5 October 2025
The Role of food in the Lakeland Mysteries
If you’d told me twenty years ago that I’d be known for my cauliflower curry rather than my years at Sellafield and even more years volunteering with the Lake District Park Volunteers, I’d have laughed you out of the Cock & Bull. But here we are, five of my girls’ mysteries in, and I’ve cooked my way through more plot twists than a detective inspector at Scotland Yard.
Cooking, for me, is less about recipes and more about rhythm. The rhythm of a household, the clatter of pans, the smell of cinnamon and cumin drifting through Old Bank House. It’s about feeding the people you love, even if one of them insists on living off fish fingers and the other critiques your Bolognese for not being “authentic” enough.
From Sellafield to the Stove
By day, I work in logistics at Sellafield, a job that’s demanding, precise, and not without its dangers. It’s a world of containment protocols, safety briefings, and high-stakes coordination. So, when I come home, I trade radiation monitors for measuring spoons, and spreadsheets for spice racks. Cooking is my decompression — a way to ground myself in something tangible, nourishing, and immediate.
Curries and Chaos
Curries are my comfort zone. There’s something deeply satisfying about coaxing flavour out of a cauliflower, layering spice like a good mystery, or, at any rate, one of the seemingly endless scrapes my daughters drag us into. All the elements are there — mustard seeds, cumin, curry leaves if I’ve got them. Mae’s a fan, especially if I’ve gone the full coconut milk route. But she’ll still raise an eyebrow and ask, “Did you toast the spices first?” or “Is this a proper garam masala or the supermarket blend?” Isla, not so much. She’ll poke at it, then ask if there are any fish fingers left.
Still, I persist. Tactical cooking, I call it. You hide the goodness where you can. A bit of ginger in the applesauce cake. Raisins in the oatmeal muffins. A surprise burger with a hidden onion slice, though Isla once declared it “suspicious” and fed it to Reggie.
Table Talk and Tumbles
The kitchen table is our hearth. It’s where the girls debrief after school, where Penny with her tea and me with my strong black coffee (or occasional bottle of Jennings) catch our breath after the whirlwind we call the working day, where Penny’s parents, or her cousins Bill and Mary “grace” us with their decidedly mixed-bag of personalities, and where Isla inevitably slips off her chair and lands under the table to resume drawing in her sketchpad. Penny cooks too — her macaroni and cheese is legendary, and she’s the only one Isla trusts with spaghetti Bolognese.
But every now and then, I do need/take a break. We’ve been to excellent Hog Roasts at The Trout Inn next door, or out for scampi and chips down at The Bitter End, or over Workington way for one of Oily Johnnies specials. But it’s the everyday meals that matter most. Bread fried in a pan with lashings of butter. Applesauce cake on a rainy Sunday. Muffins that smell like childhood.
Food in crime novels and Family Mysteries
Given what happens in my own household, what with the Police appearing at the door every five minutes pursuing something to do with Mae or Isla (we can never really follow how they get us tangled up in so many of the strange goings on around the Lakes), I’ve always believed food has a place in crime fiction , not just as a murder weapon (though Agatha Christie and Dorothy L. Sayers certainly made good use of poison in puddings), but as a symbol of domesticity and disruption, to get all “Mae” about literary analysis of culinary crime fiction. Meals in crime novels are where secrets slip out, where suspects gather, and where tension simmers alongside the stew. Chez nous, it’s mostly weird silent nods and winks between the girls, with us none the wiser, where the suspects could just as easily be Penny’s cousin Bill as that mad Russian man last summer, and where the tension ratchets up the minute that “Aunt” Mary steps in the door.
Anyway, as it’s the now the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness, me and the girls went out blackberrying around Low Stanger Farm, and this put us (or at least it put Mae) in mind of Agatha Christie’s “A Pocket Full of Rye” (1953), where the crime element was blackberry pie poisoned with taxine from yew berries. Obviously, we gave the yew in the area a wide miss, but the idea of a blackberry pie for our tea was a hit. So, we picked a bushel, ha ha, and used the following great British mystery recipe (not!):
• 500g blackberries
• 100g sugar
• 1 tbsp cornflour
• Shortcrust pastry
• Fill pastry with berry mixture, bake at 180°C for 40 minutes.
It was delicious and nobody died!
As you’ve probably read in our accounts of the mysteries that surround us here in the Lakelands, food anchors the chaos. Mae and Isla always seem to stumble into something, a coded message on a steamed-up window, a suspicious delivery van parked outside the Trout, or a missing person last seen at the big Sainsbury’s. The mystery unfolds, but the meals continue. Because food is what brings us back to the table, back to each other, even when the world’s gone sideways. Well, I’m always hungry, at least.
Cooking is how I keep a grip on reality, if I’m honest! It’s also how I try to keep a relationship with the girls. We cook and bake together. Have a look at some of our recipes in this Blog. And if a good curry can solve a mystery or two along the way — well, all the better.
Oh, and many thanks to Isla for the illustrations.
