Foodie files

TV chef James Martin shares his culinary secrets with Weekend

SCOTLAND’S FINEST I’ve just been to the Taste of Grampian food festival in Aberdeenshire for the first time since 2001. It was a great reminder that Scottish produce is some of the best in the world, from beef to seafood and soft fruits. While up there I also went to Donald Trump’s golf course (pictured). You can think what you like about him but he knows how to build a golf course – it’s the best I’ve ever played on!

BUTE BEAUTIES The best raspberries I’ve ever tasted were in Scotland, on the Isle of Bute. I even bought a raspberry plant there and took it back home with me and it’s growing in Hampshire now, producing huge berries. They’re great in a summer pudding – try adding a little basil, it tastes amazing with soft fruit.

A WEE DRAM This time I brought back a bottle of whisky from Scotland, as I don’t mind a bit every now and then. I also cook with it – one of my trademark dishes is white chocolate and whisky croissant butter pudding, which is about 3,000 calories a portion so you need to go easy on it! Whisky also works well as a marinade for smoked salmon and is great in sauces. A whisky and Dijon mustard sauce (right) with beef is just amazing. FLAMING GOOD Whisky’s also great in barbecue sauce, which is so easy to make – it’s basically tomato ketchup, soy sauce and demerara sugar boiled together and that’s it. Then you add a dash of whisky, bourbon or maple syrup. If you’re cooking on a barbecue I’d say the secret is to use the best quality produce you can – if sausages and burgers contain too much fat then it drips onto the coals and that’s when you end up with too much smoke.