Great British Chefs Food Photography Workshop - September 2012

On Thursday 27th September 2012 at Great British Chefs we ran a free hands-on workshop at Google London for 50 bloggers who wanted to improve their food photography. It was part of Social Media Week London with theme of Empowering Change Through Collaboration. This was our second workshop on the back one sell out workshop we run in February and once again we were lucky enough to have tuition from one one of our great food photographers David Griffen.  Pascal Aussignac from Club Gascon treated us to his delicious canapes and three of his signature dishes to photograph.  

We’d noticed that blogs and review sites like Google+ Local are having a major impact on the way that we choose where to eat out and also the dishes we choose to cook. However that influence could sometimes be let down by the photography.  In many cases this is down to low light or candlelight in some restaurants. Sometimes it’s because a number of bloggers write anonymously or don’t want to make a big scene in a restaurant, so they use a mobile phone camera.  

The evening began with Pascal and his team preparing three canapes in Google’s canteen.

Frog n Chips with Bernaise ice cream by Pascal Aussignac - photo by Ana Emilia Silva from Chinwag

Popcorn & olive panna cotta by Pascal Aussignac - photo by Hot & Chilli and smoked salmon mousse on toasted black bread with squid ink.  We then sat down to a presentation from David who gave his advice on shooting food.

A top tip from David was that “Good photography is not about the camera you use but how you use the camera you’ve got”.  

He set out to show that whether you had an SLR, digital compact or just a mobile phone, you could still create good pictures.

Photo by Rosana McPhee from Hot & Chilli

David’s advice before we went onto the hands-on workshop was centred around controlling the lighting.  He said £10 was the best money you could spend on equipment by buying a pop up reflector.

He also stressed the importance of taking the food to a good light source,ideally one that points to the dish from the side or behind. Turn the plate to see how the light changes and then take a few shots to find the best one.

Another tip was to get into the food really close, something that many of the bloggers really put into action in the hands-on workshop.

Deepa from Lazy Giraffe said “The workshop was really worthwhile for all levels, I found that I was ignoring all the skills I’d learnt about taking pictures of jewellery, they apply to food! Get a cheap £10 reflector (or try foil wrapped around cardboard), get in CLOSE to take your pictures and move the dish around to get the best light on it. You definitely don’t need a big fancy SLR to take great pictures, and mobile phone cameras are obviously better to use in restaurants and cafes.”

Photo by Ana Emilia Silva from Chinwag

The participants also took on board David’s advice of publishing shots of action and people in black and white.   He said “Kitchens are some of the worst places to take food pictures because of the hot lighting used there.  Black and white is the way to get around this“ 

So it was only natural for us to witness many shots of Pascal in the kitchen taken in black & white.

Photo by Ana Emilia Silva from Chinwag

Eager to move onto the hands on section of the workshop, the bloggers shot (and ate) Pascal’s Glazed Butternut squash, Roquefort and Trappeur Salt Tart.   Elisa of Huffington Post said of this “Simply laid out on a thin crust of ‘tart’, toppled with the most perfectly caramelised butternut I had ever tasted.”

We then had Duck carpaccio (made with Gressingham Duck), sea urchin foam, romanesco cauliflower, lotus root crisp

Photo by Ana Emilia Silva from Chinwag

As you can see from many photos above everyone seemed to really put David’s great advice into practice.  

I’ll end with a lovely summing up from Elisa who said “You don’t need a fancy camera, arm yourselves with your mobile phone and get shooting and posting photos of food that will make the wider world hungry to behold.”

Thanks to Google London for letting us use their wonderful canteen space and for putting on the drinks.  Also big thanks to Pascal Aussignac and his team for providing delicious and attractive food.  David Griffen was his ever enthusiastic self and spent a lot of time in the hands on session answering questions and providing tips on settings on bloggers’ personal cameras.   Finally, watch this space for Pascal’s recipes from the night coming to our site soon.

