There can be only one!

Never has a film tagline been so apt as Highlander's, "There can be only one." Although I am not referring to Christopher Lambert and battling immortal swordsmen, oh no. What I am referring to cannot be resolved by chopping someones head clean off, but can result in the foodie equivalent of the quickening. Thats right I am talking about the eternal christmas battle of the high street festive sandwich.

This fight is duked out by the big boys at this time every year and I am here to announce the winner  with as few decapitations as possible...

The perfect christmas sandwich must be large, no messing about I want a good heft and to achieve this there must be multiple fillings. A combination of, or all of the following... Turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and pork product (bacon / sausage). Most importantly every bite should taste like christmas.

So the main contenders are... EAT, COOP, M&S, Starbucks, Tesco Finest and Waitrose.

First up is CO-OP, I felt a bit sorry for this pale, limp and basically stingy Xmas sarnie.

Next Starbucks, the only warm entry in this years top 5 and thats really all it has going for it. Light on filling, heavy on bread.

The EAT sandwich promised so much, it was visually everything you'd want. Which made it all the more disappointing when I tasted how bland it was.

Waitrose offer up the whole array of fillings and even chuck in some superfluous spinach, very posh but still not quite the flavour explosion i'm looking for.

Tesco Finest weighs in as the heaviest of the challengers, not only does it have turkey, cranberry sauce, stuffing and mayo, but it has double pork... sausage and bacon. The maple sweet cured bacon was a bit anaemic, but over all it was pretty flavourful.

Last and by no means least the winner... The M&S Turkey Feast, this heavy set beauty is crammed full of tasty turkey, bacon, stuffing and finish with sweet cranberry sauce that stops the whole thing being dry. Oh its a mouthful of christmas cheer and no mistake and it is the runaway champ of the high street festive sandwich 2012 competition. The award ceremony will take place on the 20th of December at the Excel Arena, see you there.

PS. Despite what my mate Jimbo might tell you Christopher Lambert is not Scottish. He is in fact the son of a US diplomat and his formative years were spent in Geneva, not the Highlands.

Chicago aka, Chi Town, the Windy City, the Big Apple... oh hang on, thats not right.

It might not be as iconic or even as cool New York City, it has to compete with the Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty, countless movies and The Avengers. But Chicago has the Sears Tower, Lake Michigan, Al Capone and is Gotham for crying out loud. The USA's second city is wicked and vying with NYC as my favourite place in the USA.

We arrived on a Sunday afternoon as the sun was setting, my hotel room overlooked Lake Michigan and I had one thing on my mind... FOOD.

Over the week we were there filming we had some great grub, but the one that stands out in my mind isn't a posh, gourmet meal, its quite the opposite!

The Billy Goat made famous by a Saturday Night Live sketch and for being a boozy hang out in the 1920s for heavy hitting journalists, can be found in a dingy underpass where you'd expect to find trolls not billy goats.

Not famous for their hospitality, the front door doesn't really look like a front door and there is a sign that says enter at your own risk! Once inside you can forget the American welcome of big smiles and a friendly host, you grab a seat anywhere thats free and contemplate the menu. That takes about 5 seconds, just as John Belushi screamed in the SNL skit, you have the choice of a CHEEZBORGER! Or a DOUBLE CHEEZBORGER! Dont even think of ordering fries, they dont have those and if like me you dont like cheese, you will be looked at like you are a crazy person complicating things. 

The burger was great, it's served with a shout and left for you to collect from the counter. Then you build it (sauces, relish, tomatoes etc) on your way back to your table. We ate, lit by unforgiving neon lights surrounded by workers straight off the building site, pictures of famous Chicagoans and baseball on the tv. The Billy Goat is kind of like a British greasy spoon, but with beer.

I have to say I loved it, despite all evidence to the contrary, I guess the fact that the Billy Goat just doesn't care what you think and carries on regardless I couldn't help but admire. 


