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Interview: Food & Love in a Time of AIDS. A conversation with Nicola Miller & David Whitehouse

Interview: Christopher Tan, NerdBaker 2: Tales from the Yeast Indies Cookbook

Interview: Hisham Assaad, author of ‘Taboon’ on Lebanese Baking

KeYa Jam, Taiwan

Supercharge Your Sourdough!

Book Now! Sign Up For My Sourdough Classes in Central London

We’ve been having an amazing time at my Sourdough Masterclasses – so many happy students, so many positive comments, and most of all, so much great breadmaking! If you’d like to join me at one of my classes held in central London, just click HERE to find out more, including how to book for dates in 2025:

The Restoration of Nanzhuang Citrus Taiwanica

Taiwan's Ancient Forests near Nanzhuang Township

Saisiyat Restaurant Nayiluwan, in Nanzhuang Taiwan

A celebration of Nanzhuang Citrus Taiwanica (part 2)

A celebration of Nanzhuang Citrus Taiwanica (part 1)

Planting a Citrus Taiwanica seedling in the Taiwan forest

Nanzhuang Citrus Taiwanica, and the origin of today’s bitter oranges.

KeYa Jam, Taiwan

Quelques Pâtisserie, Taipei, Taiwan

Miaolin Foods, and Boulangerie Le Goût, Taiwan

Curious Table Restaurant, Taipei, by Tim Hsu

in the media

2 December 2023

Chocolate-date layer cake with peanut butter chocolate ganache

If you’re looking for an outstanding chocolate cake, which will stay moist and deliver a huge hit of flavour, with the bonus of peanut butter, this recipe of mine is for you! You’ll find it on the Good Food Australia website

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2 August 2022

Cookie cravings

danlepard

Chef 👨‍🍳 Baker 🍞 Writer ✍🏻 Photographer 📷 Author 📚 Enjoying life 🏳️‍🌈 #LGBTQ Find me in @guardian @obsfood @GoodFoodAU, Patron @MarmaladeAwards

Baking in Singapore and Malaysia is a tapestry wov

Baking in Singapore and Malaysia is a tapestry woven from generations of cultural exchange: think of soft loaves for kaya toast, delicate kueh, and the influence of European, Chinese, and Middle Eastern techniques. In “Nerdbaker 2: Tales from the Yeast Indies” @epigrambookshop (signed copies are available at NYC's Kitchan Artsa & Letters @kalnyc) Christopher Tan Yu Wei @thewayofkueh unpacks this rich, ever-evolving baking world, tracing the past and present of Southeast Asian baking with his signature depth and curiosity.
🇸🇬 🍞🥥
On my website, I’ve interviewed Christopher about his latest book, the shifting landscape of baking in Singapore and Malaysia, and how tradition and innovation constantly intertwine. Click the link in my bio – Interviews & Reviews – to read my conversation with Christopher and his insights on the evolving world of Southeast Asian baking.

Hey, a new episode of my podcast “No Set Menu”

Hey, a new episode of my podcast “No Set Menu” is out today (get the link in my Instagram bio) and this week the big question is: why might your favourite food be a hard sell…and what can a food festival do about it?
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Is there an ingredient or food that’s in your community that needs a bit more love than it’s currently getting, and you’re wondering if you can get more people excited about it? Well maybe you can. But you might also be thinking…what should do I do, what are the best steps to take?
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In this episode we’re looking at the success of a goat-meat festival held in Trinidad in October called…wait for it…GOATOBER @goatober_tt, and speaking with the organiser Franka Phillips and her work promoting it.
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A bit of history about the global Goatober movement: back in 2011 in the USA, the renowned cheesemaker Anne Saxelby, who very sadly died a few years ago, wanted to end a practice of slaughtering extremely young male goats without letting the live to a fair age. It’s a tricky situation – as much as everyone want to focus on the goats wellbeing and avoid waste – there’s also a dairy goat farming community that’s struggling with low sales and fickle consumers.
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So in 2012 Saxelby and Heritage Food USA @heritagefoodusa launched the first #Goatober to encourage people like you and me to eat it. In the UK, the British chef James Whetlor @jameswhetlor was working at @rivercottagehq, got himself some goats, raised them, started set up his own goat meat company called Cabrito, and later became involved in Goatober. James was recruited by today’s guest Franka Philip, and went out to Trinidad to help set up the very first Goatober there.
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So in today’s episode of No Set Menu we’ll look at the steps involved in promoting an overlooked ingredient: from first having the idea, to looking around seeing if other people can help you, to getting the best advice and working ever so hard to make it a success. Go to the link in my Instagram bio and listen as I talk to Franka Phillip about her work launching and running Trinidad Goatober.

