FOOD MILESTONES We talk to the presenters of BBC One’s Britain’s Best Home Cook
As BBC One’s new cooking show gets set to take the nation by storm, we catch up with the judges and host to share their culinary memories
Anew culinary competition celebrating exceptional home cooks is new to BBC One this year. Britain’s Best Home Cook is presented by Claudia Winkleman – who insists her Bolognese has magical qualities – and it’s judged by the former Bake Off taskmaster and author of more than 75 cookbooks, Mary Berry, whose authority in the home kitchen is unparalleled. Helping her to decide which of 10 contestants deserves the title of Britain’s Best Home Cook is Dan Doherty (see p17 for his veggie curry recipe), who runs Duck & Waffle – one of London’s most celebrated restaurants, and Chris Bavin, who founded retail business The Naked Grocer and now fronts TV shows like Eat Well for Less.
We find out which memories and experiences have shaped the way they think and feel about food.
Best food memory…
Mary Berry: When my daughter Annabel got married, we did the puddings and made 20 roulades. My favourite memory is seeing them all lined up. Claudia Winkleman: When we’re together as a family with no mobile reception, possibly in an igloo, and we’re giggling. My youngest son loves a curry and we went recently to the local curry house. We were supposed to be there for a quick meal and stayed for hours.
Dan Doherty: My parents separated when I was 13 and before that, I remember playing football on a Saturday, going home, getting in the bath, listening to football on the radio and smelling the different stages of a roast – the chicken going in, the potatoes being boiled and then roasted. When the cabbage was being cooked, I knew that it was time to get out of the bath. Whenever I smell a roast, it takes me straight back to those happy times.
Chris Bavin: My five-year-old son in the kitchen – he loves helping. Yesterday we had Bolognese. He grated the parmesan and then he proudly presented it.
Best cook…
MB: I have several that I lean on. For Chinese cooking I think of Ken Hom, Madhur Jaffrey for Indian. I love Jamie, I love James Martin and I go back to Jane Grigson and Elizabeth David. They all have something to give.
CW: Mary – I’ve always been a fan. My sister, who is a million years younger than me, had a cake book by Mary and she made the best cheesecake I ever had. DD: The French chef Paul Bocuse who recently died when he was 91. He had a restaurant just outside Lyon. He was the only chef in the world who could get away with having statues and paintings of himself all over the place, because he was so iconic. I went to the restaurant about 10 years ago and that played a huge part in my wanting to be a chef.
CB: My wife Millie, because she feeds my two wonderful boys and me every day.
Best dish…
MB: My mother’s apple pie. Dad would bring in windfalls first thing in the morning and she would set to and make the pastry. I make her flaky pastry to this day by grating the butter and the lard, half and half. The pie was always in the same chipped enamel dish; she would have thin pastry underneath and slightly thicker pastry on top – it was perfect. CW: Christmas Day is my favourite day ever because I like stuffing and Brussels sprouts. I remember the first time I ever had dim sum 15 years ago. I was pregnant and I think my head actually exploded. I was in Bayswater but I think people in Shanghai could hear me scream!
DD: I was in Umbria for a friend’s wedding about 10 years ago. The night before, an absolute feast was prepared. I remember roasted artichokes that were stuffed with pork and sage stuffing. I eat a lot because of my job but that beautiful humble dish has stuck in my head.
CB: At the moment, for me, it’s all about Middle Eastern food, and a meze in an unassuming restaurant where the food is authentic and fabulous would be up there. In the Middle East, you don’t order anything, they just ask how hungry you are and carry on bringing out the food!
Best recipe…
MB: From time to time, people tap me on the shoulder and say, 'I make your lemon drizzle cake,' or 'I love your steak and kidney pie,' or 'I always make your lasagne.' It’s very touching.
CW: My friend's Bolognese recipe which I think might be magical. I make a batch once a month, put it in the freezer and never worry if I haven’t got other food in, because my three kids inhale it. It’s got so much oomph – it’s not normal Bolognese.
DD: Fergus Henderson from St John has done phenomenal things for British cooking and his way of writing a recipe is wonderful. He uses terms like, 'You put the onion and the lardons in a pan and let them get to know each other.' You can really picture it. I particularly love his recipe for green sauce.
CB: At the moment it’s king prawns, muscles and scallops in a seafood stew with lots of chill, butter and garlic. My wife is a vegetarian so I don’t get to do that too often but, when I am left to my own devices with the boys, that’s always on the menu. Best advice…
MB: My best advice was given to me by my boss at the time, Olwen Frances – she’s in heaven now. I was asked to do some writing for a magazine and I said, 'I can cook, but I didn’t pass English in School Cert.' And she told me, 'Write as you talk.' So I leave out all the fancy words in my recipes.
CW: I love people coming round and eating; if it were up to me, it would be open house all the time. The best piece of advice is, make life easy for yourself and don’t stand over a stove. So I like one pot cooking or a big pie in the oven. The line-up: Mary Berry, Claudia Winkleman, Chris Bavin and Dan Doherty DD: A wonderful thing Fergus said was, 'Don’t be scared of ingredients because they’ll know and misbehave.'
CB: If you’ve enjoyed cooking it, then people will enjoy eating it. If you are tense and stressed, or making it a chore, then it will come through in the flavour.
• Turn to page 88 to find exclusive recipes from the show.
• Look out for the new series Britain's Best Home Cook on BBC One.
I can cook, but I didn't pass English in School Cert, so I leave out fancy words in my recipes MARY BERRY