That's all, folks!
That was so much fun, I felt like I was on Mastermind. Thank you all for your excellent questions – and only one about the dog, he’ll be miffed about that! – off to have a nice cup of tea and a lie down.
What’s the process behind How to Cook the Perfect … ?
circlefriend asks: What’s the process behind “How to Cook the Perfect…”? How long does it generally take to cook all the variations, who are your testers, what do you do with the leftovers, do you get sick of the dish after eating so much of it?
Mike345 asks: I’m curious about the failures. Have you ever started with “How to Cook the Perfect…” and, a few hours/days/weeks later revised that to “nope” and picked a different topic? And which ones that you did publish caused the most trouble?
Felicity:
Briefly, the process is research, shop, cook, test, write - how long it takes really depends on the dish in question – for something nice and quick, I can get it done in a couple of days, but if each dish takes several hours to make, it can be most of the week, particularly if it also takes a while to source all the ingredients (even living in London, this can be a pain!) I learned early that not everything is easily available online, or in the quantities or timeframe I need it! I usually recruit anyone I can find to test, though specialist knowledge is helpful, it’s not always easily available. Do I get sick of eating the same thing for days on end? Usually not, because I hate waste, but I would often prefer to be eating something else! If you’re interested, I wrote something more detailed about the process here.
Mike, occasionally we put forward a dish and then it just doesn’t work in the format; there’s not enough of a core recipe, it’s too much of an assembly job etc. One that springs to mind recently was a cafe or coupe liegoise; one of my favourite orders in French cafes, but it turned out, once I thought about it, to really be just bought ice cream, chocolate sauce and whipped cream. There went my plans to gorge myself on ice cream! The one that nearly broke me was ramen; even the quickest recipes took half a day, some demanded a multi-day process just for the stock, and that was after I’d sourced the bones. Or there was the time I nearly started a grease fire deep-frying porchetta … that was quite traumatic.
Can you have too much garlic?
foots2004 asks: How can I be more daring with garlic? I use it happily and think I know when to slice or grate or leave it whole but I can never really get the flavour out of it in the right way, especially Chinese.
Igelkott asks: When I put garlic in my cooking (four or five cloves even), the food doesn’t smell or taste of garlic. Whole or chopped seems not to make any difference. I know to be careful not to burn garlic, but how do I achieve that wonderful whiff when I take the lid off? Am I adding my garlic at the wrong time?
Felicity:
Hmm, I would caution, as someone who was once at the receiving end of a kindly neighbour misreading five cloves of garlic for five heads the night before we went on a transatlantic flight, to proceed carefully here; every garlic lover thinks they can never get enough, but I promise you, it’s possible.
My advice is 1) choose your garlic carefully, if you have a choice; I avoid the tight, tiny heads of (usually Chinese) garlic increasingly sold in supermarkets as I find they’re all fire and no perfume, in favour of the larger, slightly milder but more “garlicky” European-grown ones (indeed, we grow some excellent garlic ourselves, which you can buy. Finely grating, or simply mashing with some coarse salt, gives the most pungent flavour as I think I’m right in saying that the process breaks down the cell walls. BUT! So many recipes call for you to add the garlic to hot oil and carry on sautéing, which is a recipe for burning in my experience. Much better, if possible, to add the garlic to the oil as it heats, so it infuses without browning, and then either scoop it out and add it back in at the end, if you wish, or add a liquid to arrest the frying process. I don’t think we take enough care over garlic as recipe writers – but yes, I often increase the amount (or knowingly use really huge cloves, thus effectively doubling it). I think our palates are changing in this regard; a lot of traditional French and Italian cooking isn’t as garlicky as we now want it to be, and it’s fine to adjust recipes to suit your own taste!
Onions – in carbonara?
Hesfalleninthewater asks: We like to caramelise onions for our spaghetti carbonara at home. It adds sweetness to the saltiness and creaminess. Are there any traditionalish dishes you like to adapt for yourself which would have purists storming from the table?
