0:00:02 > 0:00:06We start with the most important of all, the turkey, which is the British national bird.
0:00:06 > 0:00:09'It's a meal loaded with symbolism.'
0:00:09 > 0:00:13Everyone just thinks, "It's time to have a drink, might as well."
0:00:13 > 0:00:16'It's the day every TV chef looks forward to.'
0:00:16 > 0:00:21My heart sinks and you just think, "What is the point?"
0:00:21 > 0:00:24'So how has Christmas dinner changed over the years?'
0:00:24 > 0:00:29The food that we were aspiring to back then probably wouldn't make it into most people's bins.
0:00:29 > 0:00:32'How has television helped change it?'
0:00:32 > 0:00:36We've gone from turkey to "Why don't you try goose?" to "Why not try roast beef?"
0:00:36 > 0:00:38What next? Barbecued Dalmatian?
0:00:38 > 0:00:42'And is the meal we sit down to watch still the meal we sit down to eat?'
0:00:42 > 0:00:48- Reindeer ice cream? Please! - That's what I call crackling.
0:00:48 > 0:00:51'Here's Christmas dinner as seen on television
0:00:51 > 0:00:55'in The Roasts Of Christmas Past.'
0:00:59 > 0:01:04# Chestnuts roasting on an open fire
0:01:06 > 0:01:09'Television has always loved turkey.
0:01:09 > 0:01:14'Christmas dinner has all the ingredients for drama and comedy.'
0:01:14 > 0:01:16They don't have turkey at Christmas.
0:01:16 > 0:01:19Who don't?
0:01:19 > 0:01:21Eskimos.
0:01:23 > 0:01:26'But television doesn't just share our Christmas meal.
0:01:26 > 0:01:30'For more than 50 years, it's been showing us how it's done.'
0:01:30 > 0:01:36Hello and welcome to my little series on Christmas know-how.
0:01:36 > 0:01:40What I hope to do by sharing my own Christmas with you
0:01:40 > 0:01:43is give you just a little bit of help along the way.
0:01:43 > 0:01:47And in the next 30 minutes, I'm going to show you how you can think ahead,
0:01:47 > 0:01:49make life an awful lot easier
0:01:49 > 0:01:52and I promise to give you the perfect Christmas.
0:01:52 > 0:01:55What the British public have always craved from their TV chefs
0:01:55 > 0:01:58is the secret of the perfect Christmas.
0:01:58 > 0:02:01They want the code. They want to know how they can make it work.
0:02:01 > 0:02:04The truth is that cooking is brilliant television.
0:02:04 > 0:02:08People love to watch it, it makes you hungry, it's cheap television
0:02:08 > 0:02:12and I think the trick for chefs is that they have to find an angle.
0:02:12 > 0:02:15Every summer, the calls start coming in for me.
0:02:15 > 0:02:19They say, "Stefan, we want to do something different at Christmas."
0:02:19 > 0:02:23- Doesn't everyone want to do something different at Christmas?- Wow.
0:02:23 > 0:02:29'The successful chef can enter the seasonal psyche. They can clear the supermarket shelves.
0:02:29 > 0:02:32'They can make or break our Christmas.'
0:02:32 > 0:02:38All I wanted was just a day like Nigella's! That's all I wanted, was it to be like Nigella's.
0:02:38 > 0:02:42In the old days, we were just trying to get it as good as our mother's,
0:02:42 > 0:02:44but now we're trying to have a Delia twist
0:02:44 > 0:02:46or a Jamie twist or a Nigella twist.
0:02:46 > 0:02:50'So what do Christmas cookery shows tell us about our times?
0:02:50 > 0:02:53'And how have they changed through the years?'
0:02:53 > 0:02:57It becomes less about the cooking. It becomes all about the style.
0:02:57 > 0:03:02You can chart the progression of Britain through the economic age
0:03:02 > 0:03:05of the 20th century by these cookery programmes.
0:03:05 > 0:03:08APPLAUSE
0:03:09 > 0:03:12'In theory, we shouldn't need the TV chef.
0:03:12 > 0:03:15'Christmas should be a piece of cake.'
0:03:15 > 0:03:17You know, in Escoffier,
0:03:17 > 0:03:21the recipe, the method of cooking a turkey
0:03:21 > 0:03:24just says, "Roast in a moderate oven".
0:03:24 > 0:03:28You know? Is that too difficult to follow? I don't know.
0:03:28 > 0:03:32'Perhaps it's the scale of the meal that unnerves us.'
0:03:32 > 0:03:34It's not just the complexity of the meal itself
0:03:34 > 0:03:38which takes it out of the normal reach of most home cooks' experience,
0:03:38 > 0:03:41but also the fact that you're cooking for so many people.
0:03:41 > 0:03:45Cooking for four or six is quite straightforward.
0:03:45 > 0:03:49Suddenly when you're cooking for 12 or 16 or even 20,
0:03:49 > 0:03:52it's very, very hard work.
0:03:52 > 0:03:55The cooking of it is one thing. It's dishing it all up.
0:03:55 > 0:03:57That's the hardest bit!
0:03:57 > 0:04:02Save up some money, invest in a few staff at Christmas.
0:04:03 > 0:04:07'For those of us who can't get the staff, television is here to help.
0:04:07 > 0:04:11'But today's top TV chefs have to cook with their hands tied.
0:04:11 > 0:04:13'Metaphorically.'
0:04:13 > 0:04:17We sort of struggle, because it's got to be that meal.
0:04:17 > 0:04:20The broadcasters don't want to get lost. They want the turkey to be in there.
0:04:20 > 0:04:26They want the Brussels sprouts. Don't mess with the Brussels sprouts. But they want a different take on it.
0:04:26 > 0:04:30I'm a fairly traditional guy.
0:04:30 > 0:04:33I do believe turkey's the right thing for our British Christmas.
0:04:33 > 0:04:35A good turkey. An old-fashioned turkey.
0:04:35 > 0:04:40Not the Dolly Parton of turkeys that we see nowadays with these massive great breasts.
0:04:41 > 0:04:44I'm not a huge fan of the parsnip.
0:04:44 > 0:04:49When I was a kid, I once mistook a roasted parsnip for a roast potato
0:04:49 > 0:04:52and it left such a scar on my psyche
0:04:52 > 0:04:54that I always prod around a parsnip with caution.
0:04:54 > 0:04:59I love the Brussels sprout. One of the few, I know, but I do.
0:04:59 > 0:05:02And I love to see a little pain on the children's faces,
0:05:02 > 0:05:06cos they've had so much enjoyment in the morning opening their presents,
0:05:06 > 0:05:08they need a little pain, as well.
0:05:10 > 0:05:16'Limited by their ingredients, the TV chef is also imprisoned by the past.
0:05:16 > 0:05:21'We had a winter feast long before Jamie. Even before Jesus.'
0:05:21 > 0:05:24You've got to remember that this is an old Pagan festival.
0:05:24 > 0:05:27We've had this stuff here in the past.
0:05:27 > 0:05:30At this moment in time, people would have a feast.
0:05:30 > 0:05:34It's Christmas. It is also around new year. It's feasting time anyway.
0:05:34 > 0:05:38Having a festival in the middle of winter always seemed like a good idea,
0:05:38 > 0:05:42and so there's the time when you had the fire festivals
0:05:42 > 0:05:48and interestingly, when we flame our Christmas puds, it's harking back to that idea.
0:05:48 > 0:05:53I think it is the last remaining feast and, of course, I feel that's very sad.
0:05:53 > 0:05:59But at least it's still there. And I think it does make people nervous because it has to be good.
0:05:59 > 0:06:03'If the Christmas meal is the most traditional in the culinary calendar,
0:06:03 > 0:06:08- 'there's one Christmas in particular we want to recreate.' - Merry Christmas!
0:06:08 > 0:06:12I think Charles Dickens has an awful lot to answer for.
0:06:12 > 0:06:16Here we are, 150, 160, however many years down the line,
0:06:16 > 0:06:20and we're still labouring under the myths, the images
0:06:20 > 0:06:23that dear old Charlie Dickens created for us.
0:06:23 > 0:06:27Hey! Do you know whether they've sold the prize turkey that was hanging up?
0:06:27 > 0:06:31- Not the little one, the big one. - They're selling it now.- Buy it.
0:06:31 > 0:06:36- Go on!- Oh, no, I'm in earnest! Tell them to bring it here! Come back with the man and I'll give you a shilling.
0:06:36 > 0:06:39Do it in less than five minutes, I'll give you half a crown!
0:06:39 > 0:06:43It's in Dickens' Christmas Carol. There was a turkey at the end of it.
0:06:43 > 0:06:48So now everyone plans to buy a turkey, it's huge, most of them are pretty grim.
0:06:48 > 0:06:51Everybody wants what they think is a traditional one.
0:06:51 > 0:06:55I don't know how traditional you want to be. Maybe we should send kids up chimneys
0:06:55 > 0:07:01or garrotte someone in an alley for a farthing. But we seem to think that this bygone era was a better era.
0:07:01 > 0:07:07- 'The roasts of Christmas past would haunt us into the television age.' - God bless us, every one!
