Cecelia Tichi’s book Jazz Age Cocktails is my favourite type of book: One that interprets social history through recipes.

My recipe for Spiked Chai Marsala is based on research for my recent book. I lost count of the number of references I found to “rum-laced tea” being drunk by airmen during the post-op debrief at Bomber Command.

In wartime England, the Ministry of Food promoted carrot as a sweetener in cakes and biscuits to replace heavily-rationed sugar. But their recipe for carrot cake is very different to the cream-cheese-coated cake we cook today.

This recipe is a modern interpretation of an operational supper at Bomber Command. It’s the kind of thing that today we order for brunch in a cafe after a night out, when we want grease to soak up the excesses of the previous night. But at Bomber Command, stomachs were being lined for a different reason.