Ep 139: Nadiya Hussain

James, huge news from the world of off-menu and indeed the world of the world.

Yes.

Ever heard of the Royal Albert Hall?

I have.

We've done live shows there.

And guess what?

We're doing more live shows there next year.

Sure, a lot of them are sold out already.

But we thought, hey, throw these guys a bone.

Let's put on one final Royal Albert Hall show in that run.

The show will be on Monday, the 16th of March.

It's going to be a tasting menu, a returning guest coming back, receiving the menu of another previous guest.

Those shows have been a lot of fun.

We cannot wait to do them live.

Who will we pull out of our little magic bag?

You'll have to come along on the 16th of March to find out.

If I'm correct in thinking, presale tickets go on pre-sale on the 10th of September.

Pre-sale tickets are 10th of September at 10 a.m.

And then the general sale is 12th of September at 10 a.m.

So if you miss out on the pre-sale, don't forget general sale is only two days later.

The day in between is for reflecting.

Get your tickets from royalalberthall.com Hall.com or offmenupodcast.co.uk.

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Welcome to the off-menu podcast, opening the cereal box of chat, pouring out the crispity, crunchy segments of humor, pouring over the ice-cold milk of the internet, getting the spoon of um podcasting, eating it, eating it all up.

I said segments and it's through me, James.

I don't know what I was flakes.

I should have said flakes.

Crispity as well, you said.

I loved it.

Crispity Crunchity.

Crispity Crunchity.

That was our gamble there.

Give him one of his signature intros.

My name is James Acaster.

Together, we own a dream restaurant, heads of the Matri D.

I'm a genie waiter, and we invite a guest in every single week to tell us their dream menu, their dream starter, main course, dessert, side dish, and drink, not in that order.

And this week, our guest is Nadia.

Wonderful cook, baker, presenter, broadcaster, winner of Bake Off.

She's brilliant.

She's written books.

She's got a new range coming out, a new collab.

A fancy collab with prestige of cookware.

Very excited to have her on.

One of my favourite Bake Off contestants ever and has gone on to do so many wonderful things.

I've also loved seeing her be interviewed in the past.

And so I know that this is going to be a fun one.

However, Ed,

there is a secret ingredient that if Nadia says it, we are going to chuck her out at the restaurant.

And I'm sorry about that.

Yes, unfortunately.

And I believe you have a secret ingredient, James, this week, which has been suggested by a listener called Francis Bell.

Yes, Francis Bell suggested matcha.

Ding dong, ding dong

matcha.

Now, listen, ding dong, ding-dong, matcha.

I

like it in certain contexts.

Obviously, we've gone on loads about the French toast at Shak Fuyu and the matcha green tea ice cream that goes with it.

So, obviously, I like it as a flavor, broadly speaking.

However, I do understand how some people might not like it.

I will allow it as a secret ingredient, even though I usually like it.

Well, look, here's what I'd say.

Here's how I'd justify it.

I do like a cup of matcha tea.

I love that.

I think it's delicious.

I don't really like tea.

Matcha is probably my go-to, lovely tea with the powder and stuff.

Great.

Love it in desserts, obviously.

Don't Don't mind matching chocolate-based things.

Here's what I'd say: every time whiteys get their hand on something from another country and they get obsessed with it, it goes in everything.

So there's like matcha beer.

There's matcha, there's all sorts of matcha things that we don't need, guys.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Stop getting, it's it's these trends.

People hop on them and then they burn out on them.

Maybe we should make matcha beer the secret ingredient so that it's something we don't like as well as Francis Bell.

All right, okay, matcha beer.

I'll take it.

Yeah, matcha beer.

Francis Bell's happy.

We're happy.

Yeah.

Ding-dong, ding-dong, ding-dong.

I now understand why you said ding-dong ding-dong.

I didn't know that before.

I was like, well, whatever he's done there with the matchup thing, probably something to do with matcha.

I don't understand it.

It's because Francis Bell ding-dong ding-dong.

But that's what a great friend and broadcaster.

And yes, Andy, you are.

You just went, you didn't go, Ed, why are you saying ding-dong, ding-dong?

You were like, Ed's fine, Ed's saying ding-dong, ding-dong.

Best not question it.

There'll be a reason for it, and I'll probably discover it later.

Just parroted it back at you.

He just said, ding-dong, ding-dong back ding-dong ding and then that was it yeah um you're on tour oh yeah thanks man electric uh i'm on tour i'm doing my show electric uh it's going very well so far i'd love you to come and see it if you live uh near any of the places that i still have to come if you go on to edgamble.co.uk you'll be able to get tickets for it thank you also i have a book coming out in the summer uh and uh you can pre-order it now it's called james a castle's guide to quitting social media being the best you can be and curing yourself of loneliness volume one It is all about how I gave up social media and how you can as well.

And if you think that sounds a bit serious, let me reassure you now, it's the stupidest book I've ever written and it is not at all serious.

You released a very nice trailer for it,

which you had to beg all of your friends on social media to tweet because you left social media and you've written a book about how great it is to leave social media, but you need social media to promote the book.

Yeah.

Let me assure you, Ed, we're going to go big on social media with this one.

We are going to promote it as much as possible on there.

I tweeted the video from my Twitter account and it got me a lot of traffic.

Yeah.

I think we hit 200 retweets.

Oh, yes.

We're going to go viral with this book and you can all put social media together.

Yes.

And then do come and see me on tour, though.

Yes.

More important.

Go see it on tour.

I can't wait to read your book though, James.

And I say, when I say read, I mean listen to.

Yes, the audiobook.

Yes.

You're a big boy now.

It's 2022.

Yeah.

I'm not sitting down with a book and using my eyes.

No, if we release this podcast as a book, no one would read it.

But it's in everyone's ears every week and they absolutely love it.

Soon, James,

audiobooks will be too much for people and they'll have to take novels like a pill.

Well, anyway.

It's blowing my mind there with that one.

Without further ado, this is the off-menu menu.

Nadia Hussain.

Welcome, Nadia, to the Dream Restaurant.

Hello.

Hi.

Welcome, Nadia Hussain to the Dream Restaurant.

We've been expecting you for some time.

Here we go.

Well, thank you very much for having me.

Absolute pleasure.

It's very exciting.

This is...

Yeah.

I didn't know I was going to say the first bake-off winner we've ever had, but we had Michelle Goddamn Keegan on.

So that's okay.

But that's not a real bake-off winner.

No, the first proper bake-off winner we've had on.

Not that celebrity Tosh, Nadia.

Well, thank you.

Listen, anywhere where there's food, I am happy to be there.

This is exactly the attitude we require in the dream restaurant.

You wouldn't believe the amount of people we've had on who just are eating absolute nonsense, who are just eating to survive.

and that's not what it's about is it nadia you see say that like we grew up in a house where food is a big deal you know my mum's an amazing cook and it's one of those you know she's one of those cooks who doesn't really realize that she could cook with her hands tied behind her back and her eyes closed but she doesn't realize that she's that good and dad worked in restaurants so you know food has been a huge part of my from the for as long as i can remember it's always been about food and i have a sister who basically lives on coffee and toffee crisp i can't understand

I don't get it.

Like, you know, like, if there's a joyless eating, and she just, it's like, oh, I love a toffee crisp.

I'm like, yeah,

you know.

Why is it specifically toffee?

