Our two ‘British classics’
Comfort food is on the menu with the Hairy Bikers’ new cookbook, British Classics. Jenny Stallard meets them
Inspired by the likes of Keith Floyd and rick stein, the Hairy Bikers - AKA dave Myers and si King - are now arguably the kings of cooking on the road. Well, that and kings of the cookbook: they now have more than 20 tomes under their belts, and The Hairy Bikers’ British Classics is their latest. in fact, it’s hard to think of anything they’re not kings of. perhaps the biggest of all though is working friendship when i meet them for the launch of British Classics, the pair could easily be mistaken for brothers. They’ve been working side by side for two decades, and are so comfortable together it’s clear these men are best mates - a friendship forged over ovens and hot plates, and thousands of miles on their trusty bikes (which are called doris and Gina Lollobrigida, in case you’re wondering). Luckily, si, 52, reveals that coming up with new recipe ideas has “never been a desert” for the duo. in fact, whittling down recipes to the shortlist for the book was harder work, because they are always thinking of ways to improve or tweak traditional dishes. The book is a great mix of hearty, meaty favourites and comforting veggie offerings. it’ll be accompanied by a nationwide tour in 2019, too - which will also be a good chance for the pair, who now split their time between sittingbourne and the Loire Valley (dave) and st Albans and Australia (si), to spend some proper time together. They’re keen for people to realise that fast food doesn’t have to mean you don’t cook it yourself. dave, for example, grows basil in his garden in France and now has plenty of home-made pesto in the cupboard ready to make “italian fast food”, pasta pesto. “i’ve used really good oil. And i know now, if i just cook some pasta, with some purple sprouting broccoli to bulk it out, then put my pesto on... got a dinner in three minutes,” says the 61-year-old. dave doesn’t live far from another British Classic - dick strawbridge. Has he hung out with dick and wife Angel, stars of Escape To The Chateau? “Yeah i have! He got in touch online and we (dave and his wife) were passing through. We ended up staying for supper, dick cooked salmon fishcakes. They gave me some eggs to take home and i made an omelette. Then my wife went down and helped Angel in one of her programmes, making bunting for one of the weddings.” so how do two very busy men like dave and si keep their friendship happy? “it’s safe to say that we’re both family to each other,” si muses. “We’ve been through a lot since we met. Ups and downs.” As well as career high points, that’s included their share of health scares (dave needed surgery to remove a cyst from his brain in the late nineties, while si suffered a potentially life-threatening brain aneurysm in 2014, and both men famously shed seven stone between them after being warned that their weight was a bit of a ticking time bomb). They’ve travelled a lot together too. Once, they were away with dave’s wife on Valentine’s day. “it was awkward when it came to paying. it felt only right that i should pay because it was her Valentine’s night!” he recalls with a laugh. And the bikes are by no means forgotten, as si assures with a grin: “it’s absolutely part of our dna. do you want to see my chopper?” He shows me his new bike and explains that the exhaust is so loud he can, well, break wind and nobody hears. it’s a brilliant example of how down-toearth these guys are. They’re British Classics themselves, really - an observation that makes dave laugh (“That’s flattering!”). While they agree that a person can’t call themselves a national treasure, they appreciate that they’ve been part of people’s lives for a long time now. it’s amazing, says dave, when students come to book signings and “they’ve grown up with us. We’ve been around a while now”. “What we can say is we are incredibly privileged,” adds si. “What better way to do this than with your best mate?”