Felicity:
Good call, I can see how that would be delicious (I also like to make a carbonara-type dish, but with peas or courgettes instead of the meat, and an awful lot of Parmesan), and I once added kimchi which really takes it too far away from carbonara for credibility but it was delicious. Hmm … I love beans in my chili con carne, which would bring Texans out in fits, and I like it with rice (ditto) … I’m sure there are more but my mind’s gone blank, sorry! (also, I kind of love cream in a carbonara, which I now think of as French-style … it’s not authentic, but it’s nice. See also, gruyère on pizza. Oh, and decent medium cheddar on a hamburger, American cheese is a texture, not a cheese).
Inspiring food in films and books?
Gladiolive asks: Do you have any favourite scenes with food from films or books? And can food can be an almost intangible, ephemeral delight for you … I love eating cherries, trying to tell from the way they look what order to eat them in, aiming to finish with the best one and, of course, often finishing with a dud.
Felicity:
I always loved the food scenes in the Sopranos – the whole series was so beautifully structured around Italian-American culinary culture, and food was used to such great dramatic effect.
Bookswise, I’m always a sucker for any travel writing that explores the food as well as the culture – I bought a whole sack of Hunza apricots online during lockdown after reading Dervla Murphy’s adventures in the Hindu Kush – and I can never help but think of that deliberately nostalgic, beautifully sybaritic prelapsarian picnic in Brideshead Revisited.
A book without food, in whatever genre, is a book that’s missing an important part of the picture. (I do the same with tomatoes by the way; it’s instinct, rather than expertise, but sometimes you just know what’s going to be good! Melons, sadly, are harder to judge)
One last perfect meal?
GreenAndNowGrey asks: What is your absolute favourite meal?
Kieran1986 asks: If you were on death row what would your last meal request be?
Felicity:
Of course I’ve thought about this endlessly, why pretend otherwise. I think with loads of garlicky olive oil, and good bread, followed by steak frites (rare steak, salty rustly frites) and creamed spinach with lots of nutmeg, my mum’s raspberry trifle, and a big wedge of stilton with ripe figs and greengages and tiny oatcakes. Plus a small very cold martini to start, white burgundy, something Mourvedre-heavy from the southern Rhone perhaps, and an old fashioned to roll me on to the scaffold.
Who is your most go-to food writer?
Wednesdayaddams asks: Whenever I want to try cooking something new, my first port of call is always to Google “[dish name] Felicity Cloake” as I always consider your tried and tested recipes to be the definitive version. As Felicity Cloake herself, who is your most trusted and failsafe chef / cook / food writer when it comes to finding good recipes?
Felicity:
Oooh, well I don’t have just one because the recipes span so many different genres, so I tend more towards writers whose palates mirror my own. I know Delia’s recipes will always work and be utterly reliable, for example, but I usually want to add more garlic, or chilli, or whatever, whereas sometimes Nigel Slater, my absolute culinary hero who also loves a bold seasoning, can go a bit wild with the double cream even for my taste. So deliciously decadent! One of my favourite books, though I could never get the black forest gateau sponge to work, but other than that it’s never failed me, is Simon Hopkinson and Lindsey Bareham’s The Prawn Cocktail Years. I’ve given that as a gift to countless people over the years. Also, anything by Diana Henry is hard to improve upon. And of course Meera Sodha and Georgina Hayden … OK I have to stop
What is your ideal cycling food?
Hamat asks: What would you make for breakfast to set yourself up for a strenuous bike ride?
Felicity:
Oooh, well I actually prefer, if I’m cycle touring, to get some distance under my belt before I eat, both because, if it’s hot, it’s better to get going as soon as possible, but also to give myself something to look forward to. Never more than 30km though. In France, of course, it has to be a croissant and a cafe creme, but if I’m eating a packed breakfast, I like something like oatcakes with peanut butter or Marmite with a ripe banana squashed on top. Easy to transport, satisfying and energy dense.
The oatcakes also tick the energy snack box, though I sometimes take a bag of homemade granola (https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2014/jun/05/how-to-make-the-perfect-granola), and
I’m never without some boiled sweets. Instant energy, but, more importantly, a spirit lifter when you’re grinding up an endless hill!
