Latest news with #ChrisStark
Scotsman
a day ago
- Lifestyle
- Scotsman
Battle of the barbecue! 40% of Brits have never cooked on their grill
Summer is here and the sun's been shining, which means many Brits are firing up the barbecue. Free weekly newsletter Join our weekly YourWorld newsletter for updates, behind-the-scenes insights from our editors and your chance to shape what's next. Free weekly newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to Edinburgh News, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... But that doesn't mean we're cooking on them. That's because 40% have never even used their barbecue - mainly because someone else takes over, according to a new study. Sausages, burgers, kebabs, and corn on the cobs might be the order of the day, but many of us don't get a look in when it comes to the grill. A staggering 62% have someone that takes over when it comes to the barbecue, however one in three (32%) secretly want to take over the role of head chef. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad While grilled food is a tasty addition to our summer menus, it's also a bone of contention in many households, with over a quarter (28%) admitting to arguing over who is the best barbecue chef in their house, according to the Ninja poll. But many people are intimidated by cooking on a barbecue, with more than a third (36%) of people wanting to barbecue more but lack the confidence. Shark Ninja BBQ Radio DJ and barbecue lover Chris Stark, loves to cook on the grill and has shared his top tips to smash it on the BBQ this year. 'If you know me, then you know I absolutely love a barbecue – and yes I have been guilty of taking over,' he says. 'If you're sick of being overshadowed by the barbecue connoisseur of your household, or you want the confidence to try al fresco cooking for yourself, then I've given some super simple tips and tricks on how anyone can become the barbecue connoisseur in no time, particularly if you have the help of easy to use equipment such as the Ninja Woodfire Electric BBQ Grill & Smoker.' Radio DJ and BBQ lover Chris Stark, loves to cook on the grill and has shared his top tips to smash it on the BBQ this year. Pictured, Chris (L) challenging his friend Ollie (R) to a BBQ showdown. Fire up the grill and become an ultimate barbecue supremo with Chris' top tips: Use a food thermometer: A lot of people don't have one to hand when cooking outdoors but for me it's essential for barbecue cooking, even better if your barbecue has one that's built in. Rest the meat! This is a step that people often overlook. Barbecued meat should rest for as long as it's cooked. Equally you should always bring any meat to room temperature before cooking. Smokiness is the beauty of a barbecue. Depending on what barbecue you are using, wood chips or pellets are a must have addition for that gorgeous smoky flavour. Sharpen your knives: Invest in good quality and make sure they're sharpened ahead of the day. No one wants to use a blunt knife! Say cheese: I'm a big fan of cheese and over the years I've tried a variety of different ones on the barbecue. Don't be shy to get creative! Ditch the standard cheddar and try Raclette - a great option for cheeseburgers or even pizzas. The Ninja Artisan Electric Outdoor Pizza Oven & Air Fryer is an outdoor oven that is perfect for cooking pizzas within 3 minutes in the summer months.