Win Tickets to Taste of London 2012

Great British Chefs and Taste of London have teamed up to offer you the chance to win pairs of tickets (worth £48) to this summer’s foodie event! Several chefs from Great British Chefs website will be serving special menus at the festival from 21st - 24th June Find out how to win one of 13 pairs of tickets ….

Strawberry Tart by Pascal Aussignac

For four days fine dining will be transported to Regent’s Park for great summer eating, drinking and entertainment. 40 of London’s best restaurants will be serving up their finest in an unbeatable alfresco gourmet feast, while 200 producers are presenting of their best food and beverages.  You’ll be able to sample and shop for a range of great produce in a lovely atmosphere.  There’s also a whole host of masterclasses & demos from the country’s finest chefs.

The following chefs from Great British Chefs will have special menus of starter sized dishes for the occasion.  Treat yourself to their signature dishes reflecting their cooking philosophy and showcasing seasonal ingredients.  

Salad Niscoise by Pascal Aussignac 

Pascal Aussignac’s Club Gascon will present top produce cooked in the manner of southwest France. Pascal’s grasp of seasonal produce and his capacity to bring ingredients together is showcased in every dish. 

Bharwan Paneer by Alfred Prasad

Alfred Prasad specialises in the cooking of north-western and southern India. His award winning Tamarind restaurant offers a modern interpretation of Mughal cuisine - the courtly food of ancient Rajasthan that revolves around the tandoor oven, in which marinated breads, meat, game and seafood are grilled over charcoal.

Crab Salad by Theo Randall

Having worked his way up the ranks at the iconic River Café, Theo Randall knows a thing or two about running a restaurant. At The Intercontinental, Theo cooks what he loves: Italian inspired, seasonal, rustic food that’s uncomplicated but packed with love.

Hake Fillet with Golden Beet & radish salad - Simon Rogan

Last but not least on Friday Simon Rogan will be the guest chef at Action Against Hunger’s Restaurant at Taste of London. Simon moved to the picturesque village of Cartmel, Cumbria, in 2002 to set up L’Enclume, the restaurant with rooms which has since garnered a host of accolades.  His London “pop up” restaurant Roganic has also received rave reviews. His dessert reached the finals of Great British Menu & was served at the Olympic Banquet. 

We have three pairs of entry tickets for Taste of London for Saturday evening 23rd June 2012 and 10 runner up pairs for either Thursday 21st or Friday 22nd June.

For your chance to win, simply tell us which of the cuisines represented by the chefs featured above is your favourite - French, Indian, Italian or English & let us know one of your favourite dishes from that country - for example,  Italian, Spaghetti Carbonara.   Enter in the comments hereno later than 11.59pm on Sunday 17th June 2012.  Entry into the competition is for UK residents only & does not include transport to the event or Crowns to spend at the festival.

Our Taste of London recipe collection has more dishes from the chefs at the event.

We will randomly select the prize winners from the comments made by the entry deadline.  The lucky winners be selected & informed on Monday 18th June 2012 & your tickets will be sent by registered post on Tuesday 19th June 2012.

We look forward to seeing your entries.

Win Meal for Two at Club Gascon & Taste of London 2012 Tickets

Great British Chefs and Taste of London have teamed up to offer you the chance to win a meal for 2 at Club Gascon!  Pascal Aussignac’s award winning City favourite is one of the restaurants serving a special menu at Taste of London in 2012 and you can also win a pair of tickets for the show too.  It’s simple to enter this free prize draw ……

Strawberry Tart by Pascal Aussignac

Located just off Smithfield market, it’s unsurprising that Club Gascon’s kitchen boasts top produce cooked in the manner of southwest France.  Grilled Rack of Lamb, Roast Capon and Pissaladierre are specialties among a line-up of innovative and classical dishes at the flagship of chef Pascal Aussignac’s London empire.  

