From the mouths of chefs - the last BBC Good Food Show of 2015

 

November 26th will be the last time this year that you can catch one of the UK’s flagship food festivals. It will offer one last chance to watch Michel Roux Jnr prepare a dreamy wild boar ragu, a final opportunity to brush shoulders with Paul Hollywood and James Martin, and a last-minute stab at having a fantastic and truly delicious day. You might have guessed it, been talking about it or already have your ticket – I’m talking, of course, about the BBC’s Winter Good Food Show at the Birmingham NEC. 

Before you hurry along to fill up the cookery theatres and take a seat in front your favourite culinary master, you might be wondering what it is that really makes these celebrity chefs tick. Who would they want in their dream kitchen, and how does it feel to cook live in front of hundreds of people? Here’s a little behind the scenes insight into the stars of the BBC Good Food Show.

 

 

Even though he’s been in the business for over two decades, James Martin says he still has to pinch himself when he sees the size of the crowds that flock to the BBC Good Food demonstrations: “It is the biggest cookery theatre in the UK at any food show and to fill it four times a day is a real buzz and an honour.”

It’s a surreal experience for a chef who has been part of the show since its launch and remembers the days when his demonstrations were slightly less glamorous occasions: “As I remember, when I first started at the show I used to cook on a very small stand with two people watching and now after all these years I’m still there…and feel privileged to cook for the large numbers who turn up.”

 

 

Tom Kerridge on the other hand is fond of the honesty that live cooking presents: “…the audience actually get to see the food being done unedited, warts and all, so if there is a mistake, they realise food isn’t always about perfection, it’s about fun”. 

It makes the art of cooking so much more accessible to the rest of us. We can see every step for ourselves at the BBC Good Food Shows where there are no gimmicks or re-takes. After all, there will never be a kitchen of culinary perfection where things always go according to plan. Although at stressful times it’s probably something all chefs have wished for. 

 

 

Given the opportunity to handpick a dream team in the kitchen Michel Roux Jnr would choose just one special lady: “My daughter Emily, the hottest talent around!” An unsurprising selection, given the Roux family’s innate flair for cooking – she’s certainly one to watch. 

Although Marcello Tully’s dream kitchen would include his existing team, he’d add a couple of apprentices, “…say the great Pele – to tackle the many tasks – and Ayrton Senna – to inject a bit of speed if we’re flagging!”

 

 

The stars of the Winter Good Food Show have a lot to say on who be their chosen pastry chef too. Tom Kerridge would want fellow BBC chef James Martin “doing his magic on the pastry”, while Cyrus Todiwala OBE would want his current team, a few chef friends and Sarah Harnett – head pastry chef the Sheraton Park Lane Hotel in London.

 

 

Of course, even the experts sometimes get it wrong and avid GBBO watchers might remember Jo Wheatley’s struggle to make some brandy snaps. Now it’s what she describes as “the biggest cooking disaster I’ve had”. “When I was on The Great British Bake Off, we were making brandy snaps and mine just wouldn’t bake whatever I tried. It wasn’t until three minutes before the end I realised my oven had been set to a defrost setting.” 

 

 

So, to see these chefs in the flesh doing what they do best, make sure you’re at the grand food festival finale of the year, the Winter BBC Good Food Show between Thursday 26th November and Sunday 29th. To let you in on a little secret, Cyrus Todiwala OBE says he loves the audience, “especially those that come and sit in the front two rows” – no fighting now.