Every Thursday, our Money blog team interviews chefs from around the UK, hearing about their cheap food hacks and more. This week we chat to Emily Cuddeford from the Twelve Triangles bakery in Edinburgh.
My go-to cheap eat at home is…daal. Into a blender I add a handful of cherry tomatoes, a thumb of ginger, two garlic cloves, one onion, a tin of coconut milk, 2 tbsp curry powder, 1 tsp fennel seeds, one bulb of roughly chopped fennel, one roughly chopped carrot, one red chilli and 2 tsp salt.
Blend this until smooth. In a pan place one cup of washed red lentils, then pour over your curry base. Cook until the lentils are soft and the liquid is absorbed. Check for seasoning and add a squeeze of lime, serve with yoghurt or a fried egg.
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The biggest mistake I see in kitchens is… Having a big menu. When you go somewhere with endless menu choices spanning many different cuisines, you can generally tell that the ingredients and food aren’t going to be fresh.
One of the most important things when running a kitchen is making the most of your ingredients, using every part. If an ingredient appears in multiple dishes the chance that it is fresh and understood by the chef is far higher.
I’m endlessly surprised by… the amount of people who don’t understand the job that salt does. The purpose of salt is not for things to taste salty, when used correctly it makes each ingredient taste like the best version of itself.
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I wish we could… change people’s expectations of cost when going out for a meal.
How people think it’s reasonable, never mind even possible, to buy good quality ingredients supporting local farmers and making sure they are paid fairly, to then pay for your premises, bills and staff, but still charge around £10 for a meal.
The ingredients I can’t live without are… Fennel, both fresh and seeds. A lot of people have a love-hate relationship with fennel but I think it adds a subtle slightly aromatic note to many dishes, both savoury and sweet.
I slowly cook slices of fennel and onion under a roast chicken for a sticky, slightly perfumed and glossy side. Fennel seeds, toasted and added to beans, pulses or stews, lift them and add a little brightness. Finally, toasted fennel seeds added to a strawberry jam or into a cake batter give a lovely aniseed tang.
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One restaurant that’s worth blowing out for is… Rogan & Co, Grand-over-Sands, Cumbria. I was lucky enough that my partner took me here for my birthday and it was such an incredibly special meal.
The food was exceptional, dishes were filled with recognisable flavours whilst being built in a way you couldn’t comprehend or replicate. The service was fantastic, every detail was thought of and you were made to feel incredibly comfortable. I will give a special mention to the freshly baked miniature loaf you got at the start with whipped marmite butter, that lives in my head now rent-free.
My favourite cheap substitute is… I now buy Denver or bavette cuts to cook as steak instead of ribeye or sirloin. They have incredible flavour and if treated well can be as soft.
My best advice for bavette is hot and fast with a long rest time, at least the length of time it was cooked it should be resting. Then thinly slice it against the grain. For the Denver, I reverse sear it on the advice from my butcher, cook a whole piece (around 700g-1kg) in a low oven at 130c fan until it reaches around 42 degrees, then take it out and put it into a scorching hot pan and baste it with foaming butter until you have a good crust.
I then let this rest again for a good 40 minutes under foil. Remember, it will keep cooking once out of the pan so for medium rare don’t let it go above 46 degrees in the pan. Slice to serve.
My best tips for preventing waste are… keep vegetable trimmings from the week to make a stock that can then be frozen or used within a few days to add to soups or stews. Save egg whites in the freezer that can then be used for pavlova or little chewy Italian biscuits.
Keep old bread in the freezer then if you are doing a roast pop a few slices underneath to catch all the delicious juices and fat. You can also use breadcrumbs to thicken sauces or in pesto instead of nuts.
I would tell all aspiring chefs to… just start. Do it all day, every day and don’t stop trying until you get to where you want to be. The most important attribute we look for is someone who cares, who thinks about food all the time. The rest you can train.
