From Honey To Coffee: Five Recipes To Make From The Dandelions In Your Garden

Posted on 16/05/2026 by Boris Clair

Sometimes treated as a weed, dandelions can be key to a healthy backyard. Not only do they help to feed hungry bees, but their seeds can nourish birds – including rapidly-dwindling greenfinch populations – too.

So perhaps it’s not surprising we can benefit from eating the plant, too. Dandelions contain a range of vitamins, potassium, iron, antioxidants, and prebiotic fibre.

Some in-vitro research suggests it could reduce cell inflammation (chronic inflammation is linked to worse ageing), too.

Speaking to the Cleveland Clinic, registered dietitian Nancy Geib said their leaves are “probably the most nutritionally dense green you can eat – outstripping even kale or spinach”.

Which means we probably shouldn’t be asking if we should eat dandelions, but instead focus on how.

Just make absolutely sure the dandelions you’re eating haven’t been treated with weedkiller or other pesticides, and clean them thoroughly.

5 dandelion recipes

1) Fried dandelion heads

This Appalachian recipe is pretty simple; baste dandelion flowers in eggs before tossing them in seasoned flour and frying them.

Reviewers of its Allrecipes entry called the meal cheap, easy, and tasty.

2) Dandelion green salad

Younger, more tender leaves are sweeter and milder, and are probably best for beginners. These are delicious blanched and sautéd with garlic and herbs.

But older, more bitter leaves can bear seriously strong flavours, like intense salty and sweet notes (just make sure to blanch them before eating). Try them in a salad with feta, bacon, maple dressings, and other punchy accompaniments, or boil them in soups or stews.

Be careful to thoroughly wash dandelion greens, young or old, before eating them.

3) Dandelion pesto

Make it as you would a basil version: wash the leaves and blend them with pine nuts, oil, hard cheese, garlic, and salt.

Or, if you want a truly Italian finish, make it in a pestle and mortar.

4) Dandelion honey

Perfect for vegans and gastronomes alike, this recipe is essentially an infused syrup.

Boil the heads, after shaking them to remove any insects, with water and lemons. Let them sit to infuse for a couple of hours, strain the liquid, and then boil the flavoured water into a syrup with sugar (it thickens a lot as it cools).

5) Dandelion coffee

You read that right. The washed and dried roots of dandelions can be chopped small and roasted in an oven until dark brown and ground into a powder.

You can then turn that into a distinctly flavourful “coffee” by adding water.

Oh Good: Cooking Sprays Are Probably Ruining Your Nonstick Pans

Posted on 25/04/2026 by Boris Clair

We’ve written before at HuffPost UK about how olive oil might not be the best choice for roasting spuds.

It turns out the kind of oil you use for nonstick pans matters no matter what you’re cooking in them, too.

According to cookware brand Circulon, “there are several reasons to avoid using cooking sprays on your nonstick cookware”.

Why are cooking sprays so bad for nonstick pans?

Speaking to the New York Times’ Wirecutter, Fran Groesbeck, a managing director of the Cookware and Bakeware Alliance trade association, said that – ironically – some non-stick sprays can ruin the coating on your pans.

They can leave a thin film behind after use, she said, and it’s especially hard to spot on nonstick pans.

“You can’t necessarily see that residue, because nonstick coatings are all black, but if you don’t properly clean it off after you’re done cooking, then your food will start to stick.”

This film is made up of ingredients not usually seen in non-spray oils, like soy lecithin. As they linger on an often-reheated pan, they polymerise, becoming next-to-impossible to remove.

But that’s not the only unwanted side effect. Because these sprays typically have a lower smoke point than many other oils, they begin to burn on your pan – corroding the nonstick surface further.

Speaking to EatingWell, cookware company Our Place’s associate director of product development, Stephanie Hong, said: “Many spray oils also contain chemical propellants, which are prone to breaking down under high heat. This instability can lead to scorching, residue buildup and long-term damage to the nonstick surface, ultimately causing the very sticking you were trying to avoid.”

What should I use instead?

