“Dirty chai is a chai with a shot of espresso, and it’s what kept me going through grad school. The combination of chai spices, milky black tea, and bitter coffee is stellar. You can make this semi-homemade if you’re short on time by using boxed brownie mix. I promise I won’t judge…”

“This tart-ified version of a carrot cake might not be an obvious classic, but it belongs in this chapter as a great foundational recipe for the tarts in our ‘Not Your Average Tarts’ chapter. The cream cheese glaze is what makes this one special – it’s designed to taste the same as a typical cream cheese frosting and to sit perfectly flat across the top of the tart…”

“Being a travelling monk in sixteenth-century Sicily couldn’t have been easy. During Lent, the season of austerity preceding Easter, monks were expected to hike on foot day after day for forty days, ministering to the faithful across the land. Although they were able to stop at monasteries for sustenance, eating meat was prohibited…”

“Being a travelling monk in sixteenth-century Sicily couldn’t have been easy. During Lent, the season of austerity preceding Easter, monks were expected to hike on foot day after day for forty days, ministering to the faithful across the land. Although they were able to stop at monasteries for sustenance, eating meat was prohibited…”

“There’s an excellent Sicilian pasticceria in my neighborhood in Brooklyn called Monteleone, owned by a man who was born and raised in Sicily. His pastries taste as authentic as any you’ll find in Sicily and, lucky for all of us, he makes cuccidati year-round, not just at Christmas time. (That’s when he makes a larger, ring-shaped version called buccellati, or bracelets.)…”

“Pistachios are super tasty, vibrantly colourful and chock-full of healthy fats. In addition to being highly nutritious, they’re also very forgiving to the baker – the high fat content provides incredible moisture and makes it almost impossible to overbake this cake. We tend to use whole pistachios and grind them fresh, as they oxidise quickly once ground. A top tip is to…” – Michael & Pippa James

“The wow-factor of a clafoutis is inversely proportional to the ease of making one. Just before dinner, make a quick batter, lay some beautiful seasonal fruit into a baking dish and pour the batter over the top. Pop it in the oven while you eat your meal and enjoy a satisfyingly creamy, fruit-based, baked custard pudding to follow. No pastry, no fuss…” – Michael & Pippa James

“If you make this dish correctly, you’ll be asking yourself if you’ve burnt it. It’s okay. My training in modern European kitchens where everything had to be golden brown had me second-guessing, too. It just doesn’t taste the same if it is golden brown. It’s that dark bittersweet flavour that transforms cauliflower…

“Sweet spices in a ragù are typical of northern Italian cooking, and they are surprisingly perfect with meats like lamb, beef and game. The star anise and cinnamon lend sweetness and depth, while the tomato, red wine and rosemary bring this back to more recognisable territory…

“We really amp up the hazelnut flavour by first making a hazelnut praline, which is then used to make a traditional frangipane. The combination of figs with hazelnuts in a crisp, sweet tart shell is pure bliss…

Fellow members of the chili crisp fan club will revel in these umami-packed cookies where sweet and savory battle deliciously for attention. These are gooey, mottled with melty pools of dark chocolate, and wrinkled with crunchy golden ridges. Brown butter makes them toasty, nutty, and extra chewy…

Coconut and pandan might as well be soulmates. They belong together. It’s a partnership revered across Southeast Asia and one I re-create again and again throughout this book…

When the pandemic officially began, I took refuge at my childhood home in the Southern Outer Banks of North Carolina. In a matter of weeks, banana bread was in the midst of a resurgence. Everyone was baking it and everyone was talking about it…

“If you ever see me at the supermarket, chances are I’ll have a caramel mud cake in my basket. It is my favourite massproduced treat and resolutely non-guilty pleasure. Alas, so many attempts to re-create it left me disheartened – until I dabbled with chicory, a caffeine-free coffee substitute…

“Brownies are like socks. Stay with me here … They are mostly functional, but when you get a really, really good one, you really, really know it and you become deeply loyal to those socks/that brownie. Brownies are also a deeply personal bake – no nuts, fudgy, cakey, edge piece or centre piece…

These delectable crunch-parcels are one of the most popular toppings for udon and soba in Japan, and it’s easy to understand why. They start off crunchy and sweet, and over time the batter absorbs the broth to make for fabulously juicy mouthfuls…

Growing up in Korea, fried chicken was a special meal that we didn’t get to have often. Back then we had two choices — plain or gochujang — but these days, there are fried chicken shops all across Korea, doing their own flavours and styles. Fried chicken can seem incredibly simple, but in fact it’s quite complex…