Has it always been toffee crisp that she's obsessed with?

Yeah, it's always been toffee crisp, but she comes around.

Like, she was around mine yesterday in her dressing gown and she sat there.

And I was like, Do you want something to eat?

And she's like, No.

I'm like, I don't even like you anymore.

Like, what is that?

Like, you know, like, if somebody says, do you want to eat something?

I'm like, yes.

Like, I'm not even hungry, but I'm like, yes, go on.

What do you have on offer?

Like, I'm interested.

And don't get me wrong.

I don't dislike people who don't like food, but I also dislike people who don't like food.

I can't quite explain it.

Do you feel like they're rejecting your love?

I mean, it could be as deep as that.

I just, it could be as deep as that.

Big question that is, but I'm a feeder.

Like, and I love, I always have food knocking around the house.

There's always something in the fridge.

There's always something in Tupperware.

There's cake.

There's always something knocking around.

And like, even if I haven't got loads of stuff in, I've got stuff in the freezer, whether it's brownies, cake, you name it, I have something in the freezer.

I'm like, do you want something?

She's like, nah, she's too controlled.

You see, she's too controlled.

And I have zero control around food, so it doesn't work for me.

I have a couple of questions popping up from that.

Firstly, did she bring her dressing gown with her?

And then, as soon as she arrived, get into her dressing gown straight away?

Or does she have a dressing gown at your house that she gets into, like her dressing gown?

Oh, no, no, she drove from her house in her dressing gown and slippers.

Okay.

I love it.

Yeah, she lives around the corner.

So she literally knock-knock.

I was like, oh gosh, she's at the door.

Love her.

My other sister loves food.

So when she comes around, I'm like, hey, she's like, what have you got?

And that's it.

She just gets in the fridge.

She gets in the cupboards.

What have you got?

And I love that.

There's a joy around eating and feeding.

And that I really, really love.

But I do push.

I'm a food pusher, even though I have toffee crisps for her.

I have them.

I don't, that's not the first thing I offer her.

I'm like, do you want this?

Do you want that?

She's like, just leave me alone.

She hates it.

She hates it.

She gets quite irate about it.

Where are you here age-wise?

Are you the oldest sister, the youngest, the middle one?

No, I'm one of six.

So I sit in the middle.

I'm number three of six.

And I have two older sisters and I have three younger siblings.

So these ones that you're talking about at the minute, are they younger or older than you?

Oh, no, she's the eldest.

Like my eldest sister is the one that does, she loves a toffee, crisp and a coffee.

And like, she's the eldest, so she's in terms of hierarchy, I can't really say very much to her.

Like, it's all in secret WhatsApp groups that I can talk about her, but not to her face.

Probably tell you that this podcast isn't secret, just so you know.

Yeah, there is that.

There is that.

I don't need much probing.

I'm just saying.

Like, I'll just like speak.

I will just say stuff.

Hopefully, she doesn't listen.

Yeah.

It's such a weird chocolate bar to be your favorite as well, because I mean, I hope I'm not speaking out of turning it.

It's one of the worst chocolate bars the toffee has.

Oh, it's quite nice.

I mean, it's okay on occasion.

It's not one that I would revisit every day.

No.

It's a bit serially, you know, it's a bit preschool.

It doesn't have enough of anything for it to warrant as the kind of bar that you would like revisit.

Yeah, your go-to bar.

Yeah.

Also, I bet you can make a really nice version of it.

Have you tried doing that for your sister?

Have you tried making a sort of pimped-up toffee crisp?

No, she just, yeah, she's not a big eater.

If she ate yesterday, then she'll come in and say, Yeah, I ate so much yesterday.

I'm not that hungry today.

And that's it.

Like, she will, that's her first thing when she comes in.

She's like, Yeah, I'm not hungry.

Because she knows I'll just push.

No, I haven't made a toffee.

Maybe this year I will make her a toffee crisp.

No, let's not encourage the toffee crisp.

Stop.

Stop encouraging toffee crisp.

We're trying to put other foods in her repertoire apart from toffee crisp, please.

Sure, you could twist it.

You could say this is a toffee crisp cake, and you could put another little flavor in there and just introduce it bit by bit.

No, see, when she loves simple things, and a lot of my family members, they love simple things.

Whenever I bake them cakes, it's usually cake, fresh fruit, cream, maybe at a push.

Like, they don't do things like cardamom and lemon, and they don't like flavor really in cake so they just like really simple things and so when i bake them cake sometimes i might put a little bit of i don't know some mixed spice in there or throw a bit of cardamom in uh some orange whatever i might add something and often a lot of them would eat it and say oh you've done that whole bakey thing again i'm like what flavor

yeah like just because it's not like a plain cake and some cream or maybe some fruit they're like oh no you've done that whole work thing again i'm like you know it's called cake and it's like you can put other things in cake My mum's like,

has she put vanilla?

She can't say vanilla because there's no V in the Bengali language.

So she said, have you put the vanilla in?

And I'm like, no, mum, I haven't.

And I'm like, yes, I have.

And she's like, I can taste the vanilla.

I can taste it.

My family are not great to test recipes on, but like my kids.

love it.

Husband loves it.

My brother, really adventurous.

So anything I make and put in front of him, he will always give it a good go.

So apart from one, you know, there's always one disappointment in the family.

Yeah.

Isn't there?

There's always one disappointment, let's face it.

But yeah, the rest of them will try everything.

My wife's granddad hates garlic.

He says, I hate garlic.

What?

I don't know why people put it in food.

I absolutely hate garlic.

And then what will happen is my mother-in-law, when she cooks for him, she'll just put garlic in anyway.

And he'll go, oh, this is delicious.

There's something in this.

There's something different in this flavor and I absolutely love it.

But you can't tell him it's garlic because then he'll go, no, I don't like it.

Yeah, that's it.

The second they hear that it's something that they don't like, that'll be it.

That's so bizarre, isn't it?

But he actually really likes the flavour.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

Oh, just add steps of flavor.

There's something in there that's a little bit different.

It's lovely.

Oh, see?

I got a new salt grinder for Christmas that has chili and garlic in it, and it does all of it at once.

And I think it's my favourite thing at the moment.

It's like that's a Christmas present.

Yeah, a little Christmas present.

It's in my stocking, actually.

Cute, cute.

I love it.

I love it.

It's like, it's such a simple thing and such a common thing.

But yeah, when I'm using it, I'm like, this has changed my life.

I feel like I'm saving time.

I'm like, this is great.

I don't have to chop up the chilies and do the garlic.

Although I kind of still am adding it to stuff that I've already chopped up chilies and chopped up garlic into.

And I'm just using that and making it extra chili, extra garlic, but it's great.

I just makes me feel good.

But that's what my husband does.

He's got like a selection of grinders, some with some mixed herbs and different types of...

black pepper, pink pepper mixed, you know, peppercorns, one with chili and garlic.

And he's quite enthusiastic when grinding his thing.

But he doesn't cook, cannot cook to save his life.