Slightly posher was the Grand Lux Cafe, well just the fact it is above ground trumps the Billy Goat before you see its high ceilings, elaborate lighting and its grand art deco design. It was described to me as a tourist trap, but I think that does it a diservice. 

The menu was huge, and international, I went for the fried chicken. It was as perfectly golden as a californian sunset, as tender as a freshly spanked bum and juicier than a News of the World headline. 

I have to say it was great, massive though, they basically deep fried an entire chicken. Oh and I tried fried gherkins which surprisingly were ace.

On my final day in Chicago just before we flew out I stumbled on a little place called Downtown Dog just in time for lunch. The place was wallpapered in photos of dogs and packed, a city tour guide had stopped by with his group to get them all fed, a good sign if ever I've seen one. 

Copying the locals, I ordered... "One Downtown Dog please and take it for a walk" this was a big meaty sausage with EVERYTHING on it, relish, multiple sauces, a pickled chilli and more. This I have to say trumps the NYC hotdogs I've munched in the past, so chalk that one up to Chicago.

Other honorable mentions go to Niu Sushi - amazing calimari. Heaven on 7 - cajun food with an artists palet of hot sauces. Q - a very plush, very cool BBQ joint. I'd recommend the Q2 with the sweet and spicy BBQ sauce.

Be excellent to each other! (serve coleslaw)

If Bill and Ted have taught us anything its that Genghis Khan likes Twinkies. The other possibly more important thing they have taught us is a philosophy, a moto to live ours lives by... "Be excellent to each other".

The way I choose to honor this motto might not be how you'd imagine, I don't badger people in the streets to give me their money for charity or play guitar at the orphanage. What I do is simple, I make coleslaw, a lot of coleslaw. Whenever and where ever I can for anyone and everyone that's hungry for every meal that would be sorry not to have it. It is my duty and my pleasure.

On its own you could say slaw is boring, but without it a meal could be lost. It can be the sharpener for pulled pork or the perfect extinguisher for my spicy jerk chicken. To me it enhances a meal, be it grilled fish, slow cooked pork or fiery chicken.

There is one rule I have about eating slaw, you must have it with hot sauce. There is something about the hot chilli sauciness mixing with the crisp, raw, coolingness that is a match made in heaven. Let's just say I am a fan, in fact as I write this I am consuming coleslaw, ahh you might say, but you are writing about slaw so of course you are eating it to remind yourself of its beauty, but the chances are I'd be eating it anyway, I keep the cabbage industry going single handedly. 

Let's get down to the nitty gritty...

The ingredients:

• 1 tbsp cider vinegar
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 4/5 tbsp mayonnaise 
• 2 carrots
• half a red cabbage
• 1 tsp suger
• 1 onion (very optional)

Grate the carrot and the cabbage in a decent sized bowl. Most recipes say to finely chop the cabbage but I like the cabbage grated so that I don't get long bits falling off my fork. Next finely chop the onion and chuck it in with the carrot and cabbage. I actually think slaw is better without raw onion, it means you dont have that repeating, overpowering taste in your mouth for the rest of the day and you get even more refreshing, crisp coleslaw.

Once you have the veg mixed in a bowl nows the time to add the magic ingredients, cider vinegar, olive oil, suger and finally the mayonnaise. If you are mad about mayo then give the mixture a taste and by all means add a little more than 5 tablespoons, it's your coleslaw!

Give it all a good mix and voila, you have a cool, fresh, delicious side that almost any meal would be lucky to have.

Coleslaw is more than just a side dish, it is the ultimate finishing touch. It is the Mona Lisa's smile or Stone Cold Steve Austin winning a wrestling match with a Stone Cold Stunner. 

I am evangelical about slaw, I love it and everyone should be knocking this up at home for friends and family, remember "Be excellent to each other". Amen Bill and Ted!

It doesn't mean a thing if you aint got that Ting.

(or jerk chicken part two)

Right, hopefully you have made the marinade for the jerk chicken and its currently in the fridge working its magic.

