With Maze: The Cookbook added to ckbk this week, we spoke to chef and restauranteur Jason Atherton to find out what it was like being part of a movement of chefs who fundamentally changed the way people think about food in the UK.
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Chef, restaurateur, food writer, and leading light of the British food scene, Mark Hix has always had a passion for fish. Growing up on the Dorset coast, initially his focus was on catching them rather than cooking them. As a chef, and in his book Fish etc. his focus is on sustainable enjoyment of the riches the sea has to offer, and on teaching the home cook all they need to know to master any aspect of fish cookery.
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ckbk users in the US, UK and Japan can now order ingredients for same day deliver via Amazon Fresh.
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Marcus Bawdon is obsessed by cooking with fire. It’s an all-encompassing passion that he loves to share with people via his vibrant Country Wood Smoke website, Facebook group and YouTube channel; through demonstrations and appearances at food and BBQ festivals across Britain, and as editor of UK BBQ Mag. He was crowned king of Meatopia BBQ festival, is a judge at BBQ events such as Grillstock, and makes regular appearances in the media to talk all things related to outdoor cooking.
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In the Christian calendar Ash Wednesday signals the start of Lent, and the fast that precedes Easter. This year it falls on February 22. The day before, Tuesday February 21, is Shrove Tuesday, or Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday) – the feast before the fast. This is celebrated with rich and sweet foods, ostensibly to use up some of those ingredients before they are put away for the duration. But it is also a chance to indulge before the period of abstinence and reflection.
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Thomas David DuBois is a Beijing-based historian who studies China’s immeasurably diverse food traditions. He is the author of a forthcoming book on the history of food in China . His Consuming Passion is doubanjiang which Wikipedia describes as “a hot and savoury Chinese bean paste made from fermented broad beans, chili peppers, soybeans, salt and flour”.
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“This recipe is a subtle, seductive glance across the room … In my imagination, this is the effortlessly tempting meal that Bogie whipped up for Lauren Bacall, circa 1945, while she lounged around wearing his silk pajamas.”
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Cooking something special for a romantic partner is a time-honored way to make a good impression. But which dishes are most effective? With Valentine’s day just around the corner, we searched ckbk’s collection for tips, and have brought together these recommendations from food writers and chefs for desire-inducing dishes.
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Mark Hix is one of Britain’s best known and best loved chefs; a champion of the kind of food that we truly want to eat, and with the help of his recipes we can make at home. We are thrilled at ckbk to be able to bring you all of Mark Hix’s key cookbooks over the coming weeks. They add up to a masterclass in technique, a depository of delicious ideas, and a wonderful insight into the mind of a chef whose understanding of great flavor is unsurpassed.
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Whether or not the myth is true – that the Earl of Sandwich called for meat between two slices of bread in order not to disrupt his card game – the sandwich is a worldwide favorite. Given how easy they are to make, and the endless variety of breads and combinations of fillings, the challenge of a sandwich is in the choosing. We have two new books dedicated to the subject. Consider your sandwich game upped!
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Taste of Morocco is the third title by the late Robert Carrier to be added to ckbk. Carrier played a pioneering role in enthusiastically advocating good food to audiences in Britain and America in the 60s, 70s and 80s, and his books sold in their millions. He spent several months each year in Marrakesh, and Morocco held a special place in his heart. To mark the appearance of Taste of Morocco on ckbk, Luke Honey remembers the chef and his influence in this author profile.
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Max Halley created a storm in London’s food world with his radical rethinking of the sandwich. Trained as some of London’s best restaurants, he ditched his formal chef’s whites to open Max’s Sandwich Shop in 2014. The book which captured this entirely new take on the sandwich, written with chef pal Ben Benton, became a Sunday Times Top 10 Bestseller. As Max’s Sandwich Book comes to ckbk, we caught up with its outspoken author for his take on sandwiches and much more…
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Shikha Kaiwar is a pastry chef and writer of the Shikha la Mode newsletter. She’s been baking with spelt since the beginning of her career and her desserts often feature this ancient grain. Her piece helps demystify spelt so that other cooks can confidently use it to create more complex, flavourful baked goods.
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Lunar New Year is often called Chinese New Year, but is actually celebrated by millions of people worldwide, and in countries across East Asia, including Korea, Vietnam, Japan and the Philippines. The festival, which spans a couple of weeks, kicks off on the first full moon after the winter solstice. For this reason, the exact date is different year on year.
In 2023 the festival begins on January 22, a date which heralds the start of the year of the rabbit. Celebrations feature dragon parades, music, dancing, lanterns, and of course lots of wonderful food!
This week we are full of Consuming Passions! We’d like to hear about yours.
Dina Macki did not hesitate for a moment when asked her Consuming Passion. It could only be pomegranates. The British-born chef, food writer and presenter is from an Omani an Zanzibari family, and the jewel-like fruit is central to so much of the food she grew up with and adores. Her love for Omani food has led to the great success of her ‘Dine with Dina’ supper-club, and her upcoming book on Omani cuisine.
Brought up on pig farms in Essex and Kent, Chris Bulow is the creator of Salute the Pig, a website devoted to “the countless joys of porcine delights”. His piece for our Consuming Passions series is naturally on the subject of all things pig-related.
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“My number one desert island food would be feta cheese. It would go beautifully with any tropical fruit I might forage. Just thinking of its crumbly creaminess and saltiness coupled with a lusciously sweet mango makes the prospect of being marooned on a wild and uninhabited island quite appealing. As long as there is a crate of feta drifting behind me.”
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As the new year gets underway our appetites change, from holiday feasting mode, to something a bit more invigorating. We need food to fuel a fresh start, food that will perk us up, not weigh us down. What could serve the purpose better than a salad. But it’s not summer, we hear you cry.
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Seasonal Salads by Fi Buchanan is published by Kitchen Press on January 5th 2023. The book, including 52 salad recipes to see you through every week of the year, is available in full on ckbk. We spoke to Fi about the year round joys of the salad bowl…
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ckbk’s new-and-improved sharing menu includes the option to ‘embed’ any collection on your blog or website, just as you might include a YouTube video. Embedded collections are shown as mobile-friendly carousels of recipes.
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