Something about that makes him feel really really useful we're talking about cooking i'd love to bring up your new range nadia that of cookware that you're doing with prestige nadia saying x prestige that's the sort of fashionable thing to do now you put an x in the middle and it shows a collab so the musicians could collaborate that isn't it that's

i mean you know it's almost as cool as that it's pretty cool it's pretty rock and roll for me to be able to have my own range like if for me it was one of those things it was a long time coming but i really wanted to work with somebody you know with a company that i respect a company that I've used through the years and you know working with prestige is about longevity you know they've been around for years and years and it's kind of the stuff that I saw my grandma used to have the you know the pressure cookers and things like that so it's stuff that I remember and you know for me it's a complete honor to work with somebody who I've known for such a long time it was creating all the little bits that I know I'll use in my house and that's what I loved about creating the range is just because it's stuff that I use around the house.

Now, lots of people ask me, like, is it going to make me a great cook?

Now, I can't promise that.

Like, I I can't promise that it's going to make you a fantastic cook.

But it is reliable.

And, you know, there's little details about the range that I've created to kind of give you that helping hand in the kitchen.

So, yeah, pretty proud of that.

Do you think your husband will be doing a collaboration on some grinders, perhaps, in the future?

Oh, yeah.

Who knows?

I mean, when this gets out, when this gets out, it could happen, couldn't it?

Very unlikely he'll do anything kitchen-related.

The last time he cooked, he forgot about the boiled eggs and then couldn't find them and found that they were lodged in the ceiling.

What?

Yeah, so where he'd boiled the eggs, the water had evaporated, and obviously they were just bouncing around in a dry pan and they had nowhere to go.

And then he'd forgotten that he's put these eggs on boil and here's this loud crash and all four eggs are in the ceiling and

like literally attached to the ceiling.

And I come in from work and I'm like, well, he's up there with the with the kind of like wallpaper scraper thing and and trying to take bits off.

I said, what, what have you what have you done he's like nothing and i kid you not he'd got the paint out and everything ready to disguise the fact that we had eggs on it i was like oh my god

shell he's like yeah so just don't cook just don't go in the kitchen like don't yeah i would say sometimes when people say like you know oh they're a bad cook so i forbid them from cooking i always feel it's a bit harsh but if he overboiled the eggs to the point where they bounced up into the ceiling, I think it's fine to say he can't cook anymore.

Congrats on the range sounds great.

And is it good to know, like, there's been a lot of winners of Bake Off over the years, but you're essentially the champion of champions and you've done the best out of all of them.

Do you remind yourself of that sometimes?

That they're all a bunch.

Everyone else who won it is actually a loser because you have done much better than them.

And now you have your own range years after being on Bake Off and they've done nothing.

Well, I mean, if you'd asked me that and I was like seven, I might say, yay, you know, like I might agree with you, but like being a grown-up, I perhaps can't say that.

But I mean, if you want to say it, you can say it.

You feel it though, yeah.

You it in your heart.

Maybe now that you've said it, now you've like planted the seed, yeah.

You said it, James.

Nadi's not agreeing, she's just she can bask in it.

So she's not agreeing, yeah, yeah.

I'm not agreeing, but I am basking in the glory of it.

I'm happy that you feel my joy, yeah, and that's enough for me.

Yes, that was my grown-up answer.

Perfect, very diplomatic

still or sparkling water.

You are gonna hate me.

Everyone in the world is gonna hate me for this.

So

I really like tepid, warm still water ah warm interesting yeah yeah i'm like an elderly person yeah my grandma used to drink that she used to have to have to have a mug of hot water in the morning yeah i'm like in the morning the first thing i drink is hot water so i drink warm water and even i mean not even warm i i like it when it's just been sat out and you know when it's just yeah you know when it's been set out and like the kids haven't drank a glass of water and it's like bubbly around the side oh i'll happily drink that i that's like perfect temperature for me i do not like cold water Do you leave out some glasses of water before you go to bed to make sure you've got your perfect tepid water?

No, but the best kind of water is the bottle of water that I take upstairs to bed with me every night.

And then I'll drink it.

I may drink it through the night.

And if I don't, I get really excited when I wake up and it's like bubbly around the side.

And I'm like, yay!

Tempid.

And then I'll drink that.

And I love that.

I love that.

I don't know what it is.

There you go.

James has got.

Don't entice me, you.

Don't entice me, you.

That is my water that was by my bed when I went to sleep and I am drinking it now, to be fair.

I don't want to tip it away.

Don't tip it away.

Don't hurt me.

That's like, no, that's good water.

That's like seasoned water.

Don't don't ever

get away.

A little bit of age to it, like a steak.

But I don't like ice.

I don't like icy water.

I don't mind a bit of sparkling occasionally, but it has to be tepid and it never is.

So I always go for like tepid water.

Sorry to disappoint you.

This feels like a toffee crisp moment.

No, it's interesting.

We haven't had this answer before.

if you were in a restaurant and they said would you like some water still or sparkling or tap water what would you say to them i always ask them to give me a glass of hot water on the side and then i kind of do my own little mixing

wow

no one is ever gonna like me

so you have you ask for a cold water a hot water and a thermometer and then you're gonna get the exact right then i kind of do this mixy thing and i tell them don't fill it up because you can't really fill up two glasses so sometimes sometimes they don't listen.

Then I'm like, can I have another glass, please?

And they're like, oh my God, there she is.

That stupid celebrity asking for three glasses of water.

You know, one empty, two different temperatures.

I'm like, can you imagine how ridiculous that sounds?

But yes.

But sometimes I just carry my bottle around and that's got the perfect tepid water from the night before.

So I am never without.

What ratios are we talking when you get the empty glass and you got the hot water and the cold water?

What percentage of it do you fill with cold water?

Are you actually interested?

Yes.

We've never had someone say that they want tepid tap water before in the dream restaurant.

This might be the only time you ever get to have this conversation.

You know what?

I'm so pleased I get to give you new and exciting content.

I'm so excited.

Two-thirds cold and one-third hot.

And that gives you the perfect tepid.

Yes.

That's a recipe for you.

Yeah.

You can have that.

Thank you.

Thanks for that.

On the rare occasion I've tried to make like bread or like prove something or activate yeast.

Quite often the recipe says you have to have cold water and then add a certain amount of hot water to bring it to the right temperature is that where this comes from this idea i want to say it's as elaborate as that but yeah mostly no i just like tepid water i just hate icy water i hate i i i don't like ice lollies like my husband loves iced lollies every night he probably has about five or six i just don't like cold things i don't like super super cold stuff um and that might be just a lifetime of tonsillitis that stopped me from drinking really cold water yeah and that's that's the real answer so i don't know how we got to tonsillitis, but here we are.

Did you actually have a lifetime of tonsillitis?

I do.

I still suffer with tonsillitis.

Well, that's exactly why then.

There we go.

That's that's that riddle cracked.

Do you think it's time to get rid of the old tonsils?

I don't know if you're allowed to when you're older.

I'm not sure.

Oh, what?

Hold on.

You still got them?

Yeah, I still have them.

But yeah, every year they come back like an unwanted friend.

Hold on a sec.

Do you want me to Google now?

Can you get your tonsils taken out as an adult?

Yeah.

Yeah, you can Google that.

Why haven't I Googled it?

Yeah, I was going to say.

While James James is googling, I just want to backtrack a little bit and ask you if your husband genuinely has five or six ice lollies a night.

He does have five or six ice lollies.

So, what he does is he starts off with one and then he puts the other, he has a jug, he has a jug specific for his ice lollies, and he has the other five in there and they start to defrost gently.

And so, he says the last one is the best one because it's the perfect amount of defrost.

Uh, and then he like slurps away at that.

I can't stand it because I hate, I just don't like ice lollies.

