Retro cooks
A student of Bristol University back in the
70s, Helen has since exchanged life in the
West Country for the sunnier climes of
Western France. You can follow her culinary
musings across the Channel on her blog:
www.haddockinthekitchen.wordpress.comClarissa Dickson Wright
Each month Helen Aurelius-Haddock pays homage to past cookery writers who have a lower profile than today's celebrity chefs. Their contribution is a cornerstone of the British cookery we enjoy today, and their knowledge has earned the respect of home cooks and chefs alike.We end our series on retro cooks with a true Titan of food – Clarissa Dickson Wright. Her arrival on our TV screens in 1994 gave the foodie world a real jolt. Along with fellow Fat Lady, Jennifer Paterson, they resembled a comedy double act. She is, coincidentally, the cousin of the comedian Alexander Armstrong.
Their repartee during the shows raised many a smile whilst they regaled us with a myriad of culinary anecdotes, whilst the Health and Safety Commission threw their hands in horror at Jennifer's long painted nails clawing into the food they were preparing. Such was their controversial approach, they were once described as “Being able to spread butter on bread and make it look like pornography” In fact, the fashionable expression “food porn” was no doubt spawned from that very quote. The food was great, the vintage motorbike and sidecar became their hallmark, and the rest, as they say, is history.
It’s hard to write anything about this great lady without some reference to her earlier life. She had a troubled childhood, a violent father and she succumbed to alcoholism, which ate into many years of her life. Her recent autobiography Spilling The Beans is a poignant account of these darker times.
She also charts her path to fame through the Fat Ladies series, and gives the tale a ‘Happy Ever After’ feel. Probably one of the most knowledgeable people in the UK on the subject of food, she’s become almost a living food encyclopaedia, as recently seen on the Channel Four series The Big Food Quiz. She’s even been commissioned by Random House Books to produce a major work entitled The History of English Food which is to be published in 2011.
She adeptly presented a programme on the oldest British cookery book, The Forme of Cury, written during the reign of Richard II where she ably demonstrated that in the foodiesphere, there’s nothing new under the sun. She prepared goose with fruit and stewed pears in red wine using a fully restored medieval kitchen for the programme, illustrating that she’s not one to shy away from a challenge.
She has been an overt champion of the Countryside Alliance, fully supporting hunting and its associated activities, whilst lucidly putting forward the pro-hunting argument.
She is a member of the Worshipful Company of Butchers, one of very few female members, an honour she holds with the Princess Royal. She, along with her friend Sir Johnny Scott drove a flock of sheep over one of London's bridges, exercising her ancient right do so as a member.
Her cooking style has a very traditional approach, very often producing regional specialities, or dishes with an honourable history to them. Hers is not the flashy, stir-frying televisual celebrity cooking – she has a more austere, Aga-simmering oven approach to food, giving it a lasting quality and provenance. Fast food she is most certainly not.
Whilst sadly some of our cooks in this series are no longer with us, Clarissa remains, boldly elbowing her determined way through the sea of controversy in the food industry, never fearing to say her piece, having little regard for tender egos and the utmost indifference towards charlatans. Good on her. Long may she continue!
GASTRONOMIC ADVENTURES WITH MOTORBIKE AND SIDECAR
No book list for Clarissa Dickson- Wright would be complete without her first culinary adventure with Jennifer Paterson. Filled with regional specialities and a peppering of exotica from overseas, the mould for their distinct style was created, using the best of British as the backbone to their repertoire. As an added bonus, there are some first-class shots of the gals on their motorbike riding through the countryside!
CLARISSA'S COMFORT FOOD
Knowing of a nation's desire for comfort from their food, she has chosen 100 of her favourite recipes that evoke the feel-good factor when prepared at home. Sausage casserole, fish pie, and bread and butter pudding are but a few jewels to tempt us past the cover.
SUNDAY ROAST
Co-written with Johnny Scott, this is an excellent guide to the great British tradition of Sunday roasts. In an era when this British stalwart can be heated up in a microwave from the local supermarket, the recipes rekindle this important weekly family meal. It demystifies carving all the usual roast joints to ensure that no unsightly lumps of meat appear on the plate. Side dishes, accompaniments and gravies are all there, waiting to be made up and devoured.