If there鈥檚 one dish that reminds me of childhood home, it鈥檚 cauliflower cheese. My mum was a reluctant cook so cauliflower cheese became our staple diet 鈥 every day for high tea. We washed it down with weak tea and Women鈥檚 Institute cake. Actually, mum did a pretty good job: unlike the cooks at school who turned cauliflower into grey mush, she never overcooked it. And she lavished the magical tree-like florets with generous amounts of cheese-rich sauce.
So I鈥檓 sad to hear that we Brits no longer want to eat this wonderfully eccentric-looking vegetable. Sales have dropped around 35% over the past decade, and last year, nearly half of British households didn鈥檛 buy a single cauliflower. In short, if we don鈥檛 start buying this snowy brassica again, growers are now warning it could soon become extinct.
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The reason I鈥檓 fighting to keep cauliflower on our tables - apart from bringing back tender childhood memories 鈥 is its sheer versatility. It鈥檚 crunchily delicious eaten raw in a salad with plenty of lemon, in fritters, or as a pretty crudit茅 to dunk into delicious dips. It combines brilliantly with spices, green beans, cucumbers and courgettes to make a piccalilli, and is amazing in a curry. Cauli is nice roasted too. And few things pair better with fresh scallops than a silky smooth cauliflower pur茅e.
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As part of our on-going series on the kitchen gadgets that really count, this time our eye turns to cakes. Discussions in the office pit me against the rest of the team who believe an electric hand whisk is an essential piece of kit when making cakes. I remonstrate that people were making cakes long before we had electricity in our houses, but they insist: cakes are just better when an electric whisk is used. Time to find out鈥
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Mary Berry's Victoria sandwich is a baking classic and highly rated by users of 麻豆社 Food.听
The set up
A basic sponge recipe is needed so that we can easily assess any differences in texture, taste and appearance. Moist cakes such as fudgy chocolate cake and carrot cake have more tolerance for slip-ups than simple sponges, so I decide to plump for the classic Victoria sponge. Mary Berry鈥檚 perfect Victoria sandwich is our highest-rated sponge cake recipe so, knowing the recipe works, it seems a sensible choice.
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With hopefully a few weeks of summer to eke out, I got thinking about how to manage outdoor cooking and eating in a more effortless and stylish way than I have in the past.
When the sun suddenly shines and I decide to throw an impromptu barbecue, it's often the same food that I reach for 鈥 sausages, whole mackerel, courgettes halved lengthways and brushed with olive oil; all fine food but it's time for something new.
So who better to ask than Sam and Sam Clark of award-winning restaurant Moro in London? They will be cooking at this weekend鈥檚 where food is arguably the headlining act (the line-up of chefs also includes Yottam Ottolenghi, Fergus Henderson and Valentine Warner).
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When it comes to dairy, the French are commonly considered the best producers in the world, with some regions being given the protection of AOP status. And when we鈥檙e looking for something special to smear on our bread we reach out for French products, because they鈥檙e the best. Right? Well, maybe not.
As the Isigny AOP butter website puts it 鈥淗ow do we explain the fact that gourmets favour Isigny butter? It is simple! The Isigny terroir has the advantage of a mild, damp climate鈥. Mmm, remind you of anything? The British climate is nothing if not mild and damp - so why aren鈥檛 our dairy products held in equally high esteem?
British: you can't put a better bit of butter on your knife.
There are lots of fabulous butters available in the UK and you don鈥檛 have to look far to find them: most supermarkets stock butter from small, local producers and typically the price will be less than that of the big-brand butters. So you can support small businesses and dairies, pay less and most probably get a better tasting product 鈥 what鈥檚 not to like?
The UK鈥檚 mild summers punctuated with frequent bouts of drizzle produce green and pleasant lands that are perfect for dairy production. The best cream comes from dairy cows grazed in meadows, so climate is crucial because it affects what will grow in the fields and therefore what the cow eats. And a cow鈥檚 diet has a marked effect on the flavour of butter.
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| 14:50 UK time, Wednesday, 29 August 2012
