my favourite things of 2024
Let’s take a look back at 2024 and revisit some of my favourite food things I’ve eaten.
Top things
Arayes
Spud Jr texted me a recipe for arayes, a spicy lamb mince stuffed into a pitta then fried / baked, effusing just how good it was. I dug around for a few recipes and tried it. It’s entered instant rotation, a delicious crispy, savoury package with loads of life. I’ll be eating this again in 2025!
Dishoom
I might be the last person on earth to try Dishoom, the reinvention of Mumbai café food. Finally this year I necked a mammoth lamb biryani at their King’s Cross venue and I was hooked. Just look at it!
Black Forest roulade
2024 saw the release of Jamie Oliver’s 28th book, Simply Jamie. It’s something of a victory lap of a book, with familiar faces and new things to try. And speaking of new things, I made this black forest roll and I’ve made it 4 more times since. It’s a triumph of my favourite things in one dessert.
Marco Pierre White pig trotters
I’ve been exploring a lot more Marco Pierre White recipes in 2024, from basic ideas to his infamous pigs trotters dish. This is a real labour of love, taking hours. Watch my travails here.
Fredericks of Dansk
I was really taken with this cafe near me. It’s an odd location, sited in a upmarket furniture shop. But it’s really top drawer food, have a look at these open sandwiches.
Top ten recipes you’ve been reading at BigSpud this year
- Miller and Carter onion loaf recipe
- Miller and Carter style beef dripping sauce
- Top rump roast beef
- How to cook a T bone steak
- Brined leg of lamb
- Sous vide gammon
- Roasted beef roasties
- Carmela Soprano’s basil lasagne
- Marco Pierre White’s lemon tart
- Brined baked potato
My top 5 videos I’ve made this year
Are expensive eggs worth it? – a fun little insight into what spending more on eggs gets you. This video absolutely sunk without a trace so I’d love more people to see it.
History of MasterChef in the UK – another labour of love that no one watched! MasterChef may be somewhat tarnished by the end of the year, but this is more of a historical piece.
Ranking every Jamie Oliver airfryer recipe – Jamie Oliver released a new airfryer recipe miniseries earlier this year, so I set out to make and rank each recipe from it.
Heston ‘meat fruit’ from Aldi – Really had a laugh making this one – Heston’s famous parfait in orange jelly, but limiting myself to Aldi ingredients.
Marco Pierre White’s steak au poivre – I combined all of Marco’s recipes for steak au poivre out there into one master recipe to out-pepper them all.
See you all in 2025 – happy new year!