Spam or luncheon meat is popular in a lot of Chinese communities too, especially HK and Cantonese communities. I think similar to its history in the Philippines and other Asian countries, it was one of the few meats available during the war and it’s taken on a life of its war even after post-war and food shortages weren’t an issue. It’s in noodles, it’s used in fried rice, or it’s fried on its own as an accompaniment to Spam. I grew up with occasional spam fried rice and I enjoy it.
I much prefer the low sodium or even the turkey spam (lower salt and fat), but the turkey ones are hard to find. I even found a can of spicy spam once that was quite good, but I haven’t found it since. I also love spam musubi; so good, and so easy to make. Spam is a great plan for those nights I come home late and don’t really want to spend too much time cooking.
We too are Mrs. Patmore fans (especially after seeing her on a George Gently episode). Then, there’s Mrs. Bridges who, regaling Lord Bellamy’s Downstairs about her menu, confidently pronounced that she wouldn’t put “that nasty Gruyere” in Mornay sauce for the King’s visit to Eaton Place, of course, preferring a proper Cheddar.
Back to the topic, what do you think of Nigella (Lawson)'s style or her food? She’s rather err… distracting. I like to watch but have never even been tempted to make any of her recipes.
I can’t think of one single Australian TV chefs/cook that I like. (I am referring the TV chefs who have been featured on various BBC food programmes, and/or have at one time or another lived in the UK or other European countries.)
Maybe Spam can have its own thread. I don’t eat it but others do. If I had to eat something like spam it’d be Leberkäse. Nice in a roll with mustard.
No worries! Off-topic responses open up other topics and ideas. It’s a good thing.
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Harters
(John Hartley - a culinary patriot eating & cooking in Northwest England)
71
Let me preface this by reminding everyone that I am a late middle aged straight man. As such, Nigella’s TV programmes have some appeal, although I preferred her younger less pouty panting persona. I cannot abide the regular programme format which often end with her trotting out the dishes to a bunch of fake friends ( it was better in the younger days when she trotted it out to the late husband and two kids).
As for the food, I’m fairly indifferent to it. We usually buy her books, as they quite quickly get heavily discounted in the supermarket. But they never survive our cookbook culls and rarely have been used for actually cooking anything in the time between their arrival in the house and their departure. The only recipe I can think of that we do (and then rarely) is her mushroom “steak” sandwich from her first book “How to Eat” (which I actually got from an early Nigel Slater programme)
I’ve made her Buttermilk Roast Chicken (using chicken thighs). While the chicken was incredibly moist, IMO, it didn’t have enough flavor for my tastes. The buttermilk bath needs a LOT more oomph to be added.
She can dial down the “tarty” presenting style notch. Her children are always always on the programmes, why? They are no lookers and serve no purpose on the programme.
Harters
(John Hartley - a culinary patriot eating & cooking in Northwest England)
75
A regular issue, IMO. Disappointing really, as I usually find books by cooks to be much more useful than books by chefs. Currently, the only one of hers on the shelves is “Simply Nigella” but |I can’t recall us cooking anything. I did hang on to “Feast” for a while mainly for the Christmas chapter “just in case”, but never actually used it.
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Harters
(John Hartley - a culinary patriot eating & cooking in Northwest England)
76
Pure marketing in her early days when she was very much being portrayed as “hard working mum and home cook”. The “Domestic Goddess” period, if you will. I’ve often wondered how the kids felt about it, not least as they came to adult life.
By the by, doesnt time fly - it’s hard to believe she’s nearly 60.
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Harters
(John Hartley - a culinary patriot eating & cooking in Northwest England)
77
I don’t know whether Luke Nguyen fits your BBC/UK criteria but I’ve enjoyed his Vietnam programme which I’ve seen on one of the two food cable channels here. Other than him, I struggle to think of names, other than John Torode (who is OK on Masterchef but I don’t enjoy when he’s doing his own cooking series.)
Ah, thanks. The girl often looks as if she got pressured into appearing.
The partner and I used to watch Ready Steady Cook but then we stopped watching telly and now I guess they had stopped the whole thing. But you probably didn’t watch RSC. Harriot was the host at one point. Hah!
If you enjoy watching Luke Nguyen do check out another Aussie TV cook called Adam Liaw (Masterchef winner, now Australian citizen, half British, half Malaysian). I really like his Destination Flavour Japan. Japan being the only enjoyable part of this series, however. I don’t like his other series.
We don’t have control over where our body fat ends up, and I’m usually hot when in the kitchen and showing a lot of cleavage myself. But the last time I saw her on TV (don’t remember the show, she was a judge or something) she seemed overly made-up and trying too hard to look young & sexy. Not that 60 can’t be sexy or that you can’t wear (whatever) after a certain age, it turned me off because it seemed like a caricature of her younger self, not a natural look.
I did enjoy the Domestic Goddess baking book but don’t have it anymore.
