Food & Drink
Seasonal recipes, restaurant reviews and food and drinks features, from the experts at Country Life.
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Tom Parker Bowles talks tartiflette: 'This is not a dish worried about precision, elegance or nuance. It is all about beautiful ballast and you wouldn’t want it any other way'Tartiflette is one of the most gloriously indulgent après-ski centrepieces, but you don’t need to have spent the day bombing down black runs to enjoy it
By Tom Parker Bowles Published
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For Hairy Biker Si King, the secret ingredients will always be hard work and communitySi King talks to Molly Pepper Steemson about proper pies, the importance of community, and a new whisky collaboration with Cask Trade.
By Molly Pepper Steemson Published
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Making sense of the cider soaked wassailThe cacophonous, cider-slinging midwinter tradition of wassailing is an ancient one that continues to this day. Laura Parker offers a toast to harvests anew
By Laura Parker Published
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The enduring allure of menus from ancient civilisations to modern day, via the revolutionary FranceAs time capsules offering a unique glimpse into our appetites, menus have always been highly collectible, finds John F. Müller.
By John F. Mueller Published
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The 12 types of hangover, from 'Backwards Binoculars' to 'Titanic', and how to cure them allHave you been tricked by the Deceiver or flattened by a Steamroller? Wine expert Olly Smith sets out the 12 different sorts of festive hangover, and how to cure them.
By Olly Smith Published
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Six things that Britain should be proud of, from world-class restaurants and Championship-winning cars to the countrysideIt is too easy to dismiss 2025 as a downbeat year of failure, but good things did happen.
By Kate Green Published
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Secrets from the world of whisky, from the 60-year-old bottle that sold for £650,000 to the tipple you get at the supermarketIn our last episode of 2025, James Fisher is joined on the Country Life Podcast by Kevin Balmforth and Andrew Simpson.
By Toby Keel Published
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'We begin making in May and start packing and despatching in November — it’s carnage': How the Cotswolds' favourite cake-makers get ready for ChristmasJessica White of the Meg Rivers Artisan Bakery makes it on to our list of our heroes of Christmas.
By Jane Wheatley Published
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East London's salmon smokehouse is full of secretsFrom the shores of western Scotland to a smokehouse in London Fields, Max Bergius is bringing fine fish to the capital's best restaurants. So what's the secret?
By Tom Howells Published
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'It’s there in our bones, and in our bone marrow': Tom Parker Bowles on borscht, the national dish inspiring UkraineFor Ukrainians, the fortifying, beetroot-based stew of borscht is more than a delicious dish — it’s full of familial and existential nourishment, says Tom Parker Bowles.
By Tom Parker Bowles Published
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Four festive recipes from the Country Life Archive that have (thankfully) fallen out of favourEvery Monday, Melanie Bryan delves into the hidden depths of Country Life's extraordinary archive to bring you a long-forgotten story, photograph or advert.
By Melanie Bryan Published
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Country Life's luxury editor's Christmas gift ideas for foodies, from traditional hampers to nifty kitchen gadgetsWhether they're a dab hand in the kitchen or just really like eating, there will be something suitable in our luxury editor's round-up of the best Christmas gifts for foodies.
By Amie Elizabeth White Last updated
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‘Calf’s brains have a bland, gentle richness that soothes and cossets': Tom Parker Bowles on the joys of eating offalEating offal it is more sinned against than sinning, but it offers the ultimate in magnificent, fully immersive eating.
By Tom Parker Bowles Published
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In search of London’s earliest pintEarly houses — pubs open in the early hours to feed and water the market trade — have been a cornerstone of London for centuries. Yet, as Will Hosie finds, they aren’t stuck in the past.
By Will Hosie Published
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A paprika-spiked goulash recipe to keep you warm as the nights draw inThe classifications of the Eastern European country’s rustic, paprika-spiked gulyás stews are as multitudinous as they are delicious, proclaims Tom Parker Bowles.
By Tom Parker Bowles Published
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What is everyone talking about this week: Is the Golden Age of fine dining over?It currently costs a restaurant around £35 to procure a Dover sole, but they cannot list said fish for anymore than £45. So, does the current financial climate spell an end to fine dining?
By Will Hosie Published
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No more froths, no more foams, no more tweezers. Classic dining is making a comeback. Thank godFrom prawn cocktail and Arctic roll to starched tablecloths and ‘nicotine cream’ on the walls, it’s out with the new and in with the old in the restaurant world
By David Ellis Published
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A vineyard for sale on the slopes above 'the best beach in Britain' is for sale at just £650,000In the beautifully unspoilt Devon village of Bantham, an award-winning vineyard is for sale. Toby Keel takes a look.
By Toby Keel Published
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The nine best sandwiches in London, tried, tested and digestedThe sandwich is back and it's bigger and better than ever. David Ellis reveals where to find the best ones in London.
By David Ellis Published
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'Someone once proffered a tray and said to me: "Would you like an eat?" I’m not sure I’ve ever seen that person again': A snob's guide to canapésTeeny, tiny food can throw up some big problems, says our modern etiquette columnist.
By Sophia Money-Coutts Published
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Made with porpoise blood, eaten with beaver tail: The not-so-normal history of the black puddingAncient, but still popular, both very global and very local, much loved and at one point fiercely disdained. Bound up within the beloved black pudding there’s so much culture, so much history, and so many stories.
By Patrick Galbraith Published


