Olivia Potts is the Guild of Food Writers’ Cookery Writer of the Year 2025. She hosts The Spectator’s Table Talk podcast and writes Spectator Life's The Vintage Chef column
From our UK edition
In Britain, we mark the beginning of Lent with pancakes. Although nowadays relatively few of us strictly observe the Lenten dietary traditions which prohibit the eating of dairy and meat in the lead up to Easter, we happily leap on the annual opportunity to eat breakfast for dinner: sales of lemons and caster sugar soar,
From our UK edition
This week I decided to bring all the fun of the fair into my kitchen and make churros. Churros are a dough enriched with butter and eggs, that are piped into lengths and fried in very hot oil until crisps and light. There’s nothing quite like the smell of sweet, hot dough, frying. In the
From our UK edition
21 min listen
Bip Ling is a model, musician, food writer, visual artist and DJ. On the podcast, she tells Lara and Liv about being inspired by her grandmother’s Indian cooking, eating as a model, and why macaroni cheese should be made with almond milk rather than full-fat. This episode is sponsored by Berry Brothers and Rudd.
From our UK edition
‘Many’s the long night I’ve dreamed of cheese–toasted, mostly’: such is the power, the appeal of cheese on toast that when Ben Gunn is found, having been marooned on the eponymous island for three years, his longing for cheese on toast is one of his first statements. When I find myself considering the possibility of
From our UK edition
I often find myself turning to lemon-filled recipes in January. I think it’s something my baking subconscious realises before I do – that cold, dark days require the antithesis, something bright and bold, something cheering. You know what they say: when life gives you lemons, make lemon meringue pie. Unlike its austere, pared back French
From our UK edition
23 min listen
Alison Roman is an American food writer, cook, and author of New York Times bestseller Nothing Fancy. On the podcast, she tells Lara and Livvy about the recipes she learnt from her mum, how she plans a dinner party, and craving pizza in lockdown. This episode is sponsored by Berry Brothers and Rudd.
From our UK edition
Beef Stroganoff has had its heyday: terribly popular with both restaurant chefs and dinner party hostesses of the 1950’s to 70’s, I can’t remember the last time I saw it on a menu or dinner table. It’s been relegated to buffet dishes and ready meals, beige and bland, insipid and gloopy. It sits in canteen
Can Christmas food be justified in January?
From our UK edition
29 min listen
Leroy Logan is a former superintendent at the Metropolitan Police, former chair of the Black Police Association, and author of Closing Ranks: My Life as a Cop. On the podcast, he tells Lara and Livvy about his love of apple crumble, his wife’s lunchboxes, and why police officers should always stay dry.
From our UK edition
Christmas is probably the only time I bother with appetisers or canapés proper; usually I am quite content to stick a bowl of fancy crisps on the dining table, and let my husband make sure everyone’s drinks are topped up. But Christmas is different. Christmas demands canapés. And, given the Vintage Chef moniker, I tend
From our UK edition
30 min listen
Tom Kerridge is a Michelin-starred chef. He opened The Hand & Flowers in 2005, and now has another restaurant and a butchers in Marlow, Buckinghamshire, alongside spots in London and Manchester. On the podcast, he tells Lara and Liv about growing up on free school meals, falling in love with hospitality, and catering for NHS
From our UK edition
21 min listen
Jeffrey Archer is a novelist, former politician, and peer of the realm. He has sold 275 million copies of his books – in 97 countries and more than 30 languages. On the podcast, he tells Lara and Liv about food in prison, his wife’s jacket potato, and why he loves shepherd’s pie.
While brandy snaps look similar to the Italian cannoli, they are far, far easier to make
From our UK edition
26 min listen
Henry Jeffreys is features editor of Masters of Malt, and author of The Cocktail Dictionary. On the podcast, he tells Lara and Livvy about living like the Goodfellas in Leeds, being ‘portly’ at university, and enjoying his mum’s apple and bramble pie.
From our UK edition
The name ‘toad-in-the-hole’ suggests something a little more whimsical (or saucy) than its reality. The origins of the name are spurious and, to be honest, a little tenuous: I’ve seen theories that the hole is a hungry stomach and the toad a ‘substantial meal’, another that suggests the dish resembles the way toads peep their
A well-seasoned, slightly fatty sausage does a lot of the leg work for you
From our UK edition
25 min listen
Pen Vogler is the author of Scoff, which describes the history of food in the British class system. On the podcast, she tells Lara and Liv about being vegetarian for a year, eating at Oxford colleges in the 1980s, and why avocados are so popular.
From our UK edition
Braising isn’t a terribly glamorous way of cooking: you’re not flipping steaks over an open fire, flambéeing alcohol, or shucking oysters. No one is going to gasp at your cheffy technique if you plump for braising. And when you pull the dish from the oven, it may not look any more exciting: no soaring soufflés,
For all their embracing of modern social media, the royals are traditionalists when it comes to their puddings
From our UK edition
36 min listen
Marcus Wareing is a celebrated, Michelin-starred chef, a judge on Masterchef: The Professionals and Chef Patron at Marcus in Knightsbridge. On the podcast, he tells Lara and Livvy about eating in school canteens, working with Gordon Ramsay, and catering during coronavirus.
