recipes from her huge range of cookery books. We own about a dozen. I commend each and every one of them to you. Needless to say, you’ll never get…

I wrote recently about attending the Masterchefs of GB lunch. There were sponsors a-plenty and we all received a goody bag to take home. Sponsors included The Glenlivet whisky and Bon Accord soft drinks. Not only did the bag have samples, it contained a few cocktail recipes which I thought I would share. But first,…

This is a very short recipe – soup ones always are. I was doing some fridge tidying up before we headed off to London for a few days’ hedonism. In the depths of the vegetable drawer (so often a source of inspiration for off the wall stuff) I discovered a bag of Jerusalem artichokes. It…

I am not a great eater of puddings. You may have noticed that the dessert selection is often missing from the Tom Eats! column. (My simple response is to say that it seems to work for Giles Coren, and he’s made a good living out of his scribblings.) I make an exception, however, whenever I…