The Table
Ben Lippett's Kitchen Table
September 11, 2025
Put the kettle on and spend five minutes with chef Ben Lippett (@dinnerbyben), whose new cookbook How I Cook is brimming with the same comfort and generosity he brings to the table. Ben shares stories of food woven with memory - like his first prawn baguette by the sea, and the quiet honour of being cooked for, especially on life’s milestone days!
Interview with Ben
Tell us about your favourite food memory from your childhood...
I wasn't a very adventurous eater as a young man, in fact, I was branded with the label "fussy". There are few moments I look back on as turning points in my food life, moments that encouraged my little brain to think outside the box of fish fingers and wedges and into the realm of adult flavours. Briny olives, weird and wonderful vegetables, different types of fish, stinky cheese and even mushrooms. Growing up I hated the slippery texture of a cooked mushroom, totally ignoring the earthy, savoury flavour. I have a very fond memory of eating a prawn mayo baguette in Devon, by the sea. A crusty white baguette packed with sweet prawns, dressed with a classic marie rose style sauce (ketchup, mayo and a little horseradish) with some crispy lettuce and a squeeze of lemon. It's a fond memory for a few reasons. The first, it was my first taste of prawns, or at least the first one I remember really, really enjoying. The second, it was by the sea, a place I feel at home. It also marked a little victory, as my folks were adamant I wouldn't enjoy it, begging me to go for a ham and cheese. Well, jokes on you guys, I loved it and now I cook for living. Thanks, Prawn baguette.
What would your advice be to someone who is new to cooking and is looking to put more love into the ritual of preparing food at home?
The two best things you can give to your cooking are time and taste. Take your time when you're cooking, don't rush the process, enjoy it instead. Take the time to cut your onion nicely, time to allow your pan to warm up, the time to clean your cutting board between tasks and the time to pick something perfect to listen to as you cook. I find I'm much more present when I approach the kitchen with this mindset and I can really lock into what I'm doing. You'll notice the little things, the details that you don't pay attention to that make a good dish great and I am positive that you will improve as a cook. Try to taste everything. It's all about learning and growing as a cook, training your palette to identify when something needs more salt or more acid, noticing the food transform as it cooks or is seasoned. You can really throw yourself into the journey of your dinner if you taste all the way through. You can't taste too much either, taste food when it's just hit the pan, when it's cooking, before you add another ingredient, just before the end, etc. etc. All of these little moments compound into a wealth of experience and knowledge that'll make cooking at home a real joy.
Tell us about one of your cooking rituals at home...
I'm coming to the end of writing a book, and that's a pretty mammoth task, and one that involves an awful lot of cooking. Testing and retesting recipes whilst a privilege, can get pretty tiring, and I look for little cooking practises and rituals that sooth this feeling. When you're testing, your brain is always very much switched on, you're paying attention to every little detail, how many grams of this, how long to sear that, when do I add salt and how much, how do I explain that so anyone reading it will understand. When I'm off, I like to cook things that I can do with my eyes shut and hands tied behind my back. Enter "something over rice". Not only is this a bulletproof midweek, emergency meal, but I find a huge bowl of seasoned, warm, chewy sushi rice with some grilled chicken, crunchy cucumbers and a sauce (this changes regularly) about as comforting as it gets. Is it a ritual? Sort of. It ticks the same boxes.
What’s your favourite thing about having friends and family round for dinner?
I spent a good number of years working in restaurants, and I often miss working in them. The kind of cooking you do in restaurants is nothing like the kind of cooking you do at home. You make complex sauces, cook expensive ingredients, and take great care over every element on the plates. How often are you cooking 25 john dorys, a few massive steaks and a load of other delicious things in one evening? That might sound like hell to most, but for me, it's really good fun, and you get to work with some really special ingredients. When I have folks over, I like to splash out on something special and relive those moments, I'll head to my fishmonger and pick out something amazing, make a lovely garnish, spend a few hours making a stunning dessert. Really take my time and offer something special. I love it, and my guests are quite into it, too.
Tell us about one of the most memorable meals someone important in your life has cooked for you...
It's always a treat to be cooked for, without exception. The day I left my last restaurant job, my old head chef and good friend Gareth made staff dinner. It's not a job that the head chef often takes care of, and he spent all day making spicy, smoky jerk chicken alongside a whole host of delicious, extremely over the top garnishes. He really poured love into it, and it meant a lot. Staff dinner is something I really miss about restaurants, and this one was not only the last one I had, it's the best I ever had. Cheers, Gareth!
