Simply the Best

Photo © Rob Jones

I think one of my persistent gripes about TV cooking shows, especially these days, is that they don’t really show you how to do things.

Very seldom do you actually see the method of making something on Masterchef or Great British Menu. We see the act of making, episodically. We are shown when things go wrong. We are shown the item entering the hosts mouth in enormous and unpleasant detail. I am waiting for the day they pop a tiny camera on the fork to get the full ‘experience’ of entering the mouth.

Mary Berry I think comes close to it. But then again she’s old school. As in the days of Fanny Craddock, when everything had to be done in real time - with a few ‘here are some I prepared earliers’ to help along the way, so you had to be shown every detail of what to do.

I’m currently working my way through a prominent chef’s masterclass on a paid for site (Marco Pierre White on BBC Maestro). I’ve found the experience a little hit and miss in the past - however some ‘Maestros’ are very good at getting their message across, but some are not. I was initially uncertain about his presentation, but when it got to the demonstration stage - I am sold.

Working through the recipes, prepared in detail before your very eyes, with tips and tricks which set top-flight chefs apart from me dabbling in my little kitchen.

As one commenter put it - ‘How on earth can you make Anchovies on Toast taste fabulous?’

Well he does … he just does … and how he made Scrambled Egg - well… scales were lifted from my eyes.

And as he keeps saying - and I don’t think I am betraying any secrets here - you just have to keep it simple.

RJ