• Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Snapchat
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

MsMarmiteLover

  • Food
    • Recipes
    • Vegetarian
    • Vegan
  • Travel
    • France
    • Italy
    • Spain
    • UK
  • Wine
  • Gardens
  • Supperclubs/Events
  • About
    • Published Articles
    • Books
  • Shop
    • Cart

Andre Simon Awards: the Niki Segnit interview

February 3, 2019 1 Comment Filed Under: Desserts and sweets, Food, Recipes, Uncategorized

Niki Segnit pic: Kerstin Rodgers

Niki Segnit, author of the groundbreaking book The Flavour Thesaurus, is tall, attractive and remarkably fresh faced considering she has four-year-old twins. Originally from Hampshire, she has lived in Islington for six years. I visited her kitchen, the zinc-topped desk and laptop where she writes, facing the busy City Road.

Her aforementioned first book, a guide to flavour pairings, was incredibly popular: it sold a quarter of a million copies, unheard of for a non-TV chef, ‘without a column, or a rich daddy’.

As if to cement her reputation, when the Camerons were photographed in their refurbished kitchen at Number 10 Downing St, The Flavour Thesaurus was on their shelf. The ultimate in status shelfies.


Her latest book, Lateral Cooking, has been nominated for the 2018 Andre Simon Awards. It is just as unusual as her debut, exploring a ‘genealogy’ of recipes by explaining how one recipe is related to another. A basic formula can be tweaked to turn pasta into pastry, bread into pizza, custard tart into crème brûlée. Each chapter has a section called ‘leeway’ detailing variations upon a foundation recipe.


What inspired this book?


“I was a strategist for an advertising agency. I worked with Coke and other big brands. I’d do months of work that you have to condense down to one page, written in a poetic way so the creative side gets it. You brief the copywriter and art editor. I loved it. 


“I come from a very humble background but my mum always cooked from scratch. She made decent meals, very ’70s bistro, coq au vin, boeuf bourguignon. My dad was into deep sea fishing, so the house was full of fresh fish like sea bass and quality seafood. There was nice food in the house all the time.”


On the marble counter is an apple ‘tart’ and some raspberry friends. Niki has recently set up an Instagram account and these bakes are perfect ‘grammable’ material.


“These are so simple. Anyone can make them. I’m not very good at presentation. I don’t like making the pastry so these don’t have pastry. It’s a batter that takes five minutes to whip up. Put apples on it and glaze it with apricot jam. Easy.”


This set of recipes are part of the ‘nut meal’ family, spanning frangipane, marzipan, including macarons, friands, tarta de Santiago, Bakewell tarts and galette des rois. 


At the moment Niki is working on the American version of Lateral Cooking, re-testing recipes using US cup measurements, volume rather than weight. Very few Americans own kitchen scales.


I was interested that you write that one doesn’t have to be ‘gram perfect’ when baking. 


“Professional bakers have to do things in a way that us domestic people don’t. This whole idea that you must weigh down to the last gram has become received wisdom and it’s not true. It’s quite interesting what leeway you have. Metric is so much simpler. But with the American technique, you have to use your judgement, to know when something is cooked. That’s something I’ve learnt writing this book.

“I’m going over there in a couple of weeks. It’ll be interesting to see how they feel about this. American recipes simply aren’t written in weight.”

Niki Segnit in her kitchen pic:Kerstin Rodgers/msmarmitelover.com

I’d like to know about your background, your route into food?

I’d never shown any interest in learning how to cook: it was boys, bands, music, clothes, reading The Face, listening to John Peel.

My first job was as the librarian for Southhampton university, the best job ever. But in order to live in London, I applied to be a civil servant. I took a job working in the death tax office, what is now known as inheritance tax. It was in Shepherds Bush, where I used to eat at Spudulike…

I LOOOVED Spudulike…

… it didn’t matter how many pats of butter you took!

“I was very punky, with crimped hair. A few years after that I moved into advertising, starting as a PA. I thought a PA was glamorous, I didn’t realise you were basically a secretary. I taught myself to type.

