Poppy O'Toole on Batch Cooking, MSG and her own child hating potatoes

Poppy O'Toole on batch cooking, secret MSG and putting caviar on chicken wings Poppy O'Toole is back for a rare second appearance and this time she's brought a new baby, a new book and a confession about the little pot of MSG living next to her salt and pepper. We get into her Absolutely Delicious Batch Cookbook and why most batch cooking books get it wrong (nobody wants to lose an entire Sunday), the goose fat roast potato trick that lets you freeze them par-boiled and cook straight from frozen, and why every recipe is tested to go in the oven without defrosting.

Then it gets less sensible. Poppy upgrades her all-time favourite dish from buffalo wings to buffalo wings with a bump of caviar, explains the free-caviar economics of the Fortnum's Awards, and admits her daughter has rejected mashed potato entirely, but will happily lick salt off a roast potato and demand her own cup of decaf tea. Neither of us is qualified to give parenting advice. We give some anyway. Plus: the mystery bags in her freezer, why she plays down her own expertise on camera and wants to stop, meeting Denise Welch as a life goal, and a quick-fire round she was convinced she'd fluffed.

In this episode:

• 00:00 — Welcome back (and how she compares to Rick Stein)

• 03:32 — The batch cookbook, and why most batch cooking is too much work

• 10:26 — The goose fat roast potato freezer trick

• 15:19 — The secret pot of MSG

• 16:48 — Baby hates mash: feeding a baby tea, salt and dog hair

• 20:20 — Favourite dish: chicken wings with a bump of caviar

• 26:08 — Confessions: bubblegum ice cream and a very bad undercut

• 28:27 — The Grumble, her imaginary all-potato pub

• 32:17 — The misconception she wants to fix