What a wonderful time brimming with energy, ideas,

What a wonderful time brimming with energy, ideas, fierceness and love. Thank you Giorgio & Plaxy for letting me be a part of your extraordinary restaurant. And onward to new and exciting things in 2025! And thank you @johncareyphoto for capturing us so well back in 2002!
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#Repost @locandalocatelli with @use.repost
・・・
Couldn’t resist posting this… packing up we have found 23 years of brilliant pictures… some not suitable (!) but this one by @johncareyphoto of @danlepard and @giorgiolocatelli1 in 2002 I couldn’t resist…

2日前におにぎりを作ってみました！具材は缶詰のイワシ、生姜、クリームチーズ、わさび、たまり醤油、玉ねぎ、ごま油、お酢、砂糖を使いました。今すっかりハマってしまいました 🤣
🇯🇵
I made tinned sardine onigiri 🍙 and I think I’m now addicted to them 😳 however I have also discovered that…
🤔 freshly-made they’re a little soft,
🤩 one-day-old they’re to me perfect,
🙁 two-day-old they’re a little too dry.
So there is a one-day-old onigiri sweet spot for me. Credit to @whitehouseofwhitehouse for suggesting sardine instead of tuna.

Now on @spotifyuk, my podcast – No Set Menu –

Join me for our next hands on sourdough workshop a

Join me for our next hands on sourdough workshop at @cookeryschoollondon on Sunday 02 February 2025, 9am-4pm, and make this the year you perfect your bread baking. I was baking this loaf just yesterday morning and thinking how great it is to be able to to turn flour, water and salt into something so delicious. Join us at the class to find out the tips and techniques that will get you baking the best bread. For all the details about the class for to the link in my Instagram bio. See you there!

A surprise delivery 🚚 of a wonderful twelfth ni

A surprise delivery 🚚 of a wonderful twelfth night cake from Shaheen Peerbhai @purplefoodie at @mielbakery in London (just around the corner from Warren Street tube station). The butter in the puff pastry has a rich caramelised flavour, the sort you only get from baking it long enough so that pastry fully cooks through l. It’s tricky to get that right and this one is of course is spot on! The filling is an almond cream that tastes of natural almonds rather than essence, and delicious vanilla. This will be for dessert tonight, and I can’t wait.

Pies, Pasties, and Piccalilli: join me for a new c

Made some gravlax and soda bread (pretty much my o

Made some gravlax and soda bread (pretty much my oatmeal soda bread from @guardianfeast in 2007, but with porter instead of cold milk). For this soda bread’s flour I used a mixture of white, wholemeal and rye, creating a kind of “maslin soda bread” mix harking back to another soda bread recipe I wrote for the Guardian in 2009 that also used beer as the liquid. Confession: I am a man of many soda bread recipes over the past 30 odd years.
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Back in 1990’ish making gravlax was one of the first jobs I had in the kitchen at Alistair Little’s, and I assume his fondness for it was due to Kirsten Pedersen (his partner back then) being Danish. Gravlax is pretty straightforward to make, it involves pressing a mixture of salt, sugar, and chopped dill into the surface of the raw boned salmon (leave the skin on), then wrapping it tightly and refrigerating it for 2 to 3 days, turning it every day or so.
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Perhaps the tricky bit is slicing it, as it requires a long thin very sharp knife, which is almost impossible to find in any household save for those where the owners care about keeping their knives sharp. I swear the UK is the nation of blunt kitchen knives, except where crime is concerned. Anyway, this one is a repeat of the meal we had on Christmas Eve, and though I normally bake a sourdough loaf for it I instead baked soda bread. Completely won me over, I will definitely make this combination of soda bread and gravlax again and again.