“Then I worked in the art department for a while, I was eventually commissioning photographers and illustrators, leaning over a lightbox with a Chinagraph, seeing photographers books. I loved the work of Arabella Boxer and Tessa Traeger.

“By the time I had the idea of writing The Flavour Thesaurus, I was at the point of my career of only working on food and drink brands. I was very into cooking. A lot of people are. A lot of people will say nobody is interested in cooking, but it’s not true. I was running the data.

“I had access to a giant data base, in which you ask questions of 26,000 people. I saw the results of questions like, ‘I strongly agree that I’m a very creative person’ alongside ‘I strongly agree that I love to cook’. You see the patterns. They were the potential audience for my work.

Being on TV is also a way to add a 100,000 onto your cookbook sales…

“Doesn’t bother me not being on TV. My creativity is this kind of thing. I don’t want to be on TV. I would hate to be recognised in the street, screaming at my kids (laughs)

You don’t need TV as your book sells so many.

“It’s the same as how I think of Instagram. My thing is focussing on what drives you, when you do your good work. I completely understand why the publishers would want people to be on social media. I am quite surprised how damaging it is emotionally. It makes me think about what everyone else is doing. What everyone else is doing, doesn’t really matter. You take your eye off your own creativity.

Comparison is a killer.

“If you’ve not done it and you suddenly start doing it, you become incredibly aware. Although I think it’s nice when people show you what they’ve made.

“I don’t plan to spend too much time on social media. It’s not good for your art. The food world is like any micro-climate. It’s a weird place with some difficult things in it.

(We then talk off the record about certain kinds of food writers, who, in my words, are all ‘lifestyle’ and come from posh connected families.)

“It was ever thus. Food has been like that forever. Have you read the Nora Ephron essay on the 1970s food scene? I read it once a year to remind myself.

“All of them come from that kind of background- Elizabeth David for instance.

“Do you know Pete Brown?

“I have a proof version of his latest book about English food ‘Pie fidelity’. It’s about pie and peas, cheese sandwich, fish n chips, spag bol. We have a joke about who is the lowest class food writer in Britain. He’s from Barnsley. So he’s winning.

I’m interested in things like, well I love Chrissie Hynde, Viv Albertine, that DIY punk attitude. Chrissie Hynde is still making albums, she’s incredible. She just sticks to it. I saw her at the Royal Festival Hall recently.

I saw The Slits play live at The Vortex, I’d never seen women like that before. Huge role models for me.

Do you listen to Mary Ann Hobbs on Radio 6? She’s so brilliant. She has all sorts of interesting people on the show. She plays great music from our youth and from now. I listen to her while recipe testing… I don’t listen to anything while writing because I have to concentrate. She’s got great taste.

In summary, what are you saying with your food books?

When I wrote Flavour it was really basic, trying to find out what went with each other. It came out with Heston Blumenthal, post-McGee. That’s where my brain was, I don’t know why, I’m not a scientist, I failed every science thing at school. I did teach myself quite a lot about flavour science.

How long did it take to write?

Flavour took three years. April 2010 I handed in the manuscript for Flavour. Lateral Cooking has taken seven years. I didn’t take a break between the books. The last six months I didn’t go out, I went a bit nuts being housebound.

Writing books can hurt your mental health I’ve found. I’ve become very anti-social.

So with Lateral Cooking, I was doing sensory testing and asking myself what would it be like if I add something acidic to it? Or if I add something a bit wet to it? I was creating this file of options of how to flavour things. It was going to be this book about flavouring things. That was the premise.

I worked on it for three years with no idea if anyone would want it. I showed it to my editor at Bloomsbury and he was interested. Nobody was breathing down my neck though. Then I got to this point where I started to see the continuums, how the recipes were related to each other. The custard continuum always has 500ml of milk or cream, then- by understanding that your crème caramel has whole eggs and milk, and that creme brûlée has yolks and cream, and then apart from that- they are the same. Then you can make crème anglaise then that is the base for ice cream, and if you add flour in, it becomes crème pat. Ok so now I don’t need any recipes anymore. I understand what family it fits in. Then the book becomes if you make a bread dough, you can make pizza, you can make bagels, you can make croissants. Everyone likes to find out how connected things are.

