I’m like a goat... I’ll eat anything
FEELING A BIT PECKISH? MARION MCMULLEN CHEWS THE FAT WITH ANARCHIST COOK
Snack Hacker was born during lockdown and has been a huge success. How did the food videos come about?
I was going to be touring with my new comedy show most of last year before lockdown and my first thought was ‘what am I going to do?’
I’d put an awful lot of work into the tour, but now I’m really comfortable with lockdown existence and the idea of going back on stage is quite terrifying.
I think once I start again though it will be fun. My brother used to be a school teacher and would say at the end of the long school holidays that the idea of standing in front of a classroom again would have him thinking ‘how do I do this?’, but after the first day he would come back saying ‘it’s fine’.
How did you manage during lockdown?
Lockdown gave me the time to do Snack Hacker. It started with 4,000 followers and in a couple of weeks was up to 24,000. Now there have been almost half a million views.
People seem to like the short films and I made the decision early on that none would ever be more than two minutes long.
There’s normally about 40 minutes of footage and I edit it down. I should do a bloopers special of me spilling stuff.
I really want to encourage people to experiment in the kitchen and to see it’s OK to mix up junk food with gourmet food.
A lot of celebrities have been on with their favourite snacks. Who was the first?
Matt Lucas is a lovely guy and he did the first one. I had appeared on his podcast and I asked him if he could do something about his favourite snack and he came up with a pimped Mcdonald’s apple pie enhanced with cream and nuts ... then I enhanced his recipe.
Since then there have been snacks from comedians like Nick Helm, Lou Sanders and James Acaster, and Harry Hill features in the new series. Mackenzie Crook, who stars in Worzel Gummidge, gave me a recipe for a cheese, frozen peas and HP sauce sandwich that really worked and was lovely.
The peas add a sweetness and the HP sauce cuts through the cheese and adds acidity. Try it.
Is there any food you don’t like?
(Laughs) anything.
I’m like a goat, I’ll eat I suppose Jerusalem artichokes are up there. Me and Mrs Egg bought some from our local market one time and had them as a side dish and they were so lovely we went back and got three times as many and used them as a main dish.
I’ve never had a worse night of flatulence and cramps and the next morning I just felt weak.
The Jerusalem artichokes played havoc with my insides.
Have you always liked to experiment with food?
just
Yes, I remember when I was growing up adding curry powder to plain crisps. They taste great, especially if you add a pinch of castor sugar as well and, if you really want to go all out, a squeeze of lemon. Just lovely.
Orange squash and milk was horrible though – it curdles – or blackcurrant juice and milk.
I’m self-taught, like many chefs are, and I love cooking. At one time I even thought about giving up comedy and opening my own little cafe. I get up in the morning and start cooking and I can happily do that all day.
I just enjoy it so much and to bend the rules.
I’d be out in my shed blowtorching an egg and asking my kids ‘taste this, taste this, what do you think?’.
I do most of the cooking at home, but my youngest daughter has started to cook as well and is really good. I think it is her thing.
I like
How did you come to combine food and comedy in your stand-up shows, cooking with power tools or hotel room basics like a trouser press and kettle?
It was that real-life experience touring a lot and not wanting of to order room service or takeaways from outside, because of the cost, and just having the courage to see how I could cook in my hotel room.
It led to the first stand-up show with me cooking in front of an audience.
I do like to keep things simple. I don’t have time for menus. I’d love to go into a restaurant and find a menu that just said “Food” or“no food” and when the waiter came just saying ‘I’d like some food, please’.
So what is your perfect snack?
Nothing beats a like to mix it up.
I recently did a Snack Hack episode with forager Fern Freud, who is into wholesome and organic food, and I brought along a Mcdonald’s double cheese burger and we added wild garlic.
It was scrumptious. The burger.
burger, but
I do perfect
Go to instagram.com/georgeegg/ channel/ for George’s Snack Hacker episodes