But he sits there every night five or six ice lollies.

Go on, James.

Can I have my tonsils out?

I think you can.

But it is worse.

It's worse for adults having your tonsils removed.

That's what I heard.

Yeah.

Pop-dubs or bread.

Pop-nobs or bread, Daddy Hussein.

Pop-nobs or bread.

What, not what?

Hobnobs or bread?

Pop-a dumbs or bread.

Pop-a-dums or bread.

Oh, I thought you said hobnobs.

You scared me.

You're so loud.

Pop-a-doms.

Feel free to pick hobnobs if you want.

Yeah?

Yeah, no, I don't even like hobnobs.

They get stuck in your teeth.

Really good for a cheesecake base, though.

Really good for a cheesecake base.

But yeah, poppadoms, for sure.

Love poppadoms with chutney.

Oh, my God.

Yes.

So chutney would be the dip of choice?

Yeah, so mango chutney would be the dip of choice.

And that really like bright red onion thing that they serve.

Do you, I don't know what that is.

The hot one.

And you know what?

I'm not going to ask.

I don't want to know what it is.

Please, James, do not Google it.

Don't.

Just don't, because it's probably not good for us and it's probably colouring our insides.

But I really love that really sweet red thing that's got like loads of chopped onions in love that with popadoms yeah don't google it what do you think of the the lime pickle i think it's a bit too sharp personally and they're too chunky so you get this big bit of lime pickle in your mouth you're like oh it's a bit much i don't know i i didn't i don't know what i was expecting you to pick there i thought bread might get more of a look in maybe because obviously you're very famous for your baking and smashing bread week and stuff like that but it was straight it was straight to pop a doms yeah i have like i have an obsession with crisps and my dad ran restaurants his whole life and when i would sometimes i'd go and pick him up after my work after my shift and he had this kind of poppadum oven that would keep them warm and he'd say shall i leave the poppadum oven on and i said yes please and then i'd go and i would literally sit through like i and and no dips nothing he'd cleared all that away so he'd never save any of that for me i would just sit there like a hamster just eating my way around this popadum in circles yeah in circles like that like that like that till you get rotated in yeah rotate it as you go and that's what I would do so yeah pop a doms always it just reminds me of my dad and being at his restaurant used to love that I've never heard of the circle technique before because obviously normally when you sat around a plate of popadoms someone cracks them or you break them apart you break off shards but you're sat there with the popadom turning it round slowly and nibbling off circles until it's just a tiny little disco yeah there's a way like everything has a way like twix has a way of eating you know like people have ways of eating kit kat twix well let's get into it with poppadoms because for me when you do the smashy thing like you might get a big bit i'm not a good tapas i'm not a big tapas fan because i i'm not good at sharing food when you get like five meatballs and there's six people who gets i mean that doesn't work for me that stresses me out so i'm always the one that's like it's okay i don't want one i didn't want one anyway i'm too polite and so i go home with like fomo yeah i'm like i didn't get to eat that but for me when you have a whole poppadum if you start nibbling and you get all the way around you've contaminated it ain't nobody want your poppadom yeah that's good so it's it's it's essentially just like grabbing a poppa dom and just licking it all over so no one else can have it it's basically yeah giving your pop a dom covid so nobody else wants it yeah yeah nobody nobody wants your covidy popadom so you just like sure eat all the way around and then you're like you don't want this how are you dipping that then because we've talked about the dips well your dad didn't leave you with the dips so that's why you were doing the circle no i never i was never left with the dips when i was at my dad's but now come on you you know you're an adult now you get to use the dips now are you still doing the circular technique and dipping as you go?

Less so, less so.

You know, when I'm like in public, for the fear of being judged, I won't do that.

But yeah, no, Papa Dom's likes, I put the chutneys on the plate and then just

go from there.

Again, I'm like a chutney fiend as well because, you know, I like to take as much as I want and then I'll be like, kids, you have the rest.

Does your sister have a technique to eating a toffee crisp?

Yeah.

No, no, she makes it look as unappetizing as she does.

Like, I mean, it's pretty unappetizing.

It's just straight in, open it up.

I mean, I wish she had a technique.

It would be great if she had a technique because that would make it a little bit more interesting.

It's just open it, coffee, eat, crunch, drink, done.

Quite unappetizing.

Never want to eat a toffee crisp in my life, ever again.

I quite want toffee crisp now.

I bet you do.

Now you do.

I can see it.

You're thinking about it.

Your dream starter.

Get into your meal proper now.

These questions are really hard because it's like I love everything.

I was going to like, okay, right, what am I thinking?

Prawns, peel pill for me.

Yes.

I love prawns, love seafood, grew up around eating, we grew up eating a lot of seafood.

And so for me, it's something as simple as that.

My mum would hope me because it's not Bangladeshi, so she'd want me to like pick everything that she'd ever cooked.

But for me, prawns peel pill of really simple garlic, tomatoes, parsley, crusty bread, just you know, easy and simple.

Because sometimes I think I grew up around a lot of overcooking and lots of spices.

So it's quite nice to have something really simple.

So for me, it would have to be that.

So your mum mainly did Bangladeshi food growing up.

So would she be hoping, if she was listening to this episode, that there were some Bangladeshi dishes in the menu?

There is some.

There's definitely some.

She's going to be happy later.

She'll be happy a little bit later.

And then she just turns off now because you said bronze peel peel.

She's like, oh, I'm not listening to the rest of this.

Fun shit.

I reckon she turned off way earlier.

Yeah.

Eggs in the ceiling.

Yeah, she turned off a while ago.

She doesn't listen to anything I'm on.

She doesn't watch anything I'm on.

She genuinely just doesn't.

She doesn't care.

She doesn't care.

She's like a good old fashioned Indian mum, you know?

Like, doesn't care.

Does not give a damn about what I do.

Often she says, When are you, when are you gonna go back to the kids?

Are you done yet?

And I'm like, Mum, I'm not on a jolly.

You know, this is an actual job.

She goes, You look like you're having too much fun for it to be a job.

I'm like, no, mum, it doesn't have to suck the life out of you.

Like, work doesn't have to suck joy out of your life.

You know, you can actually enjoy it.

She goes, I don't enjoy my work.

I'm like, well,

I'm happy for you, mum.

Like, she's won the argument with that.

Yeah.

Yeah, probably.

That's probably why nobody in our family lives past 60.

You know, let's be joyous, mother.

But yeah, she doesn't care, doesn't give a damn about what I do.

Couldn't care less.

Yeah, love it.

So, yeah, she's my mum is not maternal at all.

I mean, even as somebody who cooks for a living, when I take something round for her, I very rarely take anything round for her because she's so judgmental about everyone's cooking.

She opens it and the first thing she won't smell it, she will barely look at it.

And honestly, you can see the disappointment in her face.

She opens it and she's like, mmm,

it's gonna need modifying.

And then she'll close it and she'll put it away.

And then I'll get a call from one of my sisters saying, you know that beef thing that you made?

That was delicious.

I'm like, yeah, I gave that to mum.

She goes, yeah, she gave it to me.

So when she says modifying, she means she's going to give it to someone else.

Either that or she will put like other things in it.

She'll take the English out of it and make it Bengali.

Right.

You know, it's like if I do a stew or whatever, even if I make some bread, you know, she'll find a way of putting a masala egg on it or something like that.

