Nibbles #5
An insiders guide to Oktoberfest, the history behind our favourite autumn squash & a next level sandwich I can't wait to make.
Welcome to Nibbles where once a month I share everything brilliant I’ve been reading on the web as well as some general updates from my kitchen, my vegetable garden during the growing season, and other miscellaneous ‘you really need to know about’ updates.
If you’ve arrived here from elsewhere and you’re not yet a subscriber, you can sign up here so not to miss out on monthly ingredient essays (featuring a different ingredient every month), exclusive recipes, sneak peaks into some of my favourite food people’s kitchen cupboards, and the occasional long read!
Kara has written a brilliant piece explaining what exactly her job as a recipe tester entails, and includes a list of recipe criteria recipe developers like me ought to print out and stick to the fridge.
Samantha went to Oktoberfest in Germany, and because, Germany, of course there were plenty of rules about attending - a very fascinating piece!
Also, her short essay on death, loss and her father’s Mustang is so, so beautiful:
Something to make you smile this morning: the 12 McDonald’s locations that went rogue.
How New York’s black oyster king brought our favourite bivalves into the realm of fine dining.
I really enjoyed David’s piece (complete with recipe) on making chilli salt in Paris:
Super excited to sink my teeth into Anne’s brilliant new series, Cake In Other Places, where she’s going to explore how cake is baked and eaten around the world. (£)
Also, Anne schools us on the lovely story of how butternut squash was both created, and named as well as sharing some great roasting ideas:
Eater London have nailed why The Great British Bake Off is something we ought no longer be watching, and why I refused to watch it anymore when Matt Lucas joined.
Farrah questions if we even want Instagram and social media ‘followers’ anymore in a poignant post:
This hack for removing excess fat off the top of a stew is actually genius.
Kara has some brilliant thoughts on the bizarreness of apple picking:
Serious Sandwiches is one of my new favourite newsletters, and I’ve made note to have a Mergwich in my immediate future. What is the use of working from home if I can’t slip into the kitchen at lunchtime to make something like this?
Kiki is seriously getting me in the habit of wanting to travel somewhere just for a single dish. This time, grilled sardines from the Algarve:
What I’ve been cooking: This month has been all about butternut squash (with the Butternut Squash, Parmesan & Sage Tart on my blog, and my Butternut Squash Orzotto over for my Macknade residency), and Indian-inspired dishes, both with another recreation of one of my favourite British curry house classics, Chicken Salli (a delicious Parsi-style chicken curry made with apricots) and my cheats Air Fryer Samosas made with filo pastry, which, if I may say so myself are perfect for the upcoming holiday party season as they batch cook beautifully. You can tell I’m cooking an Indian-inspired feast next week, right?
What I’ve been watching: If you’re in the neighbourhood and you’ve not booked tickets to see Arthur Miller’s The Crucible at The National Theatre, do so before it closes in a few days. Obviously it is a fantastic play charting the rising hysteria of the Salem witch trials, but this was very well performed, creatively and cleverly staged and provides an interesting lens through which to view modern day ‘cancel culture’.
Thanks so much for the shoutout, Rachel!
And great roundup, as usual! Thanks for pointing me to Kara’s article on recipe testing, which sounds equal parts fun and exhausting. I also really liked her take on apple picking and completely relate to the misconceptions about people who were born and raised in rural areas.
Thank you for the links! Enjoying reading through all the other great pieces, too :)