Just How Much Do You Know About Celebrity Chefs

I love cookery programmes, it’s great to get some new ideas which can be used or adapted into my own cooking. These programmes are often based around a certain personality and the success (or failure) of the series very much depends on whether the general public like the chef – perhaps more so than the food that they cook. I thought I would write about my favourite chefs: Nigella Lawson: Daughter of politicia Nigel Lawson and heiress Vanessa Salmon (from whom she inherited her love of cooking), Nigella had a privileged start in life but a troubled childhood and the loss of her first husband, mother and sister to cancer has meant she has had her own fair share of strife. In terms of her career she started off as a jou alist and fairly quickly rose through the ranks to become deputy literary editor at the age of 26. It was after her stint at the Times that she decided it wasn’t the life for her, deciding instead to become a freelance writer then finding her niche writing a food column in Vogue. The rest, as they say, is history she released her first cook book ‘How to Eat’ in 1998, her first television series wasn’t far behind. Further recipe books and television series followed. She is famous for her flirtatious style of presenting but I love her food which is simple and homely yet delicious. The Hairy Bikers Part cookery programme part travelogue, Dave and Si have been on our screens for a relatively short time. I love the banter between these two, you can tell that they really are friends. Their food is again simple and delicious and usually calorific! They take elements of dishes from the places that they visit. Si King is from the North East whilst Dave Myers is from Barrow-in-Fu ess in Cumbria they met whilst working in Television Si as a make-up artist (specialising in prosthetics) and Dave as a locations manager. They bonded over their shared love of food and biking, coupled with their connections in the industry the television series and recipe books followed. Heston Blummenthal Dubbed a ‘molecular gastronomist’ Heston has based his career on the science of cooking, he is famous for his scientific method of cooking, he and his team source the best ingredients and research the best way to cook it. His restaurant ‘The Fat Duck’ in Oxfordshire has won numerous awards and is often described as one of the best in the world, diners are treated to such dishes as bacon and egg ice cream, snail porridge and parsnip cereal. He often combines taste with other senses by making diners listen to sounds or smell fragrances while eating. More recently, in his book Heston at Home’ he has produced a number of recipes that can be reproduced at home, these are a lot of work and often have a lot of ingredients but the taste makes it all worthwhile. Celebrity chefs, in my view, do a great job in popularising real cooking with fresh local produce as opposed to heating up mass produced ready meals. Long live the Celebrity Chef!

A cookery experience with a famous chef is just one of the hundreds of interesting things to do at the weekend that can be purchased as a gift or for yourself from My Outdoor Store. Follow the link to discover our vast selection of days out ideas.