She's like, sounds nice.

This is too English for me.

So she will make it Bengali in her own special way or she'll just give it away.

Yeah.

Masala egg does sound nice.

Yeah, it sounds quite nice.

Stop.

Don't encourage her.

Scrape that off the ceiling.

Lovely.

Now the pill pill.

Is there a place that you've had it before that's the best you've ever had, the best prawns pill pill that you would have for your dream meal?

We were in Spain when we had it for the first time ever.

And it's one of the things that we, when we go out with the kids and when we're on holiday with them, we try our very best to eat things that are authentic to wherever we're staying.

And I mean, don't get me wrong, when they were young, it was really easy just to find a McDonald's and try and feed them.

with a McDonald's.

But, you know, my kids are quite adventurous.

Like, if you ask them what their favourite thing is to eat, they'll tell you cow's tongue,

tripe.

They love tripe.

Wow.

So, yeah, like, they're quite adventurous.

They're not, I mean, honestly,

I was at a friend's house a few years ago and she made salmon, baked salmon.

And I kid you not, like, because the skin wasn't crispy, they were like, oh.

Yeah, so they were like slightly disappointed.

And, and, and, and I have to teach them that they can't do stuff like that because I'm like, they had run the risk of being my mother otherwise.

Yeah.

So I was like, guys, you've got to just eat what you're given.

Like, they are very adventurous.

But, you know, it's a conversation that they can have with lots of people when they go out.

They're like, oh, have you tried this?

And they love that people gurn at the thought of them having fish eyeballs and fish heads and things like that.

But it also makes for a really fun conversation for kids when they go out and they're like, oh, have you tried this?

Have you tried that?

So yeah, it makes them, maybe they should have a podcast.

I don't know.

Yeah, they just sound like me, to be honest.

I was exactly like that as a kid and I'm like that now.

I would have loved to have gone around as a kid saying my favourite food's tripe, like I was a little Yorkshireman from the 1930s.

Yeah.

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So, your dream main course, is that going to have some tripe in it, some offal in it?

What are we talking here?

No, so for me, my main dish would have to be uh chicken korma and rice.

Like, that's my go-to when I'm feeling a little bit kind of like I want something from home.

Very few people cook it the way it's traditionally cooked.

Not your kind of chicken korma that you would have at a restaurant, you know, with cashews and cream and it's not that kind of korma it's the kind of korma that's cooked and you cook it three days in advance and it's cooked with lots of onions ginger and garlic and no actual powdered spices it only has whole spices so cardamom cinnamon bay leaves and a little bit of fennel and you just literally cook that with your chicken and it always has boiled eggs in and you cook that over the day and then you put it in the fridge and you don't eat it for three days you just do not touch it for three days because the flavor develops after three days because you've got those whole spices in there and it's actually the curry that we feed our kids so it's the first curry you will feed your newborn your baby when it's like ready for weaning so it's the first thing we feed all of our children i like that you had to change that from newborn because like literally newborn i did i said newborn i had to quickly yeah as if on the on the ward you're giving birth and then going get the karma

Yeah, I had to take that back really quickly.

Thank you for thank you for noticing that you are displaying displaying traits of my husband.

More and more we talk.

The more and more we talk, you sound like my husband.

Just leaping on something that you've said.

Yeah, he would never let anything go.

He would highlight everything that I've done wrong.

But yes, don't feed your newborns coma, kids.

No.

I mean, your kids, I guess when your kids were newborns, knowing what their palate's like now, they probably requested to eat the placenta and the umbilical cord, I'd imagine.

Yes, yes, yes, they all came out chewing it.

Yeah, yeah.

We had to prize it off them.

Yeah.

Severed it themselves with their teeth.

Yeah, they did.

Their dad did not cut their umbilical cord.

They used their sharp teeth

gums

to sever it themselves.

Yes, that's exactly what happened.

Yes, don't feed your newborns coma, but that's the kind of thing that we would feed our children when they're weaning.

And very few people make it the traditional way.

And I used to always have a go at my dad and say, like, how come we don't serve this coma at the restaurant?

And dad was like, nobody's going to want this coma.

I'm like, everybody wants this coma, dad.

It's the nicest curry ever.

It sounds amazing.

It is absolutely delicious.

and they put eggs in it because back in Bangladesh when they used to cook it, meat was very scarce.

You didn't eat meat very often.

It was usually fish and it was a luxury.

So to make the curry go a longer way, they would add eggs to it.

So you've got that extra bit of protein.

So, and that just became traditional.

And I'm so sad that they don't serve it in restaurants.

So, you know, if I'm mad enough to ever run a restaurant, that would be one of the first things that I would put on a menu because my goodness, the world needs a decent chicken corma.

Well, I'm going to call it now.

I'm pretty sure that you will run a restaurant one day.

And I'm looking forward to that being on the menu because I really want to eat that now.

It is absolutely delicious.

It's one of the smells that can, it's like, it's not the kind of curry smell that sticks to everything and then you're trying to February everything.

It's just like it's so aromatic and it's so simple.

And when I cook it, which I don't cook very often because it's got loads of butter in it, maybe twice, three times a year for celebrations, my kids just, I mean, honestly, they become like I can get make my 15-year-old smile when I cook a coma.

And I'm just saying that kid doesn't smile.

Doesn't smile.

When you said cormor initially, obviously chicken cormor's got such a bad rep in terms of like the chicken corma, the one that you get in a curry house with the cashews and the cream and all of that stuff, because that's the curry that someone who doesn't really like curry would go for, right?

Yeah, it's the kind of, I think it's kind of almost, it's misunderstood.

It's misunderstood.

And I think people have this, because there's, um, there are so many Indian restaurants run by Bengali people, and they have these menus that are tailored to the Western palate and it just upsets me because it's like give them what we're eating because I kid you not you'll do so much better you're not even going to need to sell alcohol that's how well you'll do you know people are going to want to eat this my dad would not put it on the menu and I'd have a go at him and say dad you've got to put this on the menu and he was like absolutely no way nobody's going to ever eat this and then I put it in my first cookbook and dad's like you actually went and did it

and i was like yeah i did i mean i haven't got a restaurant but i did put it in the book and i think it's a recipe that we should share and he said yeah no one's gonna really buy your book so i was like oh

thanks dad did people buy it yes

yes did all right yes they did yeah i'm gonna buy it for that recipe yeah i think you just shifted a few more copies yes now still paying the mortgage so yes

yep when you make it i imagine there's those few days where you've got it in the fridge and you're waiting to eat it How do you feel on those few days?

Yeah.

Where you've already made the curry and then you've got the days building up to when you eat the curry.

How are you feeling?

How often are you thinking about the curry?

Well, every time I go in, you can like spell, you can smell it.

So, every time I go into the fridge, I'm like, oh goodness, you can, you know, it's there.

But we have like, I put it in the diary, so the kids wait, they look in our family diary, and they're like, ooh, it's korma today.

So they get very excited, and there's like a little countdown leading up to it.

But in my house, because work is cooking, and cooking for home are two very different things.

And so I have post-it notes, and the pink post-it notes are don't eat, and everything else you can eat.

If it doesn't have a post-it note on it, you can eat it because we've had disasters where I've cooked something and I need to photograph it or I need to do something with it or it's a recipe for somewhere where I'm traveling to and the kids have eaten it and then I'm stuck.

And so I'm like, post-it note, don't eat it.

