Our favourite recipe writers reveal their deepest, darkest (and most comforting) food secrets
So you think being a food writer and chef is all caviar, wagyu and truffle? Not so fast. Good Food's favourite recipe wizards reveal their deepest, darkest (and most comforting) food secrets. They also talk about their favourite twists on classic recipes as we launch the latest Good Food cookbook, New Classics.
Adam Liaw
My guilty pleasure: Salt and vinegar chips.
Not the fancy kind either, but the regular ones that sting your tongue. But I have no guilt about eating them whatsoever. I don't think you should feel guilty about any food. I love settling in to watch telly after the kids have gone to bed and cracking a bag of salt and vinegar chips. I don't do it every night, but once in a while. There's no such thing as foods that are "good" or "bad". There are foods that are high in sugar, others that are low in fat, some that are nutrient-rich, and some that are a bit of fun. Feeling guilty about eating a packet of chips is no way to live.
Go-to twist on a classic: Bolognese taco rice.
Bolognese is something you should always make a big quantity of. We take the extra bolognese and turn it into taco rice, an Okinawan dish where meat sauce, cheese, lettuce and tomato are served on rice with salsa and other things. It's not usually made with bolognese, but it's delicious and a very easy dinner if you've got bolognese and rice on hand.
Classic due for a revival: Creme caramel.
I used to love my mum's baked creme caramel as a kid, but it seems to have gone out of fashion a bit these days. Perhaps people think it's too boring, but I think it's time to bring back flans and custard puddings in a big way.
Jill Dupleix
My guilty pleasure: Tomato sauce.
I love a lot of things with tomato sauce. Egg and bacon rolls. Meat pies. Sausage rolls, hotdogs and hot chips. A good tomato sauce – and by that I mean a commercial, supermarket one – is both horrifically sweet and aggressively vinegary. It's that see-saw between the two that keeps me coming back for more.
I've tried making my own, but it doesn't work, because I could never bring myself to use the massive amount of sugar and salt required, so now I leave it to the experts.
And I am convinced it's addictive. Why else would I go to the kitchen cupboard every now and then, and squeeze a small amount of tomato sauce onto the back of my hand and lick it off? I got the idea from what they call a caviar bump, when nice people spoon caviar onto your fist so that you can taste it without it being tainted by metal cutlery – but this is so much better.
Go-to twist on a classic: Cheat's ratatouille.
I love all the vegetables in ratatouille, but instead of doing it as a stew, I toss all the vegetables (tomato, onion, zucchini, eggplant and capsicum) in garlic, herbs and olive oil on a roasting pan and bake them on high until they're caramelised, then serve them with a simple tomato sugo. No soggy eggplant, nice crisp onion, yet you get all the beautiful flavours and smells of ratatouille. Sometimes a few spicy sausages find their way onto the baking tray as well, for which I blame my husband.
Classic due for a revival: Powder puffs.
They're fluffy little sponge kisses that you dust with icing sugar and sandwich together with jam and cream, and they are so outrageously light you have no idea you've eaten them.
Helen Goh
My guilty pleasure: Indomie Mi Goreng Pedas (extra hot).
Two-minute noodles (with a poached egg) were my guiltiest pleasure, but the situation has devolved even further since my son Sam came home from a weekend away at a friend's house, begging for me to buy this "totally amazing thing called Pot Noodles" that he'd eaten.
After succumbing to buying him a few pots of two-minute noodles, and righteously raking through all the dehydrated vegetables and unidentifiable bits to show him how junky it really is, I've now developed a minor addiction to them myself. And while I'm at the Asian grocer buying the said Indomie, I'll grab a pack of "Malaysian chewing gum" – or chilli squid jerky – to eat furtively in the car. I'm not allowed to have it in the house as the stink of it causes an uproar with the family.
My other guilty pleasure – this is beginning to be quite a list – is tinned smoked oysters on water crackers. I bravely posted a picture of me noshing on this midnight snack on Instagram recently and found that there are closets full of people who quietly love this, too.
Go-to twist on a classic: Tinned tomato soup reinvented.
I spend a lot of time making a tomato soup from scratch taste like Heinz tinned tomato soup. It's taken me a while to nail this one, and the whole family loves it. I customise it by putting alphabet noodles in for the kids, a scoop of steamed jasmine rice for David and a tonne of freshly cracked black pepper for me. Look out for the recipe in an Ottolenghi book in the future!
Classic due for a revival: Curried sausages.
My sister Lucy would occasionally make trashy curried sausages with carrots and peas, and we adored this growing up. I have tried over the years to "legitimise" it by using premium sausages and a bespoke curry powder, but it's always average and never hits the spot.
Kylie Kwong
My guilty pleasure: A Josh Niland gelato.
Roast chook, fried rice and Hokkien noodles have been on high rotation during the pandemic, however a guilty pleasure has crept in and has now become a staple – Josh Niland's (chef at Saint Peter in Paddington) absolutely lip-smackingly, delicious Murray Cod Fat Caramel Stracciatella Gelato In Milk Chocolate. This "gelato on-a-stick'' looks a little bit like a mini-Magnum in shape and is made in collaboration with local artisan gelateria Ciccione & Sons in Redfern.
