I think the secret to Delia’s success is the way her recipes are never daunting- especially for beginners. She actually prides herself on trying and testing her recipes over and over to come up with something thats easy to follow and best of all, achievable.

Delia started out without any prestigious diplomas, or any formal qualifications to speak of. She was a trainee hairdresser, shop assistant and travel agent before she finally got her feet wet in the food industry - as dishwasher at a restaurant.

Her moment of inspiration came when a boyfriend told her that his ex was an excellent cook - and this got Delia cooking seriously. She studied English cookery books at the British library and practiced on family and friends - some of which produced less-than-perfect results like the famed “Rice Pudding Disaster” which lacked one vital ingredient - sugar.

By 1969 Delia was a cookery writer for “the Mirror” and later the “Evening Standard”. At this time, cooking at home in Britain was in steep decline, so Delia came up with the idea of a TV show on the BBC to revive it.

Her televised cookery course backed up by cookbooks were an instant hit and it got Britain cooking at home again, trying new ingredients and buying fancy cookware for the first time ever. Since then, Delia has written 15 cookbooks as well as 2 religious works owing to her staunch Catholicism.

Delia’s other passion is football. In 2003, Delia retired from TV cooking and bought majority shares in Norwich City Football Club where she and her husband take an active role in all aspects of running the club - especially the catering.

One last bit of trivia: Delia baked the cake seen on the Rolling Stones album cover, “Let It Bleed”.

I first started to take a proper interest in cooking about 12 years ago in 1994. I was out of school, out of a flat I shared with 3 girls (where dinner involved a baked potato or a takeaway), and on my own. Well, not really on my own, but with a new flat and a hungry boyfriend who liked to eat at home.

I started off with “doctoring” spag bol from a jar (Barilla of course), and one year later when we moved into a little house by Victoria station together, it was by pure chance that one of the books the landlady left in the kitchen was an old copy of the book you see above ” Delia Smith’s Complete Illustrated Cookery Course” - which I promptly devoured.
Fast forward to 2006 - 5 kitchens, 2 continents and 2 kids (I married the hungry boyfriend) later. As a friend who stayed in my home rightly observed of the current state of my lifestyle ” …she’s in the kitchen all day!”.

Yes, I do spend a large part of the day pottering around the kitchen preparing something for someone in my family, but I love it. And what I can honestly say is that I owe a large part of my love for cooking to Delia and that cookbook.
I dont know if it was her non-nonsense approach, the way she taught in words that made it seem so easy, or the simple food that always tasted good - but she really did teach me the basics of cooking, and as I discovered, millions of other people in Britain as well.

She doesn’t have the panache of Nigella, the funky youth of Jamie, or the celeb-suave of Wolfgang, but what Delia does is actually get you to cook (and enjoy it too).

Steak Tartare ala Tony Bourdain

* 2 egg yolks
* 2 tbsp Dijon mustard (28 g)
* 4 anchovy filets, finely chopped
* 2 tsp ketchup (10 g)
* 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce (5 g)
* Tabasco sauce, to taste
* Freshly ground black pepper
* 1/4 cup salad (i.e., corn or soy) oil (56 ml)
* 1 oz Cognac (28 ml)
* 1 small onion, freshly and finely chopped
* 2 oz capers, rinsed (56 g)
* 2 oz cornichons, finely chopped (56 g)
* 4 sprigs of flat parsley, finely chopped
* 1 1/4 lb. fresh sirloin, finely chopped (560 g)
* French fries, optional
* 4 slices fine quality white bread, toasted, quartered, for toast points

Directions:

1. Place the egg yolks in a large stainless-steel bowl and add the mustard and anchovies. Mix well, then add the ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco, and pepper and mix well again. Slowly whisk in the oil, then add the Cognac and mix again. Fold in the onion, capers, cornichons, and parsley.

2. Add the chopped meat to the bowl and mix well using a spoon or your hands. Divide the meat evenly among the six chilled dinner plates and, using a ring mold or spatula, form it into disks on the plates. Serve immediately with French fries and toasted bread points.