And I put the post-it note on the corner so they don't even look at it.

But they know they're like, that's not for work.

You liar.

Yeah, they've seen it in the diary.

You're a liar.

Yeah, they know.

They know.

You are a liar.

That is not for work.

And I'm like, yes, it is.

And they're like, no, it's not.

But if it's on there, they know it's like, you can't.

You cannot touch anything with a pink post-it note.

So anything with a post-it note, you are not allowed to touch.

But for your husband, everything's a pink post-it note, right?

He's not allowed to touch any of it.

He can't.

No, we know, he can't really.

If it requires any preparation, he can't touch it.

It's not allowed.

That's why he's eating so many ice stockies because you can't get the post-its to stick on those.

They're too hot.

Yes.

Yes.

Because it's it's the only thing he can eat.

Constant brain freeze.

Yes, the only thing he can eat.

It's probably because he's starving.

Because when I'm not around and I can't cook for him, he's like, all right, well, I'll just have ice lollies then.

The dream side.

Okay, now you guys may laugh hard, but for me, there's two things in the world that you have to get right.

And that's brownies and chips.

Like very few people do them well.

And for me, whenever I go somewhere, first thing I look at is the chips.

I'm like, do they have chips on the menu?

And I know that sounds like such a British thing to do.

It's like go anywhere and look for the chips, omelette and chips.

But I do.

I look for the chips.

And I base going to a restaurant on how good their chips are.

If the chips are rubbish.

we're not going back.

I don't care if everything else tastes good.

I am not going back if the chips are rubbish.

I'm just not.

And for me, it's the chips.

And and a couple of years ago i went to yosushi with my kids which can i just say sounds great to have like um a belt of food going around and the kids think it's really exciting to take these little plates these coloured plates off the belt but heck when you get that bill afterwards you're like those purple plates are so expensive my kids have no idea what i was talking about i was like oh my goodness those purple plates are so expensive your kids leave the pink plates alone i imagine that's yeah they leave the they leave yeah they they leave the pink plates it's always the purple plates and i'm and i am that parent i'm like did you get that plate?

You better finish what's on that plate.

You know, we're paying for what's on that plate.

Finish what's on that plate.

Take the plate with you.

But Yo Sushi do the most amazing Furukaki fries.

Honestly, I kid you not.

They're these really thin chips and they're tossed in.

So I really wanted to recreate this recipe because they wouldn't tell me what was in it.

So I said, what's in this?

So I ate it, had my little portion.

I was like, okay, we're going to get some more of these.

And we went back.

It was a very expensive week, but we went back four times that week.

so i really wanted to learn how to make furukaki fries and they are these crispy thin fries that are tossed in something slightly salty slightly sweet and then dusted with seaweed and sesame seeds and then uh bonito flakes so like tuna flakes on top i was like i have to work this out so i went back on a tuesday wednesday thursday friday and on a saturday And I was like, I don't care what plates you get.

Can I have the fries, please?

And can you get me three?

So I sat through and I I was literally trying to decipher what was.

I said, could you please, why don't you just tell me what's in them?

No, we can't tell you what's in them.

And so I went back five days and thank God I sell books because that was an expensive week.

And I was writing it down.

I was like, okay, I think it's this.

I think it's that.

And I went home on the Sunday and the following week, I spent the entire week trying to make them.

And I got it.

You got it?

And I got it.

Yes.

It's crispy potatoes.

Like you fry your potatoes till they're really crispy.

And then you, it's like a mixture of fish sauce, soy sauce and honey.

And then you kind of toss your fries in that very quickly to keep them crisp.

And then you like sprinkle them with a mixture of garlic, nori, sesame seeds, and then some tuna flakes if you have them.

But I got that recipe down to a tea.

I was kidding you not, that was the most exciting week of my life.

It was so exciting.

It's almost like corporate espionage.

You're going in there,

constantly asking what's in there.

And they're like, we're not going to tell you.

So you just go there.

we turning it with a test tube by the last day dropping a fry in there and taking it home and I thought I'd get kicked out on the Thursday.

Yeah, she's back again.

I did there was a look.

Oh my gosh, she's back again.

Why is she?

Yeah.

Well, I'm surprised you went back to the same one every time.

It's a chain.

So you could have gone to a few different Yo sushis like a different one each day see if that's you know that that team who works at this yo sushi are a bit more you know loose-lipped than the other ones maybe but you went to the same one every day.

Same one every single day and that's probably why I'm not allowed back in.

I don't know.

And I couldn't sleep at night.

I'll genuinely, when I can't get something, I really struggle to sleep.

But for me, it's chips.

If you can cook a chip really well, you've got it down.

So, your dream side is these ones from Yosushi.

Is it the Yosushi ones, or is it your version of the Yosushi ones?

I mean, I'm gonna say that my ones are pretty good.

Yeah,

it took me a week to get that recipe down, and I involved the kids.

I was like, guys, taste that batch, taste that batch, tell you which one's better.

And so, I did it.

And then, of course, like all good recipes, I put it in a cookbook because I was like, the world needs this, but it can be, you know, it can, it could be simple with salt and vinegar, but you can do something like Furukaki, which is just the best chip.

Go get yourself some Furukaki fries.

I'd imagine that's why Yosushi didn't want to tell you what was in them because you were just going to put it straight in your cookbook.

Probably.

Yeah, probably.

But I enjoyed the challenge.

I've got to say, you know, when they said they're not going to let me have it,

for me, it's like a rag to a bull.

You know, it's like, yeah, no problem.

Don't you worry.

Don't you worry.

And I went away and

I beaved away till I got something that I was happy with.

And I think that's the joy of writing recipes.

But also, for me, the joy of writing recipes is that I get to share them.

You know, it's not, it's not a selfish thing.

You know, like for me, when there's something that I love and I enjoy, I love sharing that with people.

I don't keep anything to myself because what's the point?

Because there are people out there like me who take so much joy in cooking and being in the kitchen, like cooking something delicious, whether you're eating it for yourself or sharing it, is a joyful thing.

So whenever I get that recipe down and I really love it, it's straight in a book.

Straight away, it goes straight into a book.

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Your dream drink.

I mean,

you talked about drinks.

Normally, a drink would come up a bit earlier, maybe, or something, but you were.

Yeah, but

there was the tepid water conversation, which was great, I think.

I think everyone would be riveted by our tepid water conversation.

You'd be very surprised.

I saw you second-guessing yourself when we were talking about the ratios of cold to warm water, but that's very much the pocket within which this podcast sits.

It's that sort of chat that people really love about this podcast.

Okay, so I don't drink alcohol.

I've never drunk, and I don't drink for religious reasons, but also I have also seen people who are intoxicated.

It doesn't look like fun.

Sure, sure, yeah, you're right.

Yeah, it doesn't.

I mean, I think there are the merry drunks who are quite happy, but then there are also the kind of vomity drunks

who are not.

So, yeah, it doesn't like appeal to me.

Like, it's not something that I've ever done.

Although, one drunk person did once throw a shoe at me,

a stiletto, and that sealed it for for me.

It's like, never.

No, no, no, thank you.

Thank you, God, for saving me.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I mean, I will say, you're probably right.

I mean, the thing is, like, I like the taste of alcohol.

So, like, that's always the tricky thing is that I probably couldn't give it up completely because I do like just having one drink and having something that tastes really delicious.