If you want to use less oil, try wiping your nonstick pan with a paper towel dipped in your usual oil, Circulon shared.

Alternatively, you could place regular oils in a mister bottle, though Hong warns this could carry its own risks.

“The ultra-fine oil particles (even from pure oil options or refillable oil-misters) can burn and carbonise during cooking, leaving behind a stubborn residue that bonds to the pan’s surface and gradually impacts the pan’s nonstick performance,” she told EatingWell.

She added, “To preserve the quality and lifespan of your nonstick pans, skip aerosol sprays” altogether.

Grating An Apple Into Your Sourdough Starter Can Make Your Loaves Taller And More Delicious

Posted on 19/04/2026 by Boris Clair

I’ve just about managed to get a new sourdough starter to bubbling good health, and have been amazed by how simple the process is.

All you need is water, flour, and time (as well as the ability to handle that day-three stench).

But just because it can be that easy, it doesn’t mean it always is. For instance, Paul Hollywood grates an organic Cox apple into his – and he’s not the only expert to recommend the method.

Here’s why that’s a great (or should I say… grate? Sorry!) idea.

Why should I grate an apple into my sourdough starter?

Of course, the step is completely optional. But given that sourdough starters are used for their wild yeasts and “good” bacteria, the addition makes sense.

A 2016 paper found that the addition of flowers, fruit, and berries to “mother” sourdough levains can stabilise the bacteria in the mixture quickly.

That’s important because in lots of ways, the formation of a strong starter is a kind of battle between “good” and “bad” bacteria.

That benefit was seen with all kinds of plant matter.

But only starters made with apple flowers (blossoms from an apple tree) or apple pulp contained multiple species of a bacterium called Acetobacter, which might make softer, taller, more flavourful loaves.

Shocker: bread legend Paul Hollywood knows what he’s doing.

How can I make a sourdough starter with apple?

Paul Hollywood grates one apple, skin-on – ” I like to use a Cox, but any organic apple will do” – into 1kg flour and 360ml water.

He recommends using organic kinds as too many chemicals might mean ”the starter may not ferment”. If the study we mentioned earlier is anything to go by, apple flowers should work too.

Mix those together and cover them in an airtight container (without touching them) for three days before your first feed.

Then, keep discarding some of the starter daily and adding flour and water to feed until it doubles in size consistently. I usually wait ’til it’s performed well three days in a row before I put mine in the fridge; I then feed it twice a week, once the day before use and once the day of.

If you use it more often, Hollywood says, keep it on the counter and feed it every three days.

‘Reverse Searing’ Makes Perfect Medium-Rare Steaks With Zero Rest Time

Posted on 09/03/2026 by Boris Clair

Most of us have a Gordon Ramsay-style idea of how to cook a steak: take it out of the fridge, salt it, wait a little, and fry it in a sizzling pan, basting it in butter. Then let it rest.

Hey, I’m not against that. I’ve tried his method and loved it.

But according to some culinary experts, there’s a counterintuitive way to cook a perfectly medium-rare steak that’s got a rich brown crust from edge to juicy edge. And it’s known as “reverse searing”.

What is reverse searing?

When cooking steak, most people expect to sear the protein at the start, when it comes into contact with a very hot pan. The rest of the cooking is done at a lower temperature to allow the meat to actually cook.

But “reverse searing”, well, reverses that.

You slowly, gently cook the steak at first, then sear it at the end. The idea is to avoid that brown-outside, raw-middle problem that happens all too often with “regular” searing.

It also ensures the middle is evenly cooked. And because a nearly-cooked steak is drier than a raw one, reverse-seared steaks have less moisture, according to chef and food writer J Kenji López-Alt, which means that achieving a satisfying crust is much easier.

And lastly, as the enzymes that have been paralysed by your fridge have had a chance to get back into play by the time you’re ready to sizzle your “reverse-seared” steak, it’ll likely turn out more tender.

Does it work for all steaks?

Reverse searing works best for thick steaks. “Ribeye, New York, and filet mignon are great cuts that would provide great results in reverse searing,” chef Sam Shafer told The Takeout.

