Well I've never heard that, leeneia. In fact, I made Yotam Ottolenghi's baked cauliflower with chorizo on Friday in which he specifies two teaspoons of sweet smoked paprika and "a good grind" of black pepper. Delicious. I won't argue with the mighty Yotam!

Speaking of alleged clashes, some Italian chefs suggest avoiding putting onion and garlic in the same dish. A ragù usually requires onion but the garlic can always be left out. My family go berserk if I leave garlic out of bolognese, so I compromise by throwing in a few whole cloves that I've squashed with the flat of knife. The garlic stays sweet instead of adding the harsh notes of minced garlic and everybody's happy. I must say that I stopped buying jars of sauce for pasta decades ago. I can't stand the clagginess of tomato purée mixed with onion. I generally use canned plum tomatoes for ragùs which go in after I've made a soffritto with pancetta, onion, carrot and celery, all finely chopped, and I don't go mad trying to break up the tomatoes.