How to know when meat is 'done'?
Dogmeup asks: Before I was given a meat thermometer, I’d test the meat/fish by the old methods of touch and press and taste. Now, I serve it up at the “safe” temperatures – sadly, it’s all a bit dried out and lacks inherent juiciness. How important is it to follow industry guidelines?
Felicity:
Professional caution will not allow me to advise you ignore official guidelines … but I do, unless I’m serving anyone I know is particularly vulnerable (and they usually get the end piece anyway, poor old things). There are chef-published alternatives online which are worth having a look at.
Related: the ridiculous tradition of incinerating turkeys dates from the days when most of us bought them frozen, and extra caution was required on the part of recipe writers … it took a long time for people to dare to deviate from these well-established guidelines!
New ideas for picnic food?
Hugheswho asks: What is the best picnic food that doesn’t seem to belong on a picnic?
Felicity:
This is such a great question - picnic food is basically all about logistics isn’t it, something that’s easy to carry and eat without the need for proper ceremony, so I’d go with a whole roast chicken. I love the idea of tearing into it in the centre of the rug and everyone stuffing it into fluffy buttered rolls, maybe with some watercress. I’d have to keep the dog away mind you. Also, Cornish pasties. Made for picnics, but you rarely see them nonetheless.
What do you give Wilf as a treat?
ToothlessHag asks: What is Wilf’s favourite treat? Do you cook for him?
Felicity:
Wilf used to be a handy waste disposal unit, and is now incredibly fussy, so I do indeed end up cooking for him simply to get him to eat (nb he has an endless appetite for processed nonsense, but he can’t live on fake pigs in blankets alone). The latest hit was a venison, pearl barley and broccoli casserole from Debra Robertson’s Dogs Dinners book which was so nice I ate some too - he’s far too good for mere poached free range chicken breast and rice these days (the entitlement! Lucky I love him eh).
Do you take a scientific approach to cooking?
DefinitelyStillAlive asks: Your “Perfect” approach is quite similar to the scientific method, change one thing at a time and see what happens. I suspect a lot of cooking is effectively superstition/oral tradition based on “what grandma used to do”, so your approach is refreshing. Do you have an interest in science?
Felicity:
At the risk of exposing myself as the hopeless ignoramus I am, I am interested in science as much as it pertains to other things I enjoy, eg cooking, or dog husbandry, or cycling faster or whatever … I like to know why things work they way they do so I can use that knowledge in practical applications, but I’m afraid I don’t have a higher interest in scientific discovery for its own sake. I’m also very interested in folk traditions in recipes too – even if they have absolutely no scientific basis, like the old story of the pot roast being cut to fit someone three generation ago’s pot, and everyone doing it the same way since, even with bigger pots at their disposal! Basically I’m omnivorously nosy, but also quite impatient and slapdash, and I only have GCSE science, so I’m always learning as I go in that department! (If you like the approach, I hope you’re familiar with Nicola Lamb’s Substack, which is great on baking science, and very rigorous, and of course the old Serious Eats and Nik Sharma’s work, both of which are often much better than me on really getting to the bottom of how recipes work. )
What are your tips on feeding a family on a budget?
BAKH20 asks: With so many families feeling the squeeze, what advice would you give someone on a tight budget? Are tinned foods a healthy choice, and which staples would you always recommend having in the cupboard? Equally, are there any products that seem like a good buy but aren’t really worth it?
Felicity:
I think the hardest thing for those on a budget, which is often overlooked by those fond of issuing advice, is the problems of space and equipment – not everyone has the space to bulk buy, or batch cook and freeze, though of course that’s a brilliant way to bring energy and ingredients costs down if you do. Tinned foods are brilliant; they don’t use up a lot of energy to cook, and they keep for ages in the cupboard, though not all are made equal and it’s worth checking the labels to see what’s been added. I like to always have chickpeas, lentils and white beans of some sort.
