Celebrating British Food & Cooking
Hi, I’m Richard aka Grandad.
I have always loved cooking, finding it both practical and enjoyable and my family enjoy the food I create on the whole, although with the odd disaster along the way I must admit.
After two careers, firstly as an aeronautical engineer, and then as an IT manager for a university, I am now retired. As I now have time on my hands, I have been persuaded by the family to share some of the recipes and food history we most enjoy with a broader audience, so Grandad’s Cookbook was born.
My wife aka Nanny and I live in London, England and have grown up during a period in the UK which has seen a revolution in food and cooking. Gone are the old days of the boring repetitive stodgy overcooked food of our childhood and we now have the most wonderful variety of cuisines and ingredients on our streets and in our shops.
Grandads Cookbook is a mix of recipes, some my own, and some from established cooks tweaked to our own tastes which over the years we have enjoyed.
The kitchen in our house is most definitely my domain. Nanny is happy for me to do all the cooking providing I clean the kitchen thoroughly afterwards. She is my biggest fan, recipe tester and critic.
Internationally, we British have had a reputation for coming up with some of the strangest food ideas over the previous couple of centuries, but I think we are just misunderstood. To be fair to our critics, any nation which thinks Toad in the Hole should be eaten is worthy of some degree of scepticism.
But, as my wife says “don’t knock it until you have tried it“!
So I am on a culinary mission to showcase classic British food, explain its origins, celebrate our style of cooking, and encourage you to make some yourself!
Nanny and I spend quite a lot of each year in Spain and the Spanish style of cooking and eating is a particular favourite of ours and features quite a lot, along with fish and seafood.
My other passions are flying, I am an instrument-rated private pilot and sea fishing. Nothing gives me more pleasure than to return from a day’s fishing with some lovely fresh fish and present my wife with a meal from the day’s catch. Unfortunately, Nanny doesn’t travel well so light aircraft and small boats are things she doesn’t enjoy at all.
Over the years, my family and I have had some great food, some special, mostly every day, and now we want to share it with you.
I hope you and your family enjoy reading, preparing and eating our selection as much as we have.