0:07:07 > 0:07:10'While TV remade The Christmas Carol,
0:07:10 > 0:07:14'TV chefs would remake the Christmas dinner.'
0:07:14 > 0:07:16Cook, the biggest turkey in the poulterer's!
0:07:16 > 0:07:19Now Tiny Tim will be well again!
0:07:19 > 0:07:22- Is it defrosted? - LAUGHTER
0:07:22 > 0:07:25- Well, I...- You see, the trouble is,
0:07:25 > 0:07:27people buy these huge, beautiful great turkeys
0:07:27 > 0:07:31and haven't got time to get them defrosted adequately or thoroughly.
0:07:31 > 0:07:34'We've come, in time, to trust them with our biggest meal.
0:07:34 > 0:07:37'The twists they gave it were often a matter of taste.
0:07:37 > 0:07:40'But for the first lady of television cookery,
0:07:40 > 0:07:42'it would be a matter of necessity.'
0:07:43 > 0:07:46Good afternoon and welcome to our demonstration.
0:07:46 > 0:07:49This afternoon, I have several dishes to show you,
0:07:49 > 0:07:53including a favourite of mine, baked gammon with apples and mushrooms.
0:07:53 > 0:07:56Marguerite Patten became an institution in Britain.
0:07:56 > 0:07:58She was hugely respected.
0:07:58 > 0:08:04Before I put in the cabbage, you'll notice I drop in a good knob of margarine.
0:08:04 > 0:08:07I loved what Marguerite did all those years ago
0:08:07 > 0:08:13because it was the beginning of why people like myself or Jamie or whoever it is
0:08:13 > 0:08:17are on television now, because it made it possible.
0:08:17 > 0:08:21'Marguerite Patten made her name on the radio during the war,
0:08:21 > 0:08:25'infusing Britain's housewives with the Dunkirk spirit.'
0:08:25 > 0:08:31People shared that feeling of, "We're in it together and we'll all pull out of it together."
0:08:31 > 0:08:33We called ourselves the kitchen front.
0:08:36 > 0:08:39Things like turkeys and fat for roasting potatoes in
0:08:39 > 0:08:44and the amounts of sugar that we use and the fruit and all the other frills of chocolates
0:08:44 > 0:08:49and the bits that we really like on Christmas Day were always unobtainable.
0:08:49 > 0:08:53'In a time of rationing, Marguerite's wartime recipes
0:08:53 > 0:08:56'summed up Britain's can-do attitude.'
0:08:56 > 0:09:00I wasn't letting anybody be sorry for themselves. I wouldn't sympathise with you
0:09:00 > 0:09:04cos you hadn't meat, I'd have just chivvied you along
0:09:04 > 0:09:07so that you felt you were living on the fat of the land.
0:09:07 > 0:09:12I made a film which was all about what Christmas was like on the home front in the Second World War.
0:09:12 > 0:09:16So rations have kicked in, the U-boats are patrolling the waters,
0:09:16 > 0:09:21you can't get much into the country, and you're very unlikely to get your whole turkey,
0:09:21 > 0:09:24or even a chicken, and so you have to make do.
0:09:24 > 0:09:28And the result was coming up with what were called mock goose or mock duck.
0:09:28 > 0:09:32An awful lot of breadcrumbs. A lot of chopped apple.
0:09:32 > 0:09:37And you would shape it into something that looked a bit like a bird and roast it.
0:09:37 > 0:09:41So I made one of these with a social historian and then served it up to Marguerite Patten,
0:09:41 > 0:09:46who said it really wasn't far off what it would've been like in the Second World War.
0:09:46 > 0:09:49- What do you think of our mock duck? - I think it's extremely good.
0:09:49 > 0:09:53It would be a good savoury main dish.
0:09:53 > 0:09:57- What do you think of it? - Erm, I can actually imagine
0:09:57 > 0:10:02sitting down on Christmas Day in a period of wartime and being quite satisfied by this.
0:10:02 > 0:10:07It was horrible. As was the paraffin cake.
0:10:10 > 0:10:17'By the 1950s, rationing was over and television was emerging as a mass medium.
0:10:17 > 0:10:21'Marguerite pointed the way to a bright new future.'
0:10:22 > 0:10:27Attention, ladies and gentlemen. The electric cooking demonstration by Miss Marguerite Patten
0:10:27 > 0:10:30will start in exactly two minutes.
0:10:30 > 0:10:33Marguerite Patten? Marguerite Patten.
0:10:33 > 0:10:35That's the TV cook. She's awfully good.
0:10:35 > 0:10:38Oh! Well, we'd better go and see. Come along.
0:10:38 > 0:10:41Marguerite Patten was a great saviour to the nation
0:10:41 > 0:10:44because people were coming out of the forces having never really cooked,
0:10:44 > 0:10:51setting up house, wanting to learn to cook, which is why Marguerite Patten's BBC Cookery Club
0:10:51 > 0:10:55in the early 50s was a huge success.
0:10:55 > 0:10:58Now for the menu.
0:10:58 > 0:11:04A very useful sort of menu suitable for washing day because it needs no attention at all.
0:11:04 > 0:11:08She's appearing in the 50s. Rationing has only just finished.
0:11:08 > 0:11:13Not only do people not know how to cook, they've forgotten how to cook.
0:11:13 > 0:11:17What Marguerite Patten's saying to you is, "There's butter and currants in the shops,
0:11:17 > 0:11:22"go and buy them, you've got ten years' worth of money from working on munitions to spend on it,
0:11:22 > 0:11:24"go and buy it, get back into the kitchen
0:11:24 > 0:11:28"and I'll show you how to make something that doesn't taste of victory pie."
0:11:29 > 0:11:32Here we are. Doesn't it all look nice?
0:11:32 > 0:11:35In fact, we might say we have a meal fit for a queen.
0:11:35 > 0:11:40Isn't it wonderful when you see old footage like that? It's amazing.
0:11:40 > 0:11:44'In 1954, Marguerite cooked up her legendary Christmas pudding.
0:11:44 > 0:11:48'A thousand Christmas puds would follow on TV,
0:11:48 > 0:11:51'but none of them quite like this.'
0:11:51 > 0:11:54So come across and meet Marguerite Patten OBE. How are you?
0:11:54 > 0:11:57I'm fine. I love making Christmas puddings
0:11:57 > 0:12:01because it's the start of that lovely feeling of excitement, a bubbly feeling inside.
0:12:01 > 0:12:04I remember when Marguerite came on the show
0:12:04 > 0:12:08and we were talking about her Christmas pudding and all the things that went into it.
0:12:08 > 0:12:11We're really going back almost to wartime days.
0:12:11 > 0:12:16- Grated carrot.- Yes.- Cos, of course, carrots were our lifeline. They went in everything.
0:12:16 > 0:12:20But even today, I still like carrot in the pudding
0:12:20 > 0:12:22because it gives it a nuttiness and flavour.
0:12:22 > 0:12:27'But it was another ingredient that shocked the 50s audience.'
0:12:27 > 0:12:32And then we come to the alcohol. I like using old ale or stout,
0:12:32 > 0:12:37but if you'd rather use some of that and some of rum or brandy, fine.
0:12:37 > 0:12:39And that goes in.
0:12:39 > 0:12:42The letters that she got about that! The complaints that she got!
0:12:42 > 0:12:47Because at that time, they were "intoxicating the nation"
0:12:47 > 0:12:51which meant that perhaps we couldn't go to work the next day.
0:12:51 > 0:12:54I think Churchill was equally guilty at the time.
0:12:54 > 0:12:57When I first used alcohol in 1954,
0:12:57 > 0:13:01the BBC had a very, very stern letter.
0:13:01 > 0:13:06I and Winston Churchill were corrupting the youth of Britain.
0:13:06 > 0:13:09I because I was cooking with alcohol, he because he was drinking it.
0:13:09 > 0:13:12'With Marguerite's boozy pudding,
0:13:12 > 0:13:17'the relationship between television, cookery and Christmas was consummated.
0:13:17 > 0:13:22'By the 60s, TV was starting to play a big part in our festivities
0:13:22 > 0:13:25'and showing those festivities back to its viewers.'
0:13:25 > 0:13:29- Is custard all right with Christmas pudding?- White sauce is better.
0:13:29 > 0:13:31You don't want anything to lie too heavy, do you?
0:13:31 > 0:13:34- Merry Christmas, all. - Hello!- Merry Christmas.
0:13:34 > 0:13:37I'm a big Coronation Street fan and I think those early years,
0:13:37 > 0:13:40the black and white years, really were...
0:13:40 > 0:13:43It was just a completely golden era.
0:13:43 > 0:13:48- Will you give Dennis custard? - I'll give him a thump round the ear if he goes on like he has been.
0:13:48 > 0:13:53The stuffing's worrying me. I was thinking of using that packet stuff. Maybe I should make my own.
0:13:53 > 0:13:59There's an early episode where you've got Ena, Minnie and Martha
0:13:59 > 0:14:02sitting around a table eating Christmas pudding,
0:14:02 > 0:14:06all with a bottle of milk stout in front of them, which is fantastic,
0:14:06 > 0:14:08and Ena chokes on a sixpence.