I’m also very keen on frozen spinach, and always having a cabbage in the fridge. Forget pricy kale or chard or baby leaves; white or green cabbage, or spring greens, are homegrown, cheap, very versatile (cabbage gratin makes a little bit of bacon and cheese go a long way and almost everyone loves it, stir-fried cabbage, cabbage thoran, cabbage and mash… it’s endless). Another thing I’ve learned from doing so much shopping; you often get good bargains for similar products in the world foods aisle, embrace frozen meat, fish and vegetables, and try not to go in with too set a list if you can, see what’s cheap and build a few meals around that (often easier said than done I know). Also, having a really nice hot sauce might feel decadent, but it’s a great investment for pepping up all sorts of quite plain things, from leftover rice to scrambled eggs.
On your last question, I think dried beans, much as I love them, might feel like a good buy, but, as with things like wild rice and pearl barley, if you don’t have a pressure or slow cooker, they can take so long to cook that you cancel out any potential savings unless you do a huge batch and freeze them.
Watery prawns dilemma!
Althes369 asks: How can I make a dry prawn curry? It always ends up with too much sauce. Thank you!
Felicity:
Scoop out the prawns so they don’t cook any further, then reduce the sauce on a rapid boil (or reduce the sauce to your liking before adding the prawns, that might work better actually!)
How do you decide on evening meals?
jcmeam5 asks: Thank you for all your wonderful explorations into both the chemistry and flavours of food! What is your guiding principle in deciding what to cook for your evening meal each day?
Felicity:
Honestly, whatever I have in the fridge that needs using up! I am never ever without food to use up, which is a lovely, fortunate position to be in, but one day it will be nice to just cook something because I fancy it!
Ideas for for a wealth of courgettes
Timtam86 asks: I have an allotment, it has been a good year for courgettes….its always a good year for courgettes. But also tomatoes and cucumbers can you please suggest some recipes for using up my glut.
Felicity:
LUCKY YOU! Caroline Craig has a superb recipe for the coulis her Provencal family make every summer in her book Provence - cucumbers… bread and butter pickle, and oh gosh I saw something online yesterday about gluts of courgettes which has entirely fallen out of my head. I think Ottolenghi maybe posted some recipes for them, but do feel free to send any my way! I’m proud just to have kept some basil alive for a week (now I’ve gone away it will be dead, obviously).
Where are you cycling to next?
Fposte asks: I have really enjoyed your cycling /food books. Where are you off to next?
Felicity:
Where next? Not sure yet, I’m currently working on another novel, and writing a short piece about a cycling trip I took with the dog to Orkney last year for an anthology, but I’d love to do another really big trip…. Northern Europe always intrigues me, or maybe something Giro-related? Watch this space! (and please tell my publishers you enjoyed the travel books, that always helps with them commissioning more!)
How to cook the perfect pasta ‘ncasciata?
nomadicwriter asks: How would you cook the perfect pasta ‘ncasciata? I’m a huge Montalbano fan (I’ve just re-read the whole series back to back), and this dish, especially cooked by Adelina, is clearly a great favourite of his.
Felicity:
Have you asked this just to try and catch me out, because if so, you have succeeded – I’ve never even heard of n’casciata, and sadly, though both my dad and my sister love Montalbano neither have ever prepared it for me. Looking at pictures, perhaps it’s one to put on the list for a Christmas column? All tips appreciated!
What do you cook when you don't feel like cooking?
Anagoana asks: Through your time at the Guardian I have marked your recipes and even cooked some of them to my children’s surprise, I am a person who relaxes reading cookbooks, traveling the world through cuisine. So thank you … one question, what do you cook when you don’t feel like cooking?
Felicity:
Ah, thank you! Hmm, genuinely that rarely happens (and to be honest, I’m usually quite well supplied with leftovers) but my passion in life is things on toast. Good chunky bread, spread with butter or rubbed with garlic and olive oil, then topped with whatever I can find, be that a sliced tomato with a little vinegar and salt, or tinned sardines, or kimchi and cheese … or just loads of Marmite. I’m also partial to a banana sandwich (also with lots of butter and maybe Marmite). Or a bowl of muesli with lots of nuts and seeds and stuff. But mostly it’s toast.