The 'hard' work is over, however as stunning as the jerk chicken is, there are some wicked sides and accompaniments that can really make this dish special. We will leave the rice and peas and coleslaw for a different post and concentrate on the accompaniments.

I didn't just fall in love with cooking when i went to the Caribbean I fell in love with hot sauce as well. It sounds ridiculous to even to me, but it kinda changed my life. The world of cooking opened up and with it, hot sauces. The choices are almost endless, with different countries specialising in different chilies, they come in a rainbow of colours and a such varying heat they deserve their own unique scale of measurement called the Scoville.

Hot sauce is a must with this dish and it really should be a West Indian hot sauce. The one you see a lot, and it seems to me you can get almost everywhere, is the Encona West Indian Hot Pepper Sauce. It has that beautiful mouth watering taste that all good Caribbean hot sauces should have, that can only be described as sweet fire.

What better beverage to have in your hand to try and fire fight your jerk chicken, than Ting. I like to think of it as the Caribbean's answer to Orangina. It is fizzy, proudly made with Jamaican grapefruit (loads of sugar) and love... probably. 

The tart grapefruity tang of Ting and the sweet fire of the hot sauce might not be everyones' cup of tea, but believe me when I say it's authentic, delicious and more than worth a try. Oh and you can buy both from Tesco's (other supermarkets are available).

Make sure you have these two accompaniments to hand when eating jerk chicken.  If it wasn't for the fact it's rained all summer, you might be forgiven for thinking you were in the Caribbean.

I dont like Jerk Chicken. I LOVE IT!

This is my very delicious not to mention closely guarded, incredibly secret recipe for jerk chicken. Considering no one ever reads this blog I guess this is the safest place to keep it. 


I have been lucky enough to work in the Caribbean (pronounced Caar-Rib-Iain) twice and one trip we were hopping between six islands, but the best food was alway the jerk chicken in Barbados. 


The first of these trips I was a green, wet behind the ears soundy. The furthest from home I had been was main land Europe, and boarding the Virgin Atlantic plane I could hardly wipe the grin off my face, I was getting paid to go to Barbados!

I was not to be disappointed, Barbados is a vibrant, exciting, noisy island where there is always something happening. We filmed in the two top posh restaurants The Lone Star and The Cliff, not to mention we were treated to a brilliant night out at a transvestite cabaret by a well known TV celeb. But I was happiest after we had wrapped filming, watching the sunset, sitting by the waters edge on a bench eating jerk chicken, rice and peas, washed down with a cold bottle of Banks.  

Cooked in a small wooden shack on an old bbq at the shore of the Caribbean Sea it was like the best cliche ever. The flavours of that jerk chicken was like nothing I had experienced before. Sweet and spicy with a killer kick of scotch bonnet pepper, my mind was blown forever and I was hooked.

Thinking back, this is where my love for cooking was born, I was inspired by these flavours and had to find recipes and recreate the fiery chicken. But not just the jerk chicken, I now had a taste for the exotic and far flung - there was no turning back.

Anyhoo, lets stop rambling on and get to the business end of this blog, the recipe...


Ingredients:

• 500 grams of chicken thighs and legs
• 3 cloves of garlic
• half an onion
• 2 inches of fresh ginger
• 2 tbsp of fresh lime
• 4 tbsp of white wine vinger
• 2 tbsp of olive oil
• 3 tbsp of soy sauce
• 1 tsp of cayenne
• 1 tsp of paprika 
• half tsp pepper
• 1 tsp thyme
• half tsp all spice
• 2 scotch bonnet peppers

The first thing to do is grab the chopping board and peel finely chop the garlic, halve a peeled onion, peel and grate the ginger and carefully finely chop the scotch bonnet peppers, removing the seeds. I would in all seriousness wear thin disposable pastic gloves to chop the scotch bonnets, as these are serious customers and can burn your fingers! We've all heard the 'funny' jokes about not going to the loo after chopping chilies, well I cleaned and put in my contact lenses the day after chopping these bad boys and it felt like being pepper sprayed.

