[thechat] Recipe: Tom Yam Gai (Thai Hot n' Sour soup)

[Tony Crockford]

> Could you tell me more about this Oliver bugger? He's about
> the same age as
> I am (I think), but what I want to know is how someone who's not all
> grey-haired from years of cooking (Jacques Pepin, for
> instance) gets a hit
> TV show, more than one book published, etc.
>
> Maybe I can take some inspiration. I want to be a celebrity
> TV chef too. :)

In Jamie's defence:

He was a chef at top London restaurant and then....

The TV show was his secret, it was filmed like a fly on the wall
documentary, showed him meeting all his mates while buying ingredients -
no rubbish - honest stuff and always ended with him having a great meal
with his mates in his trendy London flat.

The filming was very *now* at the time - all moving camera and close-ups
of the pan, his approach to measuring and description of tastes were
refreshingly new - most TV chefs showed an onscreen recipe with 1/2 a
cup of this etc.

To get Jamie's recipes you bought his books.

His downfall was accepting a contract to do TV ads for Sainsbury's which
over emphasised the "pukka" and "yoof" culture elements and rammed him
down the UK's throats far too often.

and Tall Poppy Syndrome (he was earning a lot of money for a young
bloke) saw him ripped to shreds by cynical media types.

recent return to the screen may have done him some good - Jamie's
Kitchen was a docusoap that followed his progress in training 15 no
hopers (young kids from poor areas of London) to be chefs to work in a
restaurant into which he put several millions of his own money.

I like him and the way he cooks and his recipes, but more importantly he
made it fashionable to cook from whatever was to hand.


Of course if you tried to be like Jamie - that's exactly what you'd be
accused of - a Jamie Oliver Clone!

keep those recipes coming!