The cook time for a traditional Caribbean pepperpot is usually several hours. “People ask me if there’s a short cut,” says Andi Oliver, “and I say, just make something else!” She reclines on the sofa at home in Snaresbrook, east London, in a pink kaftan and fluffy slippers. There’s not much culinary paraphernalia on display in her kitchen but her house is full of people, and The Real Housewives of Potomac is paused on the telly. “There is something beautiful about a pot that you spent that much time on,” she says, wistfully: salt beef, pigs’ tails, ham hock and stout, smoked in cinnamon and allspice, and thrown into a cauldron for hours on end.
“First, never shop on the same day as a big cook. This is very important. If you come back and unpack and start cooking at 3pm, of course you’ll be pissed off, of course you’ll hate cooking. If you’re doing the cook on Saturday, do the shopping on Thursday. Then put it away on Friday.” She hoots with laughter.