Grilled Rack of Lamb and Ratatouille by Pascal Aussignac 

One lucky winner will visit this award winning Smithfield favourite and enjoy the 3 course Chef’s Special Menu with sommelier matching wines, plus a pair of standard tickets to Taste of London 2012.

For your chance to win, simply enter your details at Taste of London’s website no later than 12 noon on Friday 8th June 2012.  Entry into the prize draw is open to those over the age of 18 years and who are UK residents.

More of Pascal’s recipes can be found on Great British Chefs website.  Good luck in the draw.

Cooking with Flowers for The Chelsea Flower Show

One of the UK’s biggest celebrations of all things floral starts this week: The Chelsea Flower Show. Did you know that there’s a growing trend for eating flowers?  Not just as a garnish but as the main part of the dish. The Chelsea Flower Show will include a number of edible exhibits & at Great British Chefs we take a look a some of our favourite ways of cooking with flowers including a wonderful dish of edible tulips by Pascal Aussignac of Club Gascon.    

Photo of Primavera Tulips by Urvashi Roe aka @BotanicalBaker 

Post for  Great British Chefs by Mecca Ibrahim

At the Chelsea Flower Show 2012 Jekka’s Herb Farm are launching an exciting range of edible flowers. Also The Plankbridge Hutmakers Ltd Artisan Garden will feature heirloom cultivars of heritage vegetables, displayed in rustic containers.

At the show you’ll see flowers that can be used as garnishes to make meals look pretty. Also flowering herbs such as nasturtiums and borage have the benefit of adding colour to leafy salads in addition to being great to eat.  But, have you ever thought of flowers taking a more starring role in a dish?  Edible tulips make an interesting talking point for dinner parties.  

In this video you’ll see award winning chef Pascal Aussignac visiting a flower market to select some organic tulips for his delicious Primavera Tulips starter & preparing them for his restaurant.  This recipe are part of Great British Chefs Flower Recipe Collection showing there’s more to flowers than just a table decoration. 

We think you’ll find few flower recipe collections to rival this one.  In addition to Pascal’s showcase Primavera Tulips (more on them later) it features his Gladiola petals and spicy violet pearls, both of which have been in Great British Chefs apps.

For the coming summer months, try Marcus Wareing’s gin and tonic granita decorated with edible flowers.  It’s ideal for spending a nice sunny day relaxing in the garden. 

Chilled cucumber and horseradish gazpacho with Lymington crab salad and pickled white radish by Matthew Tomkinson

There are also numerous dishes that use edible flowers to make them look stunning, such as Matthew Tomkinson’s gazpacho pictured above.  

Or try Simon Hulstone’s Rose and Almond Tansy pudding with butternut squash ice cream.  The dessert is flavoured with rosewater and tansy, a wild herb and a somewhat forgotten ingredient. Simon Hulstone has had great success with this recipe in competitions – so much so that he named his first daughter Tansy. 

Urvashi Roe aka @BotanicalBaker is an ex-florist and a keen cook and made Pascal’s Primavera Tulips a few months ago

Primavera Tulips 

Check out Urvashi’s blog post about making these tulips for us and in summary here are her top tips for cooking tulips:

• Try to buy organic tulips or use ones growing in your garden as these obviously have less fertilisers on them.
• Use really brightly coloured tulips like red or deep pink because you’ll lose some colour with the steaming. My tulips were bright red but as you can see the cooked petals are purple.
• Leave your tulips to wilt so the stems fit nicely into your steamer.  Tulip stems suck water up really fast and this is why they stand annoyingly upright when you want them to have that floppy magazine effect.  Leave them out of water for about 30 minutes and the stems will perfect. Incidentally to keep the floppy effect in a vase just top up with no more than an inch of water every day.
• Make sure you take all the inner parts out of the flower as some are poisonous.  I chopped the large bits with a pair of scissors and then took a paring knife to shave off the rest.
• Make the filling and pea purée the day before because then this perfect, pretty plate of flowers will take just 5 minutes to serve up. 

