Tantalising tastebuds

Dec 31 2010 By Richard McComb

Food critic Richard McComb talks to Jane Hornby about the delights of sharing wholesome home food.

Solihull-born food writer Jane Hornby has worked with chefs at the fancy end of cuisine but she is in no doubt about the style of cooking that is closest to her heart.

“People often ask me what I like to cook at home, usually expecting an outlandish reply,” says Jane.

“But my answer is always the same. When I’m cooking for family and friends, I like to make something I know everyone will love, that won’t stress me out, and that I can be sure will work – the brownies, to get the right ooze and crust, the lasagne, to make sure it has the right richness, and the chicken pie, to make sure it can be pulled straight from the refrigerator when you want to cook it.”

Jane worked with chefs like Masterchef’s John Torode and Lesley Walters as food editor of the BBC Good Food magazine but her first cookery book, What to Cook and How to Cook It, hopes to strip away the mystique and jargon of cooking to help amateurs realise their culinary dreams.

“This book is not like most beginners’ cookery books. They can sometimes be a bit boring, telling you what to do. I am hoping to be your friend in the kitchen,” says Jane.

What to Cook features 100 tried-and-test recipes and is being hailed as one of the most heavily illustrated cook books ever with more than 800 colour photographs. Jane thought it was important to give novices plenty of clear visual images of the different stages of a dish’s development as well as snappy descriptions. She hopes the method will help to take the fear factor out of creating homely, flavour-packed dishes such as creamy fish pie, lasagne, paella, curry and chicken and mushroom pie.

There are recipes for a foolproof birthday cake, tasty dips, quick suppers and one-pot meals, such as a Mediterranean fish stew, for relaxed dinners.

“It is food for sharing,” says Jane. “These are classic recipes. If you are a beginner, you know you like sticky barbecue ribs, but you don’t know how to cook them. Well, ribs are in the book.”