We want you to enjoy making our recipes, and part of that has to be that they work as well as taste good. Hence we've made a few pointers to try to make sure that this happens.

We've written all the recipes on the site ourselves (unless otherwise stated), cooked them in our own kitchens and eaten them with friends, family or by ourselves. However, mistakes do happen - if you think we may have written a recipe down incorrectly, with the wrong ingredients or quantities, or you just don't think the instructions are clear enough please email recipes@oxnosh.co.uk and we'll sort the sort the problem out. Some quick pointers:

• Where we say oil we usually mean sunflower or vegetable oil (unless specified), especially in baking. Note - other than in baking, and possibly salad dressings, please feel free to substitute olive oil for vegetable oils and vice versa other than for roasting. Although olive oil is healthier, it's best to buy good stuff and use it "raw" i.e. in salad dressings, mayonaises, or drizzled over the top of a finished dish as this way you get to taste the flavour. Please don't roast things in olive oil at temperatures above 200 degrees C, as above this temperature (its "smoke point") the oil starts to decompose and smoke, which can make the flavour impair as well as potentially create carcinogenic compounds.


• measurements - please see our conversion tables for measurements. In some cases we're a bit vague, i.e. " a handful of herbs" - pleas use your taste and preference to guide you here. Note that fresh and dried herbs aren't interchangeable in quantity - we prefer fresh herbs most of the time but do use dried if you can't get the fresh stuff, just don't use a hanfdful (more like a tablespoon or two).


• We always use free-range eggs, medium size. When using eggs, particularly in baking, it often helps to have them at room temperature. Either take them out of the fridge well in advance or do as Nigella does and pour some lukewarm water into a bowl, add the eggs, and then leave for a couple of minutes before you get your cook on.


• Treat baking like chemistry - it's a science Don't let this make you feel it's difficult, all this means is if it says a 20cm cake tin, use a 20cm cake tin. Unless you want a) your cake to resemble a biscuit by using a larger tin or b)a tall cake and run the risk of undercooked in the middle by using a much smaller cake tin. Round and square are not interchangable - Delia's general rule is that a square tin should be 2.5cm larger than an equivalent round one for you to be able to swap them. Baking is also the one area of the recipe section where improvisation and omitting/adding ingredients willy nilly isn't advised.


• Buy good chocolate where you can- or else your cake / desert will taste like cheap chocolate Divine and Green and Blacks make great chocolate. For cooking dark chocolate is best, preferably at least 60% cocoa solids - the label tells you this percentage, usually clearly on the front but also in the ingredients.


• Feel free to improvise with many of our recipes Use your judgement. We've suggested variations in a lot of cases, and also where we think ingredients are really optional, but it's all down to taste - if you don't like seasame seeds then leave them out; but we'd advise if you're planning on omiting a major ingredient do replace it with something else In our general recipes don't feel you have to stick to the exact quanities - use less bacon if you want, or add an extra handful of herbs. Just don't do this in baking! Can we say it enough?