‘The Big Family Cooking Showdown’ is a competition with a difference. The show celebrates families enjoying themselves as they work together to create wonderful dishes – and, my goodness, they were incredible!
The programme centres on families cooking and eating together, which is so important. We often hear such negative reports about people not cooking from scratch or not eating as a family around the kitchen table, but this show proves that they do! I got such a buzz out of seeing a 16-year old just wanting to spend time with her parent – absolutely wonderful. Every family was delightful. I wanted them all to win!
My hope is that ‘The Big Family Cooking Showdown’, and this book, will encourage more people to take up cooking as a fantastic hobby that everyone can take part in. It is a great way to get families communicating, both during the process of preparing and making food, but also from being together in one place sharing something they can all enjoy: discussing the flavours and textures, and wondering whether they’d make it again. And these conversations can lead to all manner of important discussions that go beyond food.
There is a huge emphasis on learning in the show, as the competing teams progress through the qualifying rounds. They were encouraged to listen to Giorgio’s and my constructive criticism. Some of them found it easy to follow recipes, others found the rigidity of a written recipe a hindrance, and preferred a more intuitive approach. This isn’t so different to developing your confidence at home. I always recommend you read the whole recipe first, before you pick up a knife or reach for the chopping board. And then read it again. When you’ve made a recipe once, you can add your own ideas and variations when you cook it again, if you wish. This is when the fun really begins.
I absolutely loved judging this show and the most exciting thing of all was tasting the diverse range of cuisines that the families cooked. Giorgio and I learned so much. This book features many of the different dishes in the show – from Syrian and Italian, to Indian and British – all simplified down. Whether you’re inspired to start cooking for the first time or are already a practiced cook looking for new recipes, you’ll find lots of fresh ideas for wonderful meals. I hope you’ll enjoy making and eating the dishes as much as we enjoyed judging them.
Rosemary
