What ingredient makes any dish better?

I can’t decide between two ingredients so I’m going to choose them both! I have to say sea salt – Cornish sea salt – I’m slightly biased, I know, but it’s natural and soft and it’s essential. But I’m also going to choose lemons. I’d use an unwaxed lemon in the kitchen – it’s a good staple. Whether it’s in a sauce or a herb topping, lemon brings flavour and colour and makes everything taste so much better.

What’s your favourite comfort food?

If I’m hungover, I’d say peanut butter on toast. Not that glamorous I know, and it has to be the crunchy kind. Toast in general I find very comforting. Failing that, a nice rustic fish stew served with saffron aioli. It’s such an evocative dish, conjuring up the all the smells and the sounds of the sea that I love so much.

What’s your number one cooking hack?

I really like making stock and it’s such an important skill for anyone who’s serious about cooking. Stock to me is the building block of good cookery; if you don’t have a good stock, you might as well forget it. I love making a simple vegetable stock using whatever you have left over – peelings, parsley, bay, stalks, all that. People always think it takes ages and it’s lots of hard work but it’s quite cathartic and once you’ve strained it, I like to put it into little ice cubes trays so you always have really good stock to hand.

Eating in or eating out?

I love both but cooking for people is one of the most loving skills you can employ. Having the restaurant here in Cornwall means so much to me, it’s such a privilege to share food with others. But cooking at home is important. It’s about taking the time to consider what you’re cooking, it’s about the details – dressing the table, planning the menu.

What’s your food related guilty pleasure?

I do love cake. I think cake is important! It’s one of those things where if you find the time to make it yourself it’s such a lovely thing to have in the house. My grandmother always used to make a cake called the ‘four-egger’. You weigh four eggs in their shells, and whatever they weight you use the same amount of flour, and butter and sugar, and mix it all up with a pinch of salt. And it’s so good. You can use the same principle to make a slightly smaller cake with a three-egger, just change the size of the tin. The four-egger is just right for a 9-inch tin.

If you could only eat one type of cuisine for the rest of your life, what would it be?

I’ve spent a lot of time in France, so I’d probably go for the French rustic cuisine. I love Italian food too, but I think the French would win in this instance. My grandfather was half French so we spent a lot of time in Provence. I worked a lot in Burgundy and my partner is a wine maker in Bordeaux. There, it’s just not just about food – it’s about dressing the table, choosing the china, the wines, it’s all such an important part of the dining experience. For the French, it’s in their DNA.

Tell us about your ultimate dinner party guests?

My children would have to be part of it – Oscar, Finn and Evie – and I think I’d ask President Biden. I’ve met him and he’s very charming. I cooked dinner for the G7 In Cornwall two years ago and found myself cooking turbot on the bone with miso beurre blanc for world leaders – that was incredible. I’d have Stanley Tucci too – I’ve got to know him quite well through of love of good food. I really admire Meryl Streep so I’d invite her, or Diane Keaton maybe. She’s incredibly funny.

What would you serve them?

I go back to these one-pot suppers where everyone is passing the food around. I love that. If we’re staying by the coast, I do like a fish stew, or in the winter either boeuf bourguignon or a coq au vin, something hearty and rustic. I think I’d do some scallops to start with – there’s a nice recipe in my new book where I serve them with fennel which I adore. And for dessert a nice treacle tart or a rice pudding served with strawberry and elderflower jam.

What’s not allowed in your kitchen?

I quite like order in my kitchen, ‘tidy as you go’ is important to me. Not in a control freak kind of way, but whether it’s a busy service or just cooking at home, it makes it much more pleasurable to be methodical about it. Weighing out all the ingredients, for example, before you make the cake is the way to go. I don’t like chaos. Having said that, I always cooked with my kids growing up, and making mess is all part of the fun with kids!

What food tastes like home?

In Cornwall, I’d have to say looking out at the sea, it would have to be a crab sandwich. There’s a lovely recipe in my new book. It reminds me of the fishermen coming harbourside with their crab pots in Port Isaac. My crab sandwich has no brown meat – just white – with a squeeze of lemon, some rocket, and square cut bread. It is such a good sandwich, and there is nothing better than Cornish crab.

Emily uses the Gelato Expert to make her delicious raspberry ripple ice cream – the perfect ending to a summer dinner party. To find out more about Emily Scott's latest book, Time & Tide see here.