It’s well known that light charring, browning or caramelisation – the Maillard Effect – is a great way to unlock flavour from ingredients, but what about pushing that charring a stage further? Food editor Tom Shingler explains how to burn food – in a good way – alongside our food team’s creations to inspire you

RECIPES AND FOOD STYLING EMILY GUSSIN AND POLLYANNA COUPLAND

PHOTOGRAPHS INDIA WHILEY-MORTON

Do you want to know the one thing we home cooks can do that fancy chefs never can? We can focus purely on the flavour of something, without worrying about how it will affect the way it looks. A chef needs to make sure the crackling on the pork is uniformly bronzed and the char marks on the steak are even and distinct. Anything veering beyond dark brown to black is almost always removed before it’s eaten. But we all know that the best part of a lasagne is the crunchy bit of pasta that pokes through the sauce and gets lightly singed in the oven.

A BURNING PASSION

At home, we have the option to push food that little bit further when we want to – pushing the boundaries of what caramelisation is and teetering over the brink of burnt while we’re at it. Taking a pie out of the oven to find the pastry lid is a solid black isn’t ideal, but neither is taking it out to find the pastry is pale and flabby. I’d almost always prefer something slightly burnt to something slightly underdone, so I’m all for a little char, a few caught corners and singed sides. It’s why barbecue tastes so good – and why some food from fine dining restaurants can taste a little bland.

Sometimes, though, I like to burn the heck out of things on purpose. A burnt outside often creates a soft, smoky inside – just look at Mexican cuisine where salsas are often created by blackening tomatoes, garlic and onions before removing skins and pounding everything together; or dishes like baba ghanoush. Even those jars of roasted red peppers in the supermarket have been fiercely cooked until blackened before the skin is peeled away to reveal the tender, smoky-sweet flesh.