Posts by Tom Johnston
Scottish “Cassoulet”
I share at least one thing with Nigel Slater. Not, sadly, his cooking ability – how many know that he trained as a chef at London’s Savoy Hotel? I refer to his love of seizing on an ingredient or two, then building it into a dish off the top of his head. This one came…
Read MoreThe Greenhouse by Gary Rhodes, mid 1990s
The Greenhouse – Alas, no more What would Spiderman* do? If you are a prescient child who is foreseeing a problem, you might ask such a question. Having an issue with filling a restaurant review column, I posited a similar query. Next week it will be answered by all of you who responded to my…
Read MoreA Masterclass with Jay Rayner
Want to improve your food writing? Sign up, as I did, for an online class with the guv’nor himself, Jay Rayner. There is no such thing as food writing, he declares. Well, that’s me telt. He is, of course, quite correct. There is writing on the subject of food. The best proponents of the art…
Read MoreGinger: Spice Up Your Food, Spice Up Your Life
Ginger on Wednesday, Ginger on Friday No, not a couplet from a popular ditty. Just a mundane reminder that, as night follows day, so the Wednesday Alphabetical of Food in On The Side comes a couple of days before a couple of recipes featuring that month’s hero. There are so many choices. Ginger cheesecake and…
Read MoreParadise Lost, Paradise Regained
Unknown Never mind a COVID test. Today, Tom Eats! requires you to take a mood test to ascertain if you are a fit and proper person to be its reader. Are you in jabtastic mode, or are you Googling about blood clots? Are you viewing spring with a springy step, or are you an institutionalised…
Read MoreG is for Ginger
Neither of my grandmothers could have been described as exotic. So let’s think of some exotica which we do have today but didn’t have in our culinary lives 30 or 40 years ago. Turmeric root, galangal, cardamom. All of them closely related to today’s hero. Yet we don’t think of ginger as at all out…
Read MoreDinner at Sea – Guest Reviewer, Binkie Johnston
With current reviews impossible, It was fortuitous that I came on the diary of a long lost relative, Binkie Johnston. This is his account of a memorable dinner. North Atlantic, April Well, the Doc had been badgering me about the old vital organs. A bit of sea air, old chap, is what you need. So I…
Read MoreSome Dishes From Binkie Johnston’s Dinner
If you normally read both Tom Eats! and Tom Cooks! don’t read this column till you’ve digested the former. If you don’t read Eats!, I can tell you that these are recipes for a few dishes which featured there. Consommé Olga You may recall that Binkie’s steward, McTavish, attributed this dish to chef’s dalliance with…
Read MoreSome Wad Eat That Want It
Some hae meat and canna eat And some wad eat that want it But we hae meat and we can eat Sae let the Lord be thankit Let me ‘fess up immediately. Despite the Selkirk Grace above, the first part of today’s column has precious little to do with food. It is, however, a follow…
Read MoreStuffed Acorn Squash
I made up this dish and wrote down the recipe in the depths of January. As the weather improved, I thought it might have to go on the back burner till the end of the year; however, with the mercury hovering around 4˚C here, I decided it was too early to be abandoning hearty winter…
Read MoreHome by Nico – Guest Reviewer Miranda Heggie
HOME BY NICO Glasgow, Edinburgh, Belfast Liverpool, Manchester, London Delivery UK Wide www.sixbynico.co.uk Some of you may well be familiar with Six by Nico, although none of the energetic Mr Simeone’s restaurants has as yet been reviewed in Tom Eats! Starting in Glasgow he now has a total of six restaurants, as far apart as…
Read MoreThe Food Producers – Rachel Murray, Sheep Farmer
Farms are traditionally handed down through the generations, so what is unusual to learn that Branxholm Braes, just outside Hawick, is now being run by a third generation of the Murray family? Well, a couple of things. The first is the obvious one, farmers still being predominantly male. More on that later. But if, fifteen…
Read MoreOndine Restaurant, Edinburgh – A Golden Oldie Review
