Why I wrote A Very Honest Cook

Walk into any bookshop these days and you’ll find huge piles of glossy celebrity chefs books but what happens to the hundreds of talented chefs and food writers who don’t happen to be on TV? I know one, Stephen Markwick, who’s spent a lifetime at the stove, most of it in Bristol where he’s run three restaurants - Bistro Twenty One, Markwicks and, currently, Culinaria.

Zalto glasses: so what's the angle?

Just as we get used to the idea that there is an ideal wine glass foreach grape variety along comes a producer who suggests the enjoyment isall in the angle of the glass.

Wine matches at 1884 Francis Mallman

The problem with well-known restaurants is the burden of expectation they carry. You go expecting an out of the ordinary experience and are frequently disappointed. Fortunately that wasn’t the case with Francis Mallman, the founder of modern Argentinian cuisine and one of the best known chefs in Latin America.

What to drink on US Election Night

Having sat through many British election nights I know that alcohol only takes you so far. What you crave (or I crave) by 3 in the morning is a good cup of tea. Nothing fancy - an English breakfast tea would do just fine. With a spoonful of sugar to boost your energy levels. Up until then beer tends to hit the spot better than wine (a Chicagoan brew like Goose Island IPA would be appropriate, given the Obama connection) with a bottle of champagne at the end of the night to celebrate or drown your sorrows.

Which young chefs are the rising stars in France?

Gault Millau has identified 22 ‘jeunes talents’, which it defines as chefs under 32, in its 2009 restaurant guide, which is published this week.

What to drink with squirrel

One of our subscribers sent me this link to a story in the Observer today that a Northumberland butcher is selling grey squirrel as fast as he can source them. This unappealing pest, which I seem to remember has also been featured on the menu of the iconic London restaurant St John, apparently tastes like wild boar or duck depending who you talk to.

Where - and how - to go wassailing

The word wassail comes from the old Anglo Saxon ‘wes hal’ meaning to be whole, in good health. Wassailing is a very old English custom with its roots in paganism; the idea is to protect the cider apple trees from evil spirits and to ensure a plentiful crop in the coming season.

What wine to drink with ratatouille?

Unless you’ve been walking round the underground with your eyes closed you can’t fail to have noticed the posters for the newly released (in the UK at least) Ratatouille - an animated film about a gastronomic rat. For entirely understandable reasons I couldn’t persuade my husband or any of my grown-up children to come with me to see it but it seems to have captured the imagination of the critics as well as the public - including in France where it's been a smash hit.

When beer would have been better than wine

Maybe it was the rustic gastropub-like surroundings. Maybe it was the extreme smokiness of the smoky bacon. But I couldn’t help feeling after lunch at one of London’s hottest new restaurants 32 Great Queen Street in Covent Garden that I’d have been better off with a beer.

Which wine matches best with Indian food? - your verdict

When in Champagne drink . . . Bordeaux

Thankfully escaping the worst of the weather in Britain we’re heading for the south of France but stopped yesterday in Champagne (also very wet and windy) to buy some champagne for a friend’s 50th birthday party. (At Gosset, since you ask . . . )

Where to drink fine wine by the carafe

A really customer-friendly idea from the much-heralded new Soho restaurant Arbutus - every wine is available in 250ml carafes. Not only that but they’re well-priced. We ordered a carafe of 2002 Au Bon Climat Chardonnay for just £11.75 which was perfect with both a chicken sot-l’y-laisse (chicken ‘oysters’, the nuggets of meat round the backbone), macaroni, broad beans and hazelnuts and, more surprisingly with a very garlicky warm cod brandade with squid and sea purslane.