Pastry

Tuesday

Lara Prendergast

With Roger Pizey, Head of Pastry at Fortnum and Mason

20 min listen

Roger Pizey is a baker, chef and one of the most influential pâtissiers in the UK. He started his culinary journey as an apprentice at La Gavroche under Albert Roux before taking on the role of head of pastry at Marco Pierre White’s Harveys, during the time it achieved three Michelin stars. He has since worked at a number of London institutions and now serves as the head of pastry at Fortnum and Mason. On the podcast he tells Liv and Lara about childhood memories of Manchester tart, what he learnt from Albert Roux and Marco Pierre White, and why Fortnum’s rose éclair is the perfect dessert. Photo credit: Michael

Wednesday

Philip Patrick

Why Japan is best at whisky, tailoring, cheese, pastries… I could go on

Many people visit Japan because of its food but few, surely, have pastries in mind. In fact, Japan has no discernible tradition in this culinary realm at all. But that didn’t stop a trio of Japanese bakers from winning the biannual pastry world cup, pushing the fancied host nation France into a chastening second place. Japan won last time too and thus became the first country ever to retain the title, which you might suppose would make this big news here in Tokyo. But the media has hardly mentioned it, probably because this kind of national stereotype-busting triumph is becoming quite normal. For example, Japan, believe it or not, is