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Butterbeer, as Heston Blumenthal points out in his Tudor Feast, is not just Harry Potter’s favourite tipple, it’s also a bona fide Tudor recipe made from ale, sugar, egg yolks, nutmeg and butter. If you’ve always thought that beer is good but could benefit from a few more calories, then this is the drink for you.

I heated some beer in a pan over a medium heat till it bubbled. Then I took it off the heat, added the egg, sugar and nutmeg mixture, put it back on a low heat and stirred for a couple of minutes until it went the colour of strong tea meets cloudy apple juice. By this point the kitchen smelled of mulled wine which was a more pleasant odour than you’d expect from a pot of warm eggy beer. I whisked in a little butter and the brew was complete.

Recipe for Butterbeer:

Ingredients:
500ml ale
Yolks from 2 medium eggs, whisked
60g sugar
Dash of nutmeg
15g unsalted butter

Instructions:

Pour the ale into a warm pan on a medium heat. When the beer begins to come to the boil take off the heat and add the whisked egg yolks, sugar and nutmeg.

Return the pot to a low heat (to stop the eggs from scrambling) and stir for 2 minutes. Take off the heat and whisk in the butter. Decant into your finest flagon and chug.

Pizza may often be classified as junk food, but it doesn’t have to be. The basic ingredients of pizza all have healthy potential. It’s only when you go overboard on toppings or the amount you eat that pizza earns its bad rap. To keep a pizza lean, all you’ve got to do is keep it simple.