cooking the books

Have you heard about this new cooking show on Five? Up until about a week ago, I hadn’t. But I was approached in that trendiest of online bars, Facebook, by the show, looking for audience members for the tapings. They saw the blog and realised, obviously, that my life is consumed by the food I eat.

Cooking the Books, which is hosted by a former Hollyoaks man Jeremy Edwards, invites TV chefs with their own cookbooks to come on the show and try out their recipes. They then have to battle a lesser-known cook to see who makes the best version. There’s also a segment in which a disguised celebrity guest (who I did not even recognise once they’d “unveiled” him) to cook a recipe from a celebrity chef’s book.

Audience members must bring in a dish too, cooked from a book of their own. One lucky member (which just happened to be me, hooray!) gets to taste the chefs’ cook-off and decide on a winner.

First things first – what did I bring? Well, I brought those Jamie Oliver butternut squash muffins that I’ve been banging on about lately. But this time, I did make the frosting too – a crème fraiche-icing sugar combo loaded with Clementine zest. I made my normal changes, cutting down on the flour, sugar and oil – and for the icing I used reduced-fat crème fraiche in place of regular. They get plated up with the rest of the audience (called “the cookery club”) for the show. So keep your eyes peeled when you watch the show.

So who was the “famous chef”? Well, that TV-loving Ready, Steady, Cooker Ainsley Harriott of course. He’s got a new book out (naturally). His recipe was a haddock kedgeree, loaded with lots of fun goodies and topped off with a curry sauce. He battled some chick called Lotte, who made her version of a kedgeree with smoked salmon and cream.

It all came down to moi to decide which one was best. When the director briefed me on what I would need to do, I thought it interesting that he acted as though I would pick Ainsley’s, but he of course assured me I could pick the one I thought was best. I did end up picking Ainsley’s, partially because of the fun curry sauce. In actuality, I didn’t really prefer one over the other, especially considering that I only got two seconds to try them!

But later I learned that Ainsley had lost the previous two battles at earlier tapings and was getting a bit sad. Poor man, with all his cooking shows, huh?

All in all, it was an interesting experience, though there was lots of sitting still and clapping wildly for different tapes. Most enlightening was watching the chefs prepare the meals – on TV, it really looks like they cook a lot of it there and then. Of course, they don’t, especially since it’s not live, like Saturday Kitchen.

We did get the whole cattle-herding treatment, though, and I was promised two free cookbooks (Ainsley’s and another chef’s) which never ended up in my hands, sadly. I did get to meet and chat with Ainsley, who asked me if I cook for myself or for my husband (who came along for the show)… I duly informed him that I cooked for two, of course!

Keep an eye out for the show, in any case, weeknights at 6:30pm on Five. The show’s researchers promised to let me know when my show will air, and I’ll tell you too…