I just want people to make a loaf of bread and then make croissants. Just to know what it smells like. That’s the point of it. Everything in this book I’ve tested at least once. I’ve really really learnt to cook. I can cook more or less everything without a recipe.

When I went to Istanbul, I had a revelation about borek pastry, the Silk Road journey of pasta and that water borek is lasagne. That pastry and pasta are the same thing cooked different.

I was also thinking about quenelles lyonnaises, how they are related to choux pastry.

When I hear about something new, it’s easier if you can relate it back to another recipe.

Who are your influences?

I’m influenced by MFK Fisher, the honesty, that’s who I wanted to be. The other one that is important is the film writer David Thomson, he wrote The Biographical Dictionary of Film. His writing is wonderful, you get lost in his books.

raspberry friands Pic: Kerstin Rodgers
Print

Raspberry Friands

Serves 10 small cakes

Ingredients

  • 140 g ground almonds
  • 60 g plain flour
  • 200 g icing sugar
  • pinch salt
  • 5 egg whites, whisked
  • 160g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla paste/extract
  • 100g raspberries

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 180c.
  • Combine the almonds, flour, icing sugar and salt. 
  • Make a well and add the egg whites, stir.
  • Add the melted, cooled butter and vanilla.
  • Add in the raspberries. 
  • Pour into 10 moulds and bake at 180C for 15 to 20 minutes until golden.
tarta De Santiago ic:Kerstin Rodgers
Print

Tarta de Santiago

Ingredients

  • 3 large eggs
  • 200 g caster sugar
  • 200 g ground almonds
  • 2 tsp cinnamon, ground
  • 2 apples, sliced into half moons
  • icing sugar to decorate

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 180C
  • Whisk the eggs and sugar together until light and fluffy.
  • Mix the nuts and cinnamon and fold into the egg mixture.
  • Pour into a well buttered and floured tart tin (23 to 25cm diameter)
  • Fan out the apple slices attractively on top.
  • Bake for 20 to 30 minutes, watching carefully from 17 minutes. When a skewer in the centre comes out clean, it’s cooked.
  • Dust with icing sugar. 

Notes

Santiago means Saint Iago or St James. The original apple-less tart by Claudia Roden would have the shape of a cross of St James picked out, via a template, in icing sugar. 

Recent posts

Discovering fairytale Saxony in Germany

January 25, 2023

Fake meat taste test for Veganuary

January 8, 2023

A round-up of my favourite travel destinations of 2022

January 1, 2023

Previous Post: « Caribbean Veganuary
Next Post: Drinking with Oz Clarke »

Reader Interactions

Trackbacks

  1. Best food books 2019 – the American collection says:
    January 13, 2020 at 10:08 am

    […] recipe book, Michael Ruhlman is grouping recipes into families and techniques, rather like our own Nikki Segnit in last year’s ‘Lateral Cooking’. They want to get to the essence of cooking methods, the genealogy of […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Primary Sidebar

MsMarmiteLover aka Kerstin Rodgers.

Chef, photographer, author, journalist, blogger. Pioneer of the supperclub movement.

This is my food and travel blog, with recipes, reviews and travel stories. I also stray into politics, feminism, gardening.