Pascal’s Primavera Tulips are part of Great British Chefs special Edible Flowers Recipe Collection

Have you ever tried cooking flowers before?  Which other flowers would make an ideal part of a meal?  We’re discussing this over on Great British Chefs Facebook Page. 

Treat your Mother to a Plate of Tulips

What to get for Mother’s Day? Chocolates, Spa Break, Potted Plant, Flowers? Flowers are usually the big winners for Mother’s Day.  But have you ever thought of serving them to your Mother for lunch?  Great British Chefs have a wonderful dish of edible tulips by Pascal Aussignac of Club Gascon.  Who better than ex-florist & young Mum,  Urvashi Roe aka @BotanicalBaker to have a try at making them?  Let’s see how she did.  

Photography and blog post by Urvashi Roe

Flowers are at the top of the gift list for Mother’s Day this coming weekend.  Fresh bouquets, pot plant arrangements and gift sized trees have overtaken the High Street in preparation.  They are all very lovely but if you fancy treating your Mum to something completely different this Sunday how about serving up a plate of flowers? 

As an ex-florist and a keen cook, I have always used flowers to decorate cakes and desserts.  Visually they can make a plain white wedding cake look spectacular or an everyday cake really stand out and look special.

Urvashi’s Orange Polenta Cake

I had never really thought about whether they were edible or not until I was on The Great British Bake Off and Mary Berry insisted that “everything on the plate must be edible”. 

I discovered that there are actually many varieties of flowers that are completely edible and have the sweet taste that you’d expect.  Roses, pansies, jasmine and violas fall into this category. 

Elderflower and Honeycomb Tarts by Urvashi Roe

Others are most definitely savoury. You may have seen Nasturtiums and Borage in salads or come across stuffed Courgette Flowers?  Tulips are also part of this group and so when I saw a recipe by Pascal Aussignac on Great British Chefs website entitled Primavera Tulips I had to try it out. Here’s a video of Pascal going to the flower market and making the dish.

First I prepared the tulips by washing them thoroughly and taking out the parts protected by the petals.

I then made the filling of peas, mushrooms, spring onions, sugar snaps, dill, tapioca and parmesan. I’ve never cooked a savoury dish using tapioca before but it worked really well.  It also didn’t take as long as I thought I would with all the fine chopping involved!

Stuffing the tulips was a bit fiddly as mine had a lot of petals so I found piping it in with a 1cm nozzle very helpful.  I also found shaping the pea puree into leaves really tricky.  I would have preferred to use dill sprigs but I’m really glad I persevered because the final plate looked amazing! 

Primavera Tulips

It tasted pretty awesome too.  I was really surprised at the onion undertones of the petals and the filling would not have been the same without the tapioca.  The stems tasted just like baby leeks and the pea puree added a little sweetness to the whole dish. Every single thing on the plate was edible so Mary Berry would have been happy too!

If you’d like to have a go at this pretty plate of flowers here are my top tips:

• Try to buy organic tulips or use ones growing in your garden as these obviously have less fertilisers on them.
• Use really brightly coloured tulips like red or deep pink because you’ll lose some colour with the steaming. My tulips were bright red but as you can see the cooked petals are purple.
• Leave your tulips to wilt so the stems fit nicely into your steamer.  Tulip stems suck water up really fast and this is why they stand annoyingly upright when you want them to have that floppy magazine effect.  Leave them out of water for about 30 minutes and the stems will perfect. Incidentally to keep the floppy effect in a vase just top up with no more than an inch of water every day.
• Make sure you take all the inner parts out of the flower as some are poisonous.  I chopped the large bits with a pair of scissors and then took a paring knife to shave off the rest.
• Make the filling and pea purée the day before because then this perfect, pretty plate of flowers will take just 5 minutes to serve up. 