And writing for Serious Eats, López-Alt wrote that the method is best used on steaks thicker than 3.8-5 cm.

Reverse-searing steak recipe

The steps are pretty simple.

Take your steak out of the fridge, season it, and put it in the oven at anywhere from 93-135°C. The higher the temp, the more “done” your steak will be.
Wait ’til it’s just under your ideal temperature (54°C for a medium-rare steak, and 60°C for a medium steak). The time this takes will depend on the thickness of your steak; it can be 20-40 minutes.
Take it out of the oven and put it into a ripping hot pan with oil. Cook until seared all over.

Another bonus? You don’t have to rest reverse-seared steaks (I’m sold).

Super-Crisp Chips And Mango Chutney: Chef Tips For Perfect Spice Bags At Home

Posted on 07/03/2026 by Boris Clair

I can make potato farls at home (honestly, they’re tastier than shop-bought). And tea loaves are more delicious homemade, too.

But some Irish staples are so, so much better from delis and takeaways, IMO. Chicken fillet rolls, for instance, aren’t meant to be gourmet: I want chalky cheese, heat lamp-warm chicken, and slightly limp baguettes.

The food I miss most while living in the UK, however, is spice bags. The Irish-Chinese takeaway staple can be hard to find here.

So, I asked Chef Kenneth Tyrrell, an executive chef at Burger & Lobster, how to make them at home.

What are spice bags?

They combine chips, peppers, onion, crispy chicken, and (obviously) spices in a grease-spotted paper bag of perfection.

I associate them most with Dublin – they weren’t much of a big deal in my rural hometown, but when I moved to the capital for uni, it felt like spice bags were everywhere.

Some say spice bags were first made in Dublin takeaway Sunflower, though this origin story is hotly debated.

When attempting my own version, I found the spice blend hardest to recreate.

Experts think they’ve cracked the code with an MSG, onion powder, pepper, garlic powder, five-spice, sugar, and crumbled chicken stock cube combo.

But it changes from place to place. Experiment a little to find your favourite tingly, salty mix.

How can I perfect spice bags at home?

Some things must remain constant: mix chips, spices, something fried and crispy (like chicken), and veggies like onion and peppers together.

But, Chef Tyrell said, you can have some fun with these.

“Customisation is the fun part of spice bags. The classic spice bag is with crispy battered chicken, but get creative with yours – at Burger & Lobster, we’ve added a twist to ours with fried lobster and king prawns,” he said.

Other rules, though, are stricter.

“Make sure the protein, chunky chips, onions and peppers are piping hot before you add your spice to get maximum flavour. I also like to throw in a bit of mango chutney for an added sweetness,” the chef said.

“Chips MUST be super crispy before mixing with everything else. I would cook them for slightly longer than you usually would, as they then retain some crispiness after sitting in a bag with all the other ingredients,” he continued.

And “Don’t eat your spice bag straight away… it always tastes better after you’ve let it sit in the bag for a couple of minutes”.

One last suggestion? The dish is “Best served after a few pints and never wear a white shirt.”

How To Tell If Rice Is Perfectly Cooked With A Single Glance

Posted on 31/01/2026 by Boris Clair

Cooking rice sounds easy, but making it truly perfect is surprisingly challenging.

Experts say that rinsing the grains, picking great varieties, and even cooking rice in the oven can help you to achieve fluffy bliss at home.

But even though I pride myself on my stovetop method, which took years to perfect, I still sometimes find that the side is more or less cooked than I expected after completing the absorption method.

This involves letting rice steam in a lidded pot with the hob turned off for at least 10 minutes after all the water has boiled out of the pan.

According to one chef, though, a simple sight test can confirm whether your rice is perfectly cooked or not.

If rice stands up, it’s perfectly cooked, says chef

Sometimes, once the water has cooked away, I notice that the grains of rice in my saucepan all “stand up” at the top, as if they’re looking up at me.

According to chef and teacher Erica Wides, that’s a sign it’s been perfectly steamed.

