What ingredient makes any dish better?

Salt, that’s my number one. I probably use salt far more than the doctor would recommend but it’s so important. I usually go for a flaky sea salt like Maldon, but I am based down in Dorset where we have beach, forest and town just 20 minutes away and of course we have our very own Dorset sea salt down here which is also excellent..

What’s your favourite comfort food?

That’s a grilled cheese sandwich, for sure. I usually add something like sliced chorizo or some sort of smoked ham. We love spicy things in our house so some hot honey over the top goes down well. I’ll serve that with a bowl of soup but the soup is really just an excuse to have the grilled cheese sandwich. Plus, it gives the impression I’m having a healthy dinner!.

What's your number one cooking hack?

Weigh all liquids in grams. I don’t ever measure in volume as it’s just not accurate enough for me, especially when it comes to breads, pastries and baking. Weighing is far more accurate which means you get a more consistent end result in our cooking every time..

Eating in or eating out?

I was definitely an ‘eating out’ sort of person but nowadays, budget-wise it’s eating in. It’s getting harder and harder to find places where you feel your money is well spent on eating out. We have a couple of places near us that we think are well worth a visit, but more often than not you think, if I could have done this better at home, was it really worth coming out for?! If you go to a pub and you’re paying 15 to 20 quid for a steak, you know what you’re getting and you can’t complain, can you? But some of them are a bit hit and miss. Even with takeaways now, we’d rather spend the money on making a crispy chilli beef for half the price – it’s worth putting the time in..

What's your food-related guilty pleasure?

Chocolate. Always. It was my little girl’s birthday recently and we had a ton of sweets at home. Now with your Haribo and sweets like that, it’s safe from me – they could be recovered in years’ time and I wouldn’t have touched them. But if she’s got chocolate…well, she’s probably only got half the amount of chocolate left that she’s been given! If it’s there, I’m diving into it. Preferences? Usually I would avoid white, but apart from that – milk, dark, flavoured – I’m always thinking about chocolate.

If you could only eat one type of cuisine, what would it be?

This is such an evil question, because I’m French trained so a lot of the cooking I do has its roots in French cuisine. But we love all the Asian inspired foods – Chinese, Japanese, Thai – so I think I’d go for south-east Asia, mainly because there’s so much variety open to you with that area. But having said that, that’s such a hard question because I still love a good stew and a pie!.

Who are your ultimate dinner party guests?

I would have some of my favourite foodie people – the guys I want to talk shop with. I’d choose Anthony Bourdain because I’d love to pick his brain and see what he’s like. I have so many questions for him. Then there’s Bradley Leone who used to be at Bon Appetit and now he’s a creator in his own right. He’s been a big inspiration when it comes to fermenting. Action Bronson – he’s a rapper who appeared on Munchies. He was a chef and while touring he would travel to these amazing food destinations. He loves food, knows so much about it, and has a real passion for it. If I’m cooking food, Charlotte, my other half, will be around, of course. My very best friend Claire Alexander Brown has to be there – I’ve worked with her for more than ten years and we’ve done so much cooking together, but we try and hang out as much as possible. And her mum – she’s known as Mrs A to me – was the head of the cooking school Tante Marie – and she inspired me in so many ways. After I’d been working in London with the Rouxs I went back to teach at Tante Marie, so she was my boss for the best part of 10 years. I’d be more worried about what Mrs A and Claire thought of the food than the other esteemed dinner party guests!!

What would you serve them?

We’d begin with some little bites, tapas type things, from lots of different flavour profiles. So there’d be crunchy and soft and sweet mouthfuls on a big sharing platter with cured meats, cheeses and some deep fried wontons and croutons for a bit of crunch. It would have to be pork belly for a main – nice and unctuous with crispy crackling around the edge because that’s my favourite. And dessert? It would have to be something chocolatey, a fondant type deliciousness would fit the bill. I’d want fairly easy food to serve because it’s my dinner party and I don’t want to spend all the time in the kitchen!

What’s not allowed in your kitchen?

I’m pretty open to most foods but one thing I don’t really ever cook with – and that’s only because I’ve never, ever enjoyed it – is okra. I just avoid it like the plague. I’ve seen some chefs who have amazing recipes where they serve it crispy and I suppose I ought to try that but every time I’ve been served okra it’s always been slimy and totally unappealing. It’s just awful.

What food tastes like home?

The two dishes that I remember most fondly from my mum’s repertoire was a sausage pasta dish made with Toulouse sausage and served in a tomato sauce. My mum always made everything from scratch – well, not the Toulouse sausage obviously, but she’d make the sauce herself! She also made a cherry chocolate trifle that was just amazing. That’s definitely a memory of home. I’ve got two little girls – a five-year-old and a one-year-old, and they’re more into chicken nuggets and waffles at the moment, but I hope that one day they’ll be looking back fondly at the food I‘ll be making for them.

Al Brady’s passion for food and his talent for creating engaging images have made him a firm favourite at Magimix. When he isn’t cooking up a storm with a Magimix Food Pro, he is usually to be found with a camera in his hand, creating the sort of photography and videography that grabs attention and whets the appetite. Al recently created this brilliant fridge ferment recipe using his Magimix 5200XL Food Processor, click here to see the full video. He also created this gorgeous Pakora burger recipe, full video here.