For too long, winter has been vilified as the bleakest season, but I say fie to this! I use this archaic word advisedly – basically it was a way of calling b******t on a widely held belief – because winter is the season when old favourites really come into their own, not just because of their comfort and taste, but also because they can be easier.

Your oven is ready and waiting

Hello, old friend. Whether it’s a slow-roasted shoulder of lamb, a thick stew or a favourite casserole, prep time is minimal and the oven does the donkey work. It’s the same when it comes to cakes, biscuits and slices, which go so well with a pot of tea and an open fire.

The time is not in the prep but on the stove

Summer salads and stir-fries take hours of chopping, and that’s before you’ve started applying all manner of different processes or dressings to the ingredients. In winter, you just bang everything in the pot, pop it on the stove and let the magic happen. Tough becomes tender and hard becomes soft, thanks to the magic of time and gentle heat.

It’s easier on the pocket, too

That magical transformation means that cheaper cuts and peasant vegetables become something very special. Rich, deep flavours develop, and those tougher meats yield up a delicious lip-smacking stickiness. Just one tip: these rich flavours will benefit from a little seasonal citrus, whether it’s orange zest on roast carrots, mandarin zest on slow-braised beef cheeks, or a strip of lemon zest and a squeeze of lemon juice in your spag bol.

The smell of roasting comes free

At my grandmother’s house, the wood-burning stove didn’t just keep the kitchen warm, it also scented the house with the smell of ‘home’. We’ve touched on the fragrance of roasting a hunk of animal, but those Jerusalem artichokes, fennel bulbs, and even humble carrots, parsnips and onions, also become sweeter and stickily noble after roasting.

Simpler puddings taste great

How much work are summer’s greatest desserts like trifle and homemade ice cream? Yet how easy are winter’s equivalents, whether it’s a self-saucing chocolate pudding, apple crumble, lemon delicious or tarte Tatin? Then there are winter fruits like roasted quinces or rhubarb, which need little more than a dollop of creme fraiche for wonderful results.

Preserve, then enjoy the fruits of your labour

Whether it’s homemade salami, passata or jar of pickles, preserving is all about autumn’s hard work enjoyed in winter. Not that making a winter beetroot chutney, onion jam or pineapple ketchup is too much of a chore. It’s not like washing, drying, hulling and chopping two kilos of strawberries for summer jam, and then having to squeeze lemons and core apples to ensure it’ll set.

The barbecue is a smart move in winter

Doesn’t it make more sense to be standing over a flame when it’s 5°C rather than 35°C? In winter, cooking on the grill is easy; at the height of summer it can be a sweaty nightmare.

Being so simple, you’re probably already making many of these winter warmers, so here’s a braise that takes five minutes longer to prepare than its laziest seasonal cousins, but results in a totally decadent dish of fall-apart chicken and tart wedges of pan-roasted apples coated in a creamy Dijon sauce.