Filled with James’ handy hints and tips, you, too, will be able to host a curry night, fix a mean breakfast, build a Victoria sponge and master the barbecue. Heat a nonstick pan on a low heat, add the remaining oil and fry the burgers in batches for about 5 min on each side until golden. He’s a very good broadcaster, but he needs to be in a garage or cracking gags about Teslas and Lamborghinis with his amigos, not doing this flambéing lark, which, as far as he’s concerned, is clearly a load of old cook.

It's very easy to do, get fat and drunk because you're stuck in the house – I tried to avoid doing that," he adds. Wrap the roly poly in the baking parchment, making a long pleat in the paper to allow the pudding to expand as it cooks. One of the best meals I ate was a cosy dinner for two with Jeremy Clarkson when we were trying to break a world record reaching the North Pole in a motor vehicle. Or should we all put on our bravest faces and continue the charade until he can no longer muster the energy himself?I had just so much fun reading it and I learned a few things too 😊 for fans and beginners, I totally recommend it! If you’ve watched the show and want to try the recipes out for yourself, then the James May Oh Cook! to the 1970s because that’s when cooking on TV took off with shows like Graham Kerr’s The Galloping Gourmet. Highlights include the very tasty black pudding hash (I only tried black pudding in the last few years, in Edinburgh of all places, and I’m a little annoyed that I avoided it for so long), the shakshuka and the sticky buffalo wings.

It goes without saying that commissioning a cooking show hosted by an automotive journalist without a single culinary credential sounds like a disaster waiting to happen - and May seems to agree. It wasn't entirely without precedent but I wouldn't be your first choice if you suddenly thought as a TV executive 'I know, we'll do a beginners' cooking show and we'll get James May to do it'. None of them have actually been something I want to sit down and read when I’m not using it to cook. One of the standouts was a little place doing kebabs by the road in Jordan, and another kebab place at a market in Syria, and India is fantastic for that sort of thing.May’s book is as clever as it is useful, and even the recipes contain enough little quips, you’ll want to read through just so you don’t miss any jokes. There are comments like this throughout, and it is well worth reading even the recipes you might not try. May says in the recipe the coat will make a “mess,” and he wasn’t kidding, but once they were fried, they looked like something out of a swanky retro Tiki bar and grill. is the trusty companion for anyone seeking to gain confidence in the kitchen and arm themselves with some tried and tested recipes all created and tweaked by James. I'm not 100% convinced they will all be tasty though, and honestly it's more fun to watch the show which is paired with this.

My daughters helped me make four servings, but I worked on the “hard part” of frying the cornflakes coated Spam strips.May doesn’t have any children that I know of, but this section is amazingly helpful for busy parents on a budget who are trying to get a decent meal together for different generations after having a beast of a day. Even when we find him in unusual surroundings (the kitchen), it’s reassuring to think that he has probably only made James May: Oh, Cook! May’s kitchen shtick continues to be a mix of everyman bafflement and mild curiosity about more refined culinary techniques, only with a minor twist – May is now edging away from banter in the direction of practical advice, albeit offered without any real confidence.