Off Menu with Ed Gamble and James Acaster - Ep 117: Ainsley Harriott

Episode Date: September 1, 2021

Christmas comes early for Ed and James with the gift they’ve been asking for since day one of Off Menu: Ainsley Harriott in the dream restaurant.Ainsley’s new book ‘Good Mood Food’ is published on on 9 September. Buy it here.Follow Ainsley on Twitter and Instagram @ainsleyfoodsRecorded and edited by Ben Williams for Plosive.Artwork by Paul Gilbey (photography and design) and Amy Browne (illustrations).Follow Off Menu on Twitter and Instagram: @offmenuofficial.And go to our website www.offmenupodcast.co.uk for a list of restaurants recommended on the show.Watch Ed and James's YouTube series 'Just Puddings'. Watch here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello, listeners of the Off Menu podcast. It is Ed Gamble here from the Off Menu podcast. I have a very exciting announcement. I have written my first ever book. I am absolutely over the moon to announce this. I'm very, very proud of it. Of course, what else could I write a book about? But food. My book is all about food. My life in food. How greedy I am. What a greedy little boy I was. What a greedy adult I am. I think it's very funny. I'm very proud of it. The book is called Glutton, the multi-course life of a very greedy boy. And it's coming out this October, but it is available to pre-order now, wherever you pre-order books from. And if you like my signature, I've done some signed copies,

which are exclusively available from Waterstones. But go and pre-order your copy of Glutton, the multi-course life of a very greedy boy now. Please? One shot of fun. One shot of chat. One shot of humor. Add the ice cubes of good times. Put it in the pot of the internet and shake it all around until it's all mixed up and pour yourself a nice long glass of the Off Menu podcast. He ruined it. Why are you saying Merry Christmas? It's not Christmas. This is not a Christmas episode. It's currently July and it's baking. Why are you saying Merry Christmas? I thought I did quite a good intro and then you've said Merry Christmas. What does that add?

You know why I've said Merry Christmas, Ed. Oh, because it's our Christmas in a way. Yep. Titans of comfort and joy to you, Ed Gamble. I take it back. I do feel Christmassy now. This is the big one. Our Santa Claus is here. Yes, on the Off Menu podcast where we welcome a guest into the dream restaurant and ask them their favourite ever starter, main course, dessert, side dish, and drink. Not in that order. Not in that order, actually, especially at Christmas time. And our special guest today, our very special guest, the guest we've been trying to get since the beginning of this podcast is Ainsley Harriet.

Ainsley Harriet, an absolute legend, a British institution of cooking, of entertainment television. He is a huge part of both of our childhoods, I think, James. Massive. A firm fixture on the TV and what a guy. What a personality. No disrespect to any of the other guests that we've had on this podcast, but you were all just ways to get to Ainsley. Yes. That's all you ever were. We put you on the podcast just so we could show Ainsley Harriet that we had a good format and that we could talk to any old idiot. And now we've got Ainsley Harriet on and it's Christmas time, baby! Christmas time! We quit. We quit. Now we've got Ainsley. We outie.

Benito, you're fired. We're hiring Ainsley as the producer. Yeah, and we quit as well. So I hope you enjoy Ainsley's podcast next week. He's not on it, he just produces it. Yeah, he just produces a podcast, so who knows what this is going to be next week. But there you go. However, maybe he won't be the producer if we have to kick him out the dream restaurant. James, if we have to kick Ainsley out the dream restaurant, I'm going to be so upset. I'll cry a thousand Christmas tears. It will be the worst Christmas ever if we have to kick Ainsley Harriet out the dream restaurant. But hey, if he says the secret ingredient, which is an ingredient that we deem to be gross, then we have to kick him out. That's

what we did to Jade Adams. And the secret ingredient this week is sami sardines. Sami sardines. We've of course done it in the style of Ainsley of Susie Salt, Potsy Pepper, sami sardines. Yes, sardines are the sharks of the sea. The sharks of the sea, that's what everyone's saying. So many bones in those things. It's not right, is it? How can something so small have so many bones? Yeah, you shouldn't be allowed that many bones if you're small. And what are we doing trying to eat them? It's too much faff. I don't get anyone who doesn't have a problem with bones in fish. It doesn't mind it. It eats around them. I hate that. The whole thing is just such a pain. I hate the feeling of fish bones in my mouth. Joe, we've never talked about it on the

podcast really, because rightly no one's ever chosen fish with bones in it and their dream meal. There's some fish that it works okay for. They come off the bone quite easily. But those like sardines and all that, I had Benito once. Do you know Benito is a fish? What? And let me say, it's not great. No surprise. Small and bony? No, it's massive. They're massive. They're a bit like tuna, but then the meat's not very good, and then there's so many little thin bones in there. In fact, it's exactly what it would be like to eat the great Benito. It would, wouldn't it? The meat's no good, and he's full of little thin bones. Well, if Ainsley says Sammy Sardine, and I'm looking for specifically that. I don't know about you, Ed. Oh, if it's

Sammy Sardine, he's out. If it's Sardines, we can talk about it. We can talk about it with him, and we can just let him know. Look, we said we'd kick you out if you said Sammy Sardine. Yeah. You said Sardine. Did you mean to say Sammy Sardine, to be honest? And he'll say yes, and then we'll kick him out. Yeah, I did. I forgot. Ainsley has a new book out that we will tell you a little bit more during the episode, I'm sure, and then we'll mention it again afterwards. GoodmoodFood. GoodmoodFood. I pronounce it GoodmoodFood. Well, I'm in the whole thing. You're writing the whole, yeah, I spoke, okay, GoodmoodFood then. Yeah, either GoodmoodFood or GoodmoodFood. Yeah. I mean, it looks great. It looks great fun. Absolutely.

It looks brilliant. It's Ainsley Harriet, mate. My hero. Yeah. It's out next week. I'm excited. Yeah, GoodmoodFood is out next week. I mean, there's loads of fun, tasty recipes in there. I'm reading the thing now. There's things like beer battered fish and triple-cooked chips. Lovely chicken kia with tarragon and lemony beans. You know, this is all good home cooking stuff. It truly is GoodmoodFood. Yeah, it absolutely is GoodmoodFood. I can't wait to eat all that GoodmoodFood and put myself in a Goodmood. So let's all get in a Goodmood and welcome to the off-menu podcast, Ainsley Harriet. Welcome Ainsley Harriet to the dream restaurant. What a place to be. Oh, look at the genie. Look what he's got on today. Welcome Ainsley Harriet

to the dream restaurant. We've been expecting you for some time. Well, I didn't even rub the lamp when you popped out. It's very eager. Impretuous of the eager. He's a very premature genie. Oh, I love it. Love it. Love it, genie. You can literally, anything that I command, you can deliver. I can deliver it. And it's a good point. No one's ever pointed out before that no one ever rubs the lamp. I'll just come straight out. No one ever rubs it. Well, if you rub it, it's kind of, it's more of a personal thing, isn't it? It's a real kind of, as you rub it, it's your, you own it, if you know what I mean. That sounds a bit twisted really, doesn't it? Yeah, so I guess if you rub it, you own it. This genie, if you, it's not a case if you rub it, you own it,

because this genie lives in the lamp and is not owned by anyone, but chooses to live in the lamp and pops out when he feels like it. Oh, right. If you rub it, it's just for fun. Is it really? Yeah. I'm tempted to the restaurant. It's not your rub it, you own it. If you rub it, it's just for fun. Yeah. At least we want to get a bed really. I dream of genie. Is that your favorite genie? When you think of genies, is our dream of genie number one, or is it ladded genie? Kind of that, because I'm of that generation where we did fantasize a lot more. Do you know, and literally you read books and you, you fantasized about what you were reading and you put your imagination would run wild, where I remember that great hit,