Subscribe to my mailing list

msmarmitelover

Kerstin Rodgers/MsMarmiteLover
Naples at Christmas- discovering piennolo di vesuv Naples at Christmas- discovering piennolo di vesuvio,the Christmas 🍅, which lasts up to a year fresh. It’s given boxed as gifts around Christmas being the only local fresh tomato available. It dresses all the Christmas pizzas and pastas. It’s grown on volcanic Vesuvius soil and sparsely watered. As a result it has thick skins, and a sweet intense flavour. #tomatoes #italy #naples
Not cooking much at the moment due to a thick laye Not cooking much at the moment due to a thick layer of dust over my kitchen. This will be my dining room/photography studio. Done on a whim.#unplanneddemolition
Another picture of my granddaughter Ophelia in a n Another picture of my granddaughter Ophelia in a nest of apricot tulle (found at portobello market). Isn’t she lovely? #granfluencer
Broccoli Stilton soup. This freezing week is defin Broccoli Stilton soup. This freezing week is definitely a week for soups. My friend @jimfrommanc is staying & needs his hot lunch.
Cheese on toast with crushed chilli 🌶️ in Ven Cheese on toast with crushed chilli 🌶️ in Venice the fresh food market sells bouquets of colourful chillies. I’ve still got mine, drying in an enamel jug. #travelandfood
The Christmas tomato or piennolo di vesuvio. Read The Christmas tomato or piennolo di vesuvio. Read all about it: https://msmarmitelover.com/2022/12/christmas-in-naples.html  Got a couple of bunches hanging in my kitchen. #naples #campania #tomatoes🍅 #travelphotography
Opheliagram. This morning I photographed her in an Opheliagram. This morning I photographed her in an Italian outfit I bought in Naples on a William Morris playmat which looks great and is practical for tummy time. So many things are different about parenting now. Parents use apps to track feeding, pooing, weeing etc. You don’t bathe them anymore for the first few weeks because you want to leave the vernix ( the white waxy stuff they are covered in at birth) on their skin as long as possible. Nappies now have a line on them that turns blue if they’ve done a pee. White noise apps to help them sleep. New technology guides new parents. As well as ancient probably prehistoric customs being rediscovered. #granfluencer #grandaughter I’ve tagged in @siennamarla and @jamescalmus as the authors of this baby.
I made two dishes from one pack of white beans las I made two dishes from one pack of white beans last night. Soak, then cook with 2 stock cubes, water & a fan of bay leaves. When soft & cooked, scoop some into a soup bowl with plenty of stock, add white wine, fresh basil and or a scoop of pesto and a squeeze of lemon for soupe au pistou. Garnish with Parmesan. Today I cooked the pot until the liquid had almost disappeared and added a block of feta. I baked this in the oven for 20 to 30 minutes, added @pomoragoodfood new olive oil, salt and pepper for a gigantes plaki (but with smaller beans). Eat more beans!
What to make when you have lots of leftover egg yo What to make when you have lots of leftover egg yolks after making a pavlova? Zabaglione, that classic Italian trattoria dessert made from egg yolks, sugar & tons of masala sweet wine. Whisk it up over a bain-marie or be a bit cheaty & add a teaspoon of cornflour. Strong wrists needed. #italianfood #christmasdesserts #leftovers #cooksmart
The unpackaged vegan meats. My panel of 4 ( from c The unpackaged vegan meats. My panel of 4 ( from carnivore, to recent vegetarian, to long-time vegetarian to never eaten meat (my daughter)) tasted 18. It was quite a bushtucker trial. Carnivores & vegetarians liked very different things. Full report in next weeks @hamandhigh #veganuary #vegan #vegetarian #tastetest #fakemeat #plantbasedmeat
Fake meatathon tasting taking place as my veganuar Fake meatathon tasting taking place as my veganuary column for @hamandhigh So many companies doing this now. As a longtime vegetarian I don’t want anything that tastes too much like meat. But new vegetarians and vegans may want something that tastes close as damnit to meat in order to stave off cravings? Which category are you in? Have you any favourites or dislikes? Is this just another example of ultra-processed food? Let me know in the comments #vegan #vegetarian #meatfree #veganuary
