Notes about Recipes in this book

• The best chips ever

  • Ro_ on August 26, 2020

    This is essentially a double-cooked chips recipe, and having recently tried Heston Blumenthal's recipe for triple cooked chips which gave amazing results, I wanted to see how these ones compared. The result: you can really see the difference from that missing third step. These chips were very nice, soft inside, good colour on the outside, but what they lacked was a crunch on the outer layer. I think that the triple cooked chips, being boiled first, develop a slightly fluffy, jagged exterior which makes for a crunchier chip once they get fried.

• Dauphinoise potatoes

  • Ro_ on November 03, 2019

    I followed the preparation and cooking method exactly, then left in a warm oven for a further hour before serving. This dauphinoise didn't have that gooiness I was hoping for, the cream/milk was still too liquidy in parts and the potatoes weren't uniformly tender. It also needed more salt. My search for the perfect Dauphinoise recipe continues, I've yet to make one at home that's been as good as those I've had in restaurants.

• Honey-roasted parsnips

  • Ro_ on February 27, 2023

    These were nice, but not amazing. I think they might have been nicer parboiled first: as it was they were neither crunchy on the outside nor fluffy on the inside. The honey was nice, but I'm not sure I really needed the chilli flakes.

• Perfect cauliflower cheese

  • Ro_ on February 15, 2023

    I found I needed to add a bit more milk to the cheese sauce to get it to a pouring consistency. I used brioche breadcrumbs instead of ciabatta as I had old brioche to use up. Overall this was a nice dish, but not a knockout cauliflower cheese, I'm not sure the mushrooms added that much.

• Glazed carrots

  • Ro_ on April 17, 2023

    These were simple but tasty, a good way to quickly elevate boiled carrots.

• A truly fabulous fish pie

  • Ro_ on February 29, 2020

    My first time making a traditional fish pie, and I was pretty pleased. I left out the optional eggs as I'm not a fan of hard boiled eggs. It was fine but I'm trying to think if there's something else a little creamy and solid that could be substituted to add a bit of texture, possibly some unmashed pieces of potato. The overall flavours were perfect, I'd possibly just cook the fish (in the milk) for a shorter time than stated to avoid drying out, and also make sure to leave for at least 20m after removing from the oven to give time to set a little.

• Super simple mini-quiches - crispy bacon and Gruyère cheese

  • Ro_ on April 26, 2020

    I cheated a little by using bought pastry, but these turned out delicious. Nice flavours, and really cute. I was pleased that they came out of my silicon mould very easily.

• The best party vol-au-vents - chicken and tarragon

  • Ro_ on May 22, 2023

    On the one hand these were quite fiddly to make - scoring the squares into the pastry, part baking and then getting the scored bit out didn't really go to plan. Some of my pastry ended up too cooked, not much of it was very puffed up, and getting out the squares was very delicate and I lost about a quarter of the batch because they ended up getting massive holes in them. On the other hand, the filling was easy to make and I like that they could be assembled ahead of time before baking. And most importantly, my guests really loved them, the chicken and bechamel filling was very creamy, tasty and indulgent. I couldn't get tarragon so I used lemon thyme which was nice.

• Spinach & feta filo pie

  • Ro_ on March 16, 2021

    I made this in a round pie dish and served it in slices. It's really tasty, though I found that mine would have benefited from a little salt being added (my feta wasn't particularly salty).

• Cheese & onion pasties

  • Ro_ on July 03, 2023

    There's an error in this recipe: the ingredients list for the cheesy pastry calls for 50g of parmesan (which I painstakingly grated, this is my least favourite job in the kitchen) but then the method never says to add it at any point. I only realised this once I had rolled and cut out my pastry: I ended up kind of sprinkling some of the parmesan over the pastry discs, but I didn't get the full effect of cheesy pastry which was a shame. Otherwise, these pasties were nice but I found them a bit dry - I think the filling needs to be a bit wetter somehow. The pastry method (apart from the missing parmesan) was really good though, I often struggle with pastry but this one was easy to work with and I had no problems forming the pasties.

