Though some of my more famous colleagues seem to enjoy knocking Delia, I often sing her praises for several good reasons.
1. Her recipes work, which isn’t always the case with some of the recipes in cookbooks penned by very famous chefs, for whatever reason. Maybe the recipe was transposed from 25 portions down to 4 and no longer works? Maybe the recipe passed through too many hands from inspired chef to finished cookbook and an ingredient got left out or the quantity got changed in error? Maybe an ingredient got substituted because it was unsourceable outside the catering trade?
2. Because Delia’s recipes work she has built a very large loyal following and yet rather than exploit that by endorsing any and ever kitchen product…she only recommends equipment she has personally tried & liked.
*For non-UK readers of this blog……. Delia Smith is a long time British TV & book writing-cooking icon and though not a trained chef she understands the importance of checking and re-testing her own recipes to make sure they work.
*photograph of delia smith with kind permission of deliaonline.com photographer Miki Duisterhof
Have I got news for you?
For those that have never travelled to the USA and think that all restaurants over there serve huge portions of mediocre food, let me enlighten you.
In most major cities in America there are some top restaurants, establishments that would stand up to comparison with any top London or Parisian eatery.
For the first time in late 2005 the Michelin guide has been released in the USA, which makes interesting reading. New York city for instance has four 3 star restaurants (3 Michelin stars is the highest rating), four 2 star and a huge 31 places that have been awarded 1 Michelin star.
Alain Ducasse, Jean-Georges, Le Bernardin and Per Se top the list, while Bouley, Daniel, Danube and Masa check in with two. The Michelin Guide awarded one star to 31 restaurants, including Nobu, Peter Lugar's, Gramercy Tavern, Aureole and Vong. In all the guide rates more than 450 NYC restaurants.