0:14:08 > 0:14:11- It's a classical pudding. - Lovely.- Oh, I am glad.
0:14:11 > 0:14:14I don't think you can beat it well matured.
0:14:14 > 0:14:17- SHE COUGHS - Shall I bang her on the back?
0:14:17 > 0:14:21No, don't. I'll get you a drink of water.
0:14:21 > 0:14:24Don't bother. Have you been maturing it with raisin stalks in it?
0:14:24 > 0:14:29Oh, no, I pick them most particular, Ena. It's one of my pleasures.
0:14:29 > 0:14:32Just as Christmas is a common experience on television,
0:14:32 > 0:14:35in terms of us all sitting down and watching the same shows,
0:14:35 > 0:14:41so is the Christmas dinner a common experience, we all sit around the table and tuck into turkey.
0:14:44 > 0:14:47'But when television reflected on this shared experience,
0:14:47 > 0:14:51'it was usually seen as a source of conflict.'
0:14:53 > 0:14:56Oh, God love us, sit down!
0:14:56 > 0:14:59It's a mark of respect, innit!
0:14:59 > 0:15:01It's your national anthem!
0:15:01 > 0:15:04Not in front of the television set in your own home.
0:15:04 > 0:15:08Listen, you traitorous Scouse git! LAUGHTER
0:15:08 > 0:15:11I've got a bit of respect for Her Majesty, I have.
0:15:11 > 0:15:15She has to have her Christmas dinner late cos of doing that speech.
0:15:15 > 0:15:19- She has to go up to the BBC...- I hope they put it in the oven for her.
0:15:19 > 0:15:23- She has to go up to the studio... - He'd see to that.
0:15:23 > 0:15:26- She has to go...- He'd make sure it was kept hot for her.
0:15:26 > 0:15:29Shut up, you silly moo!
0:15:30 > 0:15:36'By now, post-war austerity was giving way to a new world of aspiration and affluence.
0:15:36 > 0:15:42'The new face of TV cookery broke with the make-do-and-mend spirit of the past.'
0:15:42 > 0:15:47Introducing before an audience of 7,000, Fanny and Johnnie Cradock.
0:15:47 > 0:15:51Ladies and gentlemen, will you please glance at your programmes?
0:15:51 > 0:15:56Marguerite Patten to Fanny Cradock is Delia Smith to Nigella.
0:15:56 > 0:16:03And Fanny Cradock was a decade later and she was glamour incarnate.
0:16:03 > 0:16:07And so now we are going to put in for you
0:16:07 > 0:16:14the little bit of first Elizabethan turkey grandeur.
0:16:14 > 0:16:16We see Fanny Cradock on stage at the Albert Hall.
0:16:16 > 0:16:21It was being terribly, terribly extravagant. "Oh, this is the way you do it."
0:16:21 > 0:16:25And it was the voice, too. You had to be terribly, terribly posh.
0:16:25 > 0:16:30The tail feathers mounted and proud.
0:16:30 > 0:16:36And the head mounted as for the first Queen Elizabeth.
0:16:36 > 0:16:40Nobody wore a taffeta ball gown to cook in like Fanny Cradock.
0:16:40 > 0:16:46That was the hilarious part about Fanny. She was completely overdressed for the job.
0:16:46 > 0:16:51Fanny and Johnnie carried on with the business of piping a pattern of chestnut puree around a serving dish
0:16:51 > 0:16:55in readiness for the traditional Christmas turkey.
0:16:55 > 0:17:01She swung about with such style and she had her attentive Johnnie, always with a glass in his hand.
0:17:01 > 0:17:04No, Johnnie, not at the Albert Hall.
0:17:04 > 0:17:08I suppose, looking back, that was quite revolutionary for the time.
0:17:08 > 0:17:12It was almost a Morecambe and Wise play on cookery, wasn't it?
0:17:12 > 0:17:17- I've been watching that fella on television.- Who?- Danny Cradock. LAUGHTER
0:17:17 > 0:17:21- Who?- Danny Cradock.- Fanny Cradock!
0:17:21 > 0:17:24Well, it's his own fault. LAUGHTER
0:17:24 > 0:17:27For shutting the oven door too quickly.
0:17:28 > 0:17:31'If Marguerite was the first TV cook,
0:17:31 > 0:17:35'Fanny was the first celebrity TV cook,
0:17:35 > 0:17:39'loved or loathed for her persona, not her recipes.
0:17:39 > 0:17:44'She didn't do a Christmas series till the 70s, but it was worth the wait.'
0:17:44 > 0:17:48Fanny Cradock having a series on cooking for Christmas was a real breakthrough.
0:17:48 > 0:17:51We start with the most important of all, the turkey,
0:17:51 > 0:17:54which is, after all, the British national bird.
0:17:54 > 0:17:57This curious pinching movement that I'm doing here
0:17:57 > 0:17:59is to loosen the skin
0:17:59 > 0:18:03so that afterwards, I can put my hand underneath
0:18:03 > 0:18:06and run it right through the skin
0:18:06 > 0:18:09so that it holds right away.
0:18:09 > 0:18:12I love just how practical the show was and how it showed you
0:18:12 > 0:18:17in real time how to prepare birds for cooking for Christmas.
0:18:17 > 0:18:22And she had a lot of banter and I thought she was amazing.
0:18:22 > 0:18:26I'm no women's lib, don't think for a moment. I'm not such a clod.
0:18:26 > 0:18:30But there are times when men do make fools of themselves.
0:18:30 > 0:18:35Haven't you seen them getting scarlet in the face and struggling with the bird when they do the carving?
0:18:35 > 0:18:40Fanny made it really fun and it made the woman somehow the queen.
0:18:40 > 0:18:45"Men can't carve," you know. "Only women can carve if you do it my way."
0:18:45 > 0:18:50Remember to leave the skin on your mushrooms and put them in like this.
0:18:50 > 0:18:53How good her recipes were, I have to say, I don't know
0:18:53 > 0:18:55cos I've never used them.
0:18:55 > 0:18:57# So this is Christmas
0:18:57 > 0:19:01'Outside Fanny's kitchen, these were hard times.'
0:19:01 > 0:19:05The official advice to Britain's housewives was "Don't panic".
0:19:05 > 0:19:09There's still only the threat of a strike, but they didn't seem to be paying much attention to that
0:19:09 > 0:19:12in the morning rush to the bread shop.
0:19:12 > 0:19:15'Luckily, Fanny was there to rally the nation.'
0:19:15 > 0:19:20Look at the different cooks appearing. You can chart the progression of Britain
0:19:20 > 0:19:27by these cookery programmes, and Fanny is very, very squarely in the middle of Britain in decline.
0:19:27 > 0:19:32And may I say how much I admire the housewives of Britain
0:19:32 > 0:19:38in these appalling present conditions for their courage is trying to give their families a super Christmas.
0:19:38 > 0:19:42It's all very 70s and it's all very three-day week. Things are very basic.
0:19:42 > 0:19:47The presentation style is quite East German. It's all very straightforward.
0:19:47 > 0:19:49She's glamorous, the cooking isn't.
0:19:49 > 0:19:53Here are the pink cream buns.
0:19:53 > 0:19:59There are the little miniatures for very special parties which keep so well. And those are coffee eclairs.
0:19:59 > 0:20:02I think everybody should watch Fanny Cradock
0:20:02 > 0:20:06just for the pure humour of it.
0:20:06 > 0:20:10Now there, instead, is a Christmas goose.
0:20:10 > 0:20:15The kind of thing that a maiden aunt that you always have because she's lonely on Christmas Day
0:20:15 > 0:20:18or some other elderly lonely person says,
0:20:18 > 0:20:21"Oh, I can't eat goose because, you see, it does repeat so!"
0:20:21 > 0:20:27There is not a single vegetable cooked during How To Cook At Christmas.
0:20:27 > 0:20:32But that's because everybody in Britain knows how to cook vegetables in the 70s. You boil them.
0:20:32 > 0:20:39There's a school of thought in France which says that if an omelette looks perfect, it doesn't taste perfect.
0:20:40 > 0:20:42Which sounds odd.
0:20:42 > 0:20:47Because you don't want it to get like leather while you're putting in the mincemeat.
0:20:47 > 0:20:52It's a bygone era, and just look at the food, not that we were eating, cos we weren't eating that.
0:20:52 > 0:20:56The food we were aspiring to back then probably wouldn't make it into most people's bins.
0:20:56 > 0:21:00So like Tiny Tim, God bless you all, I say.
0:21:01 > 0:21:04'Fanny's achievement was more cultural than culinary.
0:21:04 > 0:21:10'She took cookery out of the kitchen and into the television mainstream.'
0:21:10 > 0:21:14I saw that one where you shoved all those mushrooms up the chicken!
0:21:14 > 0:21:18- LAUGHTER - My mother and I were enchanted!
0:21:18 > 0:21:21It was that special one where you shoved them all up inside the skin!
