Pinch Perfect

Mary Berry’s double salmon fishcakes are crisp, golden pan-fried cakes made with cooked salmon and hot-smoked salmon, bound with mashed potato, mayonnaise and creamed horseradish. They’re coated in breadcrumbs and fried for 3–4 minutes each side. The recipe serves 6. Berry’s headnote in Cook Up a Feast (2010) explains the name. She says “so many …

Mary Berry’s rhubarb and orange cobbler is a baked pudding of early rhubarb with orange juice under a scone topping sprinkled with demerara sugar. It bakes at 180°C (160°C fan/Gas 4) for 30 to 40 minutes and serves 6. Berry’s headnote in Mary Berry Cooks (2014) says her topping is “rolled out fairly thinly” for …

Mary Berry’s apple and blackberry cobbler is a baked pudding of cooking apples and blackberries under a scone topping, served warm with cream. It bakes at 200°C (180°C fan/Gas 6) for 30 to 35 minutes and serves 6. Berry’s headnote in Foolproof Cooking (2016) calls it “great for using home-grown apples and foraged blackberries.” Her …

Mary Berry’s cheese scone round is a single large scone made with mature Cheddar, mustard powder and cayenne pepper, marked into 6 pieces before baking. It bakes at 220°C (200°C fan/Gas 7) for about 15 minutes and is served warm. Berry’s serving note in the Ultimate Cake Book (2003) is direct: “serve warm with cold …

Mary Berry’s country chicken casserole is bone-in chicken thighs braised with carrots, parsnips, potato and white wine in a single flameproof casserole dish. It cooks at 160°C (140°C fan/Gas 3) for 50 minutes to 1 hour and serves 4. Berry’s headnote in Cooks the Perfect (2014) says she likes to “serve it with mash to …

Mary Berry’s chicken pot pie is a whole chicken poached in stock with carrots, potatoes and peas, covered with shortcrust pastry. The filling sits in a lemon-spiked white sauce. It bakes at 190°C (170°C fan/Gas 5) for 30 minutes and serves 6. Berry’s headnote in the Complete Cookbook (2024) says “you can vary the vegetables …

Mary Berry’s chicken cobbler is a one-dish supper of chicken thighs, leeks and mushrooms in a stock sauce, topped with cheese scone rounds. It bakes at 200°C (180°C fan/Gas 6) for 25 to 30 minutes and serves 6. Berry has no chicken cobbler in her 28 books, but writes in Mary Berry Cooks (2014) that …

Mary Berry’s hot-smoked salmon and dill pâté blends hot-smoked and cold-smoked salmon with dill, capers, cream cheese and melted butter. From her Complete AGA Cookbook, it serves 6 with no baking, chills for about an hour, and can be made 2 days ahead. Berry explains in the AGA Cookbook (2015) that “hot-smoked salmon is cooked …

Mary Berry’s salmon and asparagus terrine layers smoked salmon pâté with whole asparagus spears inside a smoked salmon shell. From Mary Berry Cooks, it serves 8, bakes at 180°C (160°C fan) for 12 to 15 minutes, and chills for at least 6 hours. Berry’s headnote in Mary Berry Cooks (2014) calls this “a striking and …

Mary Berry’s double salmon tian combines baked salmon with soft cheese and dill, pressed into metal rings and topped with smoked salmon. From her Complete Cookbook, it serves 6 at 232 calories, baked at 190°C (170°C fan) for 15 to 20 minutes. Berry keeps this deliberately simple in the Complete Cookbook (2024), with no gelatine …