The telly star and cookbook author share the tricks and crosscut behind her own showstopping sweet .
Karen Delahay
In the U.S. , most of us hail to know Prue Leith as the kind but exacting , colorfully dressed judge ofThe nifty British Baking Show . But her career in food long predates the popular binge watch . She ran a Michelin - starred restaurant in London for three X ; has open cookery school in the UK as well as her native South Africa ; and has written several cookbook . We talked to her about her evolve career and approach toholiday baking , including the glory of simplicity .
Credit:Karen Delahay
Q: You’ve had a long career in food. How has your approach to baking changed over that time?
principally , it ’s got simpler over the years . When I started out I was dead keen on becoming really professional and I care reach elaborate marriage ceremony patty , multi - superimposed desserts , consommés , and yield gelatin that study time of day to clear up . And I never usedshop - buy blow pastryfor good example . Now , I rarely utilize anything else , and I ’ll make a jelly out of fresh orange juice from the supermarket and soup out of uncleared stock . I ’d rather make a nimble and easy trifle than pass hr urinate multi layered side dish . And I have become ever keener to expend leftovers . I am the remnant Queen , I promise you .
Courtesy of Prue Leith
Q: What’s one dessert you make every holiday season and what do you love about it?
The almost instant trifle in my bookPrue , My Favourite Recipes , published by Bluebird , is made of amaretti biscuits and stinker curd . Even with bought custard it is dead delectable .
Q: What are some of your favorite techniques for holiday baking and cooking?
My favorite thaumaturgy is to decorate a patty , pud , or soup with lots of different elements . It take aim no skill , just a chip of imagination . Any smooth soup poured into soup dental plate will look groovy with any or all of these on top : Little blob of ground paprika , za’atar , unfermented herb leaves , helianthus seeds , halved olives , edible flower . And pick - pass over puddings or cake can be decorate with chocolate release , freeze - dry raspberries , green grape vine halves , Carya illinoensis , toasted almond , clear angelica , glace cherry , dried yield pieces , edible flowers .
David Loftus
Q: What are your tricks for saving time as a baker during the holiday season?
I make chocolate chip shot biscuit dough , roll it into small balls , freeze down them , then manipulate them from frozen when I want a bake in a hurry .
Q: Do you have a favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe?
Yes . Alison Hammond , who came toCelebrity Bake Offone season , did her brownies with glob of Dime Bar . I render it with buffalo chip cookie and it ’s brilliant . I ’ve also added bit of caramel brown , bits of Mars Bar , umber underwrite peanuts , caramelize pecans — you get the idea .
Q: What’s always on your shopping list for a holiday party?
Pomegranate seedsare generally on my shopping lean . you may apply them to sprinkle on top of almost any desert , or salad , or savory ravisher to make it seem exotic and special . And I love the flavor .
Q: Have you hosted any particularly memorable holiday meals—whether they went well or not!— that you really learned from as a cook?
Once , feeding 24 for Christmas lunch , I put two articulatio humeri of porc in the oven at 8 am . When I opened the oven at 1 postmortem expecting golden brown greaves and tardily sizzlingroast pork , the shoulders where raw and Harlan F. Stone cold . My nephew had made his fry - up breakfast and , being well convey up , had cleaned the cooker top and sour everything off . We ended up slit the pith and fry it ! Not respectable . But we had a cracking time and a lot of laughing , which , honestly , is more authoritative than perfect cooking !
Q: What are a few of your best-loved, most-used tools and why?
I have a 40 - year - sometime Robotcoupe , the first domestic liquidiser to come out that heats as it beats as it cooks . The company keep offer me a new exemplar , but the young I are Brobdingnagian and complicated and I ’m too old to learn new illusion . I also jazz my swivelpotato peeler . The design has never been good and whoever think of a swiveling blade that conform to the conformation of the potato is a genius .
Courtesy of Netflix
Q: The show has obviously been a massive hit across the world. What do you attribute its success to?
The production company is call up Love Productions and it ’s rightfully Love by name and love by nature . In seven years ofThe Great British Bake Offand two ofThe keen American Baking Show , I have never heard anyone ( not crew , not yield team , not security staff , no performers ) run-in , shout , even be mildly rude or sulky . The whole aura is happy and endlessly encouraging to the bakers . I recollect that ’s why the interview loves it — they know they are in a honest place and the only stress will be chocolate melting in the heat or a baker not finishing in time . Besides , who does n’t like cake ?
Q: Is there a moment from the show that you especially remember?
When film the last serial ofThe Great American Baking Show , Ryan Reynolds and his wife Blake Lively gate - crashed the set with their children . Ryan was filmingDead Poolon another set at the studio apartment , and Blake was in England to boost her new Betty Booze drinks range . Both of them areBake Offgroupies . And of course the whole tent are Reynolds fans so it was a zippy common wonder fest .
Q: Your statement glasses and necklaces have become a much-discussed part of the show. How would you describe your personal style?
Well , I ’d say its colorful , fun , and happy . Others might say tacky and vulgar ! I do n’t see the gunpoint in dreary greige . I more often than not start the twenty-four hours by deciding on the specs or necklace I ’ll outwear then set about find the dress to go with them .
Q: What excites you most about your career right now?
That I have one at all ! How lucky is that ? To still be knead , and more in demand than I ’ve ever been , at 83 . AndBake Offhas been a kind of launch pad for a innkeeper of other things . I do n’t suppose my necklace , spectacles and wearing apparel would deal like they do if I did n’t have the profileBake Offgives me . And its meant I could do my own one woman show ( based on my autobiography , I’ll Try Anything Once ) round the UK in the leap , and I will be tour the States next year .
Prue outside her Michelin-starred London restaurant, Leith’s, in 1969.Credit:Courtesy of Prue Leith
Amaretti and Lemon Curd Trifle from Prue: All-Time My Favourite Recipes (Blackbird).Credit:David Loftus
Credit:Courtesy of Netflix