1 June 2025: You may read about me and my family in The Lakeland Mysteries. I can tell you it’s not easy being the father of Mae and Isla Donaldson! Trying to keep them safe and focussed on their schoolwork, when every week, it seems, some new chaos descends upon us, is a full time job, I can tell you. On top of my actual full-time job in site management at Sellafield, I lead the volunteers at the Lake District Parks, keeping the fells well-maintained for walkers and visitors. I really love cycling and the outdoors and take my girls with me for rambles over the fells whenever I can. Mae for the exercise. But Isla needs no encouragement. She just loves the wild and the free. We live in Cockermouth, in a house on the Main Street converted out of an old bank building. My wife Penny also works, so we share all the tasks. And as it happens, apart from woodworking, real ale and a decent cup of coffee, I really have a passion for cooking (especially curries) and this blog is to share with you the simple recipes I developed that appeal to each member of my family – especially my daughters. Mae eats anything and everything – with her only stipulation being that a dish ought to be “authentic”. Keeping an eye on quantity as well as quality is the main aim. Isla is a bit trickier and largely lives off fish-fingers. So, a great deal of tactical cooking goes into getting goodness down her. She may be a bit fussy, but it was kind of her to provide the illustrations for my blog!
The added bonus is that these are dishes we can work on together and take a break from the never-ending mysteries my girls are wrapped up in.
Recipes:
Curries:
Curried cauliflower
Here’s a delicious, curried cauliflower recipe that’s packed with flavour and easy to make. It appeals to Mae’s sense of the authentic :
Ingredients
- 1 medium head of cauliflower, cut into florets
- 2 tablespoons oil (vegetable or coconut)
- 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
- ½ teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1 sprig curry leaves (optional)
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 1 green chili, chopped
- ½ tablespoon ginger, minced
- ½ tablespoon garlic, minced
- 1 cup tomatoes, chopped
- 1 teaspoon salt (adjust to taste)
- ¼ teaspoon turmeric
- ¾ teaspoon red chili powder
- 1 teaspoon garam masala
- ½ teaspoon coriander powder
- 1 cup water or coconut milk
- Fresh coriander for garnish
Instructions
- Heat oil in a pan over medium heat. Add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, and curry leaves. Let them sizzle.
- Add chopped onions and green chili. Sauté until golden brown.
- Stir in ginger and garlic, cooking for about 30 seconds.
- Add tomatoes and salt. Cook until the tomatoes break down.
- Mix in turmeric, red chili powder, garam masala, and coriander powder. Cook for 30 seconds.
- Add cauliflower florets and sauté for 1-2 minutes.
- Pour in water or coconut milk and mix well. Cover and cook until the cauliflower is tender but not mushy.
- Adjust seasoning and garnish with fresh coriander.
This dish pairs beautifully with rice, naan, or roti.
Here’s a very simple, easy and quick to make homemade bread recipe that goes great with curry.
Bread in a Pan
1 ¾ cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg slightly beaten
¼ cup milk
Sift flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. Add sugar. Add oil and egg and mix well with a fork. Add milk gradually, continuing to mix with a fork. The batter should be stiff but moist. Place on a floured board and knead gently into a ball. Roll out in a circle. Cut circles/discs with small drinking glass.
Fry the circles in a frying pan in butter. Serve hto with lashings of butter.
The following main meal recipes are a step above fish-fingers but still simple enough to make their way past Isla’s general disdain for food.
Surprise Burgers
1 ½ lb. ground beef
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
½ cup porridge oats (uncooked)
8 onion slices
Chilli sauce
Combine ground beef, egg, seasonings and oats thoroughly; shape into 16 patties. Top 8 of the patties with an onion slice. Cover with remaining patties; pinch edges together to seal. Place directly under the grill for 7 minutes, turn and grill the underside for 5 minutes (medium).
Serve on toasted hamburger baps with chilli sauce.
Makes 8 servings.
Macaroni and Cheese
2 cups uncooked macaroni
1 ½ cups milk
2 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons butter
1 small onion (chopped)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon white pepper
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
¼ teaspoon tabasco sauce
1 teaspoon mustard
2 cups sharp cheddar cheese (grated)
¼ cup Parmesan cheese
Topping:
Mix together
1 cup grated cheese
1 Cup breadcrumbs
¼ cup Parmesan cheese
Method:
Cook macaroni in salted water.
Drain.
Melt butter in pan.
Sauté onions and add flour.
Gradually add milk stirring well. When milk is very hot remove from heat. Add all the other ingredients.
In a greased casserole add macaroni and cheese sauce. Mix well. Top with the Topping of cheese and breadcrumb.
Bake at 175° (Gas Mark 4) for 30 minutes. Serves 6.
Both my daughters love baking, so here are some simple recipes that I make with my children.
Cinnamon-topped Oatmeal Muffins
1 cup sifted all-purpose flour
¼ cup sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup porridge oats (uncooked)
½ cup raisins
3 tablespoons vegetable shortening like Trex
1 egg, beaten
1 cup milk
Topping:
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon melted butter
Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Stir in oats and raisins. Add shortening, egg and milk. Stir only till dry ingredients are moistened. Fill greased muffin cups 2/3 full. Sprinkle with cinnamon topping made by combining all ingredients. Bake in pre-heated hot oven (220°) (Gas Mark 7) – about 15 minutes. Makes 12 medium-sized muffins.
Applesauce Cake
½ cup butter
1 Cup sugar
2 eggs
½ cup finely diced dates
1 ½ cup Applesauce
1 cup coarse chopped walnuts
1 cup chopped raisins
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
Cream the Butter and sugar
Add well-beaten eggs
Add vanilla
Ad rest of ingredients ready-mixed
Turn into loaf pan
Moderate oven.
Bake one hour at 175° (Gas mark 4)
Chocolate Cake
1 cup Trex vegetable shortening
2 cups sugar
2 tablespoons hot water
2 tablespoons baking soda mixed together
3 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 pinch salt
3 cups flour
3 eggs beaten (added last)
Cream and water mixed half/half (add in by sight till mixture is firm but not runny)
Turn into cake pan and bake at 190° for 30 minutes, test and continue till inserted skewer is clean.