How I Cook

Hello team, This is a free issue of How I Cook, to receive all of the weekly posts as well as everything from the archives, consider becoming a (very chic) paid member. To welcome in our brand new 101 series, I’m going to lift the lid on buying, storing, opening and eating oysters athome. We’re kicking off with some basics here as well a a bulletproof mignonette recipe. I’ve furnished this article with pictures of some of my favourite oysters through the years.

Hi folks, Welcome back to How I Cook+. First of all, a huge thank you to everyone who watched the first episode of our brand new show, Stage. The reception has been amazing and I’m so pleased that so many of you loved it, we’ve worked really hard on it and I can’t wait to show you more! If you haven’t seen it yet, hit the button below to get the full episode. This week on the newsletter, we return to the beer snacks and to the much maligned chicken tender.

Hi folks! Super excited to bring you episode one of my brand new series, Stage! It’s probably the best thing I’ve ever made so please watch episode one, enjoy, and if you can show your support by commenting, liking and subscribing to the channel, that would be amazing! We put so much work into this project and are so excited to see it out in the world, Thanks again for reading and being on the journey, Big love, Ben x

Hello, This week we’re unpacking a very popular episode of Beer Snacks, the grilled mackerel flatbread. Loosely inspired by the magic balik ekmek, a humble sandwich of grilled fish (often mackerel) served with peppers and tomatoes, maybe a little onion salad, in crusty bread. You can find these all along the Bosphorus river in Istanbul, and at my house in South East London.

Hey folks, Welcome back to How I Cook+. Today’s recipe is perfect for the seemingly everlasting heatwave that’s sizzling the UK this week. Steak tagliata is a dish of about 4 ingredients, it’s really, really simple. Almost begs the question, why write an entire newsletter on it? Well, whilst the beauty in the simplicity, the devil is very much in the detail. When a plate is as stark as this, there is nowhere to hide and the different between a good tagliata and a great tagliata is in the technique.

Hey folks, Welcome back to How I Cook. This week, we’re tackling a really lovely bit of technique driven cooking, a speedy take on a bisque. Believe it or not, you could probably make this pretty comfortbaly on a wednesday night. Bisque, on a wednesday night. That’s really what my debut book is all about, taking seemingly complex techniques, dishes and recipes and removing the mystery, placing them within your home kitchen, and empowering you to take them on.

Welcome back to How I Cook+ and our second beer snacks edition. This week it’s chicken tsukune, a super popular Japanese chicken meatball served on a skewer. Typically they’re made from ground chicken mixed with finely chopped aromatics like spring onions, garlic and and ginger, shaped into little rugby ball-esque ovals, and grilled over hot charcoal. Tsukune are also commonly glazed with a sweet and savory soy-based sauce known as tare.

Hey folks, Welcome back to How I Cook+. Beer Snacks is back! just in time for summer and the World Cup! It’s one of my highlights of the year, shooting this series for you all, we pack it into two or three of the best days on set. The recipes are big, bold, exciting and packed full of flavour, do they stretch the definition of the word snack to yawning breaking point? Absolutely, yes. We’ve got lobster rolls, mortadella skewers, lamb T-bone, chicken tsukune and much more on the way.

Hey folks! A slightly abridged issue this week as I am away in Barcelona on my summer holidays. I think the weather is heating up again back home, so here’s a totally free, icy cold, very delicious noodle soba salad I made during that wild heatwave we had a few weeks ago. We’ve also got a brilliant classic record from Wilco and Billy Bragg. Thanks for reading, B x How I Cook is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Hey folks, Welcome back to the newsletter. This week we’re taking on a cut of meat that can strike fear into the heart of the home cook, the rack of lamb. Why? Well, chiefly because it’s an expensive cut and you don’t want to f**k it up. The tricky thing about lamb rack (it won’t be tricky for long, if you stick with me) is absolutely dialling in the cook so that you have edge to edge pink, blushing lamb all the way through the rack, without drying out the exterior or undercooking it.