Some words of steak tartare wisdom from Tony:

“Les Halles, the restaurant, was pretty much created to serve this dish. The key to a successful steak tartare is fresh beef, freshly hand-chopped at the very last minute and mixed tableside. A home meat grinder with a fairly wide mesh blade is nice to have, but you can and should use a very sharp knife and simply chop and chop and chop until fine. The texture will be superior. And do not dare use a food processor on this dish - you?ll utterly destroy it.”

As we were on the subject of Anthony Bourdain, I thought it would be interesting to talk about his recent experience in Beirut while filming an episode of his new show “No Reservations”. Definitely some good old-fashioned excitement for this blog.
This happened in July, when Israel started bombing Beirut, and Tony and his crew found themselves smack in the middle of it. He watched the bombings unfold from his hotel balcony, found himself face to face with the Hezbollah, and finally was dramatically evacuated by a very sympathetic (according to Tony) US marine force.

Upon their return to the States after being trapped in Beirut for weeks, Bourdain was interviewed by the Washington Post. Here are some of the most interesting quotes from the interview:

“As it happened, I was standing with a Sunni, Shiite and a Christian when Hezbollah supporters started to fire automatic weapons in the air celebrating the kidnapping of the Israeli soldiers as a few supporters drove by the three people I was with all instantaneously took on a look of shame and embarrassment as if a dangerous and unstable little brother had once again brought the whole family into peril. At no time during my 10 days in Beirut did I ever hear an anti-Semitic or even explicitly anti-Israeli statement. ”

“To the contrary, there was a universal sense of grim resignation and inevitability to what Israel’s reaction would be. Dating to the first seconds after Hezbollah started firing in the air, we were a largely Jewish crew. The last person to leave us as Lebanese fled in droves, was the Shiite from south Beirut. We had to plead with him to leave us and join his family. His house was later destroyed.”
“I can’t possibly say enough good things about the U.S. Marine Corps or enough bad things about the embassy and the State Department”

“There are times in one’s life when tuna noodle casserole and macaroni and cheese speak directly to the heart.”

The last quote was Tony referring to US Navy food where they spent a few days en route back home.

I’ve never seen Anthony Bourdain cook. Unlike many of the celeb chefs today one finds sassily sauteeing in front of an annoyingly colourful studio kitchen set, Anthony Bourdain actually is a real chef, who works at a real restaurant in NYC (also his hometown). Yes, “real” is certainly a word that comes to mind when it comes to Bourdain’s style - and his bashings of Emeril and Rachael Ray are now infamous (and funnily true).

These days Bourdain has become more of a travelling foodie and bestselling author, but you can just tell from his straight-talking, no-nonsense narrative style that he’s a a genuine cook (who considers the term chef slightly on the pretentious side) who simply appreciates good food and exotic travel.

Educated at Vassar, then at the Culinary Insitute of America, Bourdain is currently executive chef at Brasserie Les Halles, a classic French restaurant in Manhattan known for its fantastic pomme frites, escargots and steak tartar which is prepared tableside (and would probably my husband’s choice of a “last meal”).

Clad in black leather, sporting an earring and 4 tattoos, Anthony is an unashamed 2-pack-a-day smoker, past drug-user and not afraid of mild profanity on national television – but for some strange reason he still comes across as a decent, authentic guy who knows a lot about cooking and isn’t afraid to tell us the ugliest parts of it.

When I was lent a copy of “A Cook’s Tour”, I just couldn’t put it down. Bourdain definitely has a talent for quick-witted, in your-face-writing, and judging from his shows’ (“No Reservations” is his latest offering) success, the same formula works on television too.

As quoted from an interview:

“ I don’t see writing as anything more important than cooking. In fact, I’m a little queasier on the writing. There’s an element of shame, because it’s so easy. I can’t believe that people give me money for this shit. The TV, too. It’s not work. At the end of the day, the TV show is the best job in the world. I get to go anywhere I want, eat and drink whatever I want. As long as I just babble at the camera, other people will pay for it. It’s a gift. “