Video Kill the Radio star. Yeah. As soon as people started putting pictures and animation or real life acting into something, you lose something because they're telling you how you should think as opposed to your imagination, grasping it and thinking, no, this is where it takes me. This is what that song does for me. Yeah. And I think it's the same with you when you rub the old lamp and the genie pops out. We have different imaginations of what we like. Do you come out in a puff of smoke or do you just come out? However you like, really, actually, this is your dream restaurant. This is your dream meal. So if you don't want any smoke at the meal, I can tone the smoke down and make sure it doesn't come out

the lamp. There's no smoke without fire, is there? Yeah, exactly. Genie, genie, let yourself go. Now, I know we were talking about the power of the imagination being better than actually seeing what's going on, but I really wish everyone listening could see what happened there because Ainsley really went for a little old dance. That did. I love the little bit of shake of the shoulder. Yeah. Oh. Yeah, look at Elvis. I'm very excited. How are you visualising the dream restaurant, actually? What is your dream restaurant setup? I think the dream restaurant setup is

kind of something which is quite colourful. I think we are in the heart of Brixton, just off Electric Avenue. This is an electric lane and it's got a nice vibe around here. Lots of colour, lots of diversity. It makes you think, yeah, it's relaxed, relaxing on the eye. Because I think what it is, it's about, you can tell by the way people paint their living rooms and stuff now and we are moving into an era of colour. We like a bit of vibrancy and you can see when you watch TV commercials about food, my new book is all about colour in the food, getting colour in the food. It gives you, it's almost, we talk about titillating the tongue, it's all about titillating the eyes a little bit if the colour is right. I don't like too dark,

I don't like when you get into a lift in New York and you can't even see it had, press the button, it's so dark. Do you know what I mean? It's so dark in here. If you want to get in and have a snog, that bloody CCTV camera is not going to pick up a bloody thing if you start getting a bit fruity. You start rubbing it with the old genie out. Do not incur my displeasure. You mentioned your book as well, just there, Good Mood Food. Good Mood Food, yeah, happy about that, happy about Good Mood Food because I think all what we've gone through, it is about giving stuff, you know, doing stuff that just reminds you a little bit, makes you, more importantly, just put you in a good mood. You know, I think food can do that. I think sometimes we can get

very sort of bored with it, but if you're putting a little imagination into it and we have so much choice now, don't we? When you walk out there or when you pick up your phone and you want to get one of your delivery people in there, we are spot for choice. It's not just an Indian and a Chinese now. It's every conceivable nation's cuisine. He gave me grapes early and I keep coughing up bits of skin. Benito gave, actually, a plate of grapes and I think they were, were they seeded, actually? I thought they're seedless, but they've seen better days. So what happens is the juice starts to dry out a little bit in the grape. You can see that and it's a little bit brown. It's still delicious and juicy, but notice I'm squeezing it instead of rubbing

it. What do you like? Don't rub the grape. Just eat it. You don't own it? Would you describe this plate of food that Benito gave you as Good Mood Food? Be honest. Be honest. I'll be perfectly honest if it's worth things about him. I think looking at our producer, I think he's probably got a few healthy bones in his body because look what he's bought me. He's bought me a plum. He's bought me some rather nice cherries, grapes. Yeah. I think it's the, there's a because I'm coughing up skin again. The thing is, is that you were saying you were, you're still getting bits of grape from when you ate it earlier and then you put a grape in there. Well, I was just showing you the juice and now once I saw the extraction of juice,

I couldn't help but say, okay, I had to. I had to. I don't own a coffee. It's pretty corrupt too, but we don't care. We don't care. Do you know what? We become snobs, haven't we? We become snobs. Look, I went around my mates as a kid and someone gave me a cup. I'd be happy just to get a cup of coffee. Now we've become complete snobs. We're all sort of turning into the kind of Australian barista people. Do you know what I mean? I just said, my God, the milk's far too hot. They've got to have the perfect temperature. It's got to be ground and everything's just got to absolutely come out the way. It should to make the ideal cup of coffee. I'm not entirely sure. I think sometimes you're just in a hurry. Life is just about, you

know, whisking it together. Was it Mr Bean who did that thing, where he put the... Well, we don't talk about him on this podcast. Really? Yeah. Did he give you nightmares as a child then? As an adult. Did he not rub your lamp hard enough, like, no? He was rubbing. We always start off still sparkling water, Ainsley. Do you know what? I don't really mind, but I will say that I'd probably go down the still route, but what I will absolutely insist on is no lemon or no cucumber. I mean, I just can't understand. If I want a finger bowl,

I'll ask for one. You know what I mean? I do not need the acidity or anything in my water. I just want water. And if people really know about water, I've been there with some people at water concerts. I don't, you know, water is water to me, but when you are with them and you start going through there and you haven't got plaster from the night before, you haven't got tobacco breath or something like that, you can actually taste the difference. You know, there was a, it's quite subtle, but it's there. So why would you ruin it with lemon? And if you go, especially if you go a bit of fine dining, we are talking about going to a proper restaurant, proper food. You know, you just want water. I don't want anything with it.

Cucumber, loads of slices of cucumber and mint floating in it. Why? It's horrible. Just plain old water, glass of water, beautiful glass, you know, that makes some, that really starts off the meal properly. They call it spa water, that. Have you had that before where they put, even in like the big water cooler, they'll put cucumber in it and mint and call it spa water. It makes me think of it's like all the water that's run off from the baths. You know what I mean? Like you're drinking all the water, come down from someone being sluiced down. Horrible. Just to ruin it even further for you. I know. I just, I just imagine, I just like to think where you go to.

The grubby little boy. I know he is. He likes a bit of sluice water. Well, what would you like, sir, some sluice, please? What sluice? You said beautiful glass. Yeah. What you imagine in there when you imagine a beautiful glass? I'm just imagining the correct weight. I can't stand things which are just flimsy or just, just, glass should be, it's the first thing you actually do is when they arrive, you arrive in a restaurant, they normally come, isn't it, before you drink, you might have had a cocktail before, but if you get a beautiful glass that's put down, I don't mind a little bit of color in the glass,

just a sort of tinge, but just a nice glass, good weight. It just sets you up. Just like reset you, ready for the meal, like you're ready to go. Yeah, it's almost like brining a house and walking in there and they're baking potatoes. You go, it just gives you that, oh, what a lovely home. You haven't seen- Is that the best way to sell a house, just bake a potato? What it used to be. I've done it for a while, but apparently if you go in there and something's cooking, it gives it that homely feel. Yeah, I've heard that with bread. I've never heard it with potatoes. With baked potatoes. But that would work for me, I think.

Yeah, well, yeah, baked potatoes worked. Bread would have worked, but I suppose when I was at my peak, when I was probably in that way, when you kind of think, all right, buy and sell, do you know when you get obsessed with buying and selling? You buy it and then you kind of do it up, put paint over that, cover that up. But water for me is, yeah, that's the, that's how things start off. And then we move on to the- Pop it up as all bread. Pop it up as all bread, Aisley Harriet. Pop it up as all bread. Pop it up, pop it up, pop it up, pop it up, pop it up as all bread. I sucker for the bread, you know. Yeah, yeah. I'm a sucker for the bread.

