Winter city breaks, the North of England and comfort food

January 30 2023

Henry Harris’ recipe for celeriac remoulade with Serrano ham

Travel

UK

The list of the top 100 gastropubs in the UK was published last week with the top 50 here and 51 to 100 here. The Parker Arms in Clitheroe was top of the charts and the Guardian describes the success of gastropubs in the Ribble Valley here. My favourite, the Bell Inn at Langford in the Cotswolds, is in there at no 37.

Last week, we had Kent was the new Cornwall, and this week, you’ll be pleased to know that in the Times, Kent is the new Suffolk. There’s a roundup of hotels, vineyards and restaurants as well as a review of Boys Hall near Ashford which is apparently a new ‘foodie hotel’ .

At the other end of England, the Telegraph instructs us not to go to the Lake District but go to the industrial town of Barrow in Furness instead. I have no printable words on this advice. The comments call Barrow in Furness, the longest cut-de-sac in England but coincidentally, there is also an article on East Yorkshire, ‘England’s quiet corner’ in the Telegraph, and Hull could also own that definition. I lived there for ten years and went to school in Beverley which they deem England’s loveliest Georgian town. It is indeed, a beautiful but often overlooked place. The Pipe and Glass at South Dalton in East Yorkshire is in the top pubs list at 27. Also explore the North Pennines in the Daily Mail.

Europe

It’s a city break special in all the papers this week which seems to go against all previous articles in the papers about travelling by train for sustainability.

Menton in the FT where each February, there is a two-week Fête du Citron, which celebrates all things citrus and runs from February 11-26.

How to do weekends in Prague, and Barcelona and Brussels for under £300 in the Sunday Times.

Tampere, in the Times, the ‘Finnish city you’ve probably never heard of.’ I hadn't. Brief mentions of four other underrated European cities, Bastia, in Corsica, Bergamo in Italy, Aarhus in Denmark, and Lausanne in Switzerland

There were the sunniest short haul city winter breaks in the Telegraph as well as Florence in the winter in the Standard.

A local’s guide to Bucharest in the Guardian, a Thessaloniki city guide and the best stylish hotels in Copenhagen both in the Independent and a very long list of cities in Eastern Europe in the Times.

And finally, how could we have a Cook’s Edit without an article on Paris, this week from the Daily Mail on discovering its brasseries and bistros and one from the Independent on the places that Emily in Paris visits.

Restaurants

In the FT, Tim Hayward stopped at The North Circular’s Ace Cafe, website here which he thought was destination dining for the authentic British fry-up

In the Guardian, Grace Dent ventured out of London to the Woolpack in Slad, Gloucestershire, website here, which was ‘confident, swaggering cooking that almost doesn’t care whether you like it.’

In the Independent, Kate Ng went to Supa Ya Ramen, in Peckham, London SE15 which was ‘a perfectly imperfect take on fusion food’.

In the Observer, Jay Rayner thought the southern Thai cooking at Supawan in King’s Cross, London was ‘exceptional’.

In the Standard, Jimi Famurewa reviewed Studio Frantzen in Harrods, website here the first London restaurant from Swedish chef and multiple Michelin star-holder, Bjorn Frantzén, and thought it expensive

In the Telegraph, William Sitwell was the last of the critics to go to Bouchon Racine, website here, London, and said ‘if you don't like it, you don't like food.’

In the Times, Giles Coren went to Saltie Girl, website here with David Baddiel who thought ‘it really was a lot of tinned fish,’

Recipes

The theme this week ,as we get to the end of January, the longest, most interminable month of the year is comfort food of which we all in dire need. This is explicit in twenty easy comfort recipes from the Observer including Emily Scott’s cheddar on toast with sweet leeks, baked apples with ricotta and raisins from Olia Hercules and fish pie with a rosti topping by Rosie Sykes where there’s no need for a white sauce or mashed potatoes.

I loved Henry Harris’ savoury recipes from Bouchon Racine in the Times including bavette steak with Saint-Marcellin sauce, rabbit with mustard sauce and bacon and orzo, wild mushrooms and herbs and celeriac remoulade, pictured above. There were also two dessert recipes for Mont Blanc, and petit pots au chocolat which I also made. He’s got me out of a cooking rut when I didn’t feel like making anything new or even cooking at all. The meal I had at Bouchon Racine earlier in the month is already a contender for the best meal out I have had this year, even though it’s the only one so far.

There was also pork belly and potato pot roast, a Honey & Co recipe in the FT. which is cooked in pot with a dry rub and layers of shallots, sweet potato and potato, savoy cabbage rolls with a spicy dip sauce from Romy Gill in the Telegraph, filled with pork mince and topped with a spring onion sauce, as well as a crispy gnocchi with crab butter sauce recipe by Eleanor Steafel which looks both quick and amazing.

In the Guardian, Ottolenghi was cooking three more complex rice recipes, jook with garlicky choi sum and turmeric oil, tamarind rice with chana dal and aromatic oil, and umpkin rice fritters with chilli soured cream. Tamil Ray had a more user friendly squash and lentil dhansak recipe and Miguel Barclay was creating dishes for a pound including cauliflower tacos and cauliflower pasta.

Nigel Slater’s recipes for mushroom pilaf, lemon and mint and date cake with miso icing in the Observer also follow the comfort food trend.

I’m also mentioning Beth O’Brien, a pastry chef at Ballymaloe, who is worth following on Instagram as Bethcooksthings. She tests multiple versions of recipes of baked goods and now has a column in the Irish Times where she tested six scone recipes and then gave her own recipe for oat breakfast scones. 

 Books

Gennaro’s Cucina: Hearty Money-Saving Meals from an Italian Kitchen by Gennaro Contaldo.

In the Sunday Times, extracts include Gennaro Contaldo’s recipes for Tuscan bean and bread soup, potato, rice and artichoke bake, and orecchiette pasta with broccoli