Make these creamy meringue disks topped with crunchy walnuts for a mid-week treat or a dinner party dessert or when you want to use up egg-whites left over from making mayonnaise. We use icing sugar to give the meringues a finer quality (caster sugar can make them gritty). Serve them with fresh strawberry slices soaked in a vanilla-scented stock syrup (see the recipe below) or make meringue sandwiches, pressing two discs together with sweetened mascarpone cream.

There is no mystery to tasting wine. Most people can become excellent tasters with just a little practice and by following a few basic ground rules. You will find here the correct structure and basis of appraisal which can be applied to all wines - it's simple and it's fun, says Anne Mullin from wineonline.ie.

Coffee is quite literally steeped in history and legend. Gerry Hughes, our coffee expert fills you in on where it came from and offers some fascinating facts that you may not know.

Handy tips for cooking with jam.

Many recipes call for the technique of poaching a fillet of fish. Here we explain how to poach a salmon fillet so you can use it in salads; serve it as a simple healthy lunch or dinner with dressed leaves, mayonnaise and mustard or to use in potato cakes where the fish may need to be cooked first.

Soft-boiled eggs are sometimes used to form part of the dressing in salads and can served on top of fish to add a creamy texture. The classic french salad with eggs and lardons uses them too. Here is the trick to making them at home.

Some people like to cook their omelettes so they are golden on all sides. The classic French method is to keep them a soft buttery yellow on the outside. Fill them with smoked salmon and Parmesan and they can be served for breakfast, as a light lunch or starter.

Anne Kennedy met Meena Pathak of Patak's, the Indian sauce company when she was in Dublin with her daughter Anjali celebrating Diwali, the Indian festival of light. Diwali falls on 28th October this year so you have to time to plan your celebrations!

Game chips look very posh on the plate but really, they are just slices of potatoes that are coated in oil and baked in the oven until crisp. Serve them on their own as part of a buffet or with any roast game dish. They can be cooked in advance and reheated just before serving. Make sure to slice the potatoes to the same width, preferably with a mandolin. Otherwise, some potato slices will burn while the others are cooking.

Saffron is expensive to buy, but you actually use very little in this dish where it performs a small miracle, turning the potatoes a soft yellow and adding a layer of flavour to what would otherwise be plain mashed potato. This goes well with duck or any game dish.

Grappa is a clear distilled Italian alcoholic drink made from what is leftover after the wine-making process, that is the skins, pulp, seeds and sometimes, though not always, the stems. It is similar to the French Marc. It is a testimony to the resourcefulness of winemakers that they can turn what would otherwise be waste into something special.

Recipes often ask you to 'cut the butter into the flour'. What does this mean and what is the best way to go about it?

Filo pastry is a delicate pastry which needs to be covered while you use it so it doesn't dry out. In other ways it is a forgiving pastry which can be layered and scrunched - it doesn't have to be neat to look good unlike other pastry.

A recipe from Reza Mahammad's lovely book Rice Spice and All Things Nice.

A recipe from Reza Mahammad's lovely book Rice Spice and All Things Nice. Wrapping the sea bass in a banana leaf ensures the fish remains moist, and imparts to it a subtle flavour. Banana leaves can be found in Thai and certain Asian grocers. However, foil can be used as a substitute. A mango and yoghurt dressing works beautifully with this dish, and, together with plain rice and Masoor Dal, you have a complete meal.

Bottarga is made from fish roe or fish eggs. The fish roe is extracted and buried in salt and hung to mature and dry out. It is then pressed and you literally end up with a block of bottarga which is so hard that you have to grate it. It is shaved as a last-minute addition to pasta dishes and antipasta.

Some recipes call for dry-toasted or griddled chillies. They give Mexican and Asian food a distinctive taste. Be careful though, the smoke that will emerge is chilli smoke and it can burn your eyes so keep the windows open, put the extractor on and use a long-handled tongs to turn them and remove them from the pan. Wear goggles and gloves if you are the sensitive type.