Perfect by
Felicity Cloake
Can you remember your first foodie adventure?
I must have been about two. I was certainly in a pushchair anyway, when I seized a block of Stilton from the supermarket shelf, and bit into it. I can still remember the taste of the cheese through the plastic wrapping, and my mum's mortification when a fellow shopper pointed out her child was gnawing on a hunk of cheese like an underfed rat. Albeit one with fairly fancy tastes.
What is the most controversial recipe in 'Perfect'?
Probably the hollandaise sauce; people are terrified of it splitting, but really all that faffing about with bain maries and melted butter is completely unnecessary. With my recipe, you just chuck the butter and egg yolks into the pan together – utterly foolproof I promise, and great at this time of year with boiled artichokes.
Who, most, should buy your book?
People looking to build up a solid repertoire of classics they can add to and tweak according to their own tastes. The American food writer MFK Fisher (one of my favourite authors, in fact) puts it brilliantly when she says that she can do things with five ingredients that French masterchef Escoffier 'perhaps never dreamed of' but, that in order to do them well, she must follow the rules for stock making, egg poaching and so on, as set down by such culinary deities. I certainly wouldn't put myself in that category, but all the basics - pastry, mayonnaise, roast potatoes etc - are here, and I promise they really work! Master even half of the recipes in this book, and you can start playing around a bit in the kitchen – which is the really fun bit.
Which other culinary auteurs inspire you?
Nigel Slater was the one who really got me interested in food writing, and these days I like Diana Henry, Jane Grigson, Yotam Ottolenghi and Simon Hopkinson – the book he did with Lindsay Bareham, The Prawn Cocktail Years, is my default present option for any cook.
Which restaurant makes you happy?
An obvious choice, but Hawskmoor – great steak, obscene onion rings, and a fine way with cocktails. It never disappoints. (Also, the Stilton hollandaise!)
Thinking to UK restaurants in 2012, what do you see as the next 'trend'?
There have been rumbles about this for a while, but finally London's getting two Peruvian restaurants, which I'm really excited about, because I think South American food is perhaps the final culinary frontier in this country. As a guinea pig lover, I'm assuming there won't be any cuy on the menu though...
As a freelance writer on food, how do you see your future?
More of the same please! I write columns for the Guardian and the New Statesman, which give me a pretty free rein to explore the weird and wonderful foodie things I'm really interested in, and I'm just about to start work on a second book, which will be a bit different from Perfect...
And what advice would you give other aspiring food writers?
Get online – I wish there'd been things like Twitter for making contacts when I was starting out! – and start a blog to show off what you can do.
To win a copy of the cookbook please answer the following question:
Which culinary genre does Felicity predict will surface in London in 2012?
a) Mongolian
b) Bahranian
c) Peruvian
Please send an email to
editorial@hardens.com with your answer. Please include your name, phone number and delivery address. The winner will be the chosen at random from correct replies received by close of business on 13 January 2012, and will be notified by email.
Perfect is published by Penguin
