Tom Cooks!

100 ways, eh? The number is the symbolism behind the form of the traditional toque, or chef’s hat. The number of pleats, we are told, remind us of the many ways that he knows how to cook eggs. Once upon a time it was an important badge of status. Size was, indeed, everything. While I’m…

When eating at an Indian restaurant, sometimes the vegetable side dishes can become the star of the show. Hardly surprising since India has by far the largest percentage of vegetarians in the world. Read to day’s review of Bell Bottom Indian Eatery and you’ll see the highest praise reserved for the Aloo Gobi Masala (potatoes…

Easter. Lamb I suppose. Regular readers know my views on that by now. But hey, lamb/hogget/mutton is delicious at any time of year. As with many culinary delights, the two optimum cooking options are hard and fast or low and slow. Thus I like a lamb leg done at a fairly high heat, pink and…

Hadn’t been to the shops for a while and no clear plan on what to make for the memsahib’s dinner. The fridge had a vat of stock from a chicken earlier in the week. The veg drawer had half an onion and half a red pepper, plus a bag of spinach. The stock was the…

Well, after we came out of the restricted March offering, and had an article on Luxury on Wednesday, you could have been forgiven for expecting larks’ tongues or lobster Thermidor this week. But before you start to complain, pause for a moment. Pine nuts are one of life’s more expensive store cupboard ingredients and this…

Continuing the vegetarian theme, I turned for inspiration, as I so often do, to a thick red folder from Let’s Cook Scotland. As many of you are aware, that’s where I spent a game changing fortnight under the Sarah Mellersh tutelage of the very lovely Sarah Mellersh. There are hundreds of recipes in the book…

We’ve been on our annual jaunt to see cheery chums in Portugal. There’s a lot more to the cuisine of that country than people think. Here’s a recipe which I picked up. It’s vegetarian (as promised for this month), though I think I’d be tempted to use chicken stock. The recipe suggests flat green beans.…

It takes a special group of people to set up a restaurant and simultaneously to poke fun at themselves. When David and Kay Canter and friend Daphne Swann opened Cranks in in London in the early 1960s, that is precisely how vegetarians were regarded. This was pre swinging London, but the Carnaby Street location certainly…

Last week I declared that in the month of March, Tom Cooks! would be a meat free column. I noticed that we are still in February, so I’m meeting you halfway, reproducing one of the dishes which Binkie Johnston enjoyed at the Tsar’s table in 1914. Those of you with decent French will have noticed…

Tomorrow I intend to start counselling. It will be short and I’m sure it will be successful. For the past few weeks I have been manifesting an obsession with coconut. Today, it ends. I did mention on Wednesday that for many of us in the UK coconut is an ingredient which we find only in…

Last week, a mutton curry: today, a couple of side dishes which might go with it. You’ll find daal everywhere, but the addition of coconut which you get in the Sri Lankan versions is a delight. Coconut Daal Ingredients 250g red lentils; 10 to 12 curry leaves; 1 tbsp onion finally chopped; 2 x 2-3…

Nuwan Wejitha This was one of the most glorious dishes I ate during our Sri Lankan tour. For breakfast, naturally. While I did occasionally go western at the start of a day – usually because we were sated from the night before – you don’t go to Sri Lanka to eat western food. Your curry…

As a young solicitor, the wisest advice I ever got was from a grizzled surveyor. How much do you reckon that’s worth? I asked. The answer came with a kindly twinkle. Are you buying or selling? So I’ll pose a question, and give you a similar style answer. Canapés, yes or no? My response is, are you…

In Wednesday’s On The Side, V was for venison. In what’s now a Tom’s Food! tradition (and it’s a good time of year for such things) what we blether about on a Wednesday we cook on a Friday. Two recipes today. The first is a fairly simple stew. When it comes to such things, simple…

This is the third and final extract from Jay Rayner’s excellent Nights Out At Home. The recipe is inspired by a Henry Harris recipe for rabbit in a mustard sauce. Harris made this famous in a restaurant called Racine. He is now back behind the stoves in a reasonably new venture called Bouchon Racine, above a…

Perhaps unsurprisingly, these extracts from Jay Rayner’s Nights Out At Home are going down a treat. The tale of the metre long cheese toastie (OK, I exaggerate slightly) boosted circulation. For those who have missed the review of the book itself and the previous article, a very brief explanation. I suggest not that Mr Rayner would…

It’s Masterchef The Professionals time again. It’s the only one I watch. Masterchef for punters just depresses me by demonstrating how far my moderate culinary talents lag behind those of serious amateur cooks. And the so called Celebrity version? How many of us can recognise more than twenty percent of them? Every year, I swear…

I suspect this is the first time that Scripture has ever been quoted in this blog. Despite that, even in this godless age, I’m sure you’re all familiar with Matthew 7:7, Ask and it will be given to you.  Or perhaps the complementary Scottish saying, if ye dinnae ask, ye dinnae get. These are the texts…

The response to last week’s column about Scotland’s national dish reminded me how much we love a pie. I tend not to repeat recipes; however, today’s is one which still features in the stats tables, despite nearly five years having elapsed since it was first published. Many of you weren’t readers in these far off…

As autumn sets in, we return from exotic climes and contemplate food from home. Now hands up those of you who thought that the national dish of Scotland was haggis? Nay, my lovelies, you are sadly mistaken. Special occasions here and it has to be steak pie. Weddings, funerals and, for all I know, bar…

This will, I promise, be the last article to stem directly from the September trip to Italy. For some bizarre reason, not all of you are Italophiles. Pansotti con Salsa ai Noci In a recent article about the food of Liguria, I mentioned salsa ai noci. The plan was to give you a recipe for this…

In this week’s On The Side column (part 2 next Wednesday) I was being a little smug at having uncovered some of the regional food secrets of Liguria and Piedmont. I’ve always been fond of vitello tonnato and am describing it as a Piedmont specialty. As an aside, I have no idea why that should…

With us having spent the best part of September in Genoa, you would be forgiven for expecting a string of Italian recipes. Fret not, they’re coming soon. But you may remember a review of Ting Thai, and its wonderful, authentic Thai curries. That’s a dish which is almost up there with chicken tikka masala on…

We all do it from time to time, don’t we? Pick up a familiar ingredient from the shop or the freezer and do the same old thing with it. In this case, half of a pork fillet. I was blown away by the food at Macau Kitchen. In particular I raved about the aromatic crispy…