By cooking with crisps, Nadiya has gone too far

Bake right off… Nadiya Hussain’s new recipe for ‘crispy chocolate tart’ contains a packet of ready salted Hybrids. They’re everywhere now. Volvos, cockapoos, pineberries. There’s nothing that can’t be improved by adding an unexpected twist.

That was certainly Nadiya Hussain’s thinking when she declared in her latest recipe book, Nadiya’s British Food Adventure, that she loves a “hybrid bake”. But judging from the Bake Off winner’s wilfully whimsical offerings, there’s a lot to be said for the original and best. I’m not sure anyone wants to eat Yorkshire puddings oozing with custard and jam, or Scotch eggs sneakily filled with salmon. And as for her Bolognese Pie, assuming readers had the metabolism of an Olympic athlete and could effortlessly burn off the 760 calories per portion, would they want to?

Serve up that mess of raw and cooked spaghetti in Emiliaromagna, and Nigella’s recent crimes against carbonara will be instantly forgotten as the Protected Designation of Origin mob chase you down the strada instead.

Speaking of the real Mccoy, when it comes to her crispy chocolate and salted peanut tart, it’s hard to know which is worse: the fact it weighs in at a whopping 829 calories per slice, or contains 250g of thick-cut salted crisps.

Forget the gastronomic fanfare: the only thing Nadiya’s recipes call for is a gastric band.