Dear Editor,

I like cooking, sharing my efforts with others, and sampling the food of different countries. I also enjoy watching cookery programmes, collecting recipes and reading about food in general. Therefore Cynthia Nelson’s “Tastes like Home” column is a ‘must read’ for me.

Her most recent column reminded me of a personal experience not so long ago. A Muslim family living a few doors away from us, aware of our fondness for Indian food, always let us have a share of food prepared for their various national or family celebrations. My family of 3 love roti but I could never quite achieve the ‘leafy’ effect that my Indian relatives mastered to perfection. About a year ago I watched a television chef demonstrate the preparation of flaky pastry and realised the secret of the ‘leafiness’ seemed to lie in the folding of the rolled-out dough – butter between each fold in as many layers as possible. I think he rolled, then folded, the pastry about 8 times in all. Shortly after, I made a batch of roti, copying this technique, using lard (shortening) and folding in about 6 layers.

I was so pleased with the result that I took a few to the Muslim family. The wife told me later that her family enjoyed it so much that her husband asked her to find out from me how it was done. Imagine my horror when I learnt much later that the supermarket lard I used was probably a by-product of pork fat! Anyway, we never got round to a roti-making demonstration.

Yours faithfully,

Geralda Dennison