Cooking and I: How it all began

The first Masterchef challenge faced by the top 24 this year got me thinking about when I started cooking. They were told to cook the dish that changed their lives, but for me it isn’t specific dishes that stand out in mind, but more, incidents that somehow introduced me to cooking.

So which incident stands out the most? Buying my first cookbook at the age of four (I think I just stared at the pictures)? Making spaghetti bolognaise and trifle from the Kids Cookbook? No, it’d have to be the first time I saw The Two Fat Ladies.

Jennifer Paterson and Clarissa Dickson Wright cruised onto the screen on their Triumph Thunderbird motorbike (with sidecar) in 1996. I remember Mum saying “there’s a show on tonight with two women cooking, the idea is that they’ll probably fight all the time.” That might have been the idea – I remember Clarissa once joking in an interview that “the Chinese symbol for war was two women under the same roof” – but these two cooks got on famously, even when Clarissa wiped her hands on Jennifer’s oven cloth after making crab, corn and coriander fritters in their very first episode.

They’re one of the main reasons I became interested in cooking. I can remember requesting Jennifer’s fresh fruit tartlets and loin of pork stuffed with mushrooms for my birthday one year. Clarissa’s ‘Beef A La Will Moreland’ introduced me to coriander, lemongrass and coconut, kick-starting my interest in Thai food, and my ultimate cooking ambition is to make her ‘Christmas Pudding Ice-Cream Bombe’.

It wasn’t just the food that made me watch their show over and over again. I watched them go fishing for crabs, ride in a milk van when they’d walked too far in search of eggs and perform their own stunts – Jennifer once let Clarissa take over the motorbike while they were moving. They’d burst into song without any warning or tell stories from their past cooking experiences. One of my favourites was how Clarissa had her pigeons flown in from Cairo. She hastened to add that they were frozen, but the visual of a huge crate flapping its way in has stayed with me for years.

And in an age where everyone seems obsessed with the latest fads and counting calories, they were using loads of butter and cream. Jennifer once stated ‘Yoghurt is not instead of cream. Yoghurt is very good for your breakfast or if you have a poor tummy... or if you’re a vegetarian.’ I think the most important thing they taught me was it’s better to enjoy fresh, delicious food than be obsessed with how many calories are in each mouthful.

Just wanted to thank you Jennifer and Clarissa.

By Laura Boness

Photo: Gordon King