Photography and blog post by Urvashi Roe

Pascal’s Primavera Tulips are part of Great British Chefs special Mother’s Day Collection of lovely recipes you can serve for Mothering Sunday.  Do you agree with Mary Berry and believe that everything on a plate should be edible, or can flowers just be used for decoration?  Have you ever tried cooking flowers before?  Which other flowers would make an ideal part of a meal?  We’re discussing this over on Great British Chefs Facebook Page. 

Lunchtime Tasting Menu at Pascal Aussignac’s Club Gascon

We sent  Great British Chefs guest blogger, Essex Eating, along to Pascal Aussignac’s  award winning Club Gascon in the heart of London’s City to sample the multi coursed Tasting Menu for lunch.   See how our Essex lad worked his way through each course amongst the city slickers. 

Photography & Review by  Essex Eating 

Club Gascon is a restaurant I’ve wanted to eat at for quite some time. I worked in the Smithfields area for years, and I often walked past, stopping, intrigued to read the menu displayed outside, and then ambling off back to the office. 

If I’m honest, I think I found it a little bit intimidating. The restaurant is housed in a very grand building. The classically attired front of house and waiting staff gathered around the booking desk near the door are just a little off putting to ‘window shoppers’ like me, trying to peer past them into the restaurant within. The menu itself was a little frightening to a younger me too, passionately French but also full of interesting, expensive ingredients and somewhat experimental flavour combinations. To my mind this was posh, grown up dining for city slickers spanking those lunchtime expense accounts. I just wasn’t ready.

Last week, older, grizzled, a veteran of a thousand amuses bouche and with an expanding waistline to prove it, I returned with a confident swagger to Chef Pascal Aussignac’s Michelin starred restaurant. I was there to review lunch for the Great British Chefs’ blog and far from being intimidated; this time around I was excited.

For research, I’d been flicking through Pascal’s recipe book, Cuisinier Gascon and a lot of the ingredients and pairings were unusual to say the least. Despite being fiercely proud of Gascony and its classic food heritage, the book also features among other things, a tomato coulis with Fishermans Friends as an ingredient and white asparagus with treacle foam. What with the book along with studying the current restaurant menu, I’d come to the conclusion that the food being served here, in my experience, is unlike anything else in London. And I don’t know about you, but for me, that’s an exciting thought.

Taking a seat, the restaurant was smaller and more intimate than I imagined, but unusually, when compared to other Michelin ‘temples to fine dining’ touches of real character were evident throughout. The bar, adorned with the most incredible and riotous flower arrangement I’d ever seen, was (I was informed by the waiter) put together by Chef Pascal Aussignac himself. Apparently, he does all the restaurant’s flowers. It’s his second great passion after cooking.

Video of Pascal Aussignac’s flower arranging & cookery style! - Great British Chefs.

I also have to mention the very unusual tableware. Handmade in Gascony, it was absolutely beautiful to look at and I had to fight down a very strong ingrained Essex urge to ‘half-inch’ just a little bit. 

Casting my eye around the restaurant, as you’d expect in the city at lunchtime, my fellow diners were a mostly well-heeled, business suited crowd, but not exclusively so. I didn’t for one second feel out of place or uncomfortable in my flip-flops, verging-on-the-obscenely-tight-cycling-shorts and Hawaiian shirt. 

Just kidding. 

Honest.

There are various menu options at lunchtime. I just had to go for the tasting menu priced at £55, although the ‘Dejeuner Club’ menu (£25 for 3 courses) definitely caught my eye. In actual fact, I might pop back at some point and try that too because it looks like a complete bargain.

A jug containing a ridiculously tall Parmesan crisp was deposited on my table. I couldn’t help but wonder how many of these get broken as they’re brought from the kitchen. Nevertheless it was delicious.