Daily Mirror
2 days ago
- Lifestyle
- Daily Mirror
Four in 10 Brits have never used their grill for fear of BBQ 'head chefs'
Brits have enjoyed a succession of heatwaves so far this year making it perfect weather for a BBQ outside and a new study gives a surprising insight into those cooking Summer is here and the sun's been shining, which means many Brits are firing up the BBQ. But that doesn't mean we're cooking on them. That's because 40% have never even used their BBQ - mainly because someone else takes over, according to a new study. Sausages, burgers, kebabs, and corn on the cobs might be the order of the day, but many of us don't get a look in when it comes to the grill. A staggering 62% have someone that takes over when it comes to the BBQ, however one in three (32%) secretly want to take over the role of head chef. While grilled food is a tasty addition to our summer menus, it's also a bone of contention in many households, with over a quarter (28%) admitting to arguing over who is the best BBQ chef in their house, according to the Ninja poll. But many people are intimidated by cooking on a BBQ, with more than a third (36%) of people wanting to BBQ more but lack the confidence. Radio DJ and BBQ lover Chris Stark, loves to cook on the grill and has shared his top tips to smash it on the BBQ this year. 'If you know me, then you know I absolutely love a BBQ – and yes I have been guilty of taking over,' he says. 'If you're sick of being overshadowed by the BBQ connoisseur of your household, or you want the confidence to try al fresco cooking for yourself, then I've given some super simple tips and tricks on how anyone can become the BBQ connoisseur in no time, particularly if you have the help of easy to use equipment such as the Ninja Woodfire Electric BBQ Grill & Smoker.' Fire up the grill and become an ultimate BBQ supremo with Chris' top tips Use a food thermometer: A lot of people don't have one to hand when cooking outdoors but for me it's essential for BBQ cooking, even better if your BBQ has one that's built in. Rest the meat! This is a step that people often overlook. Barbecued meat should rest for as long as it's cooked. Equally you should always bring any meat to room temperature before cooking. Smokiness is the beauty of a BBQ. Depending on what BBQ you are using, wood chips or pellets are a must have addition for that gorgeous smokey flavour. Sharpen your knives: Invest in good quality and make sure they're sharpened ahead of the day. No one wants to use a blunt knife! Say cheese: I'm a big fan of cheese and over the years I've tried a variety of different ones on the BBQ. Don't be shy to get creative! Ditch the standard cheddar and try Raclette - a great option for cheeseburgers or even pizzas. The Ninja Artisan Electric Outdoor Pizza Oven & Air Fryer is an outdoor oven that is perfect for cooking pizzas within 3 minutes in the summer months.
The Guardian
10-07-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Zonal pricing is dead. Now Miliband should be less absolutist on his 2030 goals
The chief executive of the energy regulator Ofgem, Jonathan Brearley, backed zonal pricing. Fintan Slye, the head of the National Energy System Operator, also supported a system that could have led to different parts of Great Britain charging different rates for their electricity. Chris Stark, the head of the 'mission control' unit within Ed Miliband's energy department, declared himself to be 'zonal curious'. But it's not going to happen. After intense lobbying from both sides of the great philosophical divide in energy-land, Miliband has killed the zonal option. The policy wonks are now obliged to go back to fiddling with internal network charges – the fees paid by generators to access the transmission network – to calculate the sweet spots to encourage more renewable generation where it's most needed, while not stifling it completely in places where, for example, it is windy. That means yet more rounds of consultation. In the meantime, the maddening 'constraint costs' will clock up. These include the payments to windfarms (usually in Scotland) to turn off when it's too windy because the local grid would otherwise be overloaded, plus those made to other generators (usually gas-fired plants in the south of England) to fire up. Constraint costs, charged to our bills, were £2.7bn last year and are projected to hit £4bn by 2030 – even if the newly commissioned extra transmission capacity actually arrives on time, which it probably won't. Put simply, too many windfarms were built before the grid could cope. Everybody involved in energy policymaking for the past decade, including a long succession of Tory energy ministers, should be squirming. Octopus Energy, the noisiest advocate for zonal, was able to cite analysis that Seagreen, Scotland's largest windfarm, was paid to restrict its output 71% of the time last year. If the figure is only roughly accurate, it is still excruciating. Yet Miliband's resistance to zonal is understandable. The switch wouldn't have happened until the mid-2030s, so would have done nothing to reduce constraint costs out to 2030, his