Felicity Cloake

Last updated
Felicity Cloake
Born1982or1983(age 41–42)
Hertfordshire
Occupation Food writer
LanguageEnglish
Alma mater St Peter's College, Oxford
Notable worksHow to cook the perfect... (column in The Guardian )
Website
felicitycloake.com

Felicity Cloake (born 1982or1983 [1] ) is an English food and travel writer. [2] Her books include The A-Z of Eating: A Flavour Map for the Adventurous Cook (2016), Completely Perfect (2018), One More Croissant for the Road (2019), and Red Sauce, Brown Sauce: A British Breakfast Odyssey (2022). She writes for The Guardian and the New Statesman.

Contents

Early life

Cloake grew up in Hertfordshire; her father was a John Lewis executive and her mother taught French. She has Irish heritage on her maternal side. [3] Cloake attended Rugby School [4] before studying English at St Peter's College, Oxford. [5] [6] She began her writing career in the Oxford Student . [5]

Career

Cloake is best known for her weekly How to cook the perfect... column in The Guardian, starting online in 2009 and then in print, where she attempts to create the best possible version of a popular dish. [1] [7] She sparked a minor controversy in 2022 when she recommended garnishing bacon butties with marmalade rather than the traditional condiments of brown sauce or ketchup. [8] [9]

She has published a series of cookbooks based on her Guardian column, including Perfect, Perfect Too, Perfect Host, and Completely Perfect. [10] In 2019 she published her first travelogue, One More Croissant for the Road, describing her 3,500 km bicycle journey around France in search of the perfect croissant. [11] In 2022 she published a sort of sequel, Red Sauce, Brown Sauce, in which she cycles around Great Britain sampling breakfast foods. [11]

She has also appeared on television as guest host on Great British Menu in 2015. [12] In October 2020, Cloake hosted an online livestream event in conversation with food writer Grace Dent for The Guardian . [13]

Books

Awards

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marmalade</span> Preserve made from citrus fruits

Marmalade is a fruit preserve made from the juice and peel of citrus fruits boiled with sugar and water. The well-known version is made from bitter orange. It is also made from lemons, limes, grapefruits, mandarins, sweet oranges, bergamots, and other citrus fruits, or a combination. Citrus is the most typical choice of fruit for marmalade, though historically the term has often been used for non-citrus preserves.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baked beans</span> Cooked beans in sauce

Baked beans are a dish traditionally containing white common beans that are parboiled and then baked in sauce at low temperature for a lengthy period. Canned baked beans are not baked, but are cooked through a steam process.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shepherd's pie</span> Pie of minced meat topped with mashed potato

Shepherd's pie, cottage pie, or in French cuisine hachis Parmentier, is a savoury dish of cooked minced meat topped with mashed potato and baked, formerly also called Sanders or Saunders. The meat used may be either previously cooked or freshly minced. The usual meats are beef or lamb. The terms shepherd's pie and cottage pie have been used interchangeably since they came into use in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, although some writers insist that a shepherd's pie should contain lamb or mutton, and a cottage pie, beef.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lancashire hotpot</span> Stew from Lancashire, England

Lancashire hotpot is a stew originating in Lancashire in the North West of England. It consists of lamb or mutton and onion, topped with sliced potatoes and slowly baked in a pot at a low heat.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Soufflé</span> Baked egg-based dish

A soufflé is a baked egg dish originating in France in the early 18th century. Combined with various other ingredients, it can be served as a savoury main dish or sweetened as a dessert. The word soufflé is the past participle of the French verb souffler, which means to blow, breathe, inflate or puff.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rösti</span> Swiss potato dish

Rösti or rööschti is a Swiss dish consisting mainly of potatoes, sautéed or shallow-fried in a pan. It was originally a breakfast dish, commonly eaten by farmers in the canton of Bern, but is now eaten all over Switzerland and around the world. The French name röstis bernois directly refers to the dish's origins.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steak and kidney pie</span> British savoury pie

Steak and kidney pie is a popular British dish. It is a savoury pie filled principally with a mixture of diced beef, diced kidney and onion. Its contents are generally similar to those of steak and kidney puddings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jane Grigson</span> English cookery writer (1928–1990)

Jane Grigson was an English cookery writer. In the latter part of the 20th century she was the author of the food column for The Observer and wrote numerous books about European cuisines and traditional British dishes. Her work proved influential in promoting British food.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">French onion soup</span> Soup based on onions and meat stock or water

French onion soup is a soup of onions, gently fried and then cooked in meat stock or water, usually served gratinéed with croutons or a larger piece of bread covered with cheese floating on top. Onion soups were known in France since medieval times, but the version now familiar dates from the mid-19th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bacon sandwich</span> Sandwich of cooked bacon

A bacon sandwich is a sandwich of cooked bacon. It may be spread with butter, and may be seasoned with brown sauce or tomato ketchup. It is generally served hot. In some establishments the sandwich will be made from bread toasted on only one side, while other establishments serve it on a similar roll as is used for hamburgers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cocktail sauce</span> Condiment served usually with seafoods