Like me, she lets the rice sit for 10 minutes after cooking it, so that the steam trapped under the lid makes it “fluffy”.

Once it was done, she showed her Instagram followers a pan full of rice which, also like mine, seemed to be standing on its end.

“You see how these rice grains are actually standing up, like, at attention?” she said. “That’s how you know that this is properly-cooked rice.”

It likely happens when the grains are steamed at the end of cooking. However, it’s not the only way to test its doneness.

How else can I tell if rice is cooked?

If you ask the late Julia Child, the secret lies under the channels (gaps) that steam makes in the rice as it cooks.

In a video showcasing the technique, she previously said: “If you notice, there are those little holes… but you can still see… liquid” at their base when the rice isn’t cooked.

But, she added, when the rice is done, you can “lift up an edge [of rice] and tilt the pan, and if there’s no liquid there” that means it’s good to go.

BBC Good Food, meanwhile, advises: “Check the rice is cooked at the end by trying a grain – this should also be indicated by the appearance of small holes on the surface and all the water having been absorbed.”

9 Cheap Ingredients Home Cooks Say Instantly Makes Food Better

Posted on 22/11/2025 by Boris Clair

Maybe you add a touch of baking powder to your tomato sauce to counterbalance the acidity, or perhaps you whack some cream in your bolognese (a la Mary Berry) for a smooth, velvety finish.

You might dust roast spuds and parsnips in semolina for a satisfying crunch, too.

But even though I write a lot about sneaky secret ingredients, I’m always on the lookout for more – especially if they don’t cost much. That’s why I was so excited to read the responses to an r/cookingforbeginners post shared by u/BlastarBanshee.

“What’s the one cheap ingredient that instantly makes everything taste better?” they asked.

Here are some of the best responses:

1) “Celery salt.”

Credit: u/ShopEmpress

“This is… under-appreciated,” u/Barneyboydog agreed.

“It’s a game-changer on fried eggs.”

2) “MSG.”

Credit: u/glumpoodle

“I just ordered a thing of MSG… and holy shit. It’s actually got less sodium by volume than any salt I own, and the flavour is just mind-blowing,” u/alek_hiddel replied.

3) “A couple of tablespoons of lemon juice, red wine vinegar or sherry vinegar in a stew.”

Credit: u/Cold-Call-8374

“Yep… a splash (or two) of sherry vinegar at the end of a stew takes it to another level. I learned this trick a few years ago, and now I always have sherry vinegar on hand,” replied u/Dense_Willow4627.

4) “Smoked paprika.”

″[It offers] the simple ability to add the flavour of open fire cooking back into the food we eat.”

Credit: u/STS986

“Every time I taste something new and go, ‘oh that’s good!’, I look up [its] ingredients and it’s almost always [got] paprika,” u/Rogerbva090566 responded.

5) “As a Balkan [person], only Vegeta is allowed as an answer.”

Credit: u/niki2907

“As a non-Balkan… this stuff is the shit,” said u/MuddyHandprints.

6) “A little yeast extract like Marmite is an awesome flavour boost for braised meat dishes, especially beef.”

Credit: u/bullsbarry

7) “Salted butter in chocolate chip cookies.”

Credit: u/Cold-Call-8374

8) “If I’m making something that’s tomato-based, I’ll almost always add a good squirt of ketchup at the end.”

Credit: u/Untouchable-Ninja

9) ” An anchovy… or some dried mushrooms.”

“Basically, you know, MSG in a more natural state.”

Credit: u/BikeTough6760

5 Fast, Cheap, Healthy(ish) Dinners I Can Actually Be Bothered To Cook On Weeknights

Posted on 19/11/2025 by Boris Clair

I know it happens every year, but the ridiculously early sunsets the UK faces each winter never fail to take me by surprise (what do you mean it’s dark at six minutes past four today?!).

That, I’m afraid, has spelt disaster for my dinners. I am frankly not bothered to cook during exhausting, gloomy evenings – even my usual old rotation has failed me.