0:21:21 > 0:21:25- Off you go now.- Run the rolling pin all the way round the edge.
0:21:25 > 0:21:28'Television was starting to realise the power of festive food
0:21:28 > 0:21:31'to hold an audience.
0:21:31 > 0:21:35'The force of Fanny's personality did the rest.'
0:21:35 > 0:21:38She did emerge at a time when Saturday night television
0:21:38 > 0:21:41was starting to make a serious impact.
0:21:41 > 0:21:46And Saturday night television is a very hungry beast. It's constantly looking for innovation.
0:21:46 > 0:21:49You take this rolling pin. It has to be heavy enough to knock me out
0:21:49 > 0:21:53and I've been knocked out hundreds of times. When I go to the barbers now,
0:21:53 > 0:21:58- if I haven't got a mark on my head, he says, "Is the old woman ill?" - LAUGHTER
0:21:58 > 0:22:04It says a lot for her personality that she was able to sit in that world and make an impact.
0:22:04 > 0:22:09A minute and a half to make a lovely Fanny Cradock mince pie starting from now.
0:22:09 > 0:22:14'If cookery now had a small part on Christmas television,
0:22:14 > 0:22:17'television had a huge part in our Christmas ritual.'
0:22:17 > 0:22:20In the 70s, when there were only three channels,
0:22:20 > 0:22:26the whole nation, it seemed, sat down to watch the Morecambe and Wise Christmas Show. It was holy writ.
0:22:26 > 0:22:29- Is it done yet?- I'll have a look. COCKEREL CROWS
0:22:29 > 0:22:31LAUGHTER
0:22:31 > 0:22:34Almost. APPLAUSE
0:22:34 > 0:22:38'And the dinner itself had become a staple of seasonal sitcom.'
0:22:38 > 0:22:42- I suppose everybody would like a bit of breast.- I've never refused.
0:22:42 > 0:22:48- And stuffing?- I've never...- Shut up! LAUGHTER
0:22:48 > 0:22:52Comedy writers seem to go there again and again and again.
0:22:52 > 0:22:56And you think, "Why?" But we all know why. It's the perfect vehicle.
0:22:56 > 0:22:59Help yourselves to gravy and cranberry sauce. Any luck?
0:22:59 > 0:23:03Afraid not. I'm afraid my novelty's gone forever.
0:23:03 > 0:23:06- I could've told you that years ago. - LAUGHTER
0:23:06 > 0:23:10The Christmas meal is a gift, for sitcom especially.
0:23:10 > 0:23:14You have a lot of people in a small area.
0:23:14 > 0:23:18They have to follow certain traditions which everybody recognises.
0:23:18 > 0:23:20You have all of the tensions, all of the complaints.
0:23:20 > 0:23:24You have a perfect set-up for comedy.
0:23:24 > 0:23:27If everybody's got everything, I think it's time for a toast.
0:23:27 > 0:23:31- A Christmas toast.- Oh, yes, certainly, happy to oblige.
0:23:31 > 0:23:35It's the sort of idealised 70s Christmas
0:23:35 > 0:23:40which means it must be liberally sprinkled with
0:23:40 > 0:23:43arguments, repression and cliche.
0:23:43 > 0:23:47After all, that's what Christmas is all about, isn't it?
0:23:47 > 0:23:52'Christmas, with its ancient traditions and ritual, now seemed laughable.
0:23:52 > 0:23:56'Turkey in particular was tough for telly to take seriously.'
0:23:56 > 0:23:59And you get your butter, it should be nice and soft,
0:23:59 > 0:24:02and just stuff it right up in the ribcage.
0:24:02 > 0:24:06- Three quarters of a pound.- You see, Marlon Brando did this in a film.
0:24:06 > 0:24:08THEY LAUGH
0:24:08 > 0:24:11'We could count on television to entertain us over Christmas
0:24:11 > 0:24:15'but could we really entrust it with the making of the meal?
0:24:15 > 0:24:20'Fanny had diverted us, but we needed a safe pair of hands.
0:24:20 > 0:24:24'Television was about to step up to the plate.'
0:24:24 > 0:24:27I had read an article in the Sunday Times that said what Britain needed
0:24:27 > 0:24:30was a sort of culinary Mary Quant
0:24:30 > 0:24:34to do for English cooking what she had done for fashion.
0:24:34 > 0:24:36And that sort of struck a chord with me.
0:24:37 > 0:24:44If you want good advice, good sound advice, out of all the TV chefs there's ever been, Delia.
0:24:44 > 0:24:47Delia is just THE best teacher.
0:24:49 > 0:24:54She really did believe in showing you how to boil an egg
0:24:54 > 0:24:57and do things really simply.
0:25:01 > 0:25:06People trust her. They know her recipes work and she tells them slowly what to do.
0:25:06 > 0:25:10And here I am with one pound of beautiful chuck steak.
0:25:10 > 0:25:15And today I'm going to make a Mexican dish and that's called chilli con carne.
0:25:15 > 0:25:22'Out went the flamboyance of Fanny, in came a phenomenon that would confound the critics.'
0:25:22 > 0:25:27It's very deadpan. There are planks of wood that could probably present better than she does.
0:25:27 > 0:25:30Taste that and tell me what you think about it.
0:25:31 > 0:25:33Mm.
0:25:33 > 0:25:37But if you listen to it, it's all there.
0:25:37 > 0:25:40Everything you need is there and the food looks good.
0:25:40 > 0:25:44Hello again. This week, seeing as we're on the brink of winter,
0:25:44 > 0:25:47I'm going to talk about cold weather foods
0:25:47 > 0:25:51and I'm going to start off with real homemade soup simply because,
0:25:51 > 0:25:56well, with tins and packets being so convenient, we don't make it very often nowadays.
0:25:56 > 0:25:59'Delia was cooking for a changing nation
0:25:59 > 0:26:03'but fighting a familiar rear-guard action.
0:26:03 > 0:26:06'With supermarkets on the rise, she championed home-cooked food
0:26:06 > 0:26:10'in a world of ready meals and working mums.'
0:26:10 > 0:26:14It's been said that a lot of British cooks
0:26:14 > 0:26:18are not prepared to spend time in the kitchen using cheaper cuts. Do you think this is true?
0:26:18 > 0:26:24Women have not got the time. Either they go to work or they have the kids to pick up. Everything is a rush.
0:26:24 > 0:26:30She was cooking for the people who hadn't really been taught to cook so much by their mothers,
0:26:30 > 0:26:35who were just so excited by the supermarket and the beginning of tinned and frozen food
0:26:35 > 0:26:39that old ways of cooking were going out of the window.
0:26:39 > 0:26:42'Delia soon had the whole country eating out of her hand.'
0:26:42 > 0:26:45Can I ask you a question? I've had a bet with my mother-in-law.
0:26:45 > 0:26:49When you make a meat pudding, do you put raw meat in or precooked meat?
0:26:49 > 0:26:51- Raw meat.- Thank you, I've won £1.
0:26:51 > 0:26:56'By 1990, she was ready for her biggest challenge.'
0:26:58 > 0:27:01The phenomenon of Delia is extraordinary
0:27:01 > 0:27:04and when else do you need cookery advice than at Christmas?
0:27:04 > 0:27:11If Delia said that wearing paper hats makes the turkey taste strange, we'd all take our paper hats off.
0:27:11 > 0:27:14In this series, I'm very pleased to be able to invite you all
0:27:14 > 0:27:17into my own home here in Suffolk
0:27:17 > 0:27:21to share in all the busy preparations that lead up to Christmas Day.
0:27:21 > 0:27:24You start a few weeks ahead, and then the panic builds up
0:27:24 > 0:27:27and you get to that big crescendo which is the Christmas lunch.
0:27:27 > 0:27:31It's almost like the psychiatrist-patient relationship.
0:27:31 > 0:27:36Famously, patients transfer all their hopes onto the psychiatrist.
0:27:36 > 0:27:40And I think transference has gone on between the British public and Delia for a very long time.
0:27:40 > 0:27:44So I think the best thing to do is to start off by making a list
0:27:44 > 0:27:46and then tick them off as they all go in.
0:27:46 > 0:27:50First on the list is actually making a Christmas cake.
0:27:50 > 0:27:53What I want to do now is just help you to get organised.
0:27:53 > 0:27:58'We'd moved on in the 15 years since Fanny. We'd left the studio
0:27:58 > 0:28:02'and Delia showed us not just how to cook the meal, but how to source the ingredients.'
0:28:02 > 0:28:06Which one should I choose if I was going to buy it and why?
0:28:06 > 0:28:11Well, you'd want to choose one like this.
0:28:11 > 0:28:13It's got a nice bit of fat to it.
0:28:13 > 0:28:16- Yes, that's important for flavour. - Yes.
0:28:16 > 0:28:18'Delia helped us out with our Christmas shopping.'
0:28:18 > 0:28:22So what I do year after year now increasingly
0:28:22 > 0:28:27is actually do a lot of my shopping by post and use the mail order services.
0:28:27 > 0:28:30'And she even gave us meat-free options.'
