Will Sophie deliver celebrity gossip on TV?
The newest TV cook, Sophie Dahl, has now broadcast two editions of her new series, the Delicious Miss Dahl, and the reviews from the celebrity gossip columns are not exactly congratulatory. Can a former model turn her career in the direction of TV chef based on her grandfather’s chocolate association? Or maybe she feels that her sensual approach to the issue will enable her to outdo Nigella Lawson? Our impression of the programme is of a very slim young woman with a mile-wide grinning mouth, attempting to find sensuality in every ingredient that she touches. OK, so she wrote a cookery book before the series went out, but that is not a comprehensive television chef pedigree.
Is the cooking of a high standard? Actually, no. The tasks that Ms Dahl attempts are fairly simple but often not accomplished. Last night she attempted a pea puree using a professional blender but the peas remained defiantly unblended. The attention went on to the tearing of the herbs and testaments to their aroma and colour. The scallops were marinaded in an oily mixture for a whole five minutes, but they did stay in the marinade for cooking so maybe that added to the effect. The scallops were then barbecued in shells, which was a pretty effective and foolproof approach. They looked good, but I found the accompanying highly suggestive commentary rather off putting.
Sophie Dahl has now become a decidedly skinny woman and she needs to come to terms with the fact that she is no longer her former voluptuous self. As a result, some of the sexy stuff misses the target. Little anecdotes about her compulsive neatness – whcih extends to making the bed while husband Jamie Cullum is still in it – do not add to the story. When your husband is only 5 feet 2 ins tall and weighs seven stone, that is a mistake any woman could make!
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