Walking The Dog with Emily Dean - Poppy O’Toole - aka Poppy Cooks (Part Two)

Episode Date: August 29, 2024

Join Emily and Ray for the second part of our chat with the brilliant chef, author and social media sensation Poppy O’Toole - and her dogs Crypto and Red. We discuss Poppy’s worst ever mistake in the kitchen, how she has accidentally gained a reputation for innuendo, and Emily takes the opportunity to get some potato advice from the Potato Queen herself. The Actually Delicious Slow Cooker Cookbook is out on 12th September - featuring 90 mouth-watering recipes that focus on ease and convenience without breaking the bank or sacrificing flavour, this is the book you need to get great food on the table at the end of a busy day. You can pre-order your copy here!Follow Poppy on Instagram @Poppy_CooksFollow Poppy on TikTok @poppycooksFollow Emily: Instagram - @emilyrebeccadeanX - @divine_miss_emWalking The Dog is produced by Faye LawrenceMusic: Rich Jarman Artwork: Alice LudlamPhotography: Karla Gowlett  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to part two of my chat with the wonderful Poppy O'Toole, aka Poppy Cooks. Do go and listen to Part 1 if you haven't already. You can order Poppy's brilliant new cookbook, the actually delicious slow cooker cookbook, before it comes out on September the 12th. And I'd also love it if you subscribe to us at Walking the Dog. Here's Poppy and Red and Crypto and Ray Ray. Poppy, I want to talk to you about your career as an author. Yeah, wild again, never thought that was on the car.

But here we are. Well, you brought out your debut book a few years ago now, wasn't it? 21, yeah. 21. And that was brilliant and sold amazingly well. I think it did all right for a debut book, I'm told. But I don't know.

I think it's probably my mom and dad. We bought a lot of copies. And what's great about your books, which I've read, and I love them, because there is a kind of, sense of food sometimes. There's quite a lot of snobbery around it sometimes and it being a bit of a closed shop

and oh, you don't know what this ingredient is and oh, you use that cheap ingredient. Whereas what I love about your books is that they're not, there's not this idea of cooking being this rarefied sort of area that I'm not good enough to get into that club. Yeah, no, absolutely.

Not to sound like, what is it, Rattatooie, but everyone can cook. Like honestly. Can I just say the producer who is Pete Gen Z, I've never seen anyone so happy. Pete Jensett. As Ratatoui being mentioned. Is it Gusto? Gusto.

Everyone can cook. Yeah, absolutely. Everyone can cook. It's just, I don't think there should ever be a point where, I mean, if your friend made a mistake, you'd let them off. But when you're in the kitchen, people make a mistake and everyone's like shouting at them. It's like, you learn from the mistakes. And also, at the end of it. shout at you in the kitchen if you make a mistake.

The chef shout at them. Yeah, it depends, it depends on the mistake. I'd cry. I'd cry. It depends on the mistake. The one time where I did cry and he didn't shout at me to be fair, but my sous chef had made this delightful part of a pork stock, pork ju. He'd spent like three days over it.

It was incredibly, it was gorgeous. I was like, this is delicious. Anyway, I had done some caramel because I was on patient at the time. Done some caramel and it's all stuck to the bottom, put some warm. to the bottom, put some water in the pan, put it back on the hob. We only had three hobbs. It was a tiny little kitchen. Anyway, what I didn't know is that he'd taken mine off because it was done, poured it away, and he'd put his pork stock on there, which looked exactly like

caramel, and so I picked it up and I poured it down the sink. And he'd spent out, it was for a new dish that was going on that night. What did he say? And he didn't say a thing and it was probably worse. It was probably worse than just being shouted at. And he just looked at me and just walked off. and I was just like, and I just, you know, like shaking, like, oh, I really fucked up here. I really fucked up.

It was horrible. But he didn't chat after he went, look, that was really bad, but it's done. And I was like, okay, thanks, chef. Cheers, Ollie. He was lovely, though. But he was like, there's no point crying about it now. And I was like, I know, but I'm so sorry. I didn't mean it.

I thought it was caramel. It's an honest mistake. So your books, yes, have been. hugely successful and you've now, you've got a new one. Yeah, so I started off with the food you know need, which is the first one. Then I did air fryer, which was amazing, so I love an air friar. And then I thought, what other appliance do I love using? And it's a slow cooker.

Careful, Poppy. I know you've got something of reputation for innuendo. What do you mean? There's quite a few appliances that I like. What other appliances do I love using by Poppy O'Too? It's just a plethora of appliances. Oh my God. Can I please have Roman?

I want to give them a cuddle. Yes, hello. So, I've always, you know, when you look through slow cooker books and also just those sort of appliance sort of books, I find them really grey, really kind of stagnant. Some obviously not, some are amazing, but I just wanted to do something that was a bit more fun. So it's all these delicious dishes that I love cooking.

