Kirstin: Every week the wonderful trustworthy Felicity Cloake gives us her “perfect version of favourite dishes” via the Feast magazine. Lucky for us, these recipes are also included on the App. Just to give you a flavour of her contributions, previous perfect versions of recipes have included the “Perfect pesto”, “Perfect pumpkin soup” and “Perfect Mayonnaise”.
Kung Pao chicken is one of our favourite Chinese recipes. Or should I be calling it Gongbao jiding? There turns out to be a whole controversial backstory to this recipe. However, most people agree that the Sichuan version of this dish consists of cubed chicken in a sweet and sour hot sauce and that this sauce contains Sichuan peppercorns, one of Tom’s favourite ingredients. (Interestingly while reading about the history of this dish I found out that Sichuan peppercorns were banned from being imported by the FDA from 1968 to 2005 because they were thought to carry citrus canker, a contagious bacterial disease.) But it turns out the peppercorns are also the making of this recipe. It’s not just conventionally hot, but has that added tingle. I knew Tom would love it if I made this dish but I was thrilled that both of our children asked me to make this again after loving it too. And I surely will.
Back in December 2023, Cloake included a recipe for Caribbean Black Cake in the print edition of Feast which I was particularly excited about (I am of Trinidadian heritage) but which has yet to make it onto the app. I’m hoping it will have migrated over there in time for September 2024 when I plan to make the cake. In the meantime I look forward to reading more of Cloake’s perfect versions of favourite dishes.
A cookbook a month 