Good Food Glasgow

(by peter)

What a hoot.

The BBC Good Food Show Scotland is small (as far as BBC Good Food Shows go) but perfectly formed.

There were some great producers there, top chefs in action and wonderfully friendly people. I was hosting some top talent on the Interview Stage (see below for gossip). And yes, for the record, I was asked what wine goes best with deep-fried Mars bar.

So what nuggets of arcane foodie trivia did we learn over the course of the weekend?

• As well as being a fine lady and font of knowledge on all things culinary, Mary Berry is partial to a bit of Hugh Jackman. If you don’t believe me, look where her hand is in the photo with him in her new autobiography, Recipe for Life.
• Rhubarb rum is surprisingly nice. The one I tried is made using rum from St Lucia and rhubarb from the UK. After the rhubarb has been strained off after maceration, it’s fed to the pigs. Lucky pigs.
• On the booze front, John Torode is set to launch his own range of Hunter Valley wines next year (2014), sourced through McWilliams (they jointly run a wine-and-food campaign). While the final wines are yet to be decided, he’s thinking along the lines of a Semillon/Sauvignon Blanc blend for the white, and a Shiraz for the red. Should make a fine liquid accompaniment to his new show, John Torode’s Australia, also airing next year.
• To finish off the wine theme, Christopher Trotter is planning to make his first Scottish wine next year, from his Fife vineyard. Should be fun.
• Bake Off star Paul Hollywood likes to get away from it all by cycling. But strictly no lycra.
• Masterchef’s John Torode doesn’t have the same compunctions, cheerily admitting to being a MAML (middle-aged man in lycra). John’s guilty food secret is filling the insides of sausage rolls and pasties with squeezy tomato ketchup. And he secretly yearns for someone to cook him a good old pasty on Masterchef.
• The world of fudge is deeper and more delightful than I could ever have imagined. Sticky toffee pudding fudge is the new black. Banoffee pie fudge is special. Iron Brew fudge maybe less so. But bacon and maple syrup fudge takes the biscuit.
• Hardeep Singh Kohli has moved back to Glasgow and opened a restaurant: Kool Ba.
• Neither Ajmal Mushtaq nor Tony Singh’s wife lets them in the kitchen. Because they make too much mess.
• Tom Kitchin – bit of a connoisseur, this man – loves a bit of Picpoul with his seafood.
• Great British Bake Off Finalist from 2012 James Morton is a very nice man currently in his 4^th year of medical studies, working at Glasgow General, and his patients regularly bring in books to sign. (He testifies to signing first, treating later.) He’s also something of an expert on beer and whisky. His guilty food secret – quite something for a baker to admit – is Gregg’s. But he claims their yum yums are superior to those of M&S.
• James Martin is close to getting his helicopter license and has just been recommissioned to do another series of Food Map of Britain. He may also be qualifying as a semi-professional driver soon. Who says olive oil and petrol don’t mix…
• Masterchef 2013 winner Natalie Coleman is, quite simply, a lovely person. But that won’t stop me revealing her guilty food secrets as…pizza, pork scratchings and Haribos. Preferably with her feet up in front of the telly.
• Hairy Biker Si King had the best, purest guilty food secret: bread and butter. But good bread (ideally, he said, local home-made stotie bread) and good butter. He gets away from it all by drumming and is an ardent supporter of (and investor in) the grass roots music scene.

Susie and I will both be on stage at the upcoming London and Birmingham shows, where we’ll be talking food, wine – and chocolate (see here for more details). We’d love to see you there so please do come and say hi! In the meantime, some more snaps: