The Hairy Bikers' Family Cookbook - Pan Haggerty

Despite describing myself as frustrated, realistically I know I’m quite lucky. I have been looking forward all day to Nigella’s Rocky Road, and my luck is still in. It really is delicious – very chocolaty, crunchy and gooey at the same time. I was disappointed when I opened my bag today to find I had forgotten my lunch, but this has really made up for it.

This evening for dinner, we are making use of another library book – ‘The Hairy Bikers Family Cookbook’. I like the Hairy Bikers. They seem friendly, funny and down-to-earth, and friends that have seen them live have heartily recommended them, so I was glad to see Mrs Chef bring it home. The lively duo have travelled the UK, collecting recipes from Mums across the country Each recipe has a quick introduction, name-checking the Mum it came from. I had a quick flick through the book and did fancy some of the recipes, although I thought the ‘cheese pie’ was a bit of a cop-out (Ingredients: Cheese and Mash. Method: Put hot mash in a tin. Top with grated cheese. Grill) but I guess from the Bikers’ point of view these are recipes that Mum’s genuinely use. Still, I wasn’t impressed considering the price of celebrity-chef endorsed cookbooks.

We decided on the Pan Haggerty last night when Mrs Chef declared that we had bacon to use in the fridge – she also had a busy day and this extract from the ‘Good simple suppers’ section fitted the bill. I got lucky again when Mrs Chef declared that she was to cook tonight, and I was to look after Chef Junior. It seemed to take a little while to cook, and Mrs Chef did confirm that everything took ages to chop. Her tip would be to use a food processor with chopper, or a mandolin.

This is where my luck ran out. Pan Haggerty is basically a watery mix of potatoes, bacon and carrots - topped with grilled cheese (déjà vu?). It definitely needed more bacon than the recipe called for, and by the time the potatoes were cooked, the carrots were like mush. I did have seconds, but that’s because I’m built like a Hairy Biker myself and was hungry. This is described as comfort food in the recipe. To me, comfort food is Lasagne or Macaroni Cheese. Pan Haggerty doesn’t come close.

I’m not writing off the book yet (I’m going to buy a blowtorch specially to do the Baked Alaska, and want to try the Curried Salmon), but the Pan Haggerty… As Geordie biker Simon might say, “Wor Pan Haggerty is proper shite man, and that”.

The Hairy Bikers Family Cookbook - Mum's know best at Amazon.co.uk