But I didn't drink until I was like mid to late 20s.

I started like drinking to get drunk with my friends.

And I didn't do it for ages.

And before that, I was just the sober one in my friendship group looking at them going, I mean, I cannot see any appeal in this.

You were the designated driver.

Well, kind.

I mean, we can't get into that.

He's crashed a lot of cars now, dear.

Yeah, yeah.

Sober.

Well, sober.

Sober.

Anyway, what's your drink, Drink?

Let's get on to that.

Good segue.

My favourite drink would have to be like a mock.

I love a mocktail.

When I'm out and about, I love a mocktail.

So for me, it's apple and lime mint mojito.

Like, that's my favourite.

Yes.

I love a virgin mojito.

Yeah, do you?

Every time I order one, my friend, he always makes fun of me and then he calls me virgin mojito all night and he laughs and he goes virgin mojito at me all evening and i i don't approve of it it's a good nickname and the other day we a bunch of us went out for a meal and i ordered a virgin mojito and he was all laughing he had ordered his drink yeah then it was me virgin mojito yeah and then the next three people were like actually that sounds delicious and they all copied me and then he wasn't laughing after that because we were all drinking our virgin mojitos it was delicious love a virgin mojito yeah that's one of my favorite drinks to drink.

But everyone's doing them now.

Like everyone does mocktails now, but they're not always very well.

And we went out a couple of weeks ago and we ordered a mocktail, a mojito.

And my husband was infuriated because he said, I swear I drank this squash at home, but I didn't pay nine pounds for it.

It was basically like apple juice and then like lemonade on top.

And that was it.

And there was like a dry bit of orange that looks like it came off last year's Christmas tree dunked in the middle.

And he said, I kid you not, I had this at home.

So he was really angry.

And I said, send it back then.

Because I can't, I wouldn't send it back.

I just, I just drink it.

I just, I'm not a complainer.

You know, when they come and say, is the meal okay?

I'm like, fantastic.

I love it.

Thank you.

I can't complain.

So yeah, he sent it back.

He was like, I'm not paying for this because it's squash.

He's like, I did not pay a nine pound for squash.

I can get that for free at home.

Thank you very much.

And he got his money back.

And I was like,

you know, like, and then, and then people recognize you.

And then you got your whingy husband with you.

And you're like, oh no.

So he's like, I don't care.

I don't care who you are.

I will get my money's worth.

I was like, okay, okay.

I don't care who you are.

Yeah, I get that all the time.

I don't care who you are.

I am going to get my money's worth.

So he went and he had it changed and he basically got the same thing but with extra mint.

Yeah, lovely.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Should we be calling it a no hito?

Is that a better name for it?

I feel like that it's sat right there as a name.

And I feel like no hito is a better way to go.

How do we feel?

How has no one thought of that?

Right?

That's a lovely play on words.

It's like a bit like a no secco.

Is that an alcohol-free prosecco?

Yeah, that's an alcohol-free prosecco.

It should be a nojito.

I like that.

Why don't you put it in your book?

Maybe I will.

Be careful what you tell me.

I might put something in a book.

Yeah.

Oh, yeah.

I'm not telling you my recipe for treats a broccoli pasta.

Otherwise, it'll end up in your book.

Okay,

we can hold off on that one.

Don't you worry about that.

Yeah, yeah.

You will know that.

With a virgin nojito, I love it.

No heato.

But it is gone in two seconds.

It's because they put too much ice in.

Yeah, too much ice.

So I'm like, sip, sip, gone.

And then I'm like, I wanted a massive fish bowl of this.

Like, this is not enough.

It's never enough.

It's too much ice.

And you know, me, I like taken drinks, so I have no ice.

So my drink lasts longer.

Yes, always say no ice.

But then, like, a mojito with no ice sounds disgusting.

Yeah.

You need that crushed ice, right?

A little bit, just a tiny little bit, so I get my money's worth.

Because, yeah, so having a mojito with no ice,

it just looks like like you know when you clean the fish tank and you got bits of yeah it looks a bit fish tank watery and um yeah so a little bit of ice that that's when yeah but you're right you know when it's full of ice you kind of go sips it and it's gone yeah yeah and it's delicious and then i'm really sad and i'm like i feel a bit angry i feel a bit like your husband i'm not getting my money's worth here yeah i would rather they brought over a massive glass that's humongous that means that i get the same amount of mojito or nojito that i would in a glass with no ice but i want want that in a bigger glass with ice.

Well, I say one thing for booze.

You really care less about how quickly it's gone if there's booze in there.

That's what I was going to say.

I was because I think you need a mojito with some alcohol in it, and you're blameless.

You should be drinking more.

Just one, two, three, big sips, all gone.

Pop my shoe off, throw it across the bar.

We arrive at your dream dessert.

Very exciting.

Obviously, people know that you cook all sorts of things, but a bake-off champ, everyone's quite excited about what the dessert's going to be.

What were we talking?

If I told you that I don't eat loads of cake, which I often tell lots of people and they're like, you what?

You don't eat cake.

But I do eat cake.

I taste cake.

I've been married for 17 years and my husband hasn't ever seen me eat a whole slice of cake yet because I just,

it's a bit like, you know, when you cook all day and you just lose your appetite.

So I bake all day and I don't necessarily want to...

eat cake.

Honestly, give me a grab bag, ready salted pack of crisps.

I'll eat that.

But if I was going to pick my dream dessert, it would be every day, every day it would be creme brulee.

Oh yeah, yeah.

Oh, it's my favorite thing to make.

It's my favorite thing to eat.

It's simple, it's delicious, just like silky set custard, baked gently and like really simple vanilla.

And then that brulee top.

For me, it's that snap, snap, snap of that crunch.

Oh, love it.

That's my favorite dessert ever, ever, ever.

So we are just talking, yeah, the standard vanilla notice, because there's different flavours of creme brulee that you get out there sometimes.

How do you feel about those?

Yeah, I mean, like, if you're mucking around with flavours, why not try lots of different things?

I've made creme brulee with Earl Grey.

So, I've made it with Earl Grey tea, which is delicious.

I've made it with orange, but for me, it's the simplicity of vanilla.

But, you know, when you get the little vanilla beans running through it, it's just so simple.

And it's the kind of thing that I will make because if I've got people coming around, I'll have it made and baked and ready in the fridge just to kind of torch the top.

And I always serve tiny little kind of thin shortbread with it because you've got to have a little bit of carb action you know you've got to have a little bit of something to hold that brulee so you know you eat it but then you also kind of like dip a bit of shortbread in there as well it's just like oh delicious orange shortbread vanilla creme brulee crispy top couple of raspberries just simple and delicious yes couple of raspberries yes i love the little knock knock on the top yeah it's just isn't you feel like a policeman you know when they knock first and then and then they ram down the door knock knock knock open the door police we're coming in

and then you're straight in oh the little five-year-old in you i just saw the five-year-old in you yeah so open the door police and then smashing in his creme brulee we've got a warrant

yeah we found it gov we found all the the creme for the vanilla that's what i said yeah um i got excited there but the um the raspberries i i hadn't even thought of that and then i was like oh yeah creme brulee is the custard itself isn't super sweet but you've got that crunchy sugar on top which is quite sweet and then, if you have it with shortbread, again, sweet.

But, you know, having something sharp, some fruit usually helps to kind of balance it.

