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Wednesday 28 March 2012

Celebrity Crush/What The Hell, BBC?

I have to admit that, despite my vague culinary inclinations, I tend to avoid any and all food programming on television. There's just something dull about watching someone - heavily edited - preparing food that I'd probably never even think to order in a restaurant, let alone try to make myself.

So surely there has to be a scurrilous ulterior motive to my new fascination with BBC2's 'The Little Paris Kitchen'?

I shall not attempt to disabuse you, my dearest reader, of your churlish notions on that subject, but know this:
  • Rachel Khoo's kitchen is smaller than mine, so it gives me a clearer sense of effective use of the space I have
  • Each week, she effectively does a full, three course meal, often with extra little treats thrown in
  • Most of it, so far, looks easy enough for me to try
  • She puts her own spin on traditional French dishes, as only a Croydon-born cook-and-writer living in Paris would dare
  • She does everything unashamedly full fat. Gotta respect that, in this day and age
  • She's clearly not afraid to show things not going perfectly according to plan
  • She even shows the washing up
OK, it doesn't hurt to have all those casually erotic, lingering close-ups of her gob as she shovels down a helping of whatever she's just cooked, but the format of the show is quite refreshing, and it's amazingly cool that she's turned her tiny Paris home into a 2-seater restaurant.

But of course, the BBC website lets the show down as only the BBC could. Each show features three or four recipes... but the website has so far only put up two recipes from each show.

When Ms. Khoo assured me, her rapt viewer, that I could look up her recipes at bee-bee-see-dot-koh-dot-you-kay-forward-slash-food, I was keen to look into the molten-cored chocolate cakey-thing she demonstrated on Monday's show... But that is not one of the recipes currently available.

...I guess this means I'll be buying the book..?

Nice one, BBC.

(Addendum 18/4: It is amusing to see that the most frequently asked questions on Ms. Khoo's Twitter are actually nothing to do with food. The pattern is this:
  • Men are frequently asking "Can I work in your restaurant?"
  • Women are frequently asking "What's that lipstick you're wearing?"
I'm not kidding - look through her Twitter feed yourself, every ten lines or so she answers one question or the other. Frequently both. She should add an FAQs section to her website...)

10 comments:

  1. Absolutely agree as I too was looking for the petit moelleux au chocolat..lava cake with salted caramel centre...but not to be found. Rachel Khoo will be a MEGA STAR. The only problem with that is that she will move from her delightfully tiny kitchen and not use the chipped enamel bowls as all will be new and big. Hope there are many more series before that happens.

    Josée Tillett Spain

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  2. Thanks for your comment, Josée!

    I agree that Rachel Khoo will be a star amongst TV foodies, and deservedly so, however I'd like to think she'll always stick with her little two-seater restaurant when she's not writing or (please, please BBC) filming the next series of the show. It's a very cool idea, and a unique niche in a city full of niche restaurants.

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  3. I laughed when I read this post. I too wanted to make the salted caramel chocolate lava cake was annoyed that they did not put it up. Clearly that trick worked because I have just bought the book from Amazon!

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  4. Thanks for your comment, Anonymous Reader!

    I'm trying to hold off buying that book on principle, but will probably cave in and buy it soon... Or maybe arrange to receive it for my birthday.

    I just hope that recipe is in the book!

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  5. Recipes aside, what is the Parisian/French music accompanying her programmes please? Incredibly evocative of Paris holidays, maybe idealised? Advice welcomed please.

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  6. D'you know, I can honestly say that I hadn't even noticed the music.

    The best I can offer is that it's bound to be listed in the credits, so a quick trip to the BBC iPlayer should give you the information you're after.

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    Replies
    1. I completely agree with you, there is definitely something fresh and captivating about Ms Khoo.
      And I too hate the way the BBC tell you the recipes are online only for you to find out the one you want is not.
      But fear not!!
      I stumbled across Rachel Khoo's mouthwateringly decadant Lava Cake recipe somewhere else....

      http://www.saturdaykitchenrecipesearch.co.uk/rachel-khoo-chocolate-lava-cake-the-little-paris-kitchen

      I thought it would be rude not to share!!!

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    2. Thanks for the comment, Bea, and especially for that awesome link! I guess I know what I'll be doing this weekend.

      Considering that particular recipe was clearly very popular with the viewers, the BBC must surely be kicking themselves for not putting it online. Maybe they'll correct this oversight at a later date... Until then, sites like Saturday Kitchen Recipe Search will be getting all the hits.

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    3. Lot of Pink Martin from their album "Sympathetic" and Si Tu Voir Ma Mere ( Sidney Buchet) gets played a lot.

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    4. Thank you, Anonymous Reader, for answering the previous Anonymous Reader's enquiry!

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