The mayonnaise obsession
It started last year. I sampled some homemade mayo at a client’s house. I was making a chicken salad lunch for a golf widower. Their homemade mayo was stunning. Light, tasty and sublime. He liked it too. The next week it was the same menu with a pivotal difference. “It will have to be the bottled stuff, Fiona. It’s in the door of the fridge.” I discovered that it was Hellmann’s, full fat. I could tell from his plate he wasn’t so keen on this one. Since then the thought of that first homemade mayo has stayed...
read moreMaking Mildred’s homemade butter using an electric whisk
At the age of six I almost came to blows with my best friend’s mother. This lady was elegant, French and chic. She had one of those woven basket shopping trolleys (2 wheels and a handle) and wore espadrilles. Her fridge was full of mysterious ingredients. I remember examining a jar of capers. Trying to imagine how any food could be improved with these small reptilian greenish greyish balls. Looking back this rather distant lady probably considered me a bad influence on her youngest daughter. We were very wild. But the big altercation was...
read moreGuest spot: How to make your own homemade butter by The Mildred Mittens Manufactory
When Mildred mentioned that she made her own butter I was intrigued. Was it easy? What did it involve? Could anyone make their own butter? Mildred assured me that it was easy. She has a churn but she reckoned that butter could probably be made in a food mixer. The only problem seems to be that “Once you have made your own, you won’t want to go back to ‘bought’!” Mildred uses it, “In croissants, puff pastry and all my cakes and on toast of course, under the jam!” Mildred’s instructions are as...
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