How to make sweet-and-sour pork – recipe | Felicity Cloake's Masterclass

Sweet-and-sour sauce, which hails from the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou and is much loved in nearby Hong Kong, has been a victim of its own popularity – you can now buy sweet-and-sour-flavour Pot Noodles, crisps and even dips. But, when made with care, the crunchy meat, tangy sauce and sweet fruit will remind you why you fell for it in the first place.Prep 20 min Marinate 30 min+ Cook 10 min Serves 2For the marinade200g pork loin or lean shoulder 1 garlic clove 1 tbsp light soy sauce 1 tbsp rice wine, or dry sherry ½ tsp salt ¼ tsp Chinese five-spice powder (optional)To cook1 onion, peeled 1 green pepper, stalk, seeds and pith discarded 1 mild red chilli 1 egg 60g cornflour, plus extra to coatNeutral oil, for frying100g pineapple chunksFor the sauce2 tbsp apricot jam – the lower in sugar, the better1 tbsp cranberry sauce – ditto1 good squeeze lemon or lime juice25-40g soft light brown sugar 2½ tbsp Chinese red vinegar, or rice vinegar1 tbsp light soy sauce 1 tsp cornflour, or potato starchI’ve chosen to make this with pork (spare ribs also work well, if you don’t mind a bone; if possible, get your butcher to chop them up), but chicken thigh or breast, chunks of firm white fish or firm tofu would also work well. Anything that can be battered and fried without giving off too much water is a safe bet.Cut the pork into strips about 1cm wide, then peel and crush the garlic

Fete, Chelmsford, Essex: ‘It absolutely dares to be different’ – restaurant review | Grace Dent on restaurants

Fête in Chelmsford has made a big splash on the Essex food scene, snapping up local plaudits for this quaint, neighbourhood restaurant in a cobbled courtyard. Quaint isn’t a word I use often, but nor do I eat at many places with a spacious upstairs bar area that doubles as a yoga studio. Go for the spice bag potatoes with tropea onions and roast chilli, stay for the 45-minute flow yoga with Amanda.Actually, scrap that: do not even dream of pulling shapes after eating too many spiced onions. Leave it a couple of hours

Helen Goh’s recipe for forest floor cake | The sweet spot

The forest has always been a place of mystery. In fairy tales, it’s where children get lost, where witches build houses made of cake, and where transformations occur in the shadow of trees. But it’s also a place of deep, loamy quiet – a world that hums with hidden life. This cake draws on that dark magic: a tender chocolate sponge, earthy and aromatic with cocoa powder and olive oil, topped with a rosemary-infused ganache and strewn with textures that nod to moist soil, fallen leaves, moss, bark and fungi. It’s Halloween baking, but less fright night and more folklore

Peter Hall obituary

My grandfather Peter Hall, who has died aged 82, was one of England’s best known winegrowers. The writer Andrew Jefford described him as “the father of the contemporary English wine scene” – a significant feat for anyone, let alone a man who taught himself winemaking from a paperback, and whose self-planted vineyard totalled six acres.Breaky Bottom Vineyard, near Lewes, in East Sussex, was Peter’s passion. For five decades he worked meticulously on it: tending the vines by hand, labelling each bottle and taking the maligned Seyval Blanc variety from punchline to prizewinner.Peter was born at Rangeworthy Court, his family’s country home in Gloucestershire, and grew up in Notting Hill, London, together with his brothers Rémy and Patrick

‘Fermented in the gut’: scientists uncover clues about kopi luwak coffee’s unique taste

It is a coffee beloved by Hollywood and influencers – now researchers say they have found an ingredient that could help explain the unique flavour of kopi luwak.Also known as civet coffee, kopi luwak is produced from coffee beans that have passed through the digestive system of the Asian palm civet. The resulting product is not only rare, but very expensive – costing about £130 for 500g.It is also controversial, with animal welfare experts raising concerns that some producers keep civets in battery-style conditions.Researchers say they have uncovered new clues as to the coffee’s unusual taste, revealing unroasted beans retrieved from civet poo have differences in their fat content to those from ripe coffee berries manually collected from trees

Leftover wine? Now we’re cooking | Hannah Crosbie on drinks

I love to cook with wine – sometimes I even put it in the food! So the saying goes, and whenever I see it on a birthday card, driftwood wall-hanging or kooky coaster, I can’t help but make a mental note that I agree.The Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more.That said, I haven’t always seen the point of cooking with wine, and particularly of cooking wine