Cheaper probes take longer, which makes them not all that useful, but the Thermapen uses a K thermocouple, which James May will tell you is a good thing and only found on the better probes. It can measure from -49.9C to +299.9C, and if your chicken ever reaches that higher temperature you can safely assume that your BBQ has already melted and the fire brigade are about to axe down your front door.

The menu pairs the ‘La Rioja” region wines of Bodegas LAN, from the flagship Vina Lanciano Reserva to the recent high-end Lan Edicion Limitada, Bodegas LAN using its blended oak barrels technique – mixed wood barrels with staves of American oak and heads of French oak – with a five-course family-style variety of traditional Spanish tapas and main dishes.

If you go down to the most rural backwater of Herefordshire today, you’ll probably be surprised by A Cook’s Kitchen. Situated in the enormous barn at Dunkerton’s Cider Mill and down the most crooked of country lanes is the manifest dream of a young couple, Bonnie and Tom.

A new photographic exhibition brings chefs from the vibrant Brick Lane Bangladeshi community firmly into focus. Zoe Perrett samples their finest wares copiously at the private view… and learns a little about the art of juggling.

Now it’s no longer January, we’ve reallowed the ‘detox” word – a little spring cleaning of the gut, if you will. Anita Pati eagerly signed up to the Nosh Detox diet assuming there’d be nosh but the hardcore, four-day mainly liquid diet lost her five and a half pounds and gained her valuable dietary lessons…

Vindaloo pork pie anyone? That’s a big fat yes from us here at Foodepedia, especially when it’s been cooked by Vivek Singh. He’s been West at Cinnamon Club and he’s been East with Cinnamon Kitchen, now he’s going central with Cinnamon Soho. We visited the building site to meet Executive Chef Vivek and find out more

The jewel in Mersea Island’s crown is arguably The Company Shed, the Haward family’s delightfully, wilfully eccentric restaurant. Prices are low, decor is stark and the conviviality is second-to-none. Especially when pared with some rather large measures of Talisker’s finest, a bracing trip on an oyster dredger and the tales of a seventh-generation oysterman.

The UK’s most ambitious and prestigious Indian chef, Vivek Singh, hosts a selection of cookery masterclasses throughout the year at his Cinnamon restaurants. I went along to the latest addition to the schedule, which focuses entirely on game to learn about how to make better use of this under-valued meat group.

The city gears up for a fabulous food fest ‘Brusselicious 2012’ and Nick Harman pops over to get a pre taste of some of the remarkable food events that will be taking place all year long

What do carnivores do when they tire of restaurant mark-ups and other people taking photos of their sirloins? What does Joe Bloggs do when he wants a juicy, restaurant-quality steak but at home, where he can comfortably listen to dubious pop music, watch vacuous dross on the box or eat in his jim-jams? The answer is to give Donald Russell a call