• Spinach & goat's cheese burek

  • Ro_ on December 05, 2022

    These were easy enough to make, and the texture was lovely. I am pretty sure I added a bit more goat's cheese than was stated, but I still didn't think it came through enough and I would add more next time, as well as possibly omitting the cumin seeds which came through a bit too strongly for my taste. The good thing about these is that it would probably really easy to do them with lots of different types of filling, even sweet ones.

• Tasty Japanese gyozas - pork or chicken filling

  • Ro_ on April 17, 2023

    I made these with the pork filling, and it was delicious. My pastry was a little bit wet and tricky to manipulate, I shouldn't have added quite so much water. Also, even though I cut them out to the 10cm circumference as instructed, they seemed quite big. All that aside, they were delicious and turned out well (if not prettily).

• Chicken & wild mushroom pie

  • Ro_ on December 09, 2019

    This was nice but nothing special. I think it would be better with chicken thighs instead of breasts.

• Superb steak & ale pie

  • Ro_ on December 02, 2021

    The filling was tasty, and the flavours good. However there was too much of a gap between the pie filling and the top crust.

• Deep-filled chicken & mushroom pie

  • Ro_ on May 16, 2023

    This pie had a nice flavour, and was actually pretty easy to make. My issues were a) there wasn't quite enough filling for the amount of pastry, but that could be an issue with the size of my pie dish and b) it was quite sloppy and liquid when cut into. I think it would probably benefit from quite a long resting time before being served.

• Steak & mushroom pie

  • Ro_ on November 23, 2020

    The filling was delicious, I wouldn't change anything except that in hindsight I should perhaps have thickened it slightly more (more flour maybe and a final reduction on the hob). I was also very pleased with the pastry: I am not gifted in the pastry department but this one came out OK! I think my pie dish was slightly bigger than the recommended size, with the effect that the filling didn't quite come up high enough to the pastry, but this is mostly just a visual issue. Overall it was a successful pie, and I was pleased with how it came out.

• Quiche Lorraine

  • Ro_ on January 01, 2020

    A really good quiche lorraine recipe: gives a nice creamy filling with a good consistency. My family loved this.

• Caramelised red onion & goat's cheese tarts

  • Ro_ on September 01, 2022

    The red onions were way too sweet, and that was with me only using half the amount of sugar suggested. I also thought these tarts lacked moisture, the red onions alone weren't enough. The flavour combo was good and they looked pretty / were easy to make, but the recipe could be improved.

• Tomato, mozzarella and pesto tarts

  • Ro_ on October 12, 2019

    These went down really, really well with the family. I used red pesto instead of green as that's what I had. Delicious taste. But if you want to serve them as finger food you'd need to halve the size of the tart bases (note to self) since they're very crumbly.

• Broad bean, pea & mint tart

  • Ro_ on August 21, 2021

    Fantastic flavours that worked so well together and were delicious for summer. I used ready made pastry. Would bake for 40-45 minutes next time as it came out a little wobbly. Nice eaten cold though.

• Creamy chicken, ham & leek pie

  • etcjm on September 28, 2021

    Another recipe where liberties were taken, but I'm sure the Hairy Biker's won't mind. Used chicken thighs and poached for a bit longer. Added some mushrooms and extra leeks. Used cornflour and I increased my gluten free shortcrust recipe to equal what they recommend for the size dish. Very good indeed. Yes, a little time consuming given the steps, but we had two nights meals and a lunch out of it so all is forgiven. I will make sure I have some homecooked ham next time, although great, it was missing that salty element. Great hot or cold!

  • TLouise on August 30, 2021

    This is the best chicken pie ever. I have made various other chicken pies since I made this one but my husband always says they are not as good. I've given up trying others now and just make this one.

• Steak & kidney pudding

  • etcjm on January 16, 2022

    Time consuming but very good. I cooked the steak and kidney yesteray and did the pie today. Recipe says 1.5 litre basin, I only had a 1 litre - it just fit. Used port instead of red wine. I had to go hunting for an online gluten free suet pastry. Used the Doves Farm one. Nightmare to work with and had to patchwork it all. However it worked and was tasty. I also do not need to cook tomorrow night as we have leftovers!

• Sausage & bean breakfast pie

  • TLouise on December 29, 2020

    My son enjoyed this. I had some sausages and potatoes that needed using up so this was great. Very filling, good comfort food for a cold rainy day.