There are, though, some exceptions. They all take 30 minutes or less, involve no fussy extra steps, and taste good enough to see me through my post-work exhaustion.

So, in case you’re looking for something similar, here they are:

Cook time: about 25 minutes (with pre-cooked lentils)

I know, I know: I don’t want to eat anything called “salad” from August onwards either. But to be honest, this warm version (which, by the way, keeps beautifully in the fridge) barely counts: it’s more of a hearty, seasonal grain bowl.

It’s also perfect for emptying your cupboards, because it’s really adaptable. Replace, or mix, lentils with other pulses and legumes like butter beans, chickpeas, or even nutty bulgur wheat.

And provided you use canned lentils instead of cooking your own (I always do this – I simply warm them in a pan for a couple of minutes before serving), it takes well under 30 minutes.

Cook time: 15 minutes, if that

When this five-starred recipe calls itself “super fast,” it means it – I had to double-check the instructions the first time I made it to ensure I hadn’t missed a step, because it came together so quickly.

The light but satisfying flavour is especially soothing after a long day of work, too. One word of caution, though: if, like me, you slurp soup at a rate of knots, slice the bok choi across so you don’t almost choke on a large piece (this has happened to me more than twice, which, though embarrassing, at least proves the soup is good).

For a slightly more wallet-friendly version, the BBC’s similarly speedy chicken noodle soup recipe is perfect, too.

Cook time: about 20 minutes

Another five-starred recipe, this one-pot wonder comes together in about half an hour.

Its ridiculously comforting flavour is perfect for cosy nights in, and I find it unbelievably satisfying – and the zing of mustard in its sauce means you won’t feel completely overwhelmed by its creaminess.

I am sure the recommended rocket included in the original recipe would add to that brightness, too, but to be honest, I’ve only ever had baby spinach to hand – thankfully, it still tastes delicious.

Cook time: 15 minutes, with pasta

Our young adult selves were onto something with the whole “pesto pasta dinner” thing. But if you fancy something a little more grown up – and about five times as delicious – I recommend whipping up your own pesto while your pasta is bubbling away.

I first made this pistachio version after trying the NYT’s full ravioli recipe. But, while I loved the sauce, I knew there was no way I’d actually whip out my pasta machine of a Thursday night, so I’ve simply kept the pesto and swapped the hard part for pre-made spaghetti.

Pesto is surprisingly forgiving: I didn’t have pine nuts the first time I made this, and it was still delicious.

I will say, too, that though it sounds more involved, a pestle and mortar is actually faster and better than a blender: see my (awful) blended results below (left), compared to the two-minute, creamier version (below right).

Cook time: about 15 minutes

Oh, how I love a healthy-ish dinner whose instructions basically read “cook onions, pour in cans, eat”.

This one is filled with fibre-rich butter beans, a surprising amount of veg (and fruit, I suppose, if we count tomatoes), and loads of flavour.

It’s a one-pot wonder, too, which I’ll always take if at all possible (less washing up!), and it’s ridiculously hearty when paired with buttered crusty bread.

Mary Berry’s 2 Rules For Foolproof Bakes

Posted on 19/10/2025 by Boris Clair

You might already know that Mary Berry’s favourite cake is a Victoria sponge (made using the all-in-one method, please – she doesn’t see the point of creaming the ingredients separately).

But her culinary wisdom doesn’t end there. Far from it. She whacks some butter in with her stewed apples, a process I’ve since nicked, and puts Thai curry paste in her tomato soup (I stole that, too).

And recently, speaking at a Q&A in The Castle Hotel, Windsor, while promoting her new book Mary 90: My Very Best Recipes, the former Great British Bake-Off judge explained her two rules for perfect bakes.

These are:

1) Weigh your ingredients carefully

“The main thing about baking is to… weigh the ingredients,” the baking legend said.

You should ideally do this “with digital scales”, she noted, as those are more accurate.

It sounds obvious, but baking is, after all, a series of chemical reactions.

In order for your bakes to rise, become fluffy, form a crispy edge, or whatever else you want to achieve, you’ll need to be as precise as possible with their measurements.

