Honey And Co: The Food Talks

In series 5 of Honey & Co: The Food Sessions we're meeting producers, growers and makers who supply some of our essentials. This week we're talking all things coffee. Joanna Brennan co-founded Pump Street Bakery with her father in the village of Orford in Suffolk. After mastering the art of naturally-leavened bread, they ventured into making chocolate from beans imported directly from single estates and cooperatives around the world. We talk to Joanna about the obsessive care and attention to detail that goes into the roasting profile of each bean and how each stage requires a careful eye, and nose. Chocoholics and others alike, this one's for you! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Welcome back to series 5 of Honey & Co: The Food Sessions. In this season we're meeting producers, growers and makers who create some of the essential ingredients cooking. The people you’re going to hear from, supply us, inspire us and improve our cooking. We hope you’ll have fun geeking out with us about all things butter, chocolate, coffee, bread, fruit & veg, olive oil and of course... honey. Enjoy! This episode is all about butter; how to make it, how should we eat it and why is it yellow? We are joined by butter aficionados Grant Harrington of Ampersand Cultured Butter and food writer, Eve Hemingway. After working in fine-dining, Grant was inspired to learn more about traditional butter-making. He set up shop and now makes butter that is unlike anything we’ve tried before; rich, dense and creamy. Food writer Eve Hemingway helps us to delve deep into the history and culture of butter making. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Michael Rakowitz, Iraqi-American artist of Fourth Plinth commission 'The Invisible Enemy Should Not Exist' and author of upcoming cookbook A House With A Date Palm Will Never Starve, to be released in the summer of 2019. Rakowitz’s Lamassu is made from empty tins of Iraqi date syrup, alluding to the fact that historical monuments are not the only thing destroyed by war; they also decimate local economies, including the industry for date syrup which collapsed as a result of the war.  A House With A Date Palm Will Never Starve by Michael Rakowitz is out June 2019, published by Plinth Instagram: @PlinthUk Twitter: @PlinthUkArt See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Rosemary Shrager, celebrity chef, cookery school doyenne and author of Rosemary Shrager’s Cookery Course: 150 tried and tested recipes to be a better cook. She has recently appeared on popular television series The Real Marigold Hotel and is an acclaimed cookery teacher with her own school, Rosemary Shrager’s Cookery School. She came to talk to us about the best ways to teach cooking, how she adapts recipes from her travels and all the bizarre encounters she has had along the way. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Nik is a writer, photographer, and recipe developer behind the critically acclaimed blog, A Brown Table. We chatted to him after a special event cooked by us from Nik’s book – Season: Big Flavours, Beautiful Food. Nik's recipes take a journey all the way from India by way of the American South to California. He talked to us about his childhood food in India, how he uses his scientific skills in cooking and why he took basmati rice to his in-laws' house.   See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Niki’s first book The Flavour Thesaurus, published in 2011, examines why one flavour works with another and looks at how to pair your ingredients from traditional combinations such as pork & apple and interesting but unlikely-sounding couples. Niki’s inspiring new book, Lateral Cooking, grew out of the experiments with flavour combinations that went into her bestselling debut. We spoke to her about her path into food writing, how she developed the categories and her no-churn lemon ice cream See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Anissa Helou is a chef, food writer, and journalist with an unparalleled knowledge of the culinary heritage of the Middle East, the Mediterranean, and North Africa , author of FEAST: Food of the Islamic World. She talks to us about the major task of covering the entire Islamic World in a cookbook, how she gathered a comprehensive collection of the finest and most flavourful recipes from her time living and travelling widely in the region, and how to eat a camel hump. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Asma Khan has royal Mughali ancestry and grew up in a palace with 20 cooks. After gaining a PHD, she set up a supper club in her home in Kensington. Lovingly recreating Indian food from family recipes that go back generations, her cooking drew much acclaim and led to a permanent restaurant in central London, Darjeeling Express. We talked about filming for Chef's Table and her Second Daughters Fund which supports the often neglected and disadvantaged second daughter in the Darjeeling town of Kurseong. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Caroline Eden is a writer specialising in the former Soviet Union. Over the past decade she has filed stories from Uzbekistan, Ukraine, Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan. She came to talk about her book 'Black Sea: Dispatches and Recipes – Through Darkness and Light' is the tale of a journey between three great cities. We listened to Caroline’s stories of the remarkable individuals she met such as the last fisherwoman of Bulgaria and the inspiring meals that she ate on the way. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

