Ruby Tandoh, Freelance Journalist Profile

Articles

'There is no recipe, take it or leave it'

1 month ago | vittlesmagazine.com | Jonathan Meades |Rosa Lyster |Ruby Tandoh

This essay is part of our supplement Too Many Cookbooks. To read the rest of the series, please click below:Reinventing the Hexagon, by Jonathan MeadesMachiavelli in the Kitchen, by Rosa Lyster15 Cookbooks That Changed Everything, by Ruby TandohCookbooks in Translation, by Guan Chua, Christie Dietz, Anissa Helou, Ibrahim Hirsi, Saba Imtiaz, TW Lim, Lutivini Majanja, Meher Mirza, Marie Mitchell & Rachel Roddy. I have always been a terrible recipe writer.
Ruby Tandoh's ode to the humble garden pea

2 months ago | worldofinteriors.com | Ruby Tandoh

There is little gravitas, in the conventional sense, to this 1971 packet of peas. As it’s presented in the Museum of London Docklands it is a flimsy relic, made of thin cardboard and folded into a small, elongated carton. This is an ephemeral container for an exhaustible product, mass-produced around the time of the advent of the modern supermarket.
Allrecipes, America’s Most Unruly Cooking Web Site

Sep 28, 2024 | newyorker.com | Ruby Tandoh

A few months ago, and in possession of a bag of apples, I found myself craving an apple pie, of the archetypal cooling-on-the-window-ledge variety. I pictured a double-crust flaky pastry around apple and cinnamon—not too complicated to make on a weeknight, but robust enough that I’d be able to slice a clean, thick wedge. Despite knowing how to make apple pie, I wanted the peace of mind that can come only from following a trusted recipe.
The Annual Disappointments of Strawberry Season

Aug 1, 2024 | newyorker.com | Ruby Tandoh

Who among us hasn’t been catfished by a strawberry? At a farmers’ market recently, I bought a carton of strawberries that were vermillion, fragrant, and totally bland. I thought I was just unlucky the first time around, so I bought a second carton further down the road: deep crimson, muffin-topped little berries with an acidity that made me wince.
The Daily Record: «Paul Hollywood leads tributes to Great British Bake Off star dead at 61»

Jul 6, 2024 | newstral.com | Ruby Tandoh

Paul Hollywood leads tributes to Great British Bake Off star dead at 61Paul Hollywood, one of the show's judges, was quick to offer his condolences, writing on the Instagram post: "I'm so sorry to hear that, send my love ...
The Maillard Over-Reaction

May 29, 2024 | newyorker.com | Ruby Tandoh

Things that scare me in the kitchen: mandolines, lighting a gas hob with a matchstick, onions, chicken-washing discourse, people who want to help, cooking with or without a timer, post-lasagna washing up. My biggest enemy is the smoke alarm, a benevolent tyrant whom I’ll do anything to appease, and the reason that I don’t like to make toast and won’t, under any circumstances, flambé. My partner is an excellent cook, but I wince when he says that he’s going to cook meat.
Buckwheat, the Unexpected Hero of My Baking Repertoire

Apr 24, 2024 | newyorker.com | Ruby Tandoh

One day last year in Paris, I went to the Musée de Cluny, a temple to the tactile esoterica of medieval France. I remember seeing braids of wooden hair, a marble gown sculpted in almost calligraphic lines, and a rose made out of gold, all of which seemed to defy conventional physics. The same day, I bought a buckwheat cookie from PLAQ, a chocolate store in the Second Arrondissement.
Selling the Seaside

Sep 11, 2023 | thebaffler.com | Ruby Tandoh |Dubravka Ugresic |Arielle Isack

It started in London, the rumor about Margate. There was talk in Hackney in the east of the city, among a cloistered community of creatives: everyone seemed to know someone who had visited Margate, this little town to the southeast of the capital. The houses were cheaper there; someone had gotten a good deal on a place with original hardwood floors and Victorian detailing. Maybe we could move there, they said to themselves. I’ve heard this restaurant near me is opening a sister place by the sea.
Sour Cream–Vanilla Birthday Cake with Chocolate-Orange Frosting

Aug 7, 2023 | foodandwine.com | Ruby Tandoh

Slicing into this cake reveals orange-scented vanilla layers that bake up from a one-bowl batter. ByPublished on August 7, 2023Photo: Greg Dupree / Food Styling by Margaret Monroe Dickey / Prop Styling by Shell RoysterTotal Time: 2 hrs 15 minsWe overcomplicate birthday cakes,” says Ruby Tandoh, chef and author of the cookbook Cook As You Are.
The Cursed Menu of Lina Ghotmeh’s ‘Relentlessly Inoffensive’ Serpentine Pavilion

Jun 6, 2023 | artreview.com | Ruby Tandoh