And that's what I love about dessert: that that balance of salty, sweet, and getting that right.

So, yeah, for me, it's creme brulee every single day.

But, you know, if you ask my husband cake, like for us, it's always we always have cake in the house, and he runs seven miles every day so he can eat cake.

So, well, yeah, I don't run to eat creme brulee, I simply make it and eat it.

But again, though, there's a pattern form in here in the last leg of your menu because I always find with creme brulee, there's never enough.

That's why I never really order it.

Because it's an oramekin, right?

Yeah, don't really order it in restaurants, even though I love it, because I'm like, it's going to be like so small and shallow, and I'm going to be done in a few bites.

And I want to go for much longer.

See, this is why I bake it myself, because then I can have one and then say, oh, I fancy another.

But I have gone to restaurants in the past and they take the dessert menu away from me, which I find absolutely infuriating because I turn up and they will just take the dessert menu.

And if I ask for the dessert menu, they're like, Are you sure you want dessert?

And they get really nervous, and I hate that because as much as I love baking and cooking, when I'm at a restaurant, I just want to eat what I want to eat, you know?

They don't have to be an expert, you know.

And I'm, I'm, like I said, I'm not the kind of person who gives food back.

I'll eat it with a smile and be like, yay, you know, like, I will pretend all the way through.

I will not say a thing.

It's your husband they want to worry about.

That's exactly.

They want to take the menu off him.

He's the one who complains.

They can't take it off him.

He'll chase them.

He must say.

He will.

He will.

But dessert menu, like they take the dessert menu away.

I'm like, no, no, no, no, no, bring it back.

But creme brulee, you're right.

It just ends all too quickly, but all good things have to come to an end.

Well, maybe we should try making a creme brulee in the 4.5-litre cast iron casserole dish from Nadia Hussain Ex-Prestige.

Nice.

That was good.

Imagine a big old bucket of creme brulee.

Oh my goodness.

Although there is a ratio thing, right?

You can have too much creme per brulee.

You'd almost need layers of the sugar going down.

Yeah, but you couldn't do that because it would melt

in there.

But that's why they're shallow because with every spoonful, you want enough of that creme and the brulee on top.

It's like a perfect mouthful.

So like I said, you know, all good things have to come to an end.

And, you know, creme brulee is one of those things.

Like, you can have a little bit, but you can savour it and enjoy it.

And you don't have to have a whole cast iron full, even though it was a great segue to my range.

Yeah.

Also, I mean, if you did do a whole cast iron dish full of creme brulee and the brulee was really thick on top, then you might have to actually have a police battering ram in order to get into it.

I'm back on board.

I'm back on board.

I think you're doing it.

And great dentist cover.

Yeah, yeah.

Okay.

I want to read your menu back to you now and see how you feel about it.

Okay.

Water, you would like tepid still water.

Popped ons of bread.

You said poppin' ons of mango chutney and the bright red onion thing.

Starter, prawns pill pill with crusty bread.

Main course, traditional chicken corma and rice.

Side dish, yo sushi for a khaki fries.

Drink, apple, lime and mint, no hito.

Dessert, creme brulee with orange shortbread and raspberries.

Delicious.

Feel pretty good?

Sounds good.

Does sound very good.

I mean, I'm very on board of that menu.

Yeah, sounds like you have to travel a little bit because I reckon you'll get any of that under one roof.

One of the best ones we've had, I'd say.

Yeah, that's a very, very good menu.

And I'm going to seek out that Korma recipe and I'm going to give it a go.

Amazing.

I'm going to give it a go as well, Ed.

Excellent.

And we can both compare kormas.

Also, I'm going to go into Yosushi for probably the third time in my life.

And

I'm going to get those fries because they sound great.

Normally, I don't go in Yosushi.

It's a very stressful experience, not knowing how much it all is.

And it's all going around on the belt.

And

I just get too stressed out.

Also, I think we should encourage all our listeners to go to Yosushi, order the Furukaki fries, and while you're eating it, say to the staff, just tell me what's in them.

Nadia, thank you so much for coming to the Dream Restaurant.

Thank you.

Thank you, Nadia.

Well, there we are.

What a great menu, James.

What a great chat.

What a great person.

Yeah.

Absolutely love chatting to Nadia.

And just that chicken corma.

That sounds so good.

I want the korma and I want the fries.

Yeah.

ASAP.

Stat.

And you know how I'm going to cook them?

I'm going to cook them with Nadia ex-Prestige or Nadia by Prestige.

Cookware and Bakeware range, which will be available from March 14th to buy in stores and online at John Lewis and from Prestige's website from March the 14th.

Said that twice.

That is good news.

Yes.

I'm excited about that.

I think I'd like to see people's photos of the Corma.

Yeah, the Corma shots.

I want to see your Corma shots, James.

Are you going to make it?

I am going to try and make it.

yeah I'm gonna hunt down Nadia's recipe for it and then I'm gonna try and make it at home because I think it sounds great and I I'm actually I'm looking forward to eating it but I'm also looking forward to the period of time when I'm waiting to eat it when it's in the fridge I think it's a good test isn't it it's a good test to see if you can handle it yeah looking forward to looking forward to it I think every day you'll be opening that fridge and you'll be dipping your little finger in there No, no, no.

I won't dip my finger in it.

You will.

But I will open it and have a look.

You'll get up in the night and you'll be so excited.

You have to be so quiet like a little mouse.

And your girlfriend will be like, oh my God, we've got a burglar.

Where's James?

She'll go into the kitchen and you'll be sat on the floor with the cormorant open.

You'll be dipping your little fingers and toes in there.

No, I don't dip my toes in it and I won't dip my fingers in it.

But I wouldn't be surprised if I pop a whole egg in my mouth.

That will be very tempting.

Yeah.

Just to eat the cormorant egg.

That would be very tempting indeed.

That's a very lovely breakfast.

And Nadia didn't say matcha.

Thank you for not saying matcha.

Matcha, matcha.

matcha.

Matcha.

Ding-dong-ding-dong.

And it was matcha beer, so we got that wrong, but it was worth it for the song, I think.

Matcha, matcha beer.

Fans of fell, don't drink matcha beer.

Right.

Don't forget to come and see me on tour.

Show's called electric, edgamble.co.uk for tickets.

Don't forget to pre-order James's book.

Can you pre-order?

Pre-order, yes.

I don't know where.

Everywhere.

But just Google James A.

Castle's Guide to Quitting Social Media book pre-order.

Yeah.

Search it on social media.

So

don't quit quit social media before you get the book.

Wait until you get the book and then you'll find out why you've got to quit social media.

Don't forget to use the hashtag

James A.S.

Guide to quitting social media, being the best you can be, and curing yourself of loneliness, volume one.

Hashtag book.

Bye.

Sayonara.

Popsicles, sprinklers, a cool breeze.

Talk about refreshing.

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Hello, I'm Carrie Add.

I'm Sarah.

And we are the Weirdos Book Club podcast.

We are doing a very special live show as part of the London Podcast Festival.

The date is Thursday, 11th of September, the time is 7pm, and our special guest is the brilliant Alan Davies.

Tickets from kingsplace.co.uk.

Single ladies is coming to London.

True on Saturday, the 13th of September.

At the London Podcast Festival.

The rumours are true.

Saturday, the 13th of September.

At King's Place.

Oh, that sounds like a date to me, Harriet.