After working in some of London’s best-loved restaurants, Max Halley realised that the sandwich, humanity’s greatest invention, was due a renaissance. In 2015 Max opened Max’s Sandwich Shop in Crouch End, London. He features creations such as the Ham, Egg ‘N’ Chips: slow-cooked ham hock, fried egg, piccalilli, shoe string fries and malt vinegar mayo. We talked about his sandwich philosophy, what's wrong with sourdough and the best things to blend into mayonnaise. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Anja Dunk was born in Wales to a German mother and a Welsh father. Her childhood was spent predominantly in Wales but also in Germany and South East Asia, where she moved to and from over the early years of her life. Her love of food started at home but has grown since working in cafes and restaurants over the years. Anja spoke to us about her wonderful new book Strudel, Noodles and Dumplings, proving that there is more to German food than Bratwurst and Black Forest gateau. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Sybil Kapoor's new book, Sight Smell Touch Taste Sound, uses cleverly simplified kitchen theory and a selection of tempting recipes to reveal how we can unlock the power of our five senses and take our cooking to the next level. Sybil talked to us about the important differences between: Taste, Flavour (smell), Texture (touch and sound), Temperature (touch) and Appearance. She also told us all about her life in the world of food from London to New York and back again. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Russell has built a life and career out of his love for the north Italian city of Venice. In his latest book, Venice Four Seasons of Home Cooking, he returns to the city to immerse himself in the authentic flavours of the region and the culinary traditions of the city throughout the seasons. Everything from summer picnics to warming winter soup is covered in easy Italian family recipes: from radicchio, pancetta and chickpea salad to duck rigatoni, and from Bellini sorbet to chocolate and hazelnut semifreddo. We talk about the rare and intimate glimpse into the life of the city, its hidden architectural gems, its secret places, its embedded history, the colour and bustle of daily life, and the food merchants and growers who make Venice so surprisingly vibrant. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

It’s not often that you get to meet a living legend: Fabrizia Lanza’s cookery school in Sicily is a food lover’s mecca. Fabrizia’s family have been in Sicily for centuries and through their school and farm they preserve knowledge and flavours passed down through the generations. We talked about preserving food and preserving traditions, drank Sicilian wine and cooked some of Fabrizia’s amazing food for everyone who came. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In a small converted greengrocers in South London (her ice cream shed), Kitty Travers patiently creates an array of iced delights – fresh ice creams that taste of the real, whole fruits; and eye-popping, palate-tickling sorbets that will enliven the taste buds of all those lucky enough to sample them. Kitty came to talk to us about how she fell in love with making ice cream and her new book, La Grotta Ices, containing over 100 inventive flavours of real ice cream, sorbet and granita. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

We had a very special evening celebrating the launch of our new book Honey & Co: At Home – Middle Eastern Recipes From Our Kitchen, out now! Usually The Food Talks involve one or both of us chatting to our favourite people in the food world but for one night only the tables were turned and our producer Hester got to grill us for a change. We talked about home food throughout our lives, what we cook in our precious weekends and our favourite recipes for each other... See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Signe is a Norwegian-American cook and the author of How to Hygge and Scandilicious. She joined us to talk about her latest book Solo: The Joy of Cooking for One. Celebrating the joy of self-reliance and self-sufficiency, the book is all about becoming more selfish in the kitchen and is full of recipes for happy solo cooking. From uncomplicated no-cook fast food to one-pot dishes that will transform your daily routine. We talked at length about the perfect fish finger sandwich, how to shop for solo dishes and how much dill is too much dill. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Self-taught chef Stephen Harris transformed what was once called a “grotty rundown pub by the sea” on the coast in Kent into a Michelin-starred restaurant that has been named Britain’s number one. At The Sportsman, Stephen uses the best ingredients available in the immediate land surrounding the pub – the pork is sourced from the farm next door; they make their own butter and the salt is sourced from the sea. We chatted about the transformation of the pub and of Stephen himself as well as his new book. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Nick is one of three founders of Hodmedod’s, Britain’s pulse and grain pioneers. They’ve been working with British farmers since 2012 to bring a growing range of forgotten and new crops to British kitchens, from fava beans and carlin peas to quinoa, camelina and naked barley. We use a lot of these products in the restaurants and so we were very excited to have Nick join us to share the Hodmedod’s story. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

After a life-changing meal at Chez Panisse restaurant in Berkley in 2010, Samin began cooking there; a job which determined the course of her life. The chefs she cooked with used four key principles to make any food taste great if used in the right way; salt, fat, acid and heat. Samin spent years creating her book in order to teach others how to master the art of good cooking. We spoke to Samin about the serendipity of her journey into food, how we can develop our palettes and which feta reigns supreme. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.