And the worst thing is, is when the bread is warm. Oh, God, you know. The worst thing being the best thing. Yeah, because when it's warm, it's just, you just, you just want more of it. It really is. It's a, you know, there you are talking about, okay, I talked about bread coming, you know, when you walk into a house, can you imagine being given that bread? My mum used to make a little hard dough bread or something and she take it out the oven and just put the butter straight on it. It was the most wonderful, luscious thing ever. So when you get a restaurant, you get those warm rolls or something like that, or just a nice selection, you know, you got to one of those posh places, they have proper bit

bread, proper, you know, you get a bit of sourdough. It's been souring up for three or four days. Oh, it's sour. It's really got the flavor. It's sour. And you put it in your mouth and wide out to your sweet dinner. What are you imagining on this selection at the dream restaurant? What's it? You've got a bit of that sourdough. What else is on there? Warm bread? Warm bread. Do you know what? If the bread is right, you know, I know you can get lots of fancy butters with lots of rock salt in it and some of the bit of chili and some of this and that. And then we can go on and on and on. If the bread is right, do you need much? You know, it's kind of, there's so much flavor going in there. And I think this is sometimes what spoils it

and why even when I think of my favorite foods, it's kind of straight down the line. There's not too much going because you interfere with it too much. There's two, you know, it's a lovely piece of bread, maybe a lovely olive oil or something like that. And just a little bit more rock salt because as my late father would say, like misalt. And, you know, when it just put a little bit more salt in there, you know, fuck the archery. I'm sorry, but it's true. It's like, if you like something like that, it gives you that much pleasure. Well, go for it. Now, famously, you always referred to salt as Susie salt. But when it's rock salt, does the first name change? Robbie Rock Salt, Reginald Rock Salt? It doesn't feel good to call rock salt Susie salt. That doesn't

feel right to me. Rock, Rock. Rock a Robin. Susie sling your hook. Oh, yeah, Susie go away. We're not watching no more, we're ready, we're robbing and we're rocking some more rock and salt. It makes you feel so good. Woo, woo, woo, I said rock and salt. Suzie, you ain't no good. Doot, doot, doot, doot, doot, doot. Perfect. Absolutely perfect.

Good answer. Poor Suzie. Great answer. Poor old Suzie. Poor sport Suzie's salt. But what goes on top of Suzie's salt? Perfect. Yeah, you boys have been attacking properly. Good education, that's all right. Every afternoon when I got home from school,

ready to steady cook straight on the TV. Straight up. Straight up. Doot, doot, doot, doot, doot, doot, doot, doot, doot, doot. Doot, doot, doot, doot, doot, doot, doot, doot, doot, doot. Doot, doot, doot, doot, doot, doot, doot, doot, doot, doot, doot. Love it. And can't cook, won't cook. Yeah. Oh, yeah, I used to love a bit of can't cook, won't cook, too.

I think these nostalgic programs, they really identify, they touch the nerve with people, you know. They're connected with people because, especially with Ready, Steady Cook, that came along when, I remember the Fern Britton, who was the most wonderful presenter, she's now a busy way writing children's books, or I'm not even sure if they're children's books, but she's brilliant at anything like that, I mean.

And they wanted her to do something on ITV. She said, well, I'm just doing this little program on the BBC at the moment called Ready, Steady Something, Ready, Steady Cooking or something. And I think I'll probably go away in two or three weeks because nobody wanted any cooking program in those days, unless your name was Floyd or Franny or something like that, you just didn't get the gig.

And of course, Ready, Steady Cook came along, and, you know, there we were 16 years later, still kicking ass, you know, it was really something. And Fern was there for the first seven or eight years presenting it, then I came over and came back from the States and took over and loved every minute of it. It's a bit hard. I felt a bit like Kenny Douglas having played for Liverpool

and then become a manager, and you've got to be, you know, subtly more responsible if you're holding it all together. You just want to have a great laugh with your mates, cooking food and frying it up, adding a bit of Susie salt, and... Percy Pepper. Percy Pepper. And of course, you're then having to kind of massage

the whole show, you know, keep everything going and... For different skills, I guess, yeah. It's a totally different skill, different set of skills, very, very different, but great, you know, what a buzz, what an energy. It's almost like us getting to work and think, oh, what's going to happen today? Yeah.

And we'd like a little bit of that, you know what I mean? Yeah, definitely, yeah, yeah, yeah. Did you take any souvenirs from the show? I'd have been tempted to take home, like, you know, one of the... One of the party cards. One of the... I don't know, I'm getting framed in my house.

Yeah, I might have one or two things. I might have a little ready, steady cook mug, you know? Yeah. You're a mug, one of those. I've got a few of those at home because you didn't win. Yeah, I've got a few bits of memorabilia. One of the evidence. I wonder what happened to those off,

because, you know, when a program ends, you wonder what happened to the equipment. You know, you have your van or whatever, it is full of all your equipment, and then the team come along and they bring everything out and get everything ready for the show, and then it's all packed away again. You know, you work solid for three weeks,

making three or four shows a day, and crack on. You see, were you doing three or four of those a day? Yeah. You must have been knackered by the end of the show. Absolutely. Absolutely. And you threw yourself into every show energy-wise. Yeah, well, you do, because it's a 4.30 in the afternoon,

is what people want to see. They want energy. You get home, you're feeling a little bit of flat, a little bit, yeah, a little bit flat from school, or everyone's feeling a little bit. So to have that kind of energy and that magnetism. Yeah, definitely. And the fun, and then giving you ideas

about what you're going to, what you're going to notch that night. How exciting is it, well, you know, yeah, I'll have some of that, you know, beautiful. For a day, though, did you start to regret the decision to go high energy when you realised you had to do four a day? Have you ever done anything for a day? LAUGHTER Why are you laughing?

LAUGHTER Why are you got red? LAUGHTER Get back in your fucking lamp. LAUGHTER It's high time someone told me to do it. Finally, someone said it. Yeah.

LAUGHTER Did I regret four a day? No, you know, it was a gig. And it was, and we could do it, and we'd got pretty slick. But, you know, when you are, when you're in the zone, and we're all cooks, and we've known each other for a long time, that show's well established, you just get into it. Right, here we go again.

Hey, good afternoon, welcome to Really Silly Cook. Join me, Anthony Waltopson and Brian Turner. Ah! You know, and then we go in, we interview, the guests would come along and people were genuinely excited. And I actually missed, I think, that we all became a little bit obsessed with having celebrities, you know, on the programme, whether it's ABC or D-grade celebrities,

it didn't matter. They were on the programme, they were enthusiastic about cooking. I used to love the general public. I used to love when people used to come from a little town in Devon and start talking about their gooseberries or something like that, you know, and then you could find out some information, real people, and there was something really wonderful about it, because there's something about the public,

something really quiet. And that's when I think I was, or still am, because I'm still making programmes at my best when you're just meeting people. They've got less of a guard up, I guess. They're less worried about their sort of image. You've got to bring them out. There's something really human about that.

We all are to start with. You know, you're a little bit guarded. Oh, my God, a camera's pointing at me. And look at us now, you know, we are, but you think about our parents, petrified. Oh, am I looking all right? Now there's a camera everywhere. You know, while we're doing this, as cameras,

it's part of our life, you know, and we just accept it. We can all... Well, let's get on to your dream, maybe. Do we have to? LAUGHTER Your dream starter to begin with. Is this a specific place, or is it a general dish? I don't know. Do you know, it's kind of...