Ondine Restaurant 2 George IV Bridge, Edinburgh EH1 1AD 0131 226 1888 www.ondinerestaurant.co.uk Now, unless you have just returned from the planet Zog, it will not have escaped your notice that restaurants remain closed. Sadly, given this week’s announcement which was as definitive as the predictions given by Punxtsutawney Phil on Groundhog Day, they…
Read MoreFish Coconut Curry – From Myanmar With Love
With this week’s Chef Watch focussing on Stuart Smith who majors in fish, it seemed appropriate to include a fish recipe. Last week’s guest recipe provider, Myint Su attracted a lot of interest, particularly the Burmese connection. Bang on cue, she has delivered another Myanmar dish, this time a fish curry. Many of you asked…
Read MoreChef Watch – Stuart Smith, Fin & Grape, Edinburgh
CHEF WATCH Featuring Stuart Smith, Chef Owner of Fin & Grape, Edinburgh How long have you been a chef? I’ve been a chef for about 11 years now. Why did you become a chef? It really wasn’t planned at all. After spending some time at university initially studying law I eventually graduated with a degree…
Read MoreBeef Curry – from Myanmar
Foodie fashionistas in London are always on the lookout for The Next New Thing. Quite a difficult thing to do these days, and therefore readily open to parody, not to say ridicule. One of the first ever On The Side columns looked at a ludicrous list which appeared on the Observer Food Monthly (editor Nigel…
Read Morethree birds, Edinburgh – Guest Reviewer Fiona Garwood
three birds 3 – 5 Viewforth, Bruntsfield, Edinburgh EH10 4JD 0131 229 3252 www.threebirds.co.uk The Bill (Takeaway) Starters £5.00 – £7.50 | Mains £10.00 | Afters £5.00 – £6.00 Birds do it, bees do it Even educated fleas do it Let’s do it, let’s fall in love Nearly a decade has elapsed since three…
Read MoreF is for Flambé
Flamber? It’s what pyromaniacs do. Except, in Glasgow High Court they call it arson. But to flamber is simply the French term for setting on fire. With insouciant French style the Larousse Gastronomique explains that this is done both to enhance flavour and to demonstrate culinary showmanship. Well forget the former. You can enhance flavour…
Read MoreKaren Barnes’ Ricotta Pancakes with Spiced Pear and Bacon Butter
This is the birthday week of Tom’s Food! Like any foundling, the exact date is uncertain. Never mind. To celebrate, Tom Cooks! has as promised brought you a celebrity packed issue. I asked some star names for recipes and we have not one but two today. While I usually do something around Shrove Tuesday (February…
Read MoreCat Thomson’s Sweetcorn Fritters
Cat Thomson of The Scotsman is indeed a good friend to Tom’s Food! A few weeks ago she gave us a fascinating introduction into the work of Food Heritage Scotland. I had actually asked her for a recipe. In fact I got two articles in one. After her piece for On The Side, she followed…
Read MoreThe Cottage Inn, Upper Bucklebury – Guest Reviewer Anne Hillerton
The Cottage Inn, 26 Broad Lane, Upper Bucklebury, West Berkshire, RG7 6QJ 01635 864 544 www.thecottageinnupperbucklebury.co.uk/ The Bill Mains £9.00 Kids Menu £6.00 Bucklebury, in the North Wessex Downs, lies to the north of the A4 between Reading and Newbury, and yes, the name does ring a bell. We became famous, briefly, when Catherine…
Read MoreHappy Birthday
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOM’S FOOD! Sarah Mellersh Bill Kerr AP Stephen Jardine L Johnston, Edinburgh Nigel Eastmond Craig Millar Vikki Wood Willie McCurrach Fred Berkmiller It astonishes me to realise that a year has passed since the new Tom’s Food! website first saw the light of day. And depressing to think that it was launched…
Read MoreKings Head, New Buckenham – Guest Reviewer Ross Marshall
Kings Head Queen Street, New Buckenham, Norfolk NR16 2AL 01953 861247 www.kingsheadnewbuckenham.co.uk The Bill Burgers £7.00 – £9.00 Chips Kings Head £3.50 Aunt Bessie £1.25 for 900g at Sainsbury’s (I’d vote for the Kings Head any day – Ed) Our little country village has a long history, reaching back nearly 900 years. Regular…
Read MoreCelebrate Valentine’s Day with Lobster Thermidor
The observant among you, or more accurately the few who give a damn about these things, will have noticed that there is one more Friday, and therefore one more Tom Cooks! column, before Valentine’s Day. Indeed. But Pancake Day is just 48 hours later this year, and I have a belter of a guest recipe…
Read More