Pasta buselli al cedro. Cedro or citron is a fragr Pasta buselli al cedro. Cedro or citron is a fragrant citrus & one of the founding citrus (along with pomelo and mandarin) that created all the other citrus fruits you know about. Usually candied, it is also used in this unusual neopolitan recipe in which you soak the zest in the pasta water overnight before cooking. Post up on the blog later today. Board a Xmas present from @siennamarla #pasta #naples #cedro #citrus
My london garden ce matin My london garden ce matin
My Sacher Torte (1 word or 2?) with a difference- My Sacher Torte (1 word or 2?) with a difference- bergamot marmalade in the middle. In the @hamandhigh this week. It’s bloody delicious. #chocolatecake #feelaustria #untoldstories #vienna #sachertorte
These are Mela Annurca apples, ‘mel’anurca’ These are Mela Annurca apples, ‘mel’anurca’ in Neapolitan dialect. They are a Christmas apple, in season now. I bought this little model basket of apples in San Gregorio di Armenia street in Naples where every year neopolitans buy something to add to their ‘presepe’ or nativity scene. Often scenes from markets to add to the expensive, anything from 500 euros to 5000 euros nativity crèches. Around Christmas this street is packed (watch out for pickpockets) with locals and tourist picking out their addition to the scene. Melanurca apples are picked in September then laid on the ground to ripen, turning them every day by hand, to ensure all sides transform from a yellow green into a Wicked Witch red. They are very healthy, particularly for your hair, according to scientists at the university of Naples. #naples #neopolitanchristmas #melanurca  #food #travel #sangregorioarmeno #presepenapoletano #nativityscenes
The Christmas tomato 🍅 or piennolo di vesuvio, The Christmas tomato 🍅 or piennolo di vesuvio, a local tomato that is sold around Christmas in Naples. It is grown with very little irrigation and lasts fresh up to a year. Hence it is used for tomato based Christmas dishes. This tomato has a thick skin and is really intense in flavour. It hangs outside grocers, on balconies, in kitchens, having been braided by ladies into bunches of 1.5 kilos. Each costs 15 euros. I went to visit the farmers and the ladies skilfully tying the tomatoes into clusters, using the vines to fasten them, like cherries. Boxed, these are given as gifts. Reel on the way! #naples #christmas #tomatoes #travel #food
Travel: how I pack. I choose one colour as well as Travel: how I pack. I choose one colour as well as black and white and stick to that palette. For Sicily & Naples I’m doing red, white & black. I’ve bought @coti_vision red glasses chain, a red beret & a black one, a pair of red @snagtights & a black pair, a red hair clasp, a red & white pair of shoes (25 euros, leather from Naples), a red & white dress, a black & white striped dress, and so on. Do you roll? Do you flatten & spread? Do you fold? How do you pack? A few days before I leave I leave my suitcase open in my bedroom and every time I think of something I need to take I sling it in there. ( like adaptors) Last thing is wash bag ( I have a hanging one which is useful) and coat (red for this trip). Basically I colour code my life. When I did the Camino everything was blue & yellow, the colours of the Camino. When I went to Ireland I took all my green clothes ( I don’t have many). If I go on a boat trip I pack blue and white. #packing #colourcoding #travel #mysuitcase
Ruota di pesce spada. A glorious oven baked Sicili Ruota di pesce spada. A glorious oven baked Sicilian fish dish, baked on onions, studded with garlic cloves wrapped in mint leaves, then more onions, capers, olives, oregano & rosemary. Use a thick central slice of swordfish (where can I get that in london?). I’m tasting grillo & Nero d’avola wines @tenutorapitala about an hour inland from Palermo. The owner is the last count Bernard de La gatinais. He has 3 daughters. He’s French (Brittany) and Sicilian. He spoke about how difficult it has been for wine growers since lockdown- so many restaurants closed. Now they are grappling with high energy & fuel costs. ##winesofsicilia #siciliaDOC #wine #travel #sicily
I love Venice. I love Maneskin. I love Italy. I lo I love Venice. I love Maneskin. I love Italy. I love boats and water. #biennalearte2022
London cure smoked salmon from @formanandfield wit London cure smoked salmon from @formanandfield with mikawa citrus (cross between mandarin & pomelo) and home pickled green peppercorns on a plate I bought in minori Italy. #londonfood #citrus #sundaylunch
Load More... Follow on Instagram

Archives

Copyright © 2023 msmarmitelover