0:28:30 > 0:28:33But actually, I myself don't really believe in vegetarian food.
0:28:33 > 0:28:38I think anything that tastes good is suitable for everybody, whether they like meat or not.
0:28:38 > 0:28:41Where Fanny would salute the women of Britain
0:28:41 > 0:28:46for cobbling together a Christmas dinner in trying circumstances,
0:28:46 > 0:28:50well, things are different now. What you're supposed to do
0:28:50 > 0:28:54is make a bigger and better and fancier and more thoughtful
0:28:54 > 0:29:00and more careful and more handmade and more tailored and more exciting Christmas dinner.
0:29:00 > 0:29:04We've emerged from the 80s, the recession of the 90s hasn't happened yet,
0:29:04 > 0:29:07everything's very comfortable.
0:29:07 > 0:29:10Everything's very Delia.
0:29:10 > 0:29:14And the cheese I'm using is this one here, which is a mozzarella cheese.
0:29:14 > 0:29:18'There were new ingredients that would never have made it into Fanny's larder.
0:29:18 > 0:29:22'And wine was now an integral part of the Christmas meal.'
0:29:22 > 0:29:25- Now try your sticky toffee pudding. - Right.
0:29:27 > 0:29:32And now what we need to do is try the wine again. See how you think it tastes now.
0:29:35 > 0:29:38- Much drier.- That's right.
0:29:38 > 0:29:42'Britain wasn't just listening, we were making notes.
0:29:42 > 0:29:45'One word from Delia and sales went through the roof.'
0:29:45 > 0:29:50And then there's a new ingredient that goes in next, something you might not have seen before.
0:29:50 > 0:29:55The whole country ran out... I think it was liquid glucose when Delia Smith did some goopy pudding.
0:29:55 > 0:29:58Now, you buy liquid glucose at the chemist shop
0:29:58 > 0:30:03and I've got five tablespoons here which I'm going to put in with the chocolate.
0:30:03 > 0:30:09My brother did it and he was so pleased that he'd gone to six chemist shops before he could find it.
0:30:09 > 0:30:13The famous story of Delia Smith mentioning the cranberries
0:30:13 > 0:30:17and then there being a cranberry rush like there's a run on the banks.
0:30:17 > 0:30:20They put in one key ingredient, everywhere will be sold out.
0:30:20 > 0:30:27It's a fascinating new phenomenon, this idea that some herd instinct overtakes us at Christmas.
0:30:27 > 0:30:30Television is an incredibly instant thing.
0:30:30 > 0:30:34Everybody does it and then everybody forgets about it.
0:30:34 > 0:30:39'But the concept of the Christmas cookery show hadn't changed since the 50s.
0:30:39 > 0:30:41'We were still being given instructions.'
0:30:41 > 0:30:45I think one of the interesting things about the three female chefs
0:30:45 > 0:30:50is that they are nice, well-educated, middle-class people
0:30:50 > 0:30:53and they speak like nice, well-educated, middle-class people
0:30:53 > 0:30:58and I strongly suspect that they speak to that particular audience,
0:30:58 > 0:31:01which means there is a very large audience which has been excluded.
0:31:02 > 0:31:05'And the centrepiece of Christmas dinner?
0:31:05 > 0:31:09- 'That hadn't changed, either.' - Now the big moment when the turkey arrives.
0:31:09 > 0:31:13I'm not sure if any of us know why it's a turkey,
0:31:13 > 0:31:16it just is a turkey, because that's what's happened before.
0:31:16 > 0:31:21I've got six ounces of butter here and I'm going to spread that all over.
0:31:21 > 0:31:25The symbolism of a Christian meal doesn't need to involve a turkey
0:31:25 > 0:31:30or parsnips or Brussels sprouts. I think it's one of those extraordinary situations
0:31:30 > 0:31:34which is quite powerful where simply because of familiarity,
0:31:34 > 0:31:37it's become a deep, deep part of our culture.
0:31:37 > 0:31:41And remember, it starts off at the higher temperature, gas mark 7.
0:31:41 > 0:31:45Now it's time to make my very favourite sauce, which is bread sauce.
0:31:45 > 0:31:48'Delia's Christmas reflected the Delia brand.
0:31:48 > 0:31:51'Dependable, reliable, doable.
0:31:51 > 0:31:54'She, too, had become part of the culture.'
0:31:56 > 0:32:01Right, so, I've prepared all the other ingredients well in advance.
0:32:01 > 0:32:07All that remains is to stuff this little chap with prunes in Armagnac.
0:32:07 > 0:32:10- Oh, great.- Lovely!- Ah.
0:32:10 > 0:32:13Er... Prunes in tequila.
0:32:13 > 0:32:20The thing about Delia is that she's foolproof. So here you have a fool trying to cook Christmas dinner.
0:32:26 > 0:32:28If you come out with an episode of a sitcom
0:32:28 > 0:32:32where the comedy lies in the inability to follow a Delia recipe,
0:32:32 > 0:32:36it tells you everything you need to know about the possibility of following a Delia recipe.
0:32:36 > 0:32:39You have to be a total idiot not to be able to do it.
0:32:39 > 0:32:42He tapped into that common experience that we all have
0:32:42 > 0:32:46of the fantasy Christmas and the real Christmas.
0:32:46 > 0:32:48According to Delia, we should be at
0:32:48 > 0:32:54- "Slide palette knife around pudding and turn out onto warm plate." - Yeah, well, bugger Delia.
0:32:54 > 0:32:58We all approach Christmas thinking that the family are going to be brought together,
0:32:58 > 0:33:01that everybody's going to like their presents,
0:33:01 > 0:33:06that the turkey's going to be delicious. All those things. We all expect that from Christmas.
0:33:06 > 0:33:10It's got a lovely, crisp, brown, golden skin now.
0:33:10 > 0:33:14The reality, invariably, is not quite as wonderful as that.
0:33:16 > 0:33:21And it also, of course, tapped into that other constant running theme
0:33:21 > 0:33:24of the man trying to cook the Christmas dinner.
0:33:29 > 0:33:32'Christmas dinner had always been a traditional meal,
0:33:32 > 0:33:37'but Britain had changed since Marguerite Patten's day and so had its cuisine.'
0:33:37 > 0:33:40Wherever you're from, you tend to bring your Christmases with you
0:33:40 > 0:33:43where you end up, and as a Caribbean person,
0:33:43 > 0:33:47our parents brought our Christmases from Jamaica here.
0:33:51 > 0:33:55A lot of immigrants that came into the country, they wanted to fit in
0:33:55 > 0:33:57so they went down the turkey route,
0:33:57 > 0:34:01and roast potatoes, that type of thing.
0:34:01 > 0:34:05But there was the rice and peas and there was lots of different vegetables.
0:34:05 > 0:34:09You know, it wasn't just a case of putting Brussels sprouts out there,
0:34:09 > 0:34:15they mixed it with beans and crispy onions and garlic and a little bit of cumin or something like that.
0:34:17 > 0:34:23It was very difficult to find recipes or chefs that you could identify with as a Caribbean person.
0:34:23 > 0:34:29What we saw on TV from Fanny and everybody else on TV wasn't exactly how we cooked as Caribbeans.
0:34:29 > 0:34:33Over the next few programmes, we'll look at some rather unusual menus,
0:34:33 > 0:34:38and tonight we turn to the Caribbean for inspiration. Rustie, what have you got for us today?
0:34:38 > 0:34:41Hello, everyone. I've got some swordfish, it's really great.
0:34:41 > 0:34:46This is the start of the Christmas breakfast for every Caribbean person, if they...
0:34:46 > 0:34:52I remember Rustie came along with this gargantuan laughter and this kind of expression of herself.
0:34:52 > 0:34:56And every Caribbean person waited for her to come on to switch on
0:34:56 > 0:34:59so that you can identify with the food that she was doing.
0:34:59 > 0:35:02Fantastic. I say bring back Rustie, she's brilliant.
0:35:02 > 0:35:06# Christmas, Christmases in England
0:35:06 > 0:35:11'Soon we'd start to see a few new faces. And new takes on cooking Christmas.'
0:35:11 > 0:35:15The stuffing is a sort of Persian-Indian mixture which I've worked out.
0:35:15 > 0:35:18I've tried it, it's wonderful, it's slightly sweet.
0:35:18 > 0:35:23We're very lucky that we do have a great sophistication
0:35:23 > 0:35:26relatively for curries, thanks to all the Indians and Bangladeshis
0:35:26 > 0:35:29and Pakistanis in this country.
0:35:29 > 0:35:35- Look at that!- It's not real Indian food, but it's a traditional English dinner with an Indian accent.
0:35:35 > 0:35:41'The new influences would transform the British Christmas. Up to a point.'
0:35:41 > 0:35:43People are now readier to experiment
0:35:43 > 0:35:46not on the basics, the basics of Christmas remain the same,
0:35:46 > 0:35:49the turkey remains the same, the sprouts remain the same,
0:35:49 > 0:35:51the roast potatoes remain the same.
0:35:51 > 0:35:55We are very fond of spices and so on, and certainly in the trimmings,
0:35:55 > 0:36:00but they're not going to knock the old tradition of its pedestal.
