Special Guest Host Jennifer Wong shares a couple of great ways to make instant ramen LESS GRIM.

And if you love Jen and want to see her in person, a good link to upcoming shows is here.

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Both Jennifer Wong and Yumi have had experience with going viral on social media - which they've decided is low-key pointless - but it doesn't mean they're not both dead keen on trying a great hack when other food influencers recommend one...

It might be as simple as using a fish weight when frying a good quality piece of fish...

Or it could be this little hack as tested by Nat's What I Reckon in this video which, at time of publishing this podcast episode, has 11 million views!

BTW if you wanna see Jennifer Wong in person, she has a VERY FOOD RELATED SHOW coming up at Vivid Sydney 2026. More info and a link to the Great Debate that both Yumi and Jen will be on here.

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What is the dumbest gadget you ever bought?

(you can email if you like: foodfixemail@gmail.com )

Yumi and guest-host Jennifer Wong share their thoughts

PLUS - Yumi has a gadget to help your fish fillets turn out AMAZING - that you probably can use tonight at home!

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In these terrible times Yumi is self-soothing by re-watching her favourite TV show and Jennifer Wong is re-reading a tried, tested and quite wonderful food book called Sapphires and Garlic by New York Times critic Ruth Reichl (which you can read for free in pdf form here; the chapter on Betty is page 205.)

In it is a fantastic and fantastically simple and humble recipe that the world-famous foodie created - for a frugal, whole roasted chicken.

A FRUGAL REPAST FOR BETTY - WHOLE ROASTED CHICKEN

Preheat the oven to 200C.

Wash and dry the whole raw chicken. Pat dry. Snip off the fatty flap of skin with scissors. Gently lift the skin on top of the breast meat, being careful not to puncture the skin, and spread out the fatty piece of skin between the skin and the breast.

Prick a whole lemon 8-15 times with a fork and place it inside the chicken's cavity.

Season the whole beast well with salt, pepper and olive oil.

Place the chicken on a small rack and place that inside a roasting tray.

Cut 4 x potatoes into 8 pieces each, 1 onion into 6 pieces, add 4 cloves of garlic to this then toss the lot in olive oil then tumble into the roasting tray with the chicken.

Roast for 1 hour.

Serve elegantly!

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JENNIFER WONG joins me as guest host again (don't worry Simon, we miss you!) - and we talk about her amazing book 'Chopsticks or Fork?' - discovering where the name comes from! (It's pretty funny.)

I have an opinion on where some of the truly buried treasures might be found in cookbooks and we unearth one from Belinda Jefferey's 'MIX AND BAKE'. (I said I'd post a link to buy it but unfortunately it's out of stock everywhere! My local library has it - good luck.)

BELINDA JEFFEREY'S SUNDRIED TOMATO NO-KNEAD FOCACCIA

THE DAY BEFORE:

Mix the flours: 250g plain flour and 250g spelt flour, 1tsp salt, 1/4tsp dried yeast

1tbs honey

Stir through 500ml water and 3tbs olive oil. It will be a wet, shaggy dough. Do your best to mix well.

Put it into a clean, oiled bowl, and leave in a calm spot for 12 hours.

Knock it down by kneading and folding it a couple of times and then stretch out the dough to fit a baking tray. Set it aside for 2 hours.

When ready, pre-heat the oven until it's properly hot 200C.

Dimple the top of the dough with your fingertips, drizzle it with good oil and flaked salt, rosemary and olives (or sundried tomatoes).

Bake for 30 - 35 mins.

Eat on the day!

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Simon takes a break from Food Fixing and so I rope in Jennifer Wong, host of 'Chopsticks or Fork?' on ABC, a show about food, that is also a book.

Jen is funny and literate about food, especially Chinese food, so I thought: Great! Let's absolutely drag this online trend of making dumplings without actually bothering to wrap the filling in the wonton skin. You can see what I'm talking about here.

It's not all ridiculous, though. From Tony Tan, we have a fantastic vegan mushroom dumplings recipe here, which also has the Curry Oil Jen was talking about.

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Simon's Creamy Bean Gratin

METHOD:

2 tins of white beans, drained well, or 300g flageolet beans soaked overnight then cooked for 30-40 mins the drained and dried out well

In a bowl, mix together these things:

8 anchovy fillets

4 tbs garlic oil (from last episode)

1 head of garlic (from last episode)

300ml cream

salt, pepper and a light grind of nutmeg

splash of milk

In a gratin dish (smallish, around 25cm), lay out the beans then top with the creamy mixture and some sprigs of rosemary.

Optional: Top with gruyere cheese.

Bake for 15 mins and use the broiler if the top isn't going all bubbly and brown.

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Simon has taken the news that Yumi started introducing a tiny bit of her digestive nemesis - GARLIC - into her diet, and he's run with it.

Inspired by the recipe from Gizzi Erskine's seminal cookbook, SLOW, Simon has a way to do garlic that is pretty magical and also, supremely easy.

Tumble 4-5 whole bulbs of garlic with the tops sliced off into a tiny saucepan.

Cover it with good quality olive oil.

Add herbs like rosemary, thyme to the oil IF YOU WANT.

Gently and slowly cook until bubbles are forming around the bulbs - for 20-30 mins. Strictly DO NOT BOIL.

Remove the garlic cloves. They are available to be used as a condiment, smooshed onto toast, blended through a salad dressing or part of a bean gratin.

The oil, once cooled, can be used to flavour anything at all ...with fewer digestive complaints!

And NO, Simon did *not* provide the show notes he said he would. However, we will do a whole episode on the Bean Gratin he mentions. Next! On your 5 Minute Food Fix. xxx

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