All articles - Food and Drink

We should all know the recipe by heart: basic dressings go with all our summer salads, crudités, vegetables and even steamed fish. Here's a guide to dressings, from the classic...

What better than marinade to give meat or fish with incomparable flavour. Marinades are ideal for barbecues and you can experiment with all kinds of sweet, spicy and exotic flavours...

Why be content with a traditional sliced loaf or a baguette when the world has so much more to offer? So while bread making machines are all the rage let's go on a world tour...

The choice of vegetables, their freshness, the addition of aromatic herbs, the quality of the olive oil and of course how you cook them are crucial to making tasty ratatouille...

Bright colours, funny shapes, soft texture and flavours from yesteryear...candied fruit remains a favourite, especially on special occasions. But we rarely dare make it ourselves...

You might not be a five star chef, but you should be able to do a thing or two in the kitchen. So to start you off, we have put together a list of cooking methods that you should...

Well known to those who are familiar with Lebanese cuisine, mezze are a selection of small dishes to enjoy during celebrations or family gatherings. It's a kind of buffet for...

Summer, the sun, bikinis and ice cream! What’s more refreshing than a cold ice cream when the temperature rises? And today, with ice cream makers more easily available, making...

Sorbets are often colourful, always deliciously fruity, always refreshing and a lot less calorific than ice cream. A simple mix of water, fruit and sugar, sorbets are ideal if...

Freezing food is something everyone should know how to do, whether you're a novice in the kitchen or a domestic goddess. However, it’s not always easy to know how to freeze food...

Home made caramel is a perilous exercise that often leads to disaster, but once you get the hang of it it's easy. Here’s how to make a real home made liquid caramel and all its...

Eaten in many countries throughout the world, lamb is particularly popular in the Mediterranean and eaten at Easter traditionally. It's very versatile, goes well with many spices...

Cooking en papillote is a method of cooking that bakes food in the oven in a foil parcel. It is most often associated with fish, however it is also perfect for cooking meat, veget...

What better than an ice-cold milkshake in summer? Flavours and combinations are endless, though vanilla, fruit and chocolate remain favourites. Milkshakes are very simple to make...

Succulent lasagne is a traditional treat everyone loves. Here are our tips and recipes for this Italian staple. The origins of lasagneA bit of etymology to start with: the Italian...

Perfect for dessert, a snack or a treat at any time of day, waffles can be spread with anything sweet, savoury and even alcoholic. Warning: they're hard to resist! Waffle history The...

Love strawberries? Join the club! Indulge your cravings with our delicious strawberry recipes, and check out our guide to the varieties of strawberries and cooking with them. Elsa...

Carbonara is yummy, easy to make, never disappoints, combines tasty ingredients and is nourishing and delicious. Bacon, cream, eggs and onions combine to make a delicious flavour...

In Ancient Greece, Tartare was hell, where the ungodly and wicked were sent. What's the link between hell and a raw French delicacy? None. The origins of the word go back to the...

Often with a pronounced character, the cheeses that come from Italy have an uncomparable flavour. Italian cheese is often made with cow’s milk. It's unctuous, creamy and irrefutable...

Custard is more than a side serving: it can soften acidic desserts or bring out the flavour of a dessert with its subtle vanilla flavour. It's usually served hot with puddings...

Praline is frequently used in cakes and confectionery. Individual pralines are delicious with coffee, or praline can be used to garnish cakes and confectionery, where the possibil...

A vegetable, a root vegetable or a fruit? Raw or cooked, savoury or sweet, the carrot is a staple ingredient in many dishes (not forgetting carrot cake!). Why not be a little...

We all dream of recreating delicious fondue worthy of a restaurant in the French Alps. Here's our guide to making the many varieties of cheese fondue. It's so easy, as long as...

We don't always give that much thought to celery and celeriac, yet they crop up everywhere. It's not always obvious what to cook them with...let us give you some insight. Check...

If you want to control the amount of calories you're getting from your diet but still enjoy the meals you like, healthy home cooking is the way forward. Here's how to cook healthily...