0:36:00 > 0:36:02DOORBELL
0:36:02 > 0:36:07- What do you lot want?- You! Now come on, Gary, get real, we've got a Christmas special to make.
0:36:07 > 0:36:12- Don't I even get Christmas off? - No, you're joking! But we've got a present for you.
0:36:12 > 0:36:14Right, now you're talking!
0:36:16 > 0:36:22'By now we had a new-found interest in food. And for some, new wealth to indulge it.
0:36:22 > 0:36:27'Our tastes were becoming more cosmopolitan. Britain was getting out more.'
0:36:27 > 0:36:30By the time you get to the 80s, presentation is different,
0:36:30 > 0:36:34because now people go to restaurants and recognise what they look like.
0:36:34 > 0:36:36You don't have to go just on your birthday.
0:36:36 > 0:36:42What Gary Rhodes attempts to do is show you that you can cook as if you're in a restaurant but at home.
0:36:43 > 0:36:46Now it's time to cook. And what am I going to cook for you?
0:36:46 > 0:36:50Well, it's Christmas time, and what do we always have? Turkey.
0:36:50 > 0:36:55Gary Rhodes is essentially the Delia strand of instructional cookery
0:36:55 > 0:36:57but taken one degree on.
0:36:57 > 0:37:04Let's give it a little Italian twist and this one's called Turkey Saltimbocca. Does that sound nice?
0:37:04 > 0:37:07He obviously is a restaurant chef, first and foremost.
0:37:07 > 0:37:13He's very precise, very deliberate, but what he also is is someone who doesn't compromise.
0:37:13 > 0:37:16There you've got a lovely cranberry and orange relish.
0:37:16 > 0:37:20Because I really want to make this a wonderful, colourful dish.
0:37:20 > 0:37:24Look at this. And if you don't want to do this, don't worry, just put it on the table.
0:37:24 > 0:37:27He's a good communicator, he's very good at explaining stuff.
0:37:27 > 0:37:31Despite the fact that he does have a few rather irritating ticks that come up.
0:37:31 > 0:37:35Make sure you've got your own Christmas antlers.
0:37:35 > 0:37:38- All the time. - I mean, would you wear this?
0:37:38 > 0:37:42He had such a big on-screen persona,
0:37:42 > 0:37:46but he never lost sight of the instruction he was giving across.
0:37:46 > 0:37:50Plunge into boiling salted water and cook without a lid.
0:37:50 > 0:37:55These two points are very important, they both help keep that beautiful rich green colour.
0:37:55 > 0:38:00'But showing people how to do the sprouts was starting to look old hat.'
0:38:00 > 0:38:03Do you fancy a night on the town? Come on, then.
0:38:03 > 0:38:06# I don't want a lot for Christmas
0:38:06 > 0:38:09# There is just one thing I need
0:38:09 > 0:38:13'Gary gave us a glimpse of the roasts of Christmas future.'
0:38:13 > 0:38:16# Underneath the Christmas tree
0:38:16 > 0:38:18The thing about cookery programs today
0:38:18 > 0:38:21is they're not just as they were with Fanny Cradock,
0:38:21 > 0:38:25or indeed with Delia, which were lessons in how to do.
0:38:25 > 0:38:28They are selling a lifestyle.
0:38:28 > 0:38:32'Where Fanny had brought cookery into the world of entertainment,
0:38:32 > 0:38:35'Gary brought entertainment into the heart of cookery.'
0:38:37 > 0:38:41So here I am, in the city of London, cooking on ice...
0:38:41 > 0:38:47I worked with Gary for over ten years and he did quite a few Christmas specials.
0:38:47 > 0:38:51And it seemed as if each one they wanted to push him further away
0:38:51 > 0:38:56from what would have been seen as practical and useful.
0:39:02 > 0:39:06'Soon it wasn't enough to cook Christmas dinner, you had to do it in New York.'
0:39:06 > 0:39:10That's the biggest sandwich I've ever seen.
0:39:10 > 0:39:15Can you believe it? Cooking in a limo on Fifth Avenue. Amazing. This is a brilliant dish for you,
0:39:15 > 0:39:20nice and easy at Christmas, just have it on toast, it's brilliant, it's going to be a smoked eel pate.
0:39:20 > 0:39:25What you are actually watching is entertainment. If you look at Fanny Cradock,
0:39:25 > 0:39:28Formica kitchen counter,
0:39:28 > 0:39:33two Belling cookers, plastic bowls, there's no backdrop, there's no set,
0:39:33 > 0:39:39there's a Christmas tree that disappears out of shot within seconds of her appearing,
0:39:39 > 0:39:41and then she just cooks.
0:39:41 > 0:39:46By the time you get to Jamie and Nigella, by way of Gary,
0:39:46 > 0:39:51who does a bit of scooting around and driving around, the cooking is secondary.
0:39:51 > 0:39:53Everything is about the look.
0:39:53 > 0:39:56Naked is what I call my way of cooking.
0:39:56 > 0:40:00What I cook in the restaurant isn't what I cook at home.
0:40:00 > 0:40:04Cooking has to be a laugh. It's got to be simple. It's got to be tasty. It's got to be fun.
0:40:05 > 0:40:09The important thing to recognise with all food television
0:40:09 > 0:40:13is it's not about the food, it's about the personality of the people involved.
0:40:14 > 0:40:17No way. It's not me, it's the food.
0:40:18 > 0:40:21I mean, somebody like Jamie, everybody loves Jamie.
0:40:21 > 0:40:24He's a nice kid and you want to listen to people that you trust.
0:40:24 > 0:40:28'Fittingly, modern television cookery had its epiphany at Christmas,
0:40:28 > 0:40:34'when TV discovered Jamie working as a lowly chef at the River Cafe.'
0:40:34 > 0:40:36I know this seems like quite a bit of an effort,
0:40:36 > 0:40:41but it's really worth it for your Christmas dinner, isn't it?
0:40:41 > 0:40:47Well done, Jamie, that's beautiful. Shall we just... What we didn't do is put any of this on the top skin,
0:40:47 > 0:40:50- and we did talk about it, so shall we just...- Rub it? - Rub it down like that.
0:40:50 > 0:40:56Jamie was a chef at River Cafe at the time when that filming took place, and as he himself said,
0:40:56 > 0:41:00it was just fluke that he had a shift that moment when they were there filming at the restaurant.
0:41:00 > 0:41:04He was chosen maybe because he has the gift of the gab.
0:41:04 > 0:41:08This prosciutto has been rubbed with garlic. Lovely-jubbly.
0:41:08 > 0:41:12The next day, he got six phone calls from different production companies,
0:41:12 > 0:41:17and he kept thinking it was his mates phoning up and taking the piss.
0:41:19 > 0:41:26'It had taken Fanny 20 years to get her Christmas show. It took Jamie just three.
0:41:26 > 0:41:32'He seemed to capture the spirit of Yule Britannia, where cooking was fun and Christmas was cool.'
0:41:32 > 0:41:36What you saw was what you got on and off camera.
0:41:36 > 0:41:39Right, me old darling, I've got a mad dessert idea.
0:41:39 > 0:41:41It's a replacement for Christmas pudding.
0:41:41 > 0:41:45I don't really get on with it, all those raisins and sultanas do me in.
0:41:45 > 0:41:50We watched Jamie because he was fun to watch, he had a great way of speaking, moving...
0:41:50 > 0:41:53Thank God for this machine, saved me a bit of old wrist work.
0:41:53 > 0:42:00His cookery was very casual and not quite as, dare I say, stiff and instructional as Delia and Gary was.
0:42:00 > 0:42:02And I think the audience was ready to move on with him.
0:42:02 > 0:42:07Give it a peel, and keep peeling it, and you end up with lovely little strips like that.
0:42:07 > 0:42:11Having fun in the kitchen has turned things on its head
0:42:11 > 0:42:16from the kitchen being somewhere you shiver with nerves and open Delia to make sure you've done it right.
0:42:16 > 0:42:22'Jamie took Christmas cookery even further from the old filmed lecture format.'
0:42:22 > 0:42:26In the past, it was a lesson. Here's how to not screw up Christmas lunch.
0:42:26 > 0:42:28And here's how to do the basic elements.
0:42:28 > 0:42:34I think now, it's much more of a "Join me in my wonderful life."
0:42:34 > 0:42:36"Wouldn't you like to be me?" is what he is saying.
0:42:36 > 0:42:40There's no doubt that the programme is about Jamie's lifestyle,
0:42:40 > 0:42:43rather than just the food that he's suggesting you cook.
0:42:43 > 0:42:46- How are you?- Lovely to see you.
0:42:46 > 0:42:52'Delia had invited us into her beautiful home for Christmas. Jamie introduced us to his family.'
0:42:52 > 0:42:57Mum's doing some parsnips over there, which, if you don't mind, chop them into half...
0:42:57 > 0:43:01He's a boy from Essex with his parents and with his grandma and all of that,
0:43:01 > 0:43:04and they all just seem like normal people
0:43:04 > 0:43:10who manage, perhaps due to the amount of time the cameras have been around, to be themselves on camera.
