Foodie Q's with Sarah Tuck: dish magazine editor

We're starting this new series where we get nosy with people about food - so who better to start with than our fearless leader, Coming Un Stuck author and dish Editor Sarah Tuck. We asked her about the moment she knew she wanted to work with food, the music she cooks to and her foodie pet peeve...

Who is your foodie hero?
It’s a tie between Nigel Slater and Yotom Ottolenghi, although Jamie Oliver was pretty inspirational back in the day...

Burger and fries or a five star degustation?
Burger and fries!

Wine or beer?
Whisky

The one ingredient you always have on-hand?
I can’t do just one…I always have olive oil, garlic, chilli flakes and a lemon lying around.

Most used kitchen utensil?
Not surprisingly (given the above), a garlic crusher and zester.

Your go-to dish?
Beef rendang…slow cooked, made in advance, tender and full of flavour.

The meal you make when you want to impress someone?
Double baked cauliflower and cheese souffles…sneakily super-easy and outrageously good.

The meal you’ve made most in your life?
Scrambled eggs (currently with truffle salt….indulgent deliciousness).

Foodie pet peeve?
Under-seasoning!!!!

If you could impart one piece of cooking knowledge to everyone, what would it be?
Lol (see above) season food while cooking and taste test at the end then adjust.

Most frequented eatery?
At the moment – Beau, very handily just up the road and their Freaky Chicken is indeed, freakily fabulous.

Can you recall the moment when you knew you wanted to pursue a career in food?
Twice really, once when I was about 12 years old and I realised that cooking for someone was, is and always will be for me, an act of love. Secondly when I was working alongside  Annabel Langbein doing my first ‘foodie’ job and realised that I knew more about ingredients, cooking and recipe development than I had realised – a pleasing revelation!

A meal that you remember from childhood?
I probably shouldn’t say this as it was memorable for the wrong reason…my lovely mum mistook cayenne pepper for some other spice, but was adamant that we wouldn’t waste the meal she had made (some kind of casserole), so we worked through it with steam coming out of our ears. But I have to say – I love her attitude and food wastage is something I have always been super aware of…

What music, if any, do you like to listen to while cooking? And when entertaining?
While cooking it’ll usually be a Spotify playlist of some of my favourite artists Tom Misch, Vulfpeck, Pete Josef, The Fleet Foxes, The National etc then when I’m entertaining it’ll depend hugely on the vibe I’m going for. I’m a sucker for the 80s so will often end up with Sade somewhere during the evening, and there are a lot of mighty fine 80s songs featuring drumming, so after dinner, if a friend of mine who plays the drums infinitely better than me is present, he will jump on my kit and amp up the atmosphere!

You're currently craving?
I’m on Breakfast TV this Friday talking leeks and have just been searching through past and present recipes…I could murder a piping hot serving of chicken and leek pie from our next issue right about now!