Known for its strong taste and smell, cabbage is a much-maligned vegetable, but cabbage and its Brassicaceae or crucifer relatives have so many good qualities it's a shame to...

Sweet, crunchy pastry makes delicious strawberry tarts, fruit pies and cream pastries that remind us of our childhood! It's child's play to make, too. Here are our rules, recipes...

Citrus fruits originate from South East Asia and were introduced to Europe in the Middle Ages (except for the citron, traces of which were found in BC Europe). Here's our guide...

Beef is a staple of British cuisine. We all know our roast beef, steak and kebabs, but there's much more than that to beef and a huge range of ways of cooking it, from fancy dishes...

Shortcrust pastry is used to make pies, tarts, quiches, turnovers and crusts. It's a versatile, simple and essential kitchen staple. Here's our basic recipe and tips. See all...

Many are reluctant to try puff pastry because they think it's complicated, takes too long and you need to be a masterchef to do it. Wrong! You do need a bit of time on your hands...

Fish can be so simple - and so difficult. It is a mystery to many, and while fishfingers are easy to cook, it's a shame not to treat your tastebuds to the many delicate, delicious...

Woks are widely used in Asian cuisine, but are now to be found everywhere! And the good news is that they can be used for more than stir-fries and noodles: woks can be used to...

Packed with vitamins, soup fills you up and tastes great, especially when it’s homemade. Complicated? Not at all: it’s incredibly simple, and easy on your wallet too. Follow our...

Forget your preconceptions: steamed food isn't bland, tasteless, uncooked or complicated to do. It's a simple and practical way of cooking. Discover the truth about steam cuisine...

Whether you're making dry, sticky, French, Italian or Swiss meringue, all are made using the same two ingredients: egg whites and sugar. Variations are made by altering the quantities...

A classic of French cuisine, béchamel is a key ingredient of dishes including lasagne, gratin and soufflé. If yours ends up lumpy, too runny, not salty enough, or you haven't...

Eating whipped cream feels like eating a fresh, soft, sweet cloud. It's a calorific bomb, but so good it's hard to resist! Whipped cream was first invented in 1660 by Vatel in...

Carpaccio is a particular preparation of raw foods such as meat, fish, scallops, fruit and vegetables. The word carpaccio came from the Italian painter Vittore Scarpaccia (pronounced...

There are so many out there we don't even know what some of them are, let alone how to tell when they're ripe and how to cook with them! Here's a panorama of our favourite exotic...

Champagne is for special moments: parties, celebrations of love, success and big achievements in life. We often crack open the bubbly with dessert, but is this really the best...

Prawns are high in protein, very low in fat and filling, containing just 98 kcal per 100g, plus lots of Vitamins B12, B3 and zinc. Take care what you serve them with (they often...

Potatoes may look similar, but there's a huge variety out there! It can be difficult to know which potato to choose for which recipe; they have different textures, cooking times...

Gingerbread is a childhood favourite and conjures up warm images of gingerbread men and gingerbread houses like in fairy tales such as Hansel and Gretel. It's also a warm, spicy...

There are over 700 cheeses produced in Britain! Soft and hard cheese, blue cheese and goat’s cheese… what are the differences? And which wine are they best served with? Soft chees...

Cakes topped with sugary coloured icing look so much better! Here's how to make perfect icing. Ingredients to make around 300g of icing: 1 egg white250-300g sifted powdered icing...

Flour is an essential ingredient in cakes, bread, shortcrust, choux or puff pastry. Read up about the different types of flour and their uses. Flour is basically ground wheat...

Fried, boiled, scrambled, poached, baked or in omelette…there are many different ways of cooking eggs. What are the different methods? Fried eggIn a frying pan, heat up a knob...

Which type of oil should you use for frying, heating, cold dishes and cakes? Follow our cooking oil guide! Definitions: Virgin olive oil: extracted by crushing the fruit without...

Didn't think you could ever make your standard choc-tasticly indulgent yule log better? Well you're wrong. And here's the proof. Believe us when we say you haven't tried yule...