Cocktail sauce, also known as seafood sauce, is one of several types of cold or room temperature sauces often served as part of a dish referred to as a seafood cocktail or as a condiment with other seafoods. The sauce, and the dish for which it is named, are often credited to British celebrity chef Fanny Cradock, but seafood cocktails predate her 1967 recipe by some years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Banoffee pie</span> English dessert pie

Banoffee pie is a British dessert pie made from bananas, whipped cream, and a thick caramel sauce, combined either on a buttery biscuit base or one made from crumbled biscuits and butter. Some versions of the recipe include chocolate, coffee, or both.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sticky toffee pudding</span> English dessert

Sticky toffee pudding, known as sticky date pudding in Australia and New Zealand, is a British dessert consisting of a moist sponge cake covered in a toffee sauce, often served with a vanilla custard or vanilla ice cream. It is widely served in the Lake District in northwest England, where it is a culinary symbol.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sole meunière</span> French fish dish

Sole meunière is a classic French fish dish consisting of sole, floured and fried, and served with hot melted butter, lemon juice and parsley. Many recipes specify Dover sole, but the technique can be used with other similar flatfish.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steak and kidney pudding</span> British dish made of stewed steak, ox kidney, and suet pastry

Steak and kidney pudding is a traditional British main course in which beef steak and beef, veal, pork or lamb kidney are enclosed in suet pastry and slow-steamed on a stovetop.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Full breakfast</span> Breakfast served in Great Britain and Ireland

A full breakfast or fry-up is a substantial cooked breakfast meal often served in Great Britain and Ireland. Depending on the region, it may also be referred to as a full English, a full Irish, full Scottish, full Welsh or Ulster fry. The fried breakfast became popular in Great Britain and Ireland during the Victorian era, with the full breakfast appearing in Isabella Beeton's Book of Household Management (1861).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bolognese sauce</span> Meat-based Italian pasta sauce

Bolognese sauce, known in Italian as ragù alla bolognese or ragù bolognese, is a meat-based sauce in Italian cuisine, typical of the city of Bologna. It is customarily used to dress tagliatelle al ragù and to prepare lasagne alla bolognese.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maria Rundell</span> British cookery book author (1745–1828)

Maria Eliza Rundell was an English writer. Little is known about most of her life, but in 1805, when she was over 60, she sent an unedited collection of recipes and household advice to John Murray, of whose family—owners of the John Murray publishing house—she was a friend. She asked for, and expected, no payment or royalties.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Haggis pakora</span> Scottish snack food of haggis ingredients prepared as pakoras

Haggis pakora is a Scottish snack food that combines traditional Scottish haggis ingredients with the spices, batter and preparation method of Indian and Pakistani pakoras. It has become a popular food in Indian and Pakistani restaurants in Scotland, and is also available in prepared form in supermarkets.

References

  1. 1 2 Rodgers, Kerstin (1 July 2019). "An interview with Felicity Cloake". Ms Marmite Lover. Retrieved 6 May 2023.
  2. The Guardian profile
  3. Digby, Marie Claire (9 April 2016). "Food writer Felicity Cloake on her love of potatoes". The Irish Times. Retrieved 2018-11-19.
  4. "Red Sauce Brown Sauce". The Rugbeian Community. 2023-05-19. Retrieved 2024-07-07.
  5. 1 2 "Profile: Felicity Cloake". The Oxford Student. 2017-01-16. Retrieved 2018-11-19.
  6. Cloake, Felicity (6 June 2003). "Staying out of the rat race". The Guardian. Retrieved 2018-11-19.
  7. Burgener, Andrea (9 January 2014). "Food that tastes good is what should be in vogue". TimesLIVE. Retrieved 4 May 2023.
  8. Puckering, Charlotte (22 February 2022). "Southerner says bacon butties are best covered in marmalade rather than brown sauce or ketchup". Proper Manchester. Retrieved 4 May 2023.
  9. "Food Writer Claims the Perfect Bacon Sandwich Should be Slathered in Marmalade". Men's Health. 23 February 2022. Retrieved 4 May 2023.
  10. Morrow, Madeleine (31 January 2019). "BOOK REVIEW: Flawless recipes to inspire beginners and confident cooks". BusinessLIVE. Retrieved 4 May 2023.
  11. 1 2 Nik, Rawlinson (6 February 2023). "Best travel book 2023: See the sights from home". Expert Reviews. Retrieved 6 May 2023.
  12. greatbritishchefs. "Great British Menu 2015: The banquet - Great British Chefs". Great British Chefs. Retrieved 2018-11-19.
  13. "In conversation with Grace Dent | The Guardian Members". The Guardian Live. Retrieved 4 May 2023.
  14. Reviews of Perfect:
  15. Reviews of The A-Z of Eating:
  16. Reviews of Completely Perfect:
  17. Reviews of One More Croissant for the Road:
  18. Reviews of Red Sauce, Brown Sauce:
  19. "Felicity Cloake". Penguin Books UK. Retrieved 2018-11-19.
  20. 1 2 "Awards 2011 Winners". The Guild of Food Writers. Retrieved 2018-11-19.