And also, you do a lot of slow cooking in kitchens, but it's in the oven. You know, you foil it up, you put it in the oven overnight, and so I took some of those things that we used to do and put them into this book and use the appliance which is so much easier to plug it and turn it on don't you and just go. And if you can explain to people who are really starting at the beginning. Yes. With slow cookers, the idea behind them, I mean it's basically say what you see in that

that's literally what they do, isn't it? Yeah. So give me an example of something you would your ideal dish to cook in there. Oh, okay. So there's quite, I love a. slow-cooked meat. I just, I think it's, it gets very tender, it pulls apart, and it's that kind of, kind of essential kind of barbecue sort of thing, you know, it's that very tender meat. So I do love a pulled pork, delicious, with a bit of a, in a bun, a bit of apple sauce, lovely, but also there's so many other things you can do. So one of my favourite dishes is, I kind of take an

inspiration from trends as well, actually, which, you know, I'm all over my socials. So there a biria taco trend which was huge probably a couple of years ago now actually I actually developed it because my little brother wasn't eating beef at one point so I did a turkey one and initially I did it the old the restaurant way in the oven slow cooked and I was like I need some slow cooker wait come and give me a paddle so that it's super easy for people and it's essentially you you put everything in you turn it on and when you come back eight hours later you've got dinner basically ready and I try to develop it as much as I can to be as easy as possible so there's there's a couple of recipes which are you know doing a few things beforehand a little bit of

frying a little bit of toasting of spices but a lot of them I've tried to develop so that you don't have to do that and they still come out as delicious yeah and it's more stuff at the end so it's reducing sauces at the end when you've got the time because when you're putting it on in the morning you haven't got the time you're trying to you know get on with the house You're trying to get the kids to school, you're trying to do something. So it's about as easy as possible to start with and then finish it off at the end. And it's partly come back into fashion because I remember it from my childhood. Like it was almost quite something that people used to do.

Yes. And they've come, it's their sort of second time around for throat cookers. I think people have started to realise the convenience of it and actually how you can end up with a delicious dish at the end of it. Hello, Red. Red. Red. Yeah, it's good. Oh, you know, I love the book and I think, I mean, like I say, I love the way you talk about food and how approachable and inclusive, I guess.

Yeah, definitely. If that's the right word that you make it. And one thing I'm also aware of, and it struck me in this book as well, even in the intro, is that I get the sense that you're having to sort of almost answer your critics sometimes. You're having to sort of preface a lot of what you say with, I just want to clear up something. I know you were all upset in my last book because I got that fat wrong or I did this wrong or you didn't like that. And I wonder what that is like,

whether that is a sort of additional pressure that you have to carry with you a bit, just feeling this sense of what have I done now? A little bit, but I've had that my whole life. I'm always like oh god what I've done because a lot of the time I am just rolling with it which and there's no thought process

so when I put in the air fry book that the Blemum chicken teakam came from Birmingham is purely because I just thought it was I didn't take the time to have a look was actually from Glasgow so people picked up on it and I was like actually thank you for letting me know

because I've been thinking it was from Brum the whole time but it's actually the balti isn't it I think that's from something that is from Birmingham I'm always just trying to, I don't know, maybe I'm just a liar. I'm just a liar. Just try and say things to get the information out, but I just, I don't think about things. I don't think it is that.

I think it's because it's something I relate to, because I think we as women constantly have that sense of letting people down for not being perfect. Yeah. And I think male chefs, I'm just saying I think it's interesting that I can think of male chefs that I've interviewed. and their attitude might be, oh, well, screw them. I'm not going to apologise to them. Not in a horrible way.

No, but just that I think it's more something that we are aware of as women. And I find it, I suppose I relate to it and I find it quite endearing and I'm quite sweet because it's the sort of thing I do where you're kind of think, oh yeah, I wanted to apologise and explain to these people or let's clear up these things.

There's kind of a lack of arrogance about you, which I think is quite lovely. Yeah, it's difficult to be arrogant when you are stupid. But, like, I just, I don't know. Yes, absolutely. I kind of sometimes appreciate getting it picked up on as well, like to be like, you really fuck this up. I don't think anybody with 5 million followers and a billion views is stupid. And I certainly, from the chat I've had with you,

I think you're an incredibly bright woman. Thank you very much. I think, yeah, maybe stupid's the wrong word, but I just, yeah. A bit lackadaisical, maybe. Is that the better word? Do you know what? I think we judge intelligence in a really odd way. Yeah, we do, actually.

Do you know what I mean? I think we think that intelligence has to mean one thing. Like, I'm really good at the 1% club. I'm really good at that. I love it. I play it every week. Well, Lee Mack has been on this podcast. But he's an example of someone.

