Mary Berry wants us to put takeaway menus aside and make it instead
Best Home Cook is not about tears and tantrums – but rather encouraging competitors to be the best they can, the food icon and judge, tells Gemma Dunn
The search for the nation’s Best Home Cook is back on as Mary Berry, the queen of home cooking, and produce expert Chris Bavin, team up for a second series of the BBC1 show.
The eight-part run will once again see 10 eager contestants – all living together in a shared house – compete as they are tested by the exacting judges on their home cookery skills.
There’s also a new addition to the professional line-up, with Michelin-starred chef Angela Hartnett joining the judging panel, alongside returning host Claudia Winkleman.
So what else can TV favourite Berry, 84, tell us?
What does it take to be Best Home Cook?
It’s someone who’s versatile and is a really excellent cook using fresh ingredients and classic methods with a twist – they’ve got to be dedicated. It’s amazing when the [home cooks] start off and they each have their own speciality, but when they’re given another challenge, say my Ultimate Challenge, they may not have made it before and so to give them confidence, I tell them what I want.
What else are you looking for?
It’s also important that when things go wrong, we look and see how [the cooks] cope. At home, things go wrong and it isn’t tears, rushing away, throwing things here, there and everywhere... You’ve got to pick yourself up and produce something, and if it isn’t produced, we can’t judge it.
How would you describe yourselves as judges?
We all have very high principles; we want the best person to win and we want to encourage everybody. We do not want tears, or people to be nervous. Claudia [Winkleman] is the person who, when she can see something happening, if people are upset, she’s over there just making it a bit more
jolly, helping if she can. But it’s got to be challenging.
What do you like to cook at this time of year?
Last Sunday I did a sticky toffee pudding, and everybody loved it. I love a good casserole; a really good cut of meat, plenty of red wine, something nice and warming.
Does anybody cook for you?
All of my close friends. First of all, when they first meet you, they say, ‘I’m terrified of cooking for you,’ but people do their family recipes. True friends, it doesn’t matter.
I love a scrambled egg – it doesn’t matter what you have, it’s the company. As a home cook, you get your specialities and it’s always good to give that to your friends. [As for restaurants], they usually give me a nice welcome.
What do fans say when they meet you?
The nicest thing is, if I’m in a supermarket getting my shopping, and you get a hand on your shoulder and they say, ‘I make your lemon drizzle.’ Or, ‘I had your suchand-such last night: thank you,’ or something like that. It’s lovely, I find that people are exceedingly nice, and they just want to let you know. As long as it’s short...
How do you feel about your ‘national treasure’ tag?
There are lots of national treasures, aren’t there? It’s a warm, nice thing for people to say and there are a lot of us from gardening to cooking ones. It’s something with respect and I feel as if I’m doing the job properly – and I hope I am. I’m very fair and I just want home cooks to cook even better; I want them to be home cooks, not buy in. And I think people will watch and then the next day go shopping and cook.
The show is steering viewers away from takeaways and back into the kitchen. Have you ever indulged in fast food?
I have never had a takeaway, and that is purely because we live a long way from the town. But why should I? I can muster up things very quickly. I’ve been to Mcdonald’s with the grandchildren and they enjoy it a lot; I don’t really know much about it, but I know so many children love it. But if you are at home there are so many things that you can buy that will help you if you are very busy, that don’t cost that much extra. You do pay a little bit more for it, but you can get food on the table a little bit quicker.
And finally, how can we all ensure we’re cooking in a sustainable way?
I’m very careful on using leftovers, so I try not to throw anything away. I often cook ingredients or extra rice and think, ‘I’ll do a nasi goreng with that,’ and the other thing I do is make compost. We’ve just moved to a new house and for a year I brought compost from the old house to the new house, because it makes your vegetables and your plants grow a lot better!
● Best Home Cook continues on BBC1 on Thursday at 8pm and on iplayer