When you think of Lebanese cuisine, you probably f

When you think of Lebanese cuisine, you probably first picture of silky hummus, smoky baba ghanoush, and fresh vibrant salads. Hisham Assaad @hisham_ad the multi-talented food writer, photographer, and artist, takes you far beyond that with his latest book ‘Taboon’ @smithstreetbooks , which dives deep into the under-explored world of Lebanese baking, uncovering recipes that are as rich in history as they are in flavour.
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On my website I’ve interviewed Hisham about his new book and the baking that sustains, heals, and connects people, especially in tough times. Click the link in my bio – Interviews & Reviews - to read my story on Hisham and his new book on Lebanese baking.

Wishing you all a Happy Christmas and hope that th

Wishing you all a Happy Christmas and hope that the year ahead brings some calm and joy to the world. Did you have a good day? Here it’s been quiet with David @whitehouseofwhitehouse, 🐕 Bruno and me, with a Chinese inspired dim sum dinner, and this pandan leaf ice cream pavlova with @natoora passionfruit spooned on top.

Went to see new bakery @mahaliandco in Battersea t

Went to see new bakery @mahaliandco in Battersea thanks to @chrisfruitnet suggesting we go together (and @liorskitchen had previously recommended it). Great space and very busy. The inspiration is a mix of Malaysian 🇲🇾 and Filipino 🇵🇭 flavours combined with artisan baking staples like great croissants and Danish. Punchy flavours like sambal paste, bacon and cheese; or sweet pandan, coconut and almond Danish. Didn’t get a chance to try but will go back I’m sure, especially as the have Malay curry puffs (sadly sold-out this visit).

Finally returned to visit @k_a_p_i_h_a_n bakery an

Finally returned to visit @k_a_p_i_h_a_n bakery and cafe in Battersea after being introduced to it years ago by @angelahuii, this time going with fruit industry expert @chrisfruitnet from @fruitnet. Still very taken with the baking at Kapihan, and a large part of it is in the surprise and curiosity I find in their baking. It’s a Filipino 🇵🇭 bakery but inspired-by as much as directly-using Filipino recipes, so I find there is always something imaginative and exciting. It was only after my first visit that I awakened to the Spanish influences in the food: note this was well-known to everyone in the world but me. Like this Christmas’s “Mince Pie Bibingka” with sherry raisins, dried mango and clotted cream. Or the “House Bibingka” with smoked pancetta, three cheeses, and truffled honey. Or the “Ube Buko Pie”, think sweet potato but here with purple yam custard and fresh young coconut in a flaky pie crust. Wonderful coffee too.

Sorry for the late notice, but last night on Chann

Sorry for the late notice, but last night on Channel 5 @channel5_tv @contentkings_official there was a documentary about the 2024 supermarket mince pie tasting for @whichuk magazine. It’s fun to watch, we’re on about halfway through and you can see how calmly (and critically) we approach the judging. What it doesn’t show, but I wish it did, is how meticulously @whichuk do the assessment. It’s extremely impressive, and having been involved in judging foods around the world I can say that there’s nothing quite like @whichuk magazine’s attention to detail, honesty, and fairness. They are definitely the one to trust.

Though I’m a little late for this celebration, I

Though I’m a little late for this celebration, I was aware for the last few months that it’s been 25 years since my first book “Baking with Passion” was published by @quadrillebooks in September 1999 - about the ‘Baker & Spice’ bakery that Gail formerly of ‘Gails’ founded. Last summer I was contacted by the son of the late food photographer Peter Williams, who was having to do the sad clear-out of his parents last home and he wondered if I wanted to look after the photographs. Holding these bought back so many memories, especially on how different baking, photography, and cookery book production was back then.
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‘Baking with Passion’ was I think the first cookbook about a UK bakery, and the first in the UK to have recipes for sourdough, stretching and folding dough, high-hydration dough, lots of firsts really. Gail was an utterly brilliant and exciting talent to work for, she enabled me to create so many breads without hesitation, would go out of her way to source the very best ingredients for us to use, and was fiercely determined to keep her bakery at the cutting edge. At the time, the baking – like my garlic bread with whole cloves of caramelised garlic studded through the salted dough – gained as many fans as it did anger. One summer an anonymous note was posted through the door, claiming the holes in our sourdough proved we were “stealing the crumb” from customers.
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I wanted to have photos of the working bakery, as I’d already been discussing doing a book with photographer Emily Anderson @andersenemily_photography and art director Debbie Angel @studiodebiangel. Then @quadrillebooks wanted to have their own art director, Mary Evans, oversee the book, but did like the action-photos Anderson had already shot. When it came out, the pr Jo Barnes @jobarnessauce had us send new empty shoe-boxes with a single loaf of garlic bread around to journalists. No one had done that, Jo was so inspiring.
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With hindsight I realise it was a very special groundbreaking bakery that changed so much and lead the way to all the great artisan baking in Britain today. So I feel very lucky that what we did was captured in this book, as a momento of that time.

