TV Cookery Programmes.. are they out of touch with the real world?

JBD

Eenymeeny the meals 'under a fiver' wasn't on TV, it was in Sainsbury's [on little recipe cards]. Sorry to be misleading.
It's just that I don't know anyone who can't cook a meal for less than £5, and none of them go on MSE either. It's just basic common sense, and I find Jamie Oliver to be rather patronising to suggest otherwise.

PasturesNew

Cookery programmes are intended to be entertainment, not education. Most people just enjoy looking at the end result and dreaming.

Most recipes cooked on the telly are unachievable for me without a serious list and shopping trip to buy the ingredients... the majority of which would probably not be used again so would be binned. But I do like to see the end result on the telly of what I could have cooked if I was cooking for 4-6 people and if I had all those ingredients.

PasturesNew

... oh, I do like Hairy Bikers as they often do stuff outside on a grass verge using only a camping pot. That makes it look more achievable as they don't have access to food processors, which most 'cooking' on the telly seem to rely on.

As I don't have a food processor and have never used one, the minute they drag one of those out I think "OK, can't do this then as easily/quickly as they will"... so it's nice to see camping-style simple food cooked as it's closer to what ingredients/equipment I might have access to.

Justamum

I've been watching the Fabulous Baker Brothers for the past few weeks. I thought it started at 8pm so switched the telly on then, only to see Heston Blumenthal doing stuff with spuds, so I watched out of a bizarre interest (his food is always a bit weird for my tastes). His faffing with chips was very OTT - who can be bothered with all that? As for his mashed potato, it looked disgusting. More like baby food than anything.

I did watch Hugh F-W's veg series to see if there were any interesting veggie recipes, but to be honest I don't usually bother with cooking programmes, and don't have any 'celebrity chef' cook books either.

[Deleted User]

I've got and still find useful the Dairy Book of Home Cookery published in 1977. Its the second copy I've had as the first one fell apart from constant use. Got this one at a boot fair a few years ago. I find TV cookery presenters very annoying and don't often find they demonstrate anything we would like or could afford. Did like early Delia Smith though, before she was famous on the Noel Edmonds Saturday morning show when the kids were little.

Horace

Some cookery programmes are annoying to say the least. I do wish they would repeat Fanny Craddock because she was hilarious and remember seeing her on tv when I was a child.

I think that Valentine Warner did a programme that was repeated on the Yesterday Channel called Rationbook Cooking - all about wartime cooking something that I think is relevant today especially as food is becoming more and more expensive.

Nigel Slater annoys me too but some of his food is OK. I love the Hairy Bikers as they have given me ideas on cooking both at home and when I am camping because I have one of the cobb bbqs that they use which I haven't used myself yet. The Hungry Sailors are quite good but sometimes I wonder about their foods as they can seem to be quite extravagent plus I want to know who does the washing up when they have been eating out using their camping stove?

I love Delia and have some of her books - mostly bought in charity shops, her receipes work unlike Jamie Oliver's which to me seem to be aimed at people who already know how to cook and I am still a beginner when it comes to cooking. (I don't have the confidence in the kitchen).

scrabbles_2

Horace wrote: »

Some cookery programmes are annoying to say the least. I do wish they would repeat Fanny Craddock because she was hilarious and remember seeing her on tv when I was a child.

One of the digital channels usually repeat her Christmas shows. It always strikes me that she is properly 'old-style' in these shows - casually mentioning which ingredients can be substituted or cut back on, but also when she thinks you should push the boat out, it being Christmas and all - and always makes a point of stuffing the oven full. She's a bit before my time so I don't know if she was always like this or if the shows were a product of their time (I guessing they're seventies winter-of-discontent era).

She seems properly bonkers and fun to watch if nothing else! A posh school-marm getting her immaculate clothes covered in flour, chivvying people around and keeping up a constant monologue as she bakes - it's like watching your great-aunt go mad on the cooking sherry on stir-up Sunday :rotfl: At first glance I was convinced she was a drag queen. Oops. But please, promise me... people didn't actually used to cook that way in real life, right? All the food colouring and dressing your chicken up, normal people didn't really do that, did they?

becs

I loved economy gastronomy and got loads of good ideas and recipes off there. Seems a shame in the current climate tat it's not on again.
Also been enjoying the few episodes of fabulous baker boys I've managed to catch. Everything done really simply. Lovedthesda bread and butter they did.

Justamum

scrabbles wrote: »

She seems properly bonkers and fun to watch if nothing else! A posh school-marm getting her immaculate clothes covered in flour, chivvying people around and keeping up a constant monologue as she bakes - it's like watching your great-aunt go mad on the cooking sherry on stir-up Sunday :rotfl: At first glance I was convinced she was a drag queen. Oops. But please, promise me... people didn't actually used to cook that way in real life, right? All the food colouring and dressing your chicken up, normal people didn't really do that, did they?

I used to watch Fanny Craddock, but only have vague memories of her. You might find that the dressing up the chicken bit was for a dinner party. She was very bossy in the kitchen I seem to remember, and kept ordering Johnny around. Apparently she used to say that you should be able to cook an entire meal for a dinner party wearing your posh clothes and not get messy! As for the drag queen - she did resemble one a bit didn't she?

Eenymeeny

I used to think that Delia Smith was so faffy until my son said that he used her recipes as they always turned out right because she was so precise. I suppose that I'd got used to judging a lot of things by eye and experience but realised that these chefs all offer something different and we can all learn something from them. I'd just like to see a few moneysaving tips thrown in from time to time
Thanks for the mention of Economy Gastronomy. I've copied some of the recipes from the BBC website. Apparently it was shown on a Saturday lunchtime and I would have been working then.:T