Food is so seasonal, so people-ish. I thought that was your choice for a second. Well, it could have been, but, you know, it's about company and stuff like that. There's so many different elements that make your meal a happy meal. When I think back, you know, what do I love? I certainly love the idea of beautiful soups. I think, you know, as a starter, a fantastic soup is great,

but it does encourage you to tuck into all that lovely bread, you know? But I think one of my favourites of all time was a tuna tartare with a citra caviar sat on top, a little sprinkling of diced avocado and chive around it. And I think there was some caramelised kind of chilli rings just placed delicately around. And the real beauty of a starter like that is that it's slowly consumed.

You get a few of them. Do you remember the old Bath Oliver biscuits? I don't think you see them very much. Oh, there was something called Bath Oliver, and they had a real crispy crunch to them, and they were just wade enough, too. They didn't sort of disintegrate. When you put them on a plate and you spread something on it,

you know, a lot of crackers just crack away. And it's quite delicate. And I remember just eating that because it's a slow process. And you're putting a bit on, then you put a little bit of that on there, and then you eat it. I mean, it's almost like normally with a starter or soup, everything just eat, eat, eat. But when you slow everything down and you bite in

and then you've got to go back again, the whole enjoyment just goes up and up, because it's so pleasurable. You keep going, but oh, a little bit more of that, a little bit more of that, instead of that one big hit that you get. And of course, I prefer belugas great. Belugas are also more expensive.

But when you get it right, when you can get the right caviar and the right blend and everything else, because it's so rare. You know, I haven't had caviar, certainly. I don't think I've had caviar in a couple of three or four years now. But when you tear sit, when that Sturgeon lick your tongue. And when you get your tongue and you push it onto the roof of your mouth and you burst those little pockets, those little balls,

and then it just sort of just kind of spreads around your mouth and all the different flows. Oh, I just love it. I love the bursting thing. Some people can't bear it. My fiance, she's like, I can't. It's horrible. Why would you want to burst something in your mouth? Definitely. I love the Japanese, like the tobiko, the really big orange balls.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You get those and they're like basket. They're like basketballs, basically. Push them to the roof of your mouth and blamo. Done. It's quite nice, isn't it? Explosion. Blamo. Blamo. I like blamo. I love blamo.

I love blamo. Yeah. Maybe he's going out with the wrong person. Yeah. He might be. He might be. Orange balls. Yeah.

Well, blamo. Blamo. Blamo. Where did you have this dish from? My first experience of it was at the Four Seasons in New York. Oh, lovely. And it was very, very beautiful. And me and my agent have this wonderful connection

because the worst thing you could do to Ainsley is hand him the wine list. And I was out there and they were kind of, you know, trying to make me feel good because I was going to do a program out there, which I did and lived out there for a while. But and we had this fantastic Pinot Noir that I ordered. And it was just blew us away. It was fantastic.

You don't get that opportunity very often. We want to show off and you can really try something because we often see a bit of expensive wine on the menu. You don't go for it. No. You normally turn it and say, look how much they charge you for it. It's like, maybe five hundred pounds of wine on it. Do you know what I mean?

You have those type of situations. But to kind of say, God, that would just be brilliant. And you've had it at some tastings before. You know, when I was involved in work in the hotels, used to go and meet the sommelier and stuff like that. They used to have these tastings down at the cellar. And some of them, you know, they'd buy a wine down there. They'd say, well, no, I won't be ready for four or five years.

But they'd buy it and just put it and lay it down. But sometimes you get the little connection you taste. Oh, and I'm not a connoisseur. I'd love to be. I'd love to be able to have that palate that being able to identify with something. And I'm pretty good. You know, I know a cheap bottle of wine.

No, it's really good. Medium, up to about 15, 20 pound in your store. Beyond that, I'm not very good. It's hard to really, really detect. There's so much to learn, isn't there? It's like crazy amounts of great varieties and all of that. Yeah, and I puff a bit. Late at night, playing me backgammon a few Scotches with me,

or take out a bottle of a bottle of rum. Say, yeah, man, I need some of that. Yes, no, them cigarettes straight. I don't want to hear that. Anyway, and it's so lovely because you can appreciate it. But when you get to that other level, as I said, I don't understand it. I really would love to be able to because it's beautiful, isn't it?

Something that you never regret your extravagances. Do you know when you go and you bought something, you never regret it? You might talk about it. You might look at your bank account and go, but the reality is you never really regret it because it's your pleasure. Something that you've given you, you know?

Anyway, so this meal's taking bloody a long time. No, it's perfect. We love it. We've got the tuna. Yeah, the tuna, and that's the Four Seasons in New York. And beautiful. I love the decor. I loved everything about it. I love the company that I was with, a guy called Gelman, who was one of those people that not a lot before they answer.

How are you? I'm fine. How are you? Do you know those knots? Tell us about Gelman. Yeah, I want to hear more about Gelman. Gelman's biggest frustration was that he had the most wonderful view over New York because he lived on the 48th floor of an apartment in New York up on the west side.

But the only drawback is that unless you got out early in the morning like you left at six, it could take you half an hour to get down because the lift would stop on every floor. Oh, Gelman. People don't realise that. Do you know what I mean? So you have this fantastic view when you get out there, he's like, you've got to get your timing right.

Otherwise, your whole day's fucked up. And you can imagine... Yeah, that wasn't a knot. That was a nervous twitch from being in a lift too long. Can you imagine? I mean, I'm terrible when someone jumps in the last minute but the doors are closing and they put their arm there. You feel like monthly, didn't you?

When you're pissed off. The doors have opened again. And then suddenly, you know, it takes a little bit long because they stop on another floor and you have to wait. Can you... Standing at the back of an elevator and waiting for all that time. Yeah. I mean, it's like...

I don't know. Would you take the stairs, 48 flights? I'd do down. I wouldn't do up. I know. Try it at least once. The L on that takes you, right? Get one. Get one.

Mr. Tried that. I don't know if he did. He was quite fit though, you know. Yeah, yeah. He's quite fit. I once said to him that I needed a massage. He goes... Nod.

I know the... I'm nodding here. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He did it a long time. I know a good guy. Right. And he sent me around this guy. He turned out a fucking muscle.

He was carrying a bag. You know, they walk in with their bag and they put everything out and they've got the lovely super soft towels. But then he started on me. Oh, my God. It was so strong, so powerful. You know, when they push down and you feel every bit... I mean, I was much fitter then,

but you just feel your muscles and everything. And when he left, I could hardly see him out the door. I just walked really slowly and closed the door and just lie there like that. He just stretches everything. They're so powerful. The hands are just so...

That's all they do, you know. I mean, they're fantastic at needing a bit of dough or something like that. They're just... Their hands were just amazing. Well, Angie, this is the dream restaurant, so if you want the bread that we've already brought you to have been needed by a masseuse,

very well. Yeah, Gelman's masseuse. Yeah, Gelman's masseuse, yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, done. Done. So, GMB, Gelman's masseuse. Welcome to GMB, Gelman's masseuse bread.

We need it the way you like it. Your dream Maine course. Do you know what? I looked at this when you guys crossed me and said, you know, your favourite Maine. And I went back and forward and I thought, God, I've had some amazing things. But, you know, the thing that kind of identifies

with me more than anything else is food that is really succulent and luscious and you want to go back and that's my slogan. So, you know what? I looked at this when you guys crossed me and said, you know, your favourite Maine. And that's my slow cooked lamb.

Oh, yes. Lamb. We're talking about, you know, getting some nice big flavours here. And one of the things I love to do is I like to get, crush up the garlic with a bit of anchovy. And people think it's going to taste really fishy.

