The year before we married we lived in sin, just outside Sunderland. We attempted to cook. The results were half baked, half cooked, and half eaten. Spitting food out, although not classic table etiquette, was common. But in our darkest hour we were saved by the supreme being, Delia Smith. We followed her simple recipes using our tiny, hand me down aluminium pans, and they worked. We are better cooks now and realise that cooking is as much about technique as ingredients. I still read cookbooks, but never follow them, because …