0:43:10 > 0:43:14I used to have to say, "If you listen very carefully,
0:43:14 > 0:43:18- "you can hear Father Christmas..." - Mum, shut up!- "..in the distance"
0:43:18 > 0:43:21And he always used to say, "I think I can hear him!"
0:43:21 > 0:43:25That's what an audience wants. They want to feel comfortable when they watch someone.
0:43:25 > 0:43:31And Jamie is very, very good. In fact, he is much better at television than he is as a cook.
0:43:33 > 0:43:36Hey! Happy Christmas, everybody!
0:43:36 > 0:43:42'And something else had changed. The Christmas cookery show was as much about consumption as the cooking.'
0:43:46 > 0:43:49There is one major significant difference
0:43:49 > 0:43:55between Christmas cookery programmes before the 90s and after the 90s.
0:43:55 > 0:43:59Before the 90s, what they were doing was showing you how to make the food.
0:43:59 > 0:44:03That's it. They assume that you know how to provide the family.
0:44:03 > 0:44:08By the time you get to Jamie, everything is fragmented.
0:44:08 > 0:44:10Or the assumption is that everything is fragmented.
0:44:10 > 0:44:15You have to be shown now how to have dinner round the table with everybody.
0:44:15 > 0:44:20You have to be shown how to have Christmas with friends or family.
0:44:20 > 0:44:22That's part of the instruction.
0:44:22 > 0:44:28'TV cookery had grasped a truth about Christmas dinner that TV drama had always known.
0:44:28 > 0:44:32'It wasn't the meal that was the problem, it was the people.'
0:44:32 > 0:44:37- The first toast is to the chef. - ALL: The chef!
0:44:37 > 0:44:42I think the tragedy of modern life is so few people do sit down and eat with their families.
0:44:42 > 0:44:49So when Christmas comes around, they desperately want to have this family atmosphere and everybody sitting down
0:44:49 > 0:44:55but they're not used to it and maybe they're not used to cooking. And so the tension is there.
0:44:55 > 0:45:01Look, Chrissie has spent all morning slaving over this hot turkey so that we can all have a nice lunch.
0:45:01 > 0:45:04If you have arguments with each other, this isn't the right day.
0:45:04 > 0:45:07'The strain was starting to show on television, too.
0:45:07 > 0:45:14'The relationship between TV and Christmas, once so exciting, was in danger of becoming over-familiar.'
0:45:14 > 0:45:17COCKEREL CROWS / LAUGHTER
0:45:17 > 0:45:20A few more minutes, I think.
0:45:20 > 0:45:22Every time Christmas comes around,
0:45:22 > 0:45:27I think broadcasters and TV producers go, "What are we going to do this time?"
0:45:27 > 0:45:31In the soaps, they do it by building a big storyline up,
0:45:31 > 0:45:33which reaches its crescendo on Christmas day.
0:45:33 > 0:45:37Let go of her hand! Let go of it!
0:45:37 > 0:45:43There's usually a death, a heart attack, a divorce, or something, a mugging, whatever it might be.
0:45:43 > 0:45:46Could you not have waited till after dinner?
0:45:46 > 0:45:49But there is always the fairy lights on in the background.
0:45:54 > 0:45:58'Nowhere was the heat fiercer than in the TV kitchen.
0:45:58 > 0:46:02'With so many cooks now jostling for space in the schedules,
0:46:02 > 0:46:06'we were all under pressure to come up with something different.'
0:46:06 > 0:46:12Now we have chefs coming out of every kind of TV channel as soon as we switch it on and it's Christmas.
0:46:15 > 0:46:20I am constantly asked to do an alternative Christmas thing,
0:46:20 > 0:46:23and you just think, "What is the point?"
0:46:24 > 0:46:28It's really hard to come up with reinventing the wheel.
0:46:28 > 0:46:31I've got food and travel magazines from the 50s and 60s,
0:46:31 > 0:46:34some of the American magazines, And I scramble through there,
0:46:34 > 0:46:38trying to find new ideas, or old ideas to be reinvented.
0:46:38 > 0:46:42'And not only do you have to reinvent Christmas, you have to do it in summer.'
0:46:42 > 0:46:44One of the programmes, we actually did it,
0:46:44 > 0:46:49it was about the time when the BBC were getting very nervous about telling the truth,
0:46:49 > 0:46:54so there was a bit of a thing, "Do we have to tell people that this is actually July not Christmas?"
0:46:54 > 0:46:58So we set the whole thing up with lots of decorations,
0:46:58 > 0:47:02then we came out to my garden and there's all the crew drinking beer in their shorts.
0:47:02 > 0:47:06It's looking really quite Christmassy now. Can we start?
0:47:06 > 0:47:09- Yeah.- Well, come on, it's Christmas!
0:47:09 > 0:47:13As a greengrocer, what really annoys me is all these food magazines
0:47:13 > 0:47:16asking me for out-of-season produce
0:47:16 > 0:47:19so they can do their Christmas photo shoots. I don't care!
0:47:19 > 0:47:22It's September. I can't find you parsnips, Brussels sprouts,
0:47:22 > 0:47:26neither can I find you chestnuts. They don't exist right now.
0:47:26 > 0:47:30'Eventually we'd end up doing Christmas
0:47:30 > 0:47:32'where Christmas doesn't exist.'
0:47:32 > 0:47:36They asked us to make a programme about Christmas,
0:47:36 > 0:47:39we thought, "How can you make Christmas in Thailand?"
0:47:39 > 0:47:45But then, of course, we thought, "17 ways to deal with too much turkey." And it worked a treat.
0:47:45 > 0:47:50We came up with all kinds of stir-fries and salads
0:47:50 > 0:47:52and things to do, curries, as well.
0:47:52 > 0:47:57So it was a way of getting out of a slightly tricky situation
0:47:57 > 0:48:02which is, how do they celebrate Christmas in Southeast Asia?
0:48:02 > 0:48:04Answer, they don't.
0:48:04 > 0:48:09- Would you do something like this in Thailand?- Not really.- No?
0:48:09 > 0:48:12Because we usually found turkey in the zoo.
0:48:12 > 0:48:15Christmas is the burden that the brand has to carry.
0:48:15 > 0:48:20Rick and Nigella and Delia and Jamie all weave their magic,
0:48:20 > 0:48:26but I bet you if you asked them, they would say, "Do you know, I'd like to pass on Christmas this year."
0:48:26 > 0:48:31I have my very own ghost of Christmas that haunts me and jolts me awake at night.
0:48:31 > 0:48:35- BANG ON DOOR - My nightmare is this.
0:48:35 > 0:48:39People dropping in, last-minute family gatherings,
0:48:39 > 0:48:42all the seasonal socialising which should be joyful.
0:48:42 > 0:48:49But, oh no, in my anxiety-provoked dream, this terrible, terrible thing happens to me.
0:48:49 > 0:48:52My fridge is bare.
0:48:52 > 0:48:54As if!
0:48:54 > 0:48:58Nigella Lawson is the most extraordinary confection.
0:49:00 > 0:49:02# Merry Christmas, baby
0:49:02 > 0:49:07You must remember this is a woman who was political columnist with The Observer for a long time.
0:49:07 > 0:49:11And now she is the domestic goddess. And maybe you do pick up a few recipes
0:49:11 > 0:49:15but really you tune into Nigella to watch her waft.
0:49:15 > 0:49:21Right! Let's get to it. I've got my bowl of Christmas gravy cheer,
0:49:21 > 0:49:25but first, I'm going to release the turkey from its briny bath,
0:49:25 > 0:49:32and yes, I did get these in my Christmas stocking.
0:49:32 > 0:49:35Well, Nigella is all about sex, she's selling...
0:49:35 > 0:49:39The amount of times she licks her lips
0:49:39 > 0:49:44and looms wonderfully forward over whatever she's cooking, she's a delight.
0:49:44 > 0:49:50And this needs to simmer now for about two hours, and I suppose I ought to go and get dressed.
0:49:50 > 0:49:53"Yum-yum!" she says all the time, licks her fingers.
0:49:53 > 0:49:57Fanny Cradock was very busy saying, "I have washed my hands, haven't I?"
0:49:57 > 0:49:59You know, Nigella goes...
0:50:01 > 0:50:06'Nigella's Christmas was extravagant, indulgent and knowing.'
0:50:06 > 0:50:12I am going to break away from the crowd for a moment to do some last minute frying-up of the crab cakes.
0:50:12 > 0:50:16'And like all great Christmas cooks, Nigella had her own effect.'
0:50:16 > 0:50:19This is my recipe for the perfect roast potato.
0:50:19 > 0:50:26These have been parboiled. But instead of dredging them in flour, as is the usual practice,
0:50:26 > 0:50:29I dredge them in semolina.
0:50:29 > 0:50:32Why? Why would you do that?
0:50:32 > 0:50:39There's a sweetness to semolina and a slight graininess that makes them incredibly crunchy.
0:50:39 > 0:50:42It creates this horrible crust.
