There are only a few desserts I have come across which have caused me to wish, instantly, for the recipe. Girardet’s passionfruit souffle was one; Sirio Maccione’s creme brulee at New York’s Le Cirque was another; Gay Bilson’s Sussex Pond pudding — an old-fashioned pudding soaked with the flavour of lemon — from Sydney’s Berowra [...]

Souffles are so simple I am forever astonished at the oohs and aahs they elicit even in the world’s great restaurants. Fredy Girardet’s renowned passionfruit souffle is served at Girardet’s knockout eatery just out of Lausanne in Switzerland with all the pomp and ceremony usually reserved for royalty. In fact, it wouldn’t be surprising if [...]

Jelly is one of the most underestimated dishes, at both ends of the menu. The jelly which comes together after nicely cooked veal bones, and pig’s trotters, and chicken feet, and vegetables, is one of the cheapest and best of additions to any meal; and fruit juices, held together with the best leaf gelatine make [...]

Not all chocolate recipes have to be ind-blowing in their effects on your body. I discovered this marvellous joy in a terrific American cooking magazine called Eating Well. This is not one of these New Age products which scolds and berates like an old Irish cleric breathing fire and brimstone from the pulpit. This is [...]

Chocolate mousse has become a bit like avocado vinaigrette. Once upon a time you could bet that a hollowed-out avocado doused with a dressing of a little vinegar, a very good olive oil, and a handful of chives would take us through the first course of a flash dinner party, and the chocolate air would [...]

I came across Mark Armstrong’s ‘flourless’ chocolate cake in an issue of Vogue Wine and Food Cookbook of about 1984. 1 tried it and it worked perfectly. It was held together by chocolate and eggs, and was full of cream to boot. Then I tried the recipe without the liqueurs the original called for. Then I [...]

I think this would have to be the most satisfying dish I have put together. I cannot believe there could be a lighter, more flavoursome, more consistently perfect chocolate pudding than this. It is so light, you can feel the air bubbles bursting in your mouth. Yet it is nothing like a souffle. It is [...]

It seems if you mention the word ‘chocolate’, combined with ‘recipe’, most ears in the room prick up, and pens and paper are quickly gathered and put to work. To make triply sure of an audience, toss in the word ’soufflé’, and you’ll find you’re as popular as Bob Dylan.

No matter what the health revolution [...]

I worked on the perfect bavarois for months — probably 18 months if the truth be known. There always seemed to be two insurmountable difficulties. The dish was always too rich, and always unattractive. I tried variations on cream content, cut down on eggs, piped different colours into the middle, served it sliced in half, [...]

Before the apricot season departs, and the ‘cots are ripe and rich in sugar, try them one more way to keep you anxious for the next summer. Try the apricots in something like a tarte Tatin, that wonderful French upside-down version of the apple pie. This is not really an upside-down pie, but it takes [...]