CLAIRE ALDOUS

Food Editor

Superstar Food Editor Claire has been with dish since day one and created literally thousands of recipes for the magazine. Here she shares how she comes up with recipe ideas, her fondest memories of dish and the cookbooks she finds herself always returning to.

How long have you worked for dish?

Claire: Since day one – 17 years all together!

What does your day-to-day job involve?

Claire: I develop recipes for each issue of the magazine. Once Sarah and I have sat down to plan what sort of sections we’d like in the next issue, we give a section to Olivia, Sarah chooses what she wants to do and I cover the rest, which is about 80%.

Then I go home and get started.

Somehow, I get inspired – I couldn’t tell you exactly how, but my brain just sort of clicks into ingredients and flavours and I start coming up with ideas. Mostly, I just think of all the things I’d like to eat.

Then I run my ideas past Sarah, which is one of my favourite parts of the process. She’ll say, ooh I love that, or how about putting this in? – and having that sounding board is invaluable. Once we’ve settled on the ideas, I start recipe testing and writing. And quite often, the final dish will evolve into something quite different from where it started and that’s part of the process.

The last section I develop recipes for is Food Fast. I use it as a balancing section for the rest of the magazine – for example, if I haven’t got much chicken in the rest of the mag, I’ll put a couple of chicken dishes in Food Fast, or I’ll put some vegetarian recipes in if we’re short on those.

After developing and testing the recipes at home, the next step is to cook the final recipes at Sarah’s house where Josh takes the photos and Sarah does the styling. Photoshoot days are always lots of fun and very collaborative.

Where do you get your ideas for recipes from?

Claire: Eating out! I get a lot of inspiration from that. I do miss eating overseas, especially in Melbourne – I’ve been going to the Melbourne Food and Wine Masterclass for 20 years. That’s my ultimate place to get ideas and see what overseas chefs are doing.

I don’t tend to eat a lot of high-end restaurant food. I much prefer more relaxed dining, and that’s reflected in the food in the magazine. I want people to open dish and be inspired and think, “that looks delicious”, but also “I could cook that at home!”

I read lots of food magazines – and of course, I get ideas from the internet, Instagram, that sort of thing. I also still buy cookbooks.

Do you have a favourite cookbook of all time?

Claire: I’d have to pick authors, not books.

All of Nigel Slater’s books are incredibly inspiring. His writing is so evocative and I frequently find myself perusing the pages then heading to the kitchen filled with ideas that his words have sparked for me.

Also, Diana Henry – I’ve got all her books and like Nigel, she cooks the type of food I want to sit down and eat at every meal.

What’s your favourite part of your job?

Claire: Cooking! I literally cook every single day. Even when I don’t have to, I cook and give it away – I just love to cook.

It’s absolutely my dream job. I’ve got a photograph of me when I was 11 in the New Zealand Herald [see inset above] doing a Mother’s Day spread with a girlfriend – that was my first “in print” moment. My nextdoor neighbour at the time was the food editor of the Herald and my mum was an amazing cook – that’s how I got started and I’ve been going ever since.

What’s your least favourite part of your job?

Claire: The dishes. Because we’re a small team, I don’t have an assistant, so I do my own dishes, clean up, pack up, wash the floor, all that. I know lots of food editors would be appalled at that, but I’ve always done it. I don’t even have a dishwasher at home. On the plus side, that means I’m incredibly tidy and organised whenever I’m in the kitchen.

Any favourite dish moments to share?

Claire: When Sarah said she’d be the editor! At that time, I was coming to a crossroads about continuing with dish. I still loved cooking, but I was tired and I knew that if I lost enthusiasm, I needed to go right away. Sarah really put the spring back in my step.

I also really love it when the new issue goes out and people get excited. Our covers now really reflect dish just as I always hoped they would. They’re vibrant and tempting and you just want to lick the cover! I love seeing what people think of them.