Which literary festivals are you attending this year?
BooksinFrance asks: Hi Felicity, I’m really looking forward to seeing and hearing you speak at Festilitt in October, in France. What other literary festivals are you attending this year?
Felicity:
Ah oui, j’attends avec impatience! I (and hopefully Wilf) shall be at Chiswick on 13 September, the Brown Cow in Fulham (not a festival tbf) on 15 September, Henley Literary Festival on 3 October, and Folkestone on 15 November. Why not complete the whole set?!
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What's the perfect crumble?
SocksPest asks: Let’s talk crumble: what’s your favourite? Where do you land on the topping spectrum between granola-y crunch and buttery, fruity toffeeness? And does it have to go with custard, or does cream/ice-cream have a place in the bowl? FWIW: rhubarb with stem ginger, way over to the buttery side, and I think it’s amazing with all the accompaniments.
Felicity:
The unachievable pinnacle of greatness for me here is school crumble – how they got it so satisfyingly shortbready while using the minimum of butter is beyond me, but I think the secret lies with cold water. I like it really crunchy (floury crumbles are the worst!) but not too granola-y because that’s granola. I don’t mind a bit of oat, but it shouldn’t be a flapjack, and it should be cooked with the fruit so it’s a bit doughy underneath and crisp on top (as with a good pie). And, I’m agnostic; I think custard will always have my heart (Birds please, made fresh), but I do like the contrast of temperature you get with ice-cream. And yes, rhubarb is the king of crumbles, correct, gold star.
Alterantives to roasting veg?
GreenEggsand asks: The only way I cook vegetables is roasting them, I don’t really like them any other way. Do you have recommendations on other ways to cook vegetables which are as tasty?
Felcicity:
Roasting does give most veg a flavour boost, but I’d also suggest stewing them; sounds counterintuitive, but slowly stewed courgettes or leeks or peppers in plenty of olive oil are utterly delicious; caramelised and velvet soft. Al dente is not the only religion in town!
What is your earliest food memory?
TeeDubyaBee asks: Is there a particular recipe that unlocks a profound emotion or memory within you?
Felicity:
Blue cheese! Specifically Stilton. I was always a very fussy child, despite being made to eat everything anyway, but I also loved very strong salty flavours from a young age; the smoked salmon we had at Christmas, the bright pink taramasalata I loved until someone told me it was fish eggs… and blue cheese. My earliest food memory is grabbing a shrink-wrapped piece of Stilton from the shelf when I was sitting in the child seat of a trolley, and gnawing on it through the plastic; I can still remember the sensation vividly, or so it seems. Guess my mum then had to buy it, so it was a win win for me!
The most over-egged food craze?
babystrange asks: Hi Felicity, what do you consider to be the most overrated food trend?
Felicity:
Where do I start!! There are many that are more about looking good in photographs than tasting good in reality, but the one that annoys me most is the endless quest to gild the lovely lily that is the croissant au beurre, a thing of perfection in and of itself. A good croissant should need no other adornment, not even jam, and certainly not passionfruit curd or black sesame paste or nduja and gochujang or whatever else people stuff into them in the pursuit of novelty. What chance does the dough have against that assault of flavour?!
Is there anything you wouldn't eat?
Katmurdood asks: I love when you list things you have chosen from a menu and your genuine interest in trying every food combo on the planet. Are there any things you absolutely wouldn’t try, even if it is a local delicacy or the norm in a country you are visiting?
Felicity:
I try to avoid meat if I suspect it’s not been reared kindly which is why I tend to avoid chicken and pork in the UK where possible unless I’m confident of its provenance … but when I’m somewhere I’ll never go again, I’m afraid I often press pause on that because I’m so keen to try new things and that overrides these principles (which doesn’t show me in the best light I know).
I’ve tried most things that have been offered to me, from a fertilised duck egg in Vietnam (meaty) to a pig’s eyeball in Suffolk (wouldn’t recommend even if it was free range), and even human placenta, but I feel anxious about the idea of monkey, and I think I’d struggle with dog.