David @whitehouseofwhitehouse had made a cauliflow

David @whitehouseofwhitehouse had made a cauliflower cheese for dinner, and I wondered what I wanted with it. Green vegetables? Nah. Salad? Double-nah! Needed more starch and thought “German potatoes, Japanese-style” #ジャーマンポテト . Though they’re a famous izakaya 🏮 dish, I’m told, I’ve only ever had them when they’re marked-down in Tokyo supermarkets, after 5pm, and microwaved them at the hotel. They’re kind of like their source recipe #bratkartoffeln, which I first remember eating in Sylt Germany in the late 1980s when I was photographing for @brigittemagazin with my friend Isa Petereit and thinking I’d found the most wonderful potato dish. Together with ‘guten tag’, I felt I could navigate German life by just announcing ’bratkartoffeln’. Essentially it’s sautéed potatoes with bacon or sausage, and usually onion and garlic. It was just what I needed tonight.

Plum Pudding Mince Pies in a Brown Sugar & Marmala

Plum Pudding Mince Pies in a Brown Sugar & Marmalade Shortcrust.
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It’s cold and raining out, the world is a mess - thank you Gregg for making it that little bit worse - so it time to create a new mince pie for 2024.
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What I’ve done here is cooked and puréed some fresh plums and lemon juice, then stirred that through equal quantities of chopped prunes, currants and raisins, with lots of whisky, light brown sugar and spices. Let that sit overnight at room temperature then cooked it gently with some butter.
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The pastry is a mix of white and stoneground wholewheat, ground almonds, dark brown sugar, butter, salt, egg yolk, and some marmalade without the pieces.
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David had some patty tins with curved indents so I baked them in it, with Demerara sugar on top. And found out that these tins seem to allow the fruit to pile up in the centre and avoid that pesky air pocket at the top the bigger ones get.

Worlds Aids Day, the time to reflect on all the pe

Worlds Aids Day, the time to reflect on all the people, so many gay men, who were killed by this disease. To thank all the wonderful people who gave their time freely to nurse and care for the shocking number of young men and women dying helplessly. And to somehow let go of the anger still strong towards those ignorant vile ones who did their best to hurt and harm us.
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Thinking about the filmmaker and artist Derek Jarman, these are from a series of nudes he allowed me to photograph of him. A very sweet, kind, fierce, talented man. Gone too soon.
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Follow @theaidsmemorial to read more about so many loved, kind, marvellous people this terrible disease has killed, and their beautiful stories.

I was feeling very cold the other night and as we

I was feeling very cold the other night and as we had a big bowl of stock that we’d made from some chickens David @whitehouseofwhitehouse had got (we’d roasted and deboned for the freezer), I thought a stew was needed, with a big nod towards the famous cock-a-leekie soup of Scotland.
📚🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿
I was reading how the cooked chicken should be ‘scrappy’ and the leeks cooked almost to ‘pulpy’, and thought how rare it is to find food in restaurants or cafes like that anymore: a kind of deliberate dishevelment of ingredients, so that both their flavour and appearance blur into one another.
🌾🐓
So that was the aim. Mixed in some hulled cooked barley grains, carrots and celery. Lots of bay leaves, and about 20 whole peppercorns. And served it with a spoonful of swede and carrot mash that David had made. Will be finishing it tonight as I made a big potful. And watch more of the @bbc’s series @smoggiequeens which we’re liking.

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The Latest

Interviews & Reviews

Interview: Food & Love in a Time of AIDS. A conversation with Nicola Miller & David Whitehouse

Interviews & Reviews

Interview: Christopher Tan, NerdBaker 2: Tales from the Yeast Indies Cookbook

Interviews & Reviews

Interview: Hisham Assaad, author of ‘Taboon’ on Lebanese Baking

events and classes

Book Now! Sign Up For My Sourdough Classes in Central London

in the media

Chocolate-date layer cake with peanut butter chocolate ganache

The reviews are in!