.. and in other news, the Masterchef way of pan-frying duck works. T'other one (where you carefully render the fat out) really doesn't - the fat moves away from the duck and you end up with overcooked, under-browned duck breast. Bah.

Fun cooking facts, number 1 in an occasional series

So, I'm going to start noting down some cooking-related facts I've found out so that I don't forget them.

• Pie filling doesn't lose water when cooked, so make it fairly thick before you stick it in to bake the pastry on the top. However, it is worth pre-cooking the pie filling since otherwise it will be undercooked and the pastry will burn.
• Whole tomatoes release far too much water when cooked; remove the pulp and make it back up with tomato puree.
• Putting vinegar in the water really does make it possible to cook poached eggs. Win.
• When roasting pork, equal parts salt, flour and smoked paprika rubbed into the fat gives pretty good crackling.

Today's frustration: my oven is not consistent enough to cook bread - there's a 20-30C temperature gradient which means that either the top burns, or the bottom doesn't cook. Am seriously thinking about an industrial oven next time round ..