I’m not sure I’ve ever written a post just to recommend a TV show before, but wanted to shout out Tom Kerridge’s ‘Secrets of the Pub Kitchen’.
Like many people, I’ve fully embraced the smorgasbord of cooking shows on TV these days. But with that quantity, commissioners and producers often feel they need to put a twist on everything to give it a unique selling point.
And so it was that multi Michelin Star chef Tom Kerridge went from making cookbooks that boiled carrots in a packet of butter, or exacting recipes that take days to complete, to fronting several years’ worth of quick, healthy cooking, and diet conscious shows on the BBC, alongside his own weight loss journey.
I’ve long wished for him to return to his roots, and so it was brilliant to stumble across this new show based at The Coach, showing viewers behind the scenes at how a professional kitchen operates.
First and foremost, the show helps viewers understand why restaurant dining can be expensive by highlighting the quality of ingredients, skilled staff, and complex operations and cooking techniques, but obviously leading to incredible results.
The twist, if you’d even call it that, is perfect – after first detailing how a dish is prepared the elaborate way for the restaurant, he then retreats to the ‘test kitchen’ to create a version of the same dish that you can cook at home.
And it really works. It’s clear his team have put a lot of thought into maintaining each dish’s essence while making it achievable for home cooks, including enough complex techniques to elevate dishes above their normal level.
It’s very similar to his first cookbook ‘Proper Pub Food’ from 2013, and while it’s taken nearly a decade to get back to ‘proper’ cooking via various salads and low-fat alternatives, it’s certainly a welcome return to form.
Tom Kerridge’s ‘Secrets of the Pub Kitchen’. is currently available to stream on Discovery Plus UK.