Next, a slate containing a curious amuse selection. Due to the combination of the almost impenetrable French accents of the waiters and my rubbish hearing I wasn’t entirely sure what I was eating until later. The Smoked Chestnut veloute was superb, I could have done with a bit more of this. The Peanut ice cream with crispy Pearl Barley was also nice, but I’m not sure the sweetness worked against so many savoury offerings. The Nogoshi Pear dipped in Hazelnut Oil was refreshing, but a bit lost on me. I didn’t really get the Hickory Jelly and Chestnut Powder at all. I thought it just a bit too subtle.

But then everything changed. The most amazing bread I’ve eaten for ages. Served with smoked butter. The sourdough in particular was bloody amazing, light but with an incredible crust and an almost smoky flavour. It was phenomenal. 

Almost as equally amazing, the Brioche rolls had a perfect crisp shell like exterior and almost sweet cloud like texture inside. I could have happily sat there all day eating the bread to be honest.

Sea Urchin veloute, Cauliflower Pulp & Crisps arrived, and bloody hell; it was one beautiful looking plate of food. The waiter, having obviously sized me up straightaway, told me not to eat the decorative grass. The veloute was rather lovely, light, creamy and quite intense. I wasn’t entirely sure about the accompanying crisps. They looked amazing, but as is often the case with fine dining, I wasn’t entirely sure how I should eat them. Dunk them in my veloute? Munch them like giant luxury Quavers covering the table in debris? Combine the different colours to make new flavours? God knows. I took to breaking off pieces carefully and nibbling on them in a dainty fashion. For the record, I believe the flavours to be purple potato, seaweed and scallop. The scallop one tasted best. 

With no small degree of ceremony, shellfish bisque was poured over my bowl of squid and saffron-piquillos relish at the table. The bisque was soft and aromatic; the squid beautifully tender, as were the folded sheets of swede taken together with the subtle tang of the piquillos relish. It was altogether a lovely dish, delicate and light. I was intrigued by the addition of tapioca, which gave the bisque a really unusual texture. Something I’ll be messing around with when cooking at home…

Braised Ox Cheek with an Anchovy sauce, pieces of confit Lemon and Avocado Chantilly doesn’t sound like the likeliest combination does it? I started eating, and oh my God, it was amazing. Tender, sticky, intensely savoury, absolutely perfectly cooked. I was lost in the moment, savouring the flavours. What’s that? At this point, somewhat embarrassed I realised that I had been making contented soft whimpering noises to myself whilst eating. Honestly, that doesn’t happen often. This was one of the best dishes I’ve eaten for ages. Loved it.

A pre-dessert White Chocolate cone, with crushed Wasabi Pea coating and a Blood Orange jelly filling was unusual and a good bridge between the savoury and sweet courses.

The following dessert of Red Macaroon, confit fruits in Armagnac and Rose Champagne Jelly was perfectly decent, and a nice light way to end the meal, but perhaps lacked the inventiveness of some of the previous dishes. I think as it was so ridiculously wintery outside, I really was in the mood for something a bit more stodgy and filling.

The petit four however, win the award for some of the nicest ones I’ve ever seen. They were beautiful, served on a crisp edible chocolate shell.

Overall, I really enjoyed lunch at Club Gascon. The service was perhaps a tiny bit more stiff and formal than I’m used to, but that’s to be expected when fine dining in a French restaurant. To be honest, I actually quite enjoy watching real professionals work the room.      

The food is obviously very French but despite working within this classic framework, it often veers off unexpectedly on a very experimental tangent. I don’t think I’ve seen a menu quite like it. Pascal Aussignac’s food itself is beautifully cooked and extremely interesting. Yes, a few elements didn’t quite work for me. I’m thinking some of the amuses and the crisps accompanying the sea urchin veloute. But on the other hand the Ox Cheek dish in particular stands out as one of the best things I’ve eaten for a long time. At £55 the tasting menu is pretty good value, but as I mentioned earlier, I will definitely be returning to sample the 3 courses for £25 lunch menu which looks to be a complete bargain.