You know, when you push it into those, you make little pockets and you're beautiful. And it's all about the quality of the lamb. You know, spend a little bit more, get something. And the fact that you're slow cooking, you might be able to get away with a cheaper cut here, like the idea of the leg.

And I'll just make these little pockets, a little knife, make these incisions with the garlic and the crushed up and you make it into kind of a paste and you put it in with the anchovy and you push it in there, you know, and you get that. Everyone thinks you're going to push it in,

it's going to be really sort of fishy tasting, but it's not, it's just melts into the meat. And you're cooking it for at least four hours, you know, and then when you've done that and you know that you've removed the foil, we've got loads of other flavours in there too, you know, we're not just stopping on the garlic and anchovy.

And then you pull off the, your foil covering, because you also cook it with stock. That's the secret of a slow cook. You must keep introducing a little bit of moisture into it. It kind of steams away. Then you remove the foil, pop it back into the oven, and just let it kind of crispen up.

Turn the oven up to about 220, so nice high heat and just finish it off 15, 20 minutes. Take it out and let that rest. Bring on the college lower cheese. That's what they say. Yes, man, who should pun this side? And I just love it.

I love food like that because I just keep going back again and again and again, you know. I don't want it too delicate. We're talking about one's favourite food here, one that you sit down and you rub your belly and you look at your shirt, there's a few drips on your shirt just to remind you of how succulent that was

and how hungry you were to get it into your cup. You know, a few drips down your chin. It's my favourite way to cook as well, proper slow cooking, where you can put something on in the morning and the smell fills the house for the whole day leading up to it. Isn't it just perfect?

And people know it too, and it's so comforting. I think that's what it is. It really is comforting. My mum used to do a lot of it. She used to do more than so much slow cooking. She used to do a lot of marinating. So I can remember every time we opened up our fridge, one of those fridge with the big handles,

she used to clunk like this. It was almost like an old cart or handle. Anybody of any age would understand what I'm talking about. And every time I opened up this fridge, it was just... even though she covered it with no cling film in those days, it was wet grease-proof paper

or wet damp cloth that went on top of it. You know, and the smell. And this is why I kind of... I love it. That kind of... That spice was always in there. You know, that wonderful combination of cinnamon and nutmeg and clove and black pepper.

All of those kind of things. And it's no surprise, you know, that I've grown up with wanting to kind of introduce flavours to things, because food can be a little bit bland, but when you get it right... Oh, my God! Oh, my God!

I went on to Ed's house, recently, and he was making pizzas all day for everyone. And he made a pizza where the topping was slow-cooked lamb and anchovy. Oh, wow. Yeah, it works pretty well, actually. It's a bit like your pulled pork or something like that.

Exactly. I did the lamb the day before for six hours, shoulder, and then it just... it pulls apart like pulled pork. I know, it's lovely. You strip it and you put it down, and people really enjoy it, don't they? There's something about it, and, you know, it's a bit caveman-y, really.

It takes us back to how we used to cook really slowly, you know. When you go out to, sort of, Ozmah, you know how they take the roux, the kangaroo, and people like that, and the wild, you dig this pit, and then they fill it with bits of wood and stuff like that, set fire to it.

And those hot flames, then they'd put the roux, the kangaroo, and take all the burn off all the fur and they'd be able to strip that off. And then when those embers die down, all the fire and everything, to really die down, they would then take the meat, throw it on top,

and if they did have salt or anything, they'd just throw handfuls of this stuff. Then they'd take the soil and put the soil back on the top, and they'd go away for two days, and they'd come back, and they'd dig it up, and that thing was so cooked, tender.

Can you imagine that? It would just be... I can't, because the only other time we've heard about that was a previous guest on this podcast called Joe Thomas, who tried to do that with a lamb and he ruined it. I think what it is, is that you've got to get the embers right, and so you've got to have enough of that.

We are talking about one of the oldest civilizations, and they probably knew how to do it. I think your mate probably put it in his back garden. No, well, the thing is really doing it, you know, outside in the bush, in the correct environment for it, and it's super dry and... Like you say, generations of doing it, knowing how to do it.

Joe Thomas did it in Soft Touch's back garden. Yeah, yeah. A local mum called Soft Touch, and she let them do it in the back garden, and him and his best friend, who at the time was someone's dad that he knew, so a much older man, buried this lamb in the back garden,

and when it came out... It was raw. It came out exactly as it went in, but it smelt of blood. Oh, my God. Yeah. Yeah, it's pretty disgusting. Was there any embers in there? Was there any fire in there? Yeah, but they put some hessian sack in there, and they basically put the fire out,

so basically what they did was bury the lamb in a hole and then dug it out again, and it was very disappointed. Yeah, they exeamed the lamb, basically. I wouldn't get the job in my restaurant. No, I wouldn't. I wouldn't get to the walk. I would try to wash the pots.

No, that doesn't sound very clever. No, no, no. But if you want to bury a roux or something like that, we can put you in touch with Soft Touch. Yeah, really? Yeah, yeah. Would you want to bury a roux in Soft Touch's garden? I'd turn it to Gelman then. LAUGHTER

Not in my head thinking about it, then. Would I like to bury something in Soft Touch's garden? Yeah. I've got to meet Soft Touch first. LAUGHTER I would love it if you met Soft Touch. I'll be great. APPLAUSE

That lamb sounds absolutely amazing. Yeah, absolutely lovely. As I said, I do like a bit of cauliflower cheese. Shall we move on? Is that going to be your dream side dish? I'd probably say that is my dream side dish. Bring on the cauliflower cheese. You know, cauliflower cheese,

it's one of those that even my son's girlfriend who, you know, is not sort of that fond of dairy. Uh-huh. I thought you were going to say she's not fond of you, though. The way he went to that. Not fond of me? No, no, no, I love her. I love her to death. I really like all my kids' pumpkins, actually.

Uh-huh. It's a cool thing, isn't it? Yeah, that's good. It's kind of really, really like them, even though my Maddie's boyfriend is a spurs, and I'm an Arsenal fan, it doesn't matter. I like the bloke, do you know what I mean? Yeah. And the fact that he loves my daughter,

loves up my daughter, it's okay. Yeah, I did tell him the first time I met him that I said, if you mess with my daughter, you're not going to be our role. I don't know. Yeah, yeah, all right, all right, all right. You know, they've been five years. What a weird day in that guy's life.

He's like, Ainsley Harriet just said, if I mess with his daughter, I'm not going to be around. I know, I know. Think about it, he loves going up to the gym. He's got all the... Oh, right. And he's as big as a... Yeah. He'll probably take me out in one. Harry Hammer or something.

But you would keep coming back of you, the dad, wouldn't you? It doesn't matter how many times I'm going to knock you down. Yeah, yeah, keep on getting up again. Yeah, you'll see four shows a day. And the rest. Get home and do the cooking and do the gardening. Yeah. And I've got to rub the lamp after that.

Hey, jean jean there. Let's just go. Oh, lovely. So, so, the cauliflower. Jeez. So, yeah. Yeah, cauliflower, yeah. I do like a bit of chou-fleur polonaise,

which is a cauliflower with all that sort of, you know, that crumb and the garlic and the parsley and everything. I think, with the polonaise, if I'm not mistaken, I think you actually chop up the egg. You've got some boiled egg, hard boiled egg, and you kind of chop it up fine, where you grate it, and it comes... And it's lovely, and it's all mixed in,

and that goes on top. And there's a lot of buttery crunchiness, which I like. I love textures. I think textures are really, really important. So, I do like that. But cauliflower cheese, as I said, it's just works, isn't it? And people just love it.

