“Now everybody loves a fish pie, don’t they. I don’t know anybody who doesn’t.”
This is not the usual cooking show. In fact there has never been as entertaining, as informative, and as downright unique a cooking show as Two Fat Ladies, a BBC import that found fame on the Food Network after its run in Europe from 1996 to 1998.
Featuring chefs Jennifer Paterson and Clarissa Wright, the show follows the duo driving around the UK on a vintage motorcycle with sidecar as they make meals from local ingredients and plenty of dairy. The first season concentrates on types of food — shows featuring game, vegetables, etc. By the second season the ladies have to make a meal for a particular group, whether a picnic, or lunch, or Caribbean-themed holiday.
The ladies are into hearty fare with bold flavors. Paterson throws anchovies into about everything she can. They joke around and narrate the recipes laced with risqué comments. There’s a casual, unrehearsed feel about the show which is the perfect antidote to the static cooking shows that infest the current television landscape.
The settings are almost always rustic kitchens you would expect to find in old English estates. The first episode starts with the ladies entering the picturesque fishing village of Mevagissey, situated in Cornwall. The ladies go about buying fish, but it’s not the usual swordfish and salmon, but rather monkfish and pollock. They pass up a John Dory, a rarely seen deepwater fish. You don’t see that on Rachael Ray. Nor does any typical chef-in-fake-kitchen show give you a feel for pastoral England. Two Fat Ladies is also a feast for travel show enthusiasts.
My favorite episode is a breakfast for the Black Sheep brewery. Wright, by the series’ time a teetotaler, throws out some interesting quips about her years as a hardcore partier. After a tour through the brewery the ladies get down to business. There’s no granola with blueberries or egg white omelets here. Southern-style corn cakes, topped with bacon and maple syrup are made alongside deviled lamb's kidneys.
Article comments
1 - Gerry
Scott, I love Two Fat Ladies! I've never made a recipe myself, being much more afraid of heavy dairy and lashes of bacon than the two of them are, but not only do they make everything look so very good, they are funny and charming. I was so sorry when I learned Jennifer Paterson had died. This is one of the few cooking shows I can watch just for the entertainment value.
2 - Mary H. in Texas
I dearly loved the Two Fat Ladies cooking show. Miss it terribly. They were so funny, charming, witty & yet down to earth--truly original British characters. I hope to order the above mentioned dvd of their shows. I remember Clarissa saying on one show something about when she was in college a young man would not date her until she showed him that she could cook Bubble & Squeak.
Mary H. in Texas