That’s why even some American bakers recommend metric digital scales, despite living in a country that’s historically used cups to measure ingredients.

2) Use the right-sized tin

Hands up: I’m guilty of baking a 20-inch cake in a 15-inch tin, and then complaining that the results weren’t up to par.

According to Mary, that was a foregone conclusion.

She stressed we should “put it in the right size tin” no matter what we’re baking.

“The number of times that people [have] said, ‘Oh, I can’t make such and such,’ and it’s in the tin that, in fact, is too big…and they’ll swear that it’s the right size,” she said.

This mistake can cause bakes to overflow (if the tin’s too small) or overcook (if it’s too big and spreads the batter too thin).

The baking pro urged us to “get the tape measure” out next time we want to get cooking.

Noted, Mary…

“Tastes Like Stomach Bile And Feet” – These Are The 6 Dishes That People Think Are Overrated

Posted on 10/05/2025 by Boris Clair

I tried Dubai chocolate last week.

It was fine. Just fine. I love pistachios, I love chocolate and the combination was delicious but was it worth the £10 my friend and I spent on it? Absolutely not. I wasn’t thinking about it for days afterwards, I wasn’t in awe.

Its not like I’m hard to please, either. My favourite snack is carrot sticks dipped in hummous – we keep it real simple around here!

This kind of disappointment is common. So common, in fact, that when Reddit user Fly-Astronaut asked the /r/Cooking community what the most overrated dishes they’d tried were, over 3,000 people raced to respond.

Marry Me Chicken

Zyx-Darkshine says: “I want a divorce. I’ve moved on. I’ve been having an affair with Chicken Cacciatore anyway, but you already know that.”

CONTROVERSIAL. Marry Me Chicken, a tuscan-inspired chicken dish has been a social media sensation since as early as 2016.

Jkfromjh adds: “I made it once, it was good, but I don’t feel tempted to make it again anytime soon. TBH, the only reason I made it was because I had some heavy cream in the fridge and wanted to use it up before it went bad.

“I don’t think its revolutionary or anything, and its hard for a recipe with heavy cream, tomato, and spices to really taste bad.”

Honestly, this has just made me want it more.

Beef wellington

Listen, I love beef wellington but would I ever cook it at home? Nope. Boring.

MrEvil1979 agrees: “I mean it was nice, but not ’slaving around in the kitchen for 6 hours” nice.

“Much rather smoke meat, aka drink beer for 4 hours in the sunshine.”

Amen to that.

Baked feta and tomato pasta

Remember this pasta? It was HUGE on TikTok during lockdown. You simply filled an oven dish with tomatoes, added a block of feta and some herbs and then baked for around 20 minutes.

Once ready, the tomatoes and feta make a delicious pasta sauce. I LOVED it.

SunGlobal2744, however, did not. They say: “It was sooo tangy. I absolutely couldn’t eat it.”

8edibles adds: “Tastes like stomach bile and feet. I absolutely love all the ingredients…but prepared like that? No thanks💀”

If you feel similarly, I really recommend using Boursin in place of the feta. Delicious.

Macarons

101bees says: “They’re just okay. No right being as overpriced as they are usually.”

MissSassiFras1977 adds: “As a baker I have to agree 100%.

“I think it is more about achieving a cute, little, pain in the ass to execute cookie than anything…..”

I agree. Plus, the texture is not the one.

Chicken parmesan

Flowerfoxcanyounot says: “Chicken parmesan. It’s just dry, breaded chicken made soggy with marinara with mozzarella on top. Even if the chicken is made well and stays juicy, it’s still ruined by marinara soggy breading and cooling melted mozzarella.”

Hard. Agree.

Basic_Ask replies: “I like chicken parm, and can’t disagree with you.”

Steak

Already, I agree. I like a good steak but if one food can be called overrated, it’s this.

Previous_Bed_6586 says: “Don’t get me wrong, it’s delicious. It’s also extremely easy to make an equally delicious steak at home for a fraction of the price. I just can’t justify going to a restaurant for it.”