And if it's baked right, and it comes out, and the cauliflower, you know, you don't want it too hard, though. I don't like when you go to a place where the cauliflower is too firm. It should just be able to go into your mouth, beautiful, slow, roast lamb, and some of those tray juices

just drizzles on the top there. Isn't it lovely? It's done a lot for cauliflower as well, cauliflower cheese. People who don't like cauliflower will eat cauliflower cheese. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Even a good soup, creme d'ubari. It's like my old French trainee, creme d'ubari. It's a cauliflower...

like a creme cauliflower soup. Bari's creme. Dubari, creme d'ubari. And it's lovely. I love it. I love the texture of it. I love the flavor of it. I mean, it is that kind of slightly bitterness, isn't it? There's a little bit of bitterness in there. So you need to enhance it. You need to add something to it.

But, boy, lovely. Love it, love it, love it. Ed told me, before you got here, something I didn't know about you. Is it the Calypso Twins? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah, because still, I don't even know this, Ainsley, still on the wall of the comedy store and, I think, up the creek,

there is framed your old publicity shot of you putting your finger all the way through and they're still up there. So every comic you start, it's like, is that Ainsley Harry or was he in a double act? I don't know. Fantastic. I first started doing that when I went to... Oh, I think we went on a train journey

near my friend Charles, an old school buddy that I'd known since... Still one of my greatest friends lives out in Australia now. We went on this tour, Eurorail, I think they call it. Do you know Eurorail? You go around there and we were playing all the... Well, every time we went into these,

you know, squares and stuff like that. And we're talking about a time when there was no euros there. Everybody, you know, the Austrian had the Austrian shillings. The Italians had the Liro and the French had the Franck. You know what I mean? And there was a Swiss franc. It wasn't like euros for everybody right across the board. We went off and did this kind of

performing in these squares. And, of course, we get all this money in a hat. And then we go and sit down in these fine restaurants. We loved our food. And then we pay with all this change. Stacks and stacks of coins, you know. Pennies and what have you. And you can see the weight of people

looking at us, throwing the eyes in the air. But it gave us an opportunity to kind of perfect our skills a little bit. And we came back. We went and did an audition down in Covent Garden. He was teaching at the time, being a schoolteacher. And there's me working in one of the nice hotels

in the West End. And we come together on a Saturday afternoon at 2.33 o'clock to perform on the cobblestones of Covent Garden and the equivalent of the money that we got there. I'd have to work all week for that. And we did it in half an hour. What was the act?

What was the Calypso Twins Act? The Calypso Twins Act was a great act. We'd used to sing. He was from... He was Greek. And, of course, I was Jamaican. And so we'd write... Well, here we are again. We come to sing and we don't don't

I really know why. There's a time again. The rhythm music will make you feel so fine. I... I am a Greek man. He's Jamaican. Cultural differences stood in our way. I can remember when we both used to say...

Hey! I said, where's my mango? Where my moussaka? I like a liquor. I'm an immediate see now. Bob Marley. Nana Mascuri. Complications and a constant fury.

Well, here we are again. It's great that you still remember it. I can see you click into muscle memory there. I know, I know. I did a gillman. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Full gillman. Absolutely gillman. Did you do the comedy clubs as well?

Oh, God, yeah. We did the comedy store. We did lots of jonglers. Because jonglers was the big club at the time. And we used to go down to the... What was the one, the Malcolm Hardy? The Tunnel Club was before. Tunnel Club was Malcolm.

He had tragic death. Wasn't it fantastic the way he went there? He used to get a boat and he used to live across the lake. And he got so pissed one night. He got in the boat, fell in the river. That was the end of it. And all the comics that got together was just the humour and everything.

The way we embraced the love of Malcolm Hardy. And only Malcolm could have done that. What? What? What? Falling in the water, you know. Sadly, no one was there. Missing. I remember Joe Brandt telling a story about him in Edinburgh when he was doing his show. And there was a reviewer in who'd given him a really bad review.

And he said he was going to do a magic trick and he asked the guy to get on stage and chose the reviewer and said, sir, would you join me on stage? And gave him a plank of wood to hold. He said, just hold that with both hands and then he kicked him in the balls. LAUGHTER Well, my favourite bit is that you used to say, in or out.

And we'd say, in or out. And of course, take out his... Do the joke with his testicles out. Yeah. Or in. But they were massive. They looked like eggs, you know. LAUGHTER And he'd say, in or out.

In or out, in or out. Get him out, get him out. And he'd play a harmonica with his... With all that... I'm just like, my God! And it's so bizarre, so weird. And this really is... This is what comedy was all about.

People talk about alternative comedy. That's what made alternative comedy. It was the bizarreness of it. You didn't know what was going to happen. Yeah, so when you did Calypso Twins, Ed there, he really loved it when you said the... Was it, he like a man going me and Miss Stalker? Yes, yes, yes. I love that.

Was that always the first big laugh of the set? Would that always get a big... I think there was loads of different things. There was sometimes we'd just walk out on stage and every crowd was different. And so you walk out there and you just have a bit of fun. You wanted that first laugh.

It's like everybody, it's like, you know, it's like a footballer wanting that first touch to be assured and then to lay it off. Was that rugby player to catch the ball perfectly and be able to lay it off? Just little things. The first thing that you do, then you kind of feel a little bit, right, I'm up for this now.

The first laugh was important and I used to do various things. I'd walk out there and in the time everybody was still sort of putting the old gel or, you know, or the brille cream or something and I'd go back and I'd look at a gun. I see you've found more than one use for KY jelly. You know, Andy was...

And there'd be a little bit of a shock when it'd get a little bit of a laugh and it'd get us into the rhythm. DREAM DRINK DREAM DRINK Yes. DREAM DRINK. You've already hinted that you like a bit of wine, but you've... Rum's got to mention as well.

I do like a Pinot Noir. Yeah, my rum, my mid-late, my whiskey. If I'm out with the agent, it's going to be a martini. Gin martini. Extra dry. And I didn't know what extra dry meant, you know, but what they actually do is they put the vermouth on top of the ice and they shake it

and then they pour the vermouth on and then they put the gin onto the ice then and then they pour it out, you know, so it's really, really dry. It's just a hint of it. It's just touched it. I don't know what amps that vermouth, but it doesn't matter. And it goes in there.

Four olives, no twist of lemon or anything. No lemon that... Again, lemon is a killer. Yeah, yeah. You hate lemon. No, I love it. You know, you can see it. You know, you talk about like a strawberry daiquiri or something like that. Strawberry daiquiri. What do you got? You've got your loads of ice.

You've got your strawberry on top. You've got your lime juice. You know, two limes, one lemon squeezed on there. You've got your sugar on there. You've got your rum on there. A little bit of soda water. You pour it out. Oh, was that the blender?

I thought Donald Duck was making it. I'll give you Donald Duck. I'll give you. Cheeky boy. No way, yeah. Bucks him. Bucks him. Lick him one. Anywhere. Martini is a great choice, though.

Martini is, I think, when you walk in and you want it, it's... There's something very clean about a spirit drink. People who really like a drink, they're normally the spiriters. They're not the bear and stuff like that. You can do loads of pints and you're just, you know, you're just swelling up and you go in the loo all the time

and you don't know what you're wearing, really, quite frankly. But it's... And nothing wrong with that. But the real drinkers, the spirit drinkers, very steady. And quite often, they don't get completely plastered, if you know what I mean. They're just... they're very steady with it. And I think there's...