Building on my obsession is the delicious and familiar way the delicate chocolate coating shatters, immediately transporting me back to my childhood when summer holidays were filled with chomping into the iconic Aussie Peters Hava Heart ice-creams in our backyard.
Go-to twist on a classic: Tamari in spag bol.
I always add a generous splosh of organic tamari to my KK version of spaghetti bolognese. It works so well alongside the rich tomato, meat and garlic base, acting as an immediate flavour enhancer. My late father used to do this as well and perhaps I use it now instead of adding salt, because it instantly reminds me of him.
Classic due for a revival: Chicken and pineapple.
Every week in the Kwong household we would enjoy chicken wings with pineapple – the ultimate comfort food for young, busy families. I still cook this dish now, but with super fleshy and flavoursome Saskia Beer chicken wings, fresh organic pineapple chunks (as opposed to tinned), generous sheets of rehydrated wakame for a richer, deeper, umami flavour, organic tamari and organic Fair Trade cane sugar. The high, pure quality of each of these raw ingredients directly results in a superior tasting dish.
Katrina Meynink
My guilty pleasure: Brownies.
The really decent stuff that is so chock full of butter, eggs and dark chocolate that it is almost like fudge with the crackled top of a dried-up creek bed. I am that person who smears a wedge of it in dulce de leche – the top shelf stuff – and then I'll sprinkle it with a sea salt chaser. I love the massive hit of salt and sugar and the tongue-coating richness. It's probably a weapon of cardiovascular mass destruction, but I don't care. In all honesty that probably makes it all the more delicious.
Go-to twist on a classic: Hybrid pizza.
I buy naan bread from my local Indian takeaway and layer it with red wine-addled tomato sauce, buffalo mozzarella, ricotta and parmesan. I might add some fiery hot sausage or a decent smattering of chilli. It's quick, it's easy and with a glass of wine and a bright green salad a very plausible mid-week dinner.
Classic due for a revival: After-dinner mints.
I would love to see some kind of re-emergence of the after-dinner mint. My grandmother would regularly host dinner parties and I used to force myself to stay awake until I could smell the coffee, or hear the drinks cabinet open, as it signalled that the bowl of after dinner mints would be out. I would pick my moment, sneak out of my room, down the hall and grab a few. I'd sit on her chaise lounge, licking the chocolate off the outside first, trying not to let the white part melt and would shove the incriminating wrappers deep down the back of the lounge to retrieve later when the coast was clear. It was so illicit and delicious.
Neil Perry
My guilty pleasure: Chocolate licorice.
I'm hooked on licorice full stop but add chocolate and I'm gone. The Darrell Lea stuff is amazing. They used to be a traditional company that didn't do family blocks of chocolate but they were bought a few years ago and now they have blocks of chocolate containing licorice for sale in the supermarket. I can smash a block in one sitting, and they're palm oil free, so I only have to feel guilty about putting on weight.
They've superseded my love for Caramello Koalas and Twix. I used to put them in the freezer, which takes a lot of the fairly ordinary flavour away and leaves you with an incredible texture.
Go-to twist on a classic: Spicy green salad.
I love a beautiful fresh salad, dressed simply and beautifully, then with lashings of togarashi (spicy Japanese mix) added to it. I love spice on a salad – it's not like adding chilli, but a different textural and flavour note. I make togarashi at work but I'm too lazy to do the same at home.
Classic due for revival: steak and kidney pie.
I'd love to see steak and kidney pie make a comeback. Offal of any kind, really. My father was a butcher and I thought everyone had sweetbreads or lambs fry with bacon. We had poached and crumbed brains for Sunday breakfast – my friends weren't so impressed by that.
Andrew McConnell
My guilty pleasure: White chocolate.
Fatty, trashy, white chocolate. It's not even chocolate – it's just fat with flavouring added, but I love it. The really good thing is that I'm the only one on the house who eats it, so I get it all to myself.
I love all sorts of trashy milk chocolate. I won't say what label because they really shouldn't have the publicity, but you can draw your own conclusions. Everyone talks about organic and single origin and all that stuff, and there's definitely a place for that, but I like to go low. There's no shortage out there, so bring it on.
Go-to twist on a classic: Chicken with yellow wine.
I've been cooking coq au vin a bit lately. It sounds posh but it's just chicken cooked in red wine. But instead of the red wine I've been using vin jaune ("yellow wine"), which has an oxidative, interesting flavour and makes the dish feel lighter and cleaner.
Classic due for a comeback: Pasta carbonara.
I reckon carbonara is poised to make a comeback. Last year was all about the cacio e pepe but you can't go past a really good carbonara. Cream? Not personally, but some people swear by putting in just a teaspoon.
Good Food New Classics, edited by Ardyn Bernoth, published by Simon & Schuster Australia, $40. Available from booktopia.com.au
