Tom Parker-Bowles

Tom Parker Bowles: Why peas fresh from the pod are 'absolute quintessence of nubile vitality'

Sometimes, the simplest of luxuries are the most exquisitely enjoyable, says Tom Parker Bowles, as he dives into peas fresh from the pod.

How to eat seasonally in June, by Tom Parker Bowles

Tom Parker Bowles sings the praises of everything from gooseberries to globe artichokes as he looks at how to eat seasonally in June.

How to eat seasonally in May, from Jersey Royals to langoustine, by Tom Parker Bowles

Tom Parker Bowles — recently shortlisted for the PPA Food Writer of the Year award for his Country Life columns — shares his tips on seasonal eating in May.

How to eat seasonally in April, from lamb and Jersey Royals to 'one of the true glories of the British year'

Tom Parker Bowles shares his advice for seasonal eating in April.

How to eat seasonally in February, by Tom Parker Bowles

February may be grim, but it’s never, ever dull says Tom Parker Bowles — especially if you know what to eat.

Tom Parker Bowles on Britain's best smoked salmon: 'Pure piscine simplicity and the pinnacle of the smoker’s art'

An alchemy of salt and a delicate curing process over wood chips or sometimes peat makes for the ultimate smoked salmon, says Tom Parker Bowles.

Curious Questions: Why is smell the most evocative of our senses, 'primal, unconscious and instantaneous, capable of stopping a person dead in their tracks'?

Tom Parker Bowles delves into the mysteries of our ability to smell — and ponders what is the best smell of all.

Scallops: Tom Parker Bowles on the sublime seafood that 'is both achingly tender and blissfully sweet'

A symbol of both pagan fertility and Christian piety, the sensual and sublime scallop is both achingly tender and blissfully sweet, says Tom Parker Bowles.

Britain's best bacon: Tom Parker Bowles picks the nation's best producers

Last week, Tom Parker Bowles waxed lyrical about the joys of bacon, and the perfect bacon sandwich. But where to get your bacon? Here he picks out some of his favourite sources.

Tom Parker Bowles on the perfect bacon sandwich

Sizzling, crispy and irresistibly pork-scented bacon all starts with a well-reared traditional breed of pig and a slow, careful curing process, says Tom Parker Bowles.

How to make Baingan Bharta, spiced smoky aubergines

With gleaming skin and a plump, elongated shape, the versatile aubergine offers subtle, yet luscious succour in this Indian dish, says Tom Parker Bowles.

Tom Parker Bowles in search of the perfect strawberries and cream

Plump, buxom, sweet, juicy and with curves in all the right places, the strawberry is the very quintessence of an English summer for Tom Parker Bowles.

How to make Rick Stein’s Maryland crab cakes with tarragon-and-butter sauce

How to make Tom Parker Bowles's pasta with artichokes and pecorino

Tom Parker Bowles: Why Dorset snails are as good (if not better) than French ones — and a recipe to prove it

Snails might forever be associated with French cuisine, but the slippery little suckers bred on these shores are rivalling the best Bordeaux has to offer, says Tom Parker Bowles.

Tom Parker-Bowles on the king of potatoes, the Jersey Royal

Whether boiled and slathered with butter or fried then served with crab mayonnaise, the Jersey Royal is alwys delicious.

Tom Parker-Bowles on forced rhubarb, the crop grown in the dark and harvested by candlelight

Only available for a fleeting moment, rose-hued forced rhubarb — grown in the dark and harvested by candlelight in Yorkshire’s ‘tusky triangle’ — is an ephemeral vegetable with a muted, yet distinct, lip-smacking tartness, says Tom Parker Bowles.

How to make Tom Parker Bowles' mackerel with potatoes and bay

Tom Parker Bowles admits he’s a terrible fisherman — and that’s why he loves mackerel. Not only are the easy to catch, they’re better the fresher they’re eaten — he shares his tips and his favourite mackerel recipe.

Tom Parker-Bowles: Broad beans, the 'quintessence of early summer' that show the brute power of culinary simplicity

Once believed to be vessels for the souls of the recently departed, a freshly picked pod with broad beans nestling in their velvety white casing is a seasonal obsession for Tom Parker Bowles.

Tom Parker-Bowles' guide to tomatoes — and the recipe that 'is probably the most useful item in any store cupboard'