199 attempts at a chocolate cake? 3 months and counting to boil the perfect egg? The lengths some people go to in the name of decent nosh. Well, not people per se, but, for the test cooks of America’s Test Kitchen, these remarkable feats are just a standard part of the daily grind. At their helm, one man- Chris Kimball, walking gastronomic encyclopedia and, quite frankly, culinary genius.

Douglas Blyde speeds across the choppy Solent to visit Britain’s largest tomato farm and taste the produce at the island’s only Michelin-starred restaurant – Robert Thompson at The Hambrough at Ventnor Bay

With the help of experienced luxury holiday hotel experts Exsus luxury holidays we’ve put together some favourite destinations for fine food at hotels both in and outside of Europe, ones that you should put on your foodie radar this summer.

Kettle Chips celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, which Marcus finds rather bizarre, he thought they’d been around for much longer. If it only takes thirty years for the brand to climb to the top of the crisp ladder then what are the other companies playing at? Perhaps Kettle Chips have their own secret weapon? He travels north to find out…

Like many a male I spent last weekend putting up a barbecue, driven to it by the rare sight of sun and a nagging family. Normally we just wheel out our trusty Weber charcoal BBQ but this this time we’d been persuaded to try a gas one supplied for testing – the Leisuregrow Grillstream 100 and just in time for National Barbecue Week too.

Some pubs are doing tongue-in-cheek Jubilee nods and the big brands are releasing commemorative gifts that might become a family heirloom one day or have been creative with recipes for celebrating this big event. However you choose to mark the occasion, you’ll be sure to find some way to tip your hat for Lizzie’s big moment.

Performance wise the ecogrill was very easy to get going, was ready to cook on within half an hour of lighting and was hot enough to cook on for at least couple of hours, which is a big improvement on the traditional, flash in the pan, disposable affairs.

60 years is a long time, just ask the Queen, and to celebrate the Guinea is putting on the menu they served all those years ago, the ‘no menu’ for diners booking on any Friday and Saturday evening in June. You roll up, sit down and get Scottish smoked salmon, a choice of Aberdeenshire sirloin cut, originally hanging in the pub but now safe in a glass fridge, and cooked on a grill right by the door.

I can’t stand the heat, but there’s no way I’m getting out of this particular kitchen. Not when Bukhara’s head chef JP Singh is busy threading mammoth prawns intricately onto five-foot skewers, and Manjit Gill himself is explaining the finer points of controlling fierce tandoor temperatures.

‘Down here in London we love spilling out of our new media jobs and into the pub for a few beers of a weeknight. Wads of cash sear clean through the pockets of our trousers and the pub is a triffic place to get rid of them at weekends while nurturing our transient London-based friendships.’ Has William been on the Bitter?