I know a few people like that, even some family members. My... My uncle Alan, who's still alive. Uncle Alan, he used to come around all Christmas and birthdays and stuff. What would you like to drink, said Vodka and orange juice and tell the wife? And he put it... She thought he was drinking orange juice all the time.

Vodka and orange juice and tell the wife. LAUGHTER And Aunt Penny would go, Oh, I love him orange juice. Oh, yes, I love him orange juice. No wonder he was so fit to have told the wife. The format of vodka was in there. It was unbelievable.

But talk about that generation and old people. I don't want to really let you go today without talking about Hello Jill. Why Hello Jill? I know, I know. LAUGHTER Oh, poor Jill was checked out there, you know. Oh, OK. I didn't know that.

There was me and, of course, Alison. Yes. This little lady sitting in between us on the sofa. Do you remember that scene? Oh, my God. The game was just wet and self laughing. Not only do we remember it, Ainsley, we talk about it at least three times a week. My favourite thing to watch on YouTube.

I love the way that you come into the room. Really? Yeah. You sneak past the door like that, you close the door behind you. That's funny. LAUGHTER Hello Jill. They gave her a brand new TV.

She was so small, wasn't she? Yeah. And there's me out in the kitchen, in Jules' kitchen, trying to make her this surprise meal and stuff, and I'm going through it. And every drawer that I opened up, there's a packet of fags in there. More importantly, there's about three or four packets that are empty.

Do you know those people? They think, I might find something in there one day. And they've got these empty packets. Every time I'm looking for something, I go this one. I go to the bottom one, open it like that, and it would be something like Sobrani or something like that. You know, weird fags that you only smoke at Christmas.

You know what I mean? Bless her. I love an old lady who smokes. Yeah, great. My great-grandma, we bought her a 90 for her birthday once, and the next time we went over there, the 90 was on her bed and had a massive fag hole there.

And we didn't know she smoked. She was like, oh, yeah, she took out when she was 75, we'd just have a cigarette in bed every night. Terrifying. The most dangerous time to have a cigarette. The only thing that would have made Hello Jill better is if she was smoking when you came into the factory. I know, I know.

She did sneak off for a fag. She did, yeah, bless her. She liked her little fags. She went off for the garden when there was a break. You know, we'll be, you know, you send it back to Aiman and Ruth in the studio. She's off having her little fag and little brownie fingers.

Fantastic. Why hello, Jill! She had no idea what was going on. Let's talk about that moment, Aiman. Let's talk about that moment, Aiman. 64 black men. Let's talk about that moment, because you're outside of Jill's,

you're waiting to come into Jill's living room. They've handed you a frying pan. Did you know that you were going to deliver it like that? I had no idea. I had no idea, because they're standing there now, and then they go, wait, wait, wait, wait. Go, go!

There's all the signs, you know, you have all the kind of people standing on the side, because they're now the cameras in the right position. Yeah. And I think Alison has got Jill to sit down, so it's kind of, it gives me an entrance. Yeah. And when I walk in, I want to piss myself laughing,

because Alison's about four times the size of Jill. She's nearly disappearing. I go, why hello, Jill! She's nearly disappearing. She's nearly disappearing. I go, why hello, Jill! She's nearly disappearing. She's nearly disappearing.

And Alison is looking at me, and I'm looking at how he's looking at me. There you go, this is a good kick. Let's get on to this. This is dream dessert. We're rounded off the meal. What are you thinking? Do you know, hard to get to dessert, because I'm so...

As we've explained throughout this, it's when you have all these interesting little bits that come with everything, and more importantly, when you get the correct type of bread at the beginning of the meal, it really does. It's seduction time, isn't it?

You just give yourself over to it, because it's so, so beautiful. But if you do have room for a dessert, even though I'm a... I do like a little bit of cheese, but we've already done the cracker thing. But feel free, if you want cheese for dessert, guys, I don't want to.

I do like a little bit of cheese. Normally, cheese is one of those things that you would just have a little bit. You know, that little bit of something that a little nugget... I know you're miming that, but I'm just going to move my cheese away. Yeah, exactly, exactly. I love a little bit of nibble. I love a little cheese nibble. And I think, for me,

it's probably bread and butter pudding. Ooh, lovely. Now, the late great Gary Rhodes probably did the finest bread and butter pudding ever. It was unique. I think he was the... one of the early chefs that cooked it in a bath. So it was...

You know, it's got a bath of water, so you sit down. That's not what James was imagining, by the way. Yeah, I was imagining a bathtub. But also, I'm pretty sure I saw on TV Gary Rhodes making a bread and butter pudding. Like, when you said that just then, it really triggered a quite vivid memory of watching it on TV

and it looked so good that I could taste it watching it. I remember it being a really... Gary Rhodes is one of the first TV chefs that I watched and really found engaging. I loved the way he used to speak and the tone of his voice. The ASMR, actually, in a way, Gary Rhodes. Yeah.

But like, yeah, bread and butter pudding. Don't reduce it to your personal stuff. And he had a hand and he should have put that in there in the flavor and all that, and he should have given it all that. Yeah. And he kind of... He released... He gave the...

I think it's one of the first sort of young chefs that came onto TV that just inspired the youth out there. They think, oh, I look like... Do you know what I mean? It wasn't that set thing and he didn't have that straight chef's hat on. He kind of just took us in another direction and he was enormous

and his age of borrower, who's a friend of mine, you know, we often talk about him and, you know, it was... Gary just set standards, which was unbelievable. I think just towards the end it became a little bit like food started to change so much and people became a lot more relaxed.

It wasn't all about that ideal presentation. The casualness of it. But if the produce was good and the flavors were right, it really didn't matter. But his bread and butter pudding was to absolutely die for. A little bit of creme anglaise. I don't mind if it's just

straightforward, old British custard. But creme anglaise kind of complimented it, I think. Lovely infusion of vanilla going through it and, you know, just a nice creamy rich texture. Did you need it? I don't know if you needed it because that bread and butter pudding

with a little bit of slight brush of apricot glaze on top of it was just like... It was just sublime. I find it really satisfying that the idea of a hot pudding, didn't you? I remember when I was doing my Food We Love series

and one of the most popular things on there was my strawberry coconut sponge. Oh, yeah. You know how you got school, you got that sponge and they put the strawberry jam on top of it. Excuse me. And then they sprinkled it with the coconut. And you just have a wedge of that

with a bit of custard. And it's just so satisfying, especially in winter, you know what I mean? But Gary's BB pudding was just like... It's just like... You've gone somewhere else while you're thinking about it. I'm getting emotional now.

He was a mate, you know? And he was a bloody fine chef and he had... Yeah, we kind of miss him. He went too early and the company that I'm working for now was actually filming with him at the time when he checked out and went to his hotel room and had that bit of tragedy.

But... And I did the lovely thing, you know, the farewell, that lovely... I voiced over the, you know, I narrated that show just to say thanks, mate, because he was special. Special, even though he supported Man United.

LAUGHTER Yeah, I'm a goon. I know you play better football than I do. LAUGHTER So, with those TV chefs... Would you go round each of us houses for meals there? Occasionally, it's quite difficult because,

you know, the industry, especially when we're all at our pub, there's really steady cooking stuff, we're running restaurants, we're doing stuff. We're going from one place to another, when do you have it? The only time you do it is when you go to their restaurant. And they come out and they sit round with you

when most people have gone home. I remember something like, when I go down and Ry Gates, he's my mate, the dining room Tony Tobin, who's still a pal of mine, and we go there, and I remember George Best being in the corner because he lived in the area having his thing, and he'd be the last one staying in there.