From How I Cook, what’s your go-to dish for impressing guests when hosting?
It's totally season dependent, for summer it has to be the Stuffed Sea Bass with 'Nduja, Olives and Fregola. Deboning and stuffing fish is a really easy way to impress a table of diners. Not only is it a showstopper when it lands on the table, but you've done the hard work ahead of time, removing all the bones (a common issue for some diners) will delight your guests as they tuck in. For colder months, it's baked brill with warm tartar sauce and oven chips. A knockout plate of food.
What inspired you to release a cookbook, and how did you make it feel uniquely yours?
I've wanted to write a cookbook for as long as I can remember, even before I got into cooking professionally. For the full story, you'll have to scoop up the book and read the welcome essay. Cooking muscled its way into my life at a time when I really needed a mental salve. Mastering a recipe, understanding the hows and whys of the kitchen and setting out on a project that hopefully, will ultimately succeed, gives me great pleasure. I wanted to write a book that equipped the reader with the tools and know how to excel in the kitchen, to unlock a level of home cooking that most books just don't afford. There's more words than your average cookbook, and for good reason. I want the reader to leave nourished in more ways than one, sure you've made a delicious recipe, but you also know how you got there, from chopping board to pan to plate, understanding the journey so next time, when you don't have a cookbook to lean on, you'll nail it too.
BEN'S SMOKY SQUASH, BUTTER BEAN AND CITRUS SOUP RECIPE
BEN'S SMOKY SQUASH, BUTTER BEAN AND CITRUS SOUP RECIPE
This soup is perfect for using up any odds and ends you’ve got in the fridge.
It’s loosely inspired by ribollita, aka the perfect vehicle for transforming leftovers into a delicious, hearty bowl of soup.
Serves 4 | 70 Minutes
Ingredients
• 3 White Onions
• 1 Crown Prince or Butternut Squash
• 3 Celery Sticks
• 2 tbsp Chipotle Paste
• 3 - 4 Fresh Bay Leaves
• 25g Rosemary Sprigs
• 1.5 litres Good-Quality Vegetable or Chicken Stock
• 700g Jar of Butter Beans and their liquid
• 25g Dill
• 1 Orange
• 150g Feta
• Olive Oil
• Fine Sea Salt
• Black Pepper
Method
Step 1. Preheat the oven to 220°C fan/240°C/460°F/gas mark 9.
Step 2. Peel and chop the onions. Peel and dice the squash into chunks.
Step 3. Cut the celery sticks into chunky diamond-shaped pieces.
Step 4. Preheat a large saucepan or cast-iron pot over a medium heat. Add a drizzle of olive oil, then cook the onions, squash, celery, chipotle paste, bay leaves, and rosemary with a pinch of salt and pepper for a few minutes until softened.
Step 5. Pour in the stock and bring to a simmer.
Step 6. Tip the butter beans into a bowl. Mash around one-third of them into a rough paste with a fork or your hands, then add both the mashed and whole beans (with their liquid) into the pot. Simmer for 20–25 minutes until everything is tender and flavours are combined.
Step 7. While the soup simmers, prepare the garnishes: (Finely chop the dill, Zest the orange, Crumble the feta)
Step 8. Once cooked, remove the soup from the heat. Fish out the bay leaves and rosemary stems.
Step 9. Finish the soup with the chopped dill, orange zest, and crumbled feta scattered over the top.
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Taste that most makes you think of home:
Pasta Pomodoro
Favourite song to cook to:
It changes daily, today it's Defense by Panda Bear & Cindy Lee
You have friends coming round for an impromptu dinner, what do you cook?
I'm really into cooking pilaf at the moment, and you can make it with pretty much anything you've got knocking about. People always love it, too.
What do you cook when you don’t have many ingredients in the house?
A French Omelette, if I've got some cheese, bonus.
Your most proud career moment to date:
The first day spent writing my first cookbook.
Best place for a tasty dinner in your local area:
Malaysian Deli, Crofton Park
Favourite winter lunch:
Pie & mash
What's your winter drink of choice:
Dirty vodka martini, all year round
The ingredient you’re most looking forward to incorporating into your dishes this season:
Sage, bay, rosemary - hard herbs are so back!