Have any chefs or food writers told you they've read your column?
rimtadford asks: Do you know if any of the chefs or food writers whose recipes you’ve tried in your column, have read the column? And if so have you ever had any awkward, or indeed pleasing, responses?
Felicity:
Some do I know – sometimes they’ll come up and tell me they’ve based their tiramisu or Irish stew or some other recipe on mine, and that makes me very proud (as opposed to the Indian company who printed my dal recipe on their packaging without acknowledgment, which just felt … weird? Like, much as I love mine, surely they’d have a better one?), but when I read really old columns back, I’m surprised some of them didn’t come round and whack me with a rolling pin! I was really quite rude, and now I know how hard it can be to write a recipe that’s easy to follow, I have more sympathy (and a lot of shame; I’m sorry!)
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Does a single bay leaf make any difference?
Newground asks: Does the addition of a bay leaf really make any difference at all?
Felicity:
One bay leaf, no - unless you’re making something very delicately flavoured, like a custard. Several, yes, and preferably fresh ones; dried can be musty.
Any ideas for 'treats' suitable for diabetics?
exyorkie49 asks: Any ideas for recipes/meals suitable for diabetics? I would love more variety in my diet and also more ‘treats’ that don’t wreak havoc on my glycaemia.
Felicity:
I’m afraid I’m lucky enough not to be an expert on diabetic foodstuffs, so I’m entirely unqualified to give advice, but I do sincerely hope you find some joyful alternatives – the only thing that springs to mind, and I don’t know if this would be suitable or not, is Brian Levy’s book Good and Sweet, which is, I seem to recall, entirely free of refined sugars (he uses fruit though). Might be worth having a look at in case it’s of use, all the recipes I’ve tried from there have been superb. Good luck!
What to do with a glut of figs?
Number06 asks: Figs. Every year we have a glut and, apart from giving them away to neighbours, I run out of ideas of how to use them. This year I have made frozen yoghurt with figs and honey and have some fig liqueur maturing. Jam never works very well. Any other ideas apart from just eating them?
Felicity:
I have a very large jar of fig jam in the fridge, I love it! It doesn’t set very solid, but I find it works very well with yoghurt. How about drying them in a low oven? If I had more (my London fig tree gives a decent number of real whoppers, but not enough for more than one batch of jam), I’d do that so I could enjoy them all winter, or, if they’re small, consider preserving them whole in a spiced syrup for Christmas?
I bet they’d also be nice in a tagine, but my quickest suggestion is to make a nice peppery green salad with watercress or similar, a really savoury vinaigrette with dijon mustard and finely chopped shallots, and toss the leaves with it, then top with chopped figs, crumbled blue cheese and toasted walnuts. Never fails as a quick lunch!
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What ingredients have you learned to love?
Disc0Dave asks: How have your tastes changed over time? Is there something that you used to loathe and now crave?
subsub asks: Are there any well-known/celebrated ingredients that you can’t stand? It’s truffles for me. Hate the smell, hate the taste!
Felicity:
I’ve become a lot more open-minded; I didn’t really “get” tofu until I read Fuschsia Dunlop explaining the Chinese (and non-Western more generally, I expect) appreciation of texture as well as flavour. Now I see it as a really satisfying texture that works much better as a foil to strong flavours than something like chicken, which has more of a flavour of its own which deserves to be tasted. The same goes for mushrooms; I don’t love their flavour on its own, but I enjoy the texture, and I think they’re useful for adding savoury oomph, particularly to vegetarian dishes.
I’m utterly ambivalent to truffles – though the cheap oils smell sweaty to me – but I cannot stand parsley. Sorry Yotam etc but it tastes spiky to me, I can’t bear it, which is why you’ll rarely find it championed in my recipes!
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Welcome to the Conversation
Felicity is the author of five cookbooks, two food travelogues and writer of the Guardian’s How to cook the perfect … and Masterclass cookery columns. She’s tried thousands of recipes by the world’s top chefs and food writers, to create the ultimate version – delicious and failsafe, every time. She answers your questions here.
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