0:50:42 > 0:50:46If you've got poor teeth, that's certainly going to damage the teeth.
0:50:47 > 0:50:51'Luckily, no-one at Nigella's parties had poor teeth.'
0:50:52 > 0:50:58What Nigella is doing is making us all lustful.
0:50:58 > 0:51:02We want not just to cook the food that she cooks,
0:51:02 > 0:51:05but we want to have her friends and drink from those lovely glasses
0:51:05 > 0:51:11and we want her money, her glamour, you know, it's just fantasy.
0:51:11 > 0:51:16I have devised my plan of action, and I use it year in, year out.
0:51:16 > 0:51:20And I'm not just enthusiastic, I am evangelical about it.
0:51:20 > 0:51:25Denise Royle wants to have a perfect Nigella Christmas
0:51:25 > 0:51:29in the Royle Family Christmas special, even though her house looks nothing like it,
0:51:29 > 0:51:33even though she can't cook and she doesn't have the ingredients.
0:51:33 > 0:51:38- Time to parboil the potatoes, which simply means... - Have we got a parboiler?
0:51:38 > 0:51:40No, combi-boiler.
0:51:41 > 0:51:44The thing you have to understand is that all TV cookery
0:51:44 > 0:51:48is television first and food about fourth down the line.
0:51:48 > 0:51:53So it's literally impossible to create in your own house
0:51:53 > 0:51:56the kind of Christmas that they show on TV.
0:51:56 > 0:52:01And all I wanted, all I wanted for was just a day like Nigella's,
0:52:01 > 0:52:04that's all I wanted was for it to be like Nigella's.
0:52:04 > 0:52:07SHE SOBS
0:52:07 > 0:52:11One of the most infuriating things about Christmas cookery programmes these days
0:52:11 > 0:52:16is the fact that you're not provided with a list of the ingredients.
0:52:16 > 0:52:20Because part of the aspiration is that you want the book.
0:52:20 > 0:52:25Now, you're getting the book whether you like it or not because that's the present.
0:52:26 > 0:52:33I've got all the TV cooks' books, Nigella's and Delia's and I think Jamie probably,
0:52:33 > 0:52:36and it's amazing, you know, the sales of those things.
0:52:36 > 0:52:40Do people follow them? I think they like to have the book there.
0:52:40 > 0:52:45You need a book, even though you've been there before, it was 300-odd days ago,
0:52:45 > 0:52:49and even though you have four or five books on the shelf
0:52:49 > 0:52:53that will tell you exactly what want, you want to know what the modern twist is.
0:52:53 > 0:52:57Christmas is a fantastic time of year for produce and food in general.
0:52:57 > 0:53:02- Do you have any real Christmas favourites?- I love the whole thing.
0:53:02 > 0:53:07But this year my traditional Christmas cake recipe, which has now been in print for 40 years,
0:53:07 > 0:53:10is going to be the easiest thing ever.
0:53:10 > 0:53:15'Cookery shows and the books that went with them were now just part of a greater Christmas story.'
0:53:15 > 0:53:21You begin to see this alliance of the marketing planets, can't you, over Christmas?
0:53:21 > 0:53:24When there's the supermarkets, and there's the chefs,
0:53:24 > 0:53:29and frequently, of course, the chefs are used in advertising by the supermarkets.
0:53:29 > 0:53:32Cinnamon. Try it with icing sugar on your mince pies.
0:53:32 > 0:53:38Newspapers play a part in this, magazines, everybody is getting in on the act.
0:53:38 > 0:53:42A lot of the chefs now do work with the supermarkets, they are virtually sponsored by them.
0:53:42 > 0:53:47The supermarkets are also advertising in the space between the cookery shows,
0:53:47 > 0:53:51and then they stack the ingredients on the shelves that the chefs suggest.
0:53:51 > 0:53:53They're coming at us from all angles.
0:53:53 > 0:53:57There's something about the smell of the home-baked Christmas cake...
0:53:57 > 0:54:01We're not stupid. We know what everybody's motivation is,
0:54:01 > 0:54:05television programmes want ratings, supermarkets want to sell more stuff.
0:54:05 > 0:54:10But the truth is we enjoy it. That's why we do it. And, you know, why not?
0:54:14 > 0:54:19'While the marketeers and ad-men were content to bathe Christmas in a warm, nostalgic glow,
0:54:19 > 0:54:22'one chef was looking to the future.'
0:54:24 > 0:54:27My restaurant has three Michelin stars and has been voted
0:54:27 > 0:54:29one of the best in the world.
0:54:29 > 0:54:32Now I'm bringing my multi-sensory approach to cooking
0:54:32 > 0:54:38to deliver a once-in-a-lifetime Christmas meal unlike anything ever seen.
0:54:38 > 0:54:43'2007 saw television reinvent the Christmas meal one more time.
0:54:43 > 0:54:49- 'And instead of sex...' - I think Heston Blumenthal is all about interesting science, really.
0:54:49 > 0:54:52He's making us think differently.
0:54:52 > 0:54:58Now to the meal. I decided to create a frankincense tea to include in my dish.
0:54:58 > 0:55:04Now, the idea with this is to make an extraction at a lower temperature of frankincense.
0:55:04 > 0:55:07He is clever. He is very, very on the ball,
0:55:07 > 0:55:12and it's not all about what is not allowed to be called molecular gastronomy,
0:55:12 > 0:55:15cos I don't know what you call it, but a lot of it is about
0:55:15 > 0:55:21looking at food and doing a very nice, attractive spin on it, really.
0:55:21 > 0:55:28Now take a glass cloche and place it over some roasting chestnuts, into which the smoke then rises.
0:55:30 > 0:55:34The idea with this is that the guests when they first take the soup,
0:55:34 > 0:55:37they pull the jar off and turn it upside down.
0:55:37 > 0:55:41Then they get the full impact of the smell of chestnuts roasting on an open fire.
0:55:43 > 0:55:49'Here was a chef who'd travel to the ends of the earth to create his signature dish.'
0:55:49 > 0:55:54I can't kill Santa's little helper for my Christmas lunch, but I do have an idea.
0:55:55 > 0:55:58Reindeer ice cream? Please.
0:56:00 > 0:56:04Well, I'm milking myself a reindeer. Never thought I'd see the day.
0:56:04 > 0:56:09The thing about Heston is, you know, Heston is a brilliant guy, but it's an honest meal,
0:56:09 > 0:56:16it's not something that we're trying to reinvent really. I don't think we should be trying to reinvent it.
0:56:16 > 0:56:22The great thing about this technique is that because the nitrogen is minus 197 degrees centigrade,
0:56:22 > 0:56:29the ice crystals that form are tiny, making the ice cream really creamy and smooth.
0:56:29 > 0:56:34It's actually, in a way, far more honest than the likes of Jamie or Nigella's programmes,
0:56:34 > 0:56:39because while Nigella and Jamie are saying,
0:56:39 > 0:56:44"Oh, if only you could do what we do, you would have a marvellous Christmas."
0:56:44 > 0:56:49Now, Heston, there is not a chance in hell you'll ever try any of this.
0:56:49 > 0:56:54My nitro-scrambled reindeer milk ice cream on toast.
0:56:54 > 0:56:59It's a scientific programme. You might as well have Magnus Pyke presenting.
0:56:59 > 0:57:04- Oh, that's nice, isn't it? - It's not any less entertaining for that, but it is far more honest.
0:57:04 > 0:57:06This is amazing.
0:57:06 > 0:57:09'After half a century,
0:57:09 > 0:57:13'it seemed the links to instructional cookery had finally been severed.'
0:57:15 > 0:57:17'And the moral of this story?
0:57:17 > 0:57:20'Don't do this at home.'
0:57:20 > 0:57:26Heston is a wonderful man. Lovely man. Very few have got Heston's touch, passion or ability.
0:57:26 > 0:57:30Don't go there, people! Don't go there. It will all end in ruin.
0:57:32 > 0:57:36'It's a message that would have shocked the TV chefs of the past.
0:57:36 > 0:57:42'But at the end of it all, how much has our Christmas dinner really changed?'
0:57:42 > 0:57:47The turkey was the most desired bird in the 1950s as it still is now.
0:57:47 > 0:57:53The same complaints about Brussels sprouts were uttered in 1955 as are now being uttered in 2011.
0:57:53 > 0:57:56'And how much do we really want it to?'
0:57:56 > 0:58:00We come back to tradition year after year after year.
0:58:00 > 0:58:05The families all come together. Even when they hate each other.
0:58:05 > 0:58:10I don't like a lot of the traditional British Christmas lunch.
0:58:10 > 0:58:14I don't like dry turkey, I don't particularly like dull stuffing,
0:58:14 > 0:58:17but does it make me feel at home?
0:58:17 > 0:58:22Does it make me feel warm and confident and, I suppose, British?
0:58:22 > 0:58:24Yeah, it does.
0:58:24 > 0:58:27# Everyone dancing merrily
0:58:27 > 0:58:30# In the new old-fashioned way
0:58:31 > 0:58:35Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:58:35 > 0:58:39E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk
0:58:39 > 0:58:39.