And we'd go over and have drinks with him and late and... That's the time you got to see them. That's the time they could actually switch off. To actually go to their homes, I think I... One occasion I went to Gino's house, Gino De Campo's house,

even though Gordon Ramsay's my neighbour, he literally lives across the road. I think Gordon's there very much, he's made such a success of his life in the States that he goes out there. I went out for meals with Gary, we went out.

You used to cook in all the time, you want to go out and let somebody else do it. So did Gary make you the bread and butter pudding or you got it from his restaurant? No, you have to... I have to go to his restaurant. I have to go to the restaurant. I never actually went round to his amazing house in Kent.

He had this fantastic house in Kent, but then he went to live in Dubai. Anyway, so let's say on a positive note, yes, his food was fantastic, I'm just trying to think. There was a few chefs

I'd go to their house, but some of them he wouldn't probably... I did go to Anthony Warle Thompson's house. I did go to his house on many occasions. Imagine that to be quite a small house like a hobbit's house.

A little circular door and Anthony's got a stoop to get in like Gandalf. Here's a question. Who's bigger, Anthony Warle Thompson or Jill? Yes, good question, very good question. Bigger is definitely AWT. Bigger than Jill.

Oh, he's bigger than Jill. I mean, Jill was tiny, wouldn't she? She was tiny, but... Two of these six foot four black people sitting on the sofa with her, she just disappeared. You know what I mean? It was like... What's that? I think it's a commercial on TV,

but it was based on a film where you just go down the back of the sofa. You disappear down the back of the sofa. Yes, there is an advert where someone slides down the back of the sofa, and it's for don't need to be starstruck, but I do the voiceover for that. Really?

Say it for Ainsley. Kazoo, yeah you can. We love you. We love you. I do recognise it. Kazoo, you can. You can. In your face, then.

Get that van in there. Don't say it too much, Ainsley, otherwise it'll hire you instead. Ainsley, I'm going to read your menu back to you. See how you feel about it. You want still water and a beautiful glass, no lemon, no cucumber, no nothing in it. Poppins on the bread, you have a warm bread

selection with olive oil and rock salt. Say rock salt properly. Robin, rock salt. Rock, rock, rock, rock. I'm just doing the Gelman. Gelman. Starter, tuna tartare, caviar, diced avocado, caramelised chili ring

from the four seasons. Slow cooked lamb, and you've got to get the anchovies and the garlic in there. Side cauliflower cheese. Drink gin martini for olives. Extra dry and dessert. Gary Rhodes, bread and butter pudding.

Oh yes. That sounds fantastic. Ainsley, look. We've been doing this podcast for one hour. We've done like over 100 episodes. We've been interviewed about it every now and again and people ask us who our dream guest is. Every time we've said you. Every single time.

Every single time we've said Ainsley Harrier is our dream guest. I think I can speak for all three of us. We were quite nervous going into this because we were like, this is the big one. We hope we really built it. And also... Have we imagined it too?

Have we overbuilt it? You have exceeded our expectations. This has been exactly what we always hoped it would be. And thank you so much for that because we've really enjoyed ourselves. They're so nice of you guys. Coffee's still shit. Well there we are.

The off-menu menu of Ainsley Harrier. Everything we could have hoped for, James. Oh man. Talk about all your Christmases coming at once. I feel so happy. I've got everything that I wanted out of that. Absolutely everything. It was brilliant.

He was wonderful. He was really good fun. He talked to us for ages. What a guy. It was in person for the first time in a year and a bit. In person as per his request. And you know... I was a little nervous boy going into it. I hadn't seen anyone in person for 10 years.

And he was so great. He bullied Benito immediately. Said his food was shit. This guy... I knew it. He really did get it. He didn't say Sammy Sardines. We didn't have to kick him out of the dream restaurant.

He said anchovies. Anchovies are fine because those bones melt. Those bones melt and that's what I like. What an episode. It's up there for me. When we recorded it afterwards I thought that's up there for me. Oh, I was giddy. It's up there for me too.

There's a few that are up there on the Mount Rushmore off-off menu. Get the chisel. We're putting a new face on. I'm trying to think... Mount Rushmore is made of meringue. Chisel meringue is just going to shatter, isn't it? Cheese.

Yes, cheese. I like cheese that you have that one. Ainsley's book Good Mood Food or Good Mood Food depending on how you pronounce it is out on September the 9th. Go and get it. And listen to this episode

every time you cook something from it. Yes, listen to all the songs. Yeah, all of the songs. Oh, man. The songs, the stories of a very steady cook. Hello, Jill. I feel like we should start doing

the old Calypso Twins double act but replace things with like I like cheese and he likes desserts. It's not as good as Musakra Man goes out. Yeah, let's just keep the original lyrics. OK, they make less sense. Or, I did think afterwards the only person I know

who is of Jamaican and Greek descent is Jamali Maddox. So I think we could contact Jamali and ask him if he would just like that song and he'd just sing it on his own. You could just do it himself. Yes. Well, I like Musakra and I like Mango.

Yeah, I like both of them. They're nice. I actually do like both of them but there are no sort of heritage reasons for me to sing about it really. Yeah, I don't have a way into it material-wise. It wouldn't really make sense for you to go on. Actually, people would definitely buy that off you.

You could go on. I love Mango. I don't love Musakra. People would be like, he's a genius. This guy's a genius. Cold Musakra hate myself 1999. No, Cold Musakra hate myself

Mango, Mango, Mango. That's not a show that James is touring but I am touring a show called Electric and who knows, I may do that song at the end. You can come and see me. Check out my website at gambled.co.uk for tickets. It starts in February 2022. Amazing.

We've got merch, off-menu merch on the off-menu website which is offmenupodcast.co.uk Yes, it is. Well done, James. Thanks for listening to today. We had such a blast. Do come back next week for another episode

of the off-menupodcast. See you later. Keep your thumbs full and your mouths open. It's a different podcast that's not about food and doesn't have James A. Castor or Ed Gamble but I would say is quite fun. No, thank you. Oh, okay, not to worry.

If you change your mind at a later date, it's called Nobody Panic. It's hosted by me, Tessa Coates, and my friend, Stevie Martin. Which is weirdly me. And we tackle all kinds of how-to's from big things to small things. How to stop saying sorry,

how to poo, how to break up someone, how to quit your job, how to relax, how to have a conversation, how to deal with unrequited love. A smorgasbord of thing. Absolutely. We have a nice time. People seem to like it. If you like, you can come and see what all the fuss is about. All that fuss? What's it called?

Nobody Panic. You can find it on all of the podcast apps that you would imagine it would be on. Please have a listen. Hello, it's me, Amy Glettel. You might remember me from the best ever episode of Off Menu, where I spoke to my mum and asked her about seaweed

on mashed potato, and our relationship's never been the same since. And I am joined by... Me, Ian Smith. I would probably go bread. I'm not going to spoil in case... Get him on, James and Ed. But we're here, sneaking in to your podcast experience

to tell you about a new podcast that we're doing. It's called Northern News. We've been talking about all the news stories that we've missed out from the North because, look, we're two Northerners, sure. But we've been living in London for a long time. The news stories are funny. Quite a lot of them crimes.

It's all kicking off. And that's a new podcast called Northern News we'd love you to listen to. Maybe we'll get my mum on. Get Glettel's mum on every episode. That's Northern News. When's it out, Ian? It's already out now, Amy! Is it? Yeah, get listening. There's probably

a backlog you've left here so late.