target for a clean power system. And the real zonal-killer, even if Miliband didn't quite spell it out, was the cost of disruption. The non-Octopus parts of the industry probably weren't making it up about increased costs of capital under a more uncertain pricing system. Bids to build windfarms, for example, don't solely depend on the initial contract-for-difference, or price guarantee for 15 years; a developer also has to take a view on the likely wholesale price of electricity once the subsidies drop away. Miliband will have feared the next auctions to build offshore wind would spit out truly painful prices. As it is, this autumn's winning bids will probably arrive well above the current gas-dictated wholesale price of electricity, as described in this column earlier this week. Windfarms are capital-intense projects and the age of cheap money is over. Miliband is reportedly under pressure from Downing Street to show how his project for clean power by 2030 will bring down bills for ordinary consumers. So he should be. 'Stepping back from zonal pricing does not, in itself, constitute a strategy,' commented Kate Mulvany at the research firm Cornwall Insight, calling for reforms of the national pricing setup to be bold: 'Presently, consumers face the worst of both worlds: paying wholesale prices that are still driven by volatile gas markets, and premium costs to replace gas in the power system with renewables. We cannot assume they will be willing to pay like this for ever. Households and businesses care about affordable, reliable energy above all else. If reform fails to deliver that, the legitimacy of the entire system will be called into question.' In a similar vein, Marc Hedin at Aurora Energy Research said: 'We need to act quickly to minimise the cost of managing network congestion ahead of 2030, which is a sword of Damocles that could severely hurt bills and the whole credibility of the current framework.' Sign up to Business Today Get set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning after newsletter promotion Both are pointing to the inefficiencies of the current setup, and the now-vital question of bills. In a world of trade-offs, the imperative should be to bear down on costs. The industry now has more certainty over investment. The next step should be more pragmatism, and less absolutism, about generation targets. Clean power has been defined, oddly, as 95% low-carbon and the 2030 target itself is arbitrary. Would it really hurt to do, say, 92% by 2032 if it saved consumers billions in their bills by ensuring the grid infrastructure is actually in place in time? That is a question that officialdom has, so far, been reluctant to answer. One hopes somebody is doing modelling because the biggest risk to the government's long-term decarbonisation ambitions would be the election of Reform UK.
CNN
17-06-2025
- Entertainment
- CNN
Mariah Carey doesn't believe in time and that includes her birthday
Mariah Carey has fully embraced a timeless divadom. The superstar songstress recently spoke with UK radio station Capital FM and said she doesn't really acknowledge the passage of time. The show's co-hosts Jordan North, Chris Stark and Sian Welby asked Carey to clarify what she meant. 'I just don't believe in it,' she said. Stark asked if she meant time zones and Carey clarified, 'No, just time.' That inspired a question from Welby. 'So no clocks?' he asked. 'Just not into that?' 'Yeah,' Carey replied. 'No, just let it go.' Carey has let go clocks, apparently, as well as the concept of marking her birthday. 'I don't have a birthday, no,' she said. 'Anniversaries, yes.' For those of us on Mariah time, Carey has celebrated 56 anniversaries of rotating around the sun. So while calendars are ok for certain dates, without daily time markers in Carey's world, Stark wondered how she handles meetings and appointments with others. 'I would have someone call you and figure it out,' Carey said. To quote one of her songs, it's like that.
CNN
17-06-2025
- Entertainment
- CNN
Mariah Carey doesn't believe in time and that includes her birthday
Mariah Carey has fully embraced a timeless divadom. The superstar songstress recently spoke with UK radio station Capital FM and said she doesn't really acknowledge the passage of time. The show's co-hosts Jordan North, Chris Stark and Sian Welby asked Carey to clarify what she meant. 'I just don't believe in it,' she said. Stark asked if she meant time zones and Carey clarified, 'No, just time.' That inspired a question from Welby. 'So no clocks?' he asked. 'Just not into that?' 'Yeah,' Carey replied. 'No, just let it go.' Carey has let go clocks, apparently, as well as the concept of marking her birthday. 'I don't have a birthday, no,' she said. 'Anniversaries, yes.' For those of us on Mariah time, Carey has celebrated 56 anniversaries of rotating around the sun. So while calendars are ok for certain dates, without daily time markers in Carey's world, Stark wondered how she handles meetings and appointments with others. 'I would have someone call you and figure it out,' Carey said. To quote one of her songs, it's like that.