You could ask, why use these things if there are so lethal?! Its an easy answer, you just get the most fantastic sweet flavour from a chilli that is over ten times hotter that a jalapeno. However, don't worry if you don't like things too hot, you can substitute with chilli flakes or easier to find chilli peppers.

The easiest way to combine these ingredients is to chuck them all in to a food processor. Make sure you have sorted out the garlic, ginger and scotch bonnets as food mixers have a habit of leaving these in big chunks.

So blend all of the ingredients together and you will get a marinade that not only gives the meat its amazing taste but keeps the chicken tender. Put the chicken in to a bowl and cover with your mixture, I try and marinade in a fridge over night, but just do it for as long as you can.


Take the chicken out of the fridge an hour before you want to cook it, to bring it up to room temperature. Jerk chicken is best cooked over hot coals on a bbq but generally speaking I cook it in the oven. Preheat the oven to 200c and cooking for an hour should do it. Hopefully you will have dark crispy skin and beautiful moist meat beneath. 


I really hope you enjoy this as much as do and it inspires you like it did me. Oh, and that it blows your socks off!


Serve with the traditional rice and peas, coleslaw and it is imperative you have some proper West Indian hot sauce on the table. I have a lot to say on accompaniments for this dish, but I will give more details on the sides for this in separate blog posts.

Waiter my good man I'll have the... oh.

France the birth place of the Michelin Star. Home to famous restaurants like the Cote Saint Jacques in Joigny, Le Petit Nice in Marseille and Le Maurice in Paris. "Oi" i hear you cry "what about Le Restaurant Fuster in Pepieux?"

Well i was lucky enough to eat in Le Fuster...

We sat in the warm summer evening in the deserted town square surrounded by cats and the only things you could hear were the birds tweeting, the church bells on the hour and little snippets of the Rocky soundtrack booming out of a local guys van as he drove through town every now and again. It felt like you would see a tumble weed blowing past at any moment.

We sat down at the creaky table onto our plastic chairs and were greeted with a smile from our host Raymond wearing a very fetching vest. He spoke less english than we did french and there were no menus on the table. The wine was from the local cave and the larger was ice cold. As we were waiting for the menus, out came Raymond with the starters on a metal plater.

The selection of cured meat, although not appetising to look at, tasted pretty good as did the eggs topped with the great French mustardy mayo. The roast beef main course with amazing golden spuds out of his garden was perfect. You couldn't help but think that if you were to go to Raymonds house for dinner this is what you get and we did feel like guest in his home rather than customers. To me it was an authentic French family meal and I loved it.

I'm a Toulouser baby

This summer, like last, I went to France, where I ate lots of lovely food and now I am going to tell you about it. Excited? What do you mean no?!

First stop, Toulouse home of the most successful Rugby Union side in european history and more interestingly for me, loads of amazing places to eat.

The best meal I had in Toulouse was probably at La Preference. More difficult to find than Where's Wally standing in the Kop at Anfield (slightly narrow frame of reference but you get the idea, it was tough).

Sneaked round the corner from one of the city center's busiest roads, La Preference is nestled in a quiet little square and the restaurant, like the food, looks great. The carpaccio of salmon in lemon balsamic and olive oil dressing to start melted in the mouth, the other starter I tried was their Scallops which was stunning and the lamb shank tagine followed suit, flavours so rich they cracked the pot it was served in.

Toulouse has a wicked indoor market, the type you'd imagine Rick Stein wandering about getting over excited by all the wonderful fresh produce. Rick would of loved the fact its full of fish, which might explain the abundance of sushi restaurants.

I found one nestled in the twisty old Toulouse streets called Sushiyaki, where traditional Japanese decor adorns old red brick walls, where you can get a massive sushi boat for two that looks amazing and where you can get very fine sushi at a pretty decent price.

I very much liked meandering around Toulouse munching a chausson aux pomme for breakfast and I am pretty sure you could eat there in a different restaurant every night for a year and why not!