nic cooks

We’re more than half way through the year of meat now, and I knew that sooner or later there would be a challenge I didn’t want to do and this one was it. This month the challenge was blending; blending a sausage that is, or emulsifying if you want to be all cheffy.  So for [...]

I’ve been waiting six years for this. Six years ago next month I had my first experience of a Michelin starred dinner. We were celebrating our fifth wedding anniversary, which felt like a good enough reason to celebrate, and as I was a student when we got married, it was about the first time in [...]

This months challenge was grinding.  I have to say I was mildly disappointed because the year of meat was about challenging myself and cooking out of my comfort zone and it was actually sausages that started all this off.  I’ve been grinding my own meat and making my own sausages for more than a year [...]

April’s challenge is smoking. I’m not usually a huge fan of smoked foods, I like it, but not too much and not too often and it’s probably not something I would choose on a restaurant menu. However, because smoking is an official Charcutepalooza challenge I had to give it a go, as I’m not one [...]

I love my friends.  Back in 2006, when I told people that I was making the move from Manchester, England to Sydney, Australia  someone actually said to me “you’ll never make any friends”. Well how wrong they were. I found a fabulous group of friends who I feel I’ve known and loved for much longer [...]