Don’t hide it at the back of a drawer. Once a simple thing, the waiter’s friend is now a hi-tech piece of kitchen kit...

Why stick to dairy, says Raymond Blanc, when other varieties from rice to coconut make puddings and sauces so delicious?

1. Henckels

It's not just the return of Edina and Patsy – there's Downton, the Doctor, and Dickens. Gerard Gilbert presents his pick of the seasonal small screen

My earliest food memory... A sumptuous Bûche de Noël, which my mother was carving for Christmas. It's the French Christmas pudding: a biscuit you moisten with vanilla syrup, or Grand Marnier for adults. Then you put cream inside – butter-cream or chestnut-cream or chocolate – roll it and put more butter-cream on the top. I was two or three and I remember thinking it was so beautiful.

Injury to Lawes is major blow for England manager ahead of Six Nations campaign

From the 1950s on, the Hungarian restaurateur who settled here transformed Britain's eating habits

'He spent two days at the hospital with me, then had a 10-course dinner sent to my room'

A dish with all the wrong ingredients

He is an institution in British gastronomy. But even after 35 years here, Raymond Blanc would still like to teach us a thing or two about food. John Walsh takes notes

At Otarian, menus have a feelgood global-warming index. A gimmick, or the next step in ethical eating?

Right in the slick of it

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