Club Gascon,  57 West Smithfield, London, EC1A 9DS  Telephone:  020 7796 0600 www.clubgascon.com

Review of Club Gascon for Great British Chefs by  Essex Eating  

You can find some of Pascal’s recipes on Great British Chefs website or download many others in our app

We’re running a fantastic Great British Chefs competition with Zagat where you and three of your friends can win an amazing dining experience worth £450 at Club Gascon including wine and the opportunity to spend some time in Pascal’s kitchen - entries must be made by 12th March 2012, so don’t delay.

What Austerity or “Wartime” Foods have you eaten?

Photo of Bryan Webb’s  Pigs’ Trotters with beetroot chutney & salad leaves from Great British Chefs

As Remembrance Day and Veterans’ Day events take place this weekend, we wanted to look back to times when food wasn’t in such great supply.

This case shows the weekly food ration for one person in 1940 - Imperial War Museum.

In wartime in the UK, food was being rationed & people ate cheap cuts of food. There’s now a move back to “austerity” cooking, as we discover inventive ways to make offal or little used cuts of meat really tasty. We love Bryan Webb’s version of Pigs’ Trotters 

Slow cooking helps to turn cheaper cuts of meat into things of beauty.  Pork Belly is on the menu at most gourmet restaurants now, but there was a time when pork belly was considered a “rough meat” and it was featured in The Imperial War Museum’s “Ministry of Food” exhibition.

Robert Thompson’s slow cooked Island pork belly is cheap enough for you to blow out on the lobster it’s served with.

Our, CEO, Ollie is a big fan of cooking odd cuts of meat. At Great British Chefs our stomachs collectively churned when he excitedly put a message on Facebook saying that he’d bought a load of pigs’ ears and was going to cook them the next day. They were enormous but only 50p an ear! Following Pascal Aussignac’s recipe he boiled them in salted water & then cut them into strips.

On Facebook our fans were incredulous and said “you’re not seriously going to eat these”.  But once they were deep fried in batches, they were absolutely delicious and tasted like crackling!  Opinions from fans on Facebook were divided but the general opinion was “don’t knock it until you’ve tried it”.

Spam was popular in wartime and even today, spam fritters make a tasty supper.

From a 1940’s Woman’s Day magazine by Wandering Magpie

Best bit about this photo isn’t the banana/spam combination (anyone tried it?) but the fact that the Spam in the picture on the tin is blue! Nice. Imperial War Museum

Moving on from savoury dishes, don’t forget that even yummy treats like carrot cakes originated from when fruit was in low supply.

Dishes such as Lardy Cake (great post & recipe below from our strategic advisor & guest blogger Matthew Fort), Bread Pudding, Gingerbread, Suet Pudding and Treacle Tart all came about when butter, sugar and eggs were in short supply.

Lardy cake

2 oz lard; 2 oz currants; 12 oz white bread dough, risen; 2 oz caster sugar; pinch of nutmeg; drizzle of honey

Roll out the dough to an oblong. Spread on lard and sprinkle with sugar, nutmeg and currants. Roll up like a swiss roll and place in a greased shallow baking tin. Cover and leave to rise for about 15 minutes. Brush lightly with honey and bake at gas mark five, 190C (375F) for 35 to 40 minutes. Serve hot with butter.

Matthew added: “Just warm a piece of lardy cake (yes, even in the microwave) and load it with a compote of blackberries and a dollop of clotted cream, and tell me you don’t feel nearer to heaven than with a spoonful of pannacotta or tiramisu”.

Shaun Rankin’s - Treacle Tart from Great British Chefs

Josh Eggleton’s - Caramel Panna cotta with homemade Gingerbread - from Great British Chefs

We hope this look at austerity cooking has given you some ideas for inexpensive but delicious meals to try.  What “wartime” dishes have you eaten or cooked? We’re discussing this over on the Great British Chefs Facebook page.