Delicious UK January 2018

When it’s cold outside the only wise move is to batten down the hatches and make it warm and super-cosy inside. That’s the theme running through this issue: love your home, cook great food and give yourself licence to RELAX. If you find it hard to switch off (I’m with you on that), persist – you can do it! At this time of year people tend to socialise less, so relish the pleasures of contemplation, rediscover reading, stay off social media for an afternoon or evening (preaching to myself here), go for a bracing walk and enjoy the occasional TV blitz. Perhaps you could kickstart your own board game revival, brain cells boosted by reviving bowlfuls of food – find inspiration for both on p28. This issue is…

1 Share… I love hearing about people’s food experiences – and I’d like to hear yours. What first sparked your interest in food? Was it your mum? Your grandma? An experience on holiday when you were growing up? A meal at someone’s house? A specific dish? Drop me a line at info@deliciousmagazine.co.uk and tell me about it. We’ll tell the best tales on the delicious . podcast. Look forward to hearing from you. 2 Curl up… ...by the fire or with a cosy blanket on the sofa and read The Meaning of Rice by Michael Booth (£14.99; Jonathan Cape). With his wife and sons in tow, he travelled from one end of Japan to the other – as far off the tourist trail as possible – in a bid to…

The 15-minute recipe Pancake waffles with ice cream & pomegranate MAKES 4 PANCAKES. HANDS-ON TIME 15 MIN In a large bowl, mix 75g plain flour, 75g rye flour, 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda, a pinch of salt and 30g caster sugar. In a small bowl, whisk 1 large free-range egg with 284ml buttermilk. Pour the egg mixture into the flour and beat with a spoon into a smooth, thick batter. Melt a large knob of butter in a frying pan over a medium heat. Spoon equal amounts of the batter into the pan in 4 separate mounds to make 4 pancakes. Cook gently for 2-3 minutes until golden underneath, then flip and cook for a few minutes more until cooked through. Serve with a scoop of your favourite ice cream…

SUBJECT: Fond memories FROM : Molly Price I so enjoyed the childhood memories menu in the November issue [p58]. My grandma Shirley’s recipe for lemon cream reminds me of her – a recipe that’s been in the family for a long time. She used to make it for afternoon tea in the garden and, when she passed away, we printed the recipe on the front of her eulogy for everyone to remember her by. Here it is… Shirley’s lemon cream Take one pint of double cream and the zest of two lemons and slowly bring to the boil. When the mixture bubbles, take it off the heat and let it cool. Add the juice from the two lemons and 3-4 ounces of caster sugar . Pour it over roughly crumbled…

Calling all budding food writers! Are you – or do you know – a young writer who dreams of writing a cookery book or composing restaurant reviews? The Guild of Food Writers’ Write It! competition, in association with Pink Lady apples, opens this month, giving budding wordsmiths the chance to have their work read by the best in the biz. In recognition of the competition’s 10th birthday, entrants are invited to write a paean to food with a ‘celebration’ theme. It can be descriptive prose, a short story, a travelogue or a food memory – anything food-related on the topic. Judged by renowned food figures (above, from left) Rick Stein, Xanthe Clay, Martha Collison, Stefan Gates, Meera Sodha and delicious. editor Karen Barnes, each winner in the three age categories…

45BC Emperor Julius Caesar replaced the Roman calendar (10 months, 304 days) with the Julian calendar, meaning 1 January became the first day of the year. 1785 William Prout was born in Gloucestershire on 15 January. The son of a tenant farmer, Prout became a renowned chemist, and was the first to classify food into carbohydrates, fats and proteins. 1937 The first episode of Cook’s Night Out was aired on the BBC on 21 January, showing French chef Marcel Boulestin making an omelette. It’s considered to be the first television cookery programme. 2002 Italian Antonio Todde, then the world’s oldest man, died aged 112 on 4 January. When quizzed about his long life, the shepherd said, “Love your brother and drink a good glass of red wine every day.”…