Mathures Paul

Cookery to Keith Floyd is the result of religion, geography and war. Mathures Paul marinades his career When satellite television arrived in India, two personalities inspired men to enter kitchens — Keith Floyd and Martin Yan. While some men lost a finger or two trying to outdo Yan, others went a bit tipsy watching Floyd sip wine and rustle up delicacies in natural surroundings. After all these years, Floyd, with his bow tie and smooth talk, remains a favourite among television viewers. Floyd’s definition of cooking is best described in A Feast of Floyd: “Cooking is an art and patience a virtue... Careful shopping, fresh ingredients and an unhurried approach are nearly all you need. There is one more thing — love. Love for food and love for those you invite to your table. With a combination of these things you can be an artist — not perhaps in the representational style of a Dutch master, but rather more like Gauguin, the naïve, or Van Gogh, the impressionist. Plates or pictures of sun...

The bad boy of cuisine never fails to entertain and educate with exotic tales of travel. He tells Mathures Paul it’s impossible to live a full-time bohemian lifestyle and also be a good chef ‘There’s usually a moment when we’re shooting, most often near the end of a long meal. The crew has all the shots they need: plenty of ‘content’ (meaning me, babbling about the food ~ and someone local, who presumably knows what we’re eating, describing it), lots of long, lingering ‘food porn’ close-ups, plenty of footage of kitchen prep (which Todd who had arrived hours earlier to get) and the final assembly. As an exhausted silence settles over the table, well into my cups, I’ll look straight at the camera and sarcastically say, in my most unctuous, television ‘host-sums-up’ voice, ‘So... What have we learned today?’ This is a cue to producer and shooters that I’m f****** done. That it’s time to ‘get some wides’, meaning, the crew steps way back and shoots some generic ‘wide shots’ from a distanc...

Mathures Paul meets Antonio Carluccio, the Godfather of Italian Gastronomy The large-screen television hanging from the restaurant wall was airing news about Left Front’s withdrawal of support while speakers connected to a stereo system played a series of background scores from Hollywood classics. Antonio Carluccio was unmoved, a Marlboro dangling from his lips, sitting at the head of a table that could sit a large Italian family. Carluccio spoke haltingly, without batting an eyelid, providing his audience tales that would be cherished. “There was a little boy who decided to write a letter containing his Christmas list to Little Jesus, rather than Santa. He wrote he would be a good boy for a month if he gave him certain gifts. On reading the letter again, he reduced the month to a week. Next he looked at a statue of Madonna and rewrote the letter... ‘Give me what I want or you would not see your mother’!” This is one of the many jokes Carluccio shared over dinner at Park Hotel. But who...

The more intricate dishes are being dropped from Indian menus at home. Chef Anjum Anand in her new television show puts forward techniques to prepare traditional recipes in a less involved process, writes Mathures Paul Contrary to popular belief, chef Anjum Anand is on a mission to prove that anybody can cook Indian food. The celebrated chef is back with a new television series that provides a new approach to classic Indian dishes. In each episode of Indian Food Made Easy on Discovery Travel & Living she looks at a different side to Indian cuisine before helping one of her novices plan, prepare and make dishes for a particular event. Anjum speaks to experts who reveal the secrets of tandoori cooking, how to make the perfect samosa, bake delicious naan and make Indian cheese. Mango kulfi and smooth and luxurious shrikand satiate the sweet tooth. Dosas, paneer with spinach and raita preparations complete what is a balanced meal. Part of the programme is also a look at certain Indian ...