On The Side

I awoke with a start and an itch. Something, I could tell, was beckoning. History, as it transpired, seven years’ worth to be precise. This month marks the seventh anniversary of the first ever Tom Eats! review. It came to pass after I had abandoned any plans to trade under the banner of the then…

Eat Safe: Use A Condiment It’s not entirely certain whether this warning, which appears on the lids of our hero’s products, has the backing of the World Health Organisation, but it’s not a bad strapline. It’s also an indicator that this is a business with a smile. Don’t, however, confuse that with something that is…

CHEF WATCH Featuring Dean Banks of Dean Banks at The Pompadour, Edinburgh  How long have you been a chef? 18 years. I started when I was 15. Why did you become a chef? I’ve always had a love of food. I started helping in the kitchen when I was growing up, making cakes and biscuits,…

Well, no prizes for guessing what the I was for. I did think about focussing on ice alone, but doubted you would let me away with it. Ice is defined as a food in the UK food legislation, and should be handled as such. The few times I’ve had a dodgy tummy out east can…

  Can you tell your tang from your bolster*? In the aftermath of the Tokyo Games, what is the major difference between Japan and Europe? Read on, and I’ll explain. I am sometimes accused of being blunt – not today. Having suspended publication (but not writing) for a month, I became complacent. Having a lot…

If there are any budding Messiahs out there, I have a word of advice for you. Arrange to meet Andrew Whitley of Scotland The Bread, persuade him of the benefits your cause, then appoint him as your first apostle. In the eighteen months or so since I started this feature it has been my pleasure…

CHEF WATCH   Featuring Kamil Witek, Chef Proprietor, Aurora modern eatery, Leith, Edinburgh How long have you been a chef? I have been a chef on and off for 15 years. I started when I was 18 in 2006, working in the summer in Blackpool. After taking a few seasonal jobs, I started working in…

In the final extract,we consider how to combat Snack Attacks and The Bad Idea Bears,the importance of not being bored by your food, and how to keep the weight off when you get there.  EPISODE 5 Coping with Snack Attacks If you’re at home, as opposed to at work or out and about, this should,…

Weighing in, how to cope with setbacks, and the importance of exercise EPISODE 4 Weighing In The Beginning You do need a set of accurate scales. You’ll have a temptation to jump on every set of scales you see. Resist that. Even if your scales aren’t 100% accurate, they’ll be consistent. My experience is that…

CHEF WATCH   Featuring Craig Stafford, Head Chef, Fishers in The City, Edinburgh   How long have you been a chef? 24 years.  Why did you become a chef? I was always cooking & baking as a kid, loved watching Ready Steady Cook & cookery shows when I was wee, so I enrolled in catering…

Some hard lessons on calorie counting, plus some tips on goal setting and recording.EPISODE 3 Before You Begin – Why Are You Overweight? Last week I challenged you to eat normally for three days and to write down everything you consumed. The plan was two fold.  Firstly, to help when it comes to the very…

After last week’s introduction, we look at some of the ways you may have tried to lose weight and why they didn’t work; we work out precisely how many calories you need in a day, and get ready to start counting. If you haven’t already done so, we strongly recommend that you download My Fitness…

For probably the first time in my adult life I’ve managed to lose weight AND keep it off over a sustained period of time. I’ve done this by eating and drinking anything I wanted, never being hungry, and never eating boring food. The Wee Fat Lawyer’s Diet Book explains how. It will be published in…

You’re having a perfectly fine day, possibly cooking dinner. Then your stockbroker husband comes home and announces that, after thirty years in The City, he’s giving it up to become a full time beekeeper. You have an allergy. Do you (a) have a hissy fit (b) consult a divorce lawyer, or (c) adapt in finest…

Chef Watch Featuring Brian Maule of Chardon d’Or, Glasgow How long have you been a chef? 36 years. Why did you become a chef? Went to a work experience in the Skean Dhu, Irvine (probably to give my teachers peace and quiet). Favourite ingredient Without a doubt, salt. Favourite or signature dish I don’t really…

Now don’t go all squeamish on me. I’m not talking about that pancake flattened feral pigeon, barely identifiable, in the middle of Corstorphine Road on a wet April afternoon. Such are beyond redemption, frankly, alive or dead. Quality roadkill (RK) is mostly, though not always, the preserve of country roads and, though RK is available…

Hands up all of you who know what harissa is. Well, that’s all of you, obviously. Keep your hands up if you’ve used it. Yep, most of you, as I suspected. And finally, keep the hands up if you know what the word means. Ha ha! And it’s such a simple word too – هرس…

Well this whole article came to life because of a quip about fish and the aftermath. And if you are a food writer of a certain age who is a fan of the Marx Brothers, it would be negligent not to include the greatest of all fish jokes, from the pen of genius of S…

Chef Watch Featuring Galton Blackiston, Michelin Starred Chef of Morston Hall in Norfolk How long have you been a chef? I’ve been a Chef since 17 and I’m now 58. Do the maths it’s embarrassing. Why did you become a chef? Because I’m not academic and I liked cooking at home. I actually wanted to…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…