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Shake the colander. Properly. Those roughed-up edges are the entire difference between a good roast potato and a great one — they're what catches the fat and turns to glass in the oven.

No cream. Ever. The sauce is egg yolk, pecorino and a splash of the starchy pasta water, emulsified off the heat. If it scrambles, your pan was too hot.

Make wells in the sauce before you crack the eggs in, and take the pan off the heat while the whites are still slightly loose. They carry on cooking.

It has to be fresh espresso, still hot, shaken hard. That's where the foam comes from — not from the vodka, and definitely not from cold coffee.

Pull them when the middle still looks underdone. They set as they cool, and that's the whole fudgy texture. An extra four minutes turns them into cake.

Dry the skin and leave it uncovered in the fridge overnight. Salt it before it goes in. That's it — that's the crisp skin.

Fry the paste in the thick coconut cream until the oil splits out before anything else goes in. That step is where all the flavour lives.

Sugar, bitters, a good bourbon and a big clear cube. Stir for longer than feels necessary. Dilution is an ingredient.

Prick the sponge all over while it's hot and pour the drizzle on slowly. It should sink in, not sit on top.

A quick dip in the coffee, not a soak. Soggy savoiardi are the most common way this goes wrong.

Chill it hard between every stage — after the mushroom duxelles, after the wrapping, before it bakes. Warm pastry is how you get a soggy bottom.

Fifteen minutes start to finish. Holy basil, not Thai sweet basil — they're different plants and it matters.

Press the mint, don't shred it. You want the oils, not bitter green bits through your drink.

Toast the peppercorns whole and crack them fresh. Three ingredients means each one has to be right.

Yoghurt marinade overnight, then as hot a grill as you can manage. The char is half the flavour.

Rest the batter twenty minutes and don't overmix — lumps are fine. Overworked batter goes tough.

Chill the dough. An hour minimum, overnight if you can. It stops them spreading thin and deepens the flavour.

Press it flat on the tray and leave it alone while it cools. That's how you get clusters instead of loose oats.