Mee-Mac is a real example of, you know, grafted as a kid. And there was a famous horse in the 70s, I think it was, called Red Rum. And he was the stable boy for Red Rum. Really? Back in the days when horses were celebrities. Yeah, absolutely. Because we didn't have social media, so we had to make animals celebrities. So Red Rum was a celebrity, like literally, like, premieres and things.

You go, Red Run! I think it's, I know Red Rum. Like I know like like it just mad that I didn't realize that it was so really helped train here I think like to the stable word but a real example of someone who I would say Lee Mack is honestly one of the brightest people I've ever met and yet there's no degree from no Cambridge or there's no double first in there or there's no he's just a smart person and I think that's what you've got I think you're naturally very intelligent thank you unless I blushing um I think it helps people skills help as well don't they I think and I was definitely always with a lot of people for my

whole childhood like you said when you've got to I don't know it's not I got to graph but I really wanted to I think you're always with people and you get to understand them and you can kind of engage with them a bit better you've obviously made a fair amount of money from social media let's not be coy about it I can't be shy about it done better than I was a chef absolutely like it's decent money you've made and I know a lot of young people people's ambitions have changed a lot and people no longer aspire towards I suppose a career in the traditional sense go and work in an office for 20 years they're much more looking towards a sort of career you have because of social media

yeah here's the thing I actually think you have to be a very particular type of person to make a success of a social media career. I think you need a quote Liam Neeson, a very particular set of skills. I'm not sure that that many people have them. And I think you have them. I think you need a lot of tenacity. I think you have to be so driven, so passionate,

have an unusually heightened work ethic. Yeah. What I'm saying is a lot of people think, oh I can do what she's doing, but in actual fact, I think you've got to be a very particular type of person to use social media and have the success that you have. I think for the longevity of it, yeah. But I think, like I said, never expected this to happen.

Never actually had it in my stratosphere that I'd ever do anything to social media. I didn't have had an Instagram before everything, but I didn't do it, if you know what I mean, I wasn't like aiming to do anything with it. It was just for friends to just post pictures of the dog. So it wasn't really anything. But I think I wouldn't have been able to carry on with what I'm doing if I didn't have the 10 years of training behind me.

Like I said before, I already doubt myself and my recipes. So if I didn't have that training of I've done X, Y and Z, I don't think I would have the confidence to tell people how to cook. So I think there definitely is a, I think it's amazing that people can do it and go for it. And I think that's great. But I think I've landed on time and a place and also that I've been really lucky to have a career which if everything goes tits up, I can go back to if I wanted to.

But I think that's really fascinating and telling that actually the thing that's been most valuable to you is the graft in the kitchen. Yeah. I guess maybe that's what I'm getting at. that I imagine a lot of people want to skip that step now. And I think that's, I think it's valid. I think it definitely can work and has worked.

And I think it's amazing. I just personally couldn't have done it. I think when we're about 18, Tom, my partner, he said, let's do a YouTube and we literally tried. And I had a really squeaky voice and I was really scared. And I literally said, I was like, cut, absolutely not, never doing that ever again. He's always seen a bit of something.

He's the put he's the not the pusher. He's the one who has always seen something in me. We've been together since we were 16. Did you meet locally? We met at school. We were snogging in fields when we were 15 and then actually I said yes. Sorry everyone, they do things differently in the country.

Yeah, literally. Sorry, you do drink WKD in fields and snog. That's so lovely. Yeah, so he was definitely the driving force of it because I was too scared. But he's always seen that there was something with teaching people because he's always like with my little brother and sister I always always teach them

help them and I think he saw that kind of spark of something I don't know I don't think he even knows what it was but he definitely pulled it out of me which was good me that's what she said there's an innuendo for you we should say at this point Poppy is quite well known for her innuendos you may well have seen her on Saturday kitchen that was an in that was an accident that I didn't know. Can you tell people, tell my listeners, who can I say

are very refined, lovely people being dog owners? Yeah, sorry guys. So apologies, brought you about to hit. Poppy, had a bit of an innuendo moment on Saturday Kitchen.

Was it, was James Martin presenting then? No, it was Matt. It was Matt. Basically, we're thinking about the same thing, aren't we, I think, when I swore on

live television. Well, you didn't know it was a swear word. So what I was trying to do and in the rehearsal like you have a rehearsal on Saturday kitchen you go through it completely and you kind of try and say the same things in the rehearsal I didn't mention this because I didn't at the time it just came out so I was trying to say it all happened on a whim but I couldn't remember the word for whim and instead you said instead I said quim about five times on live television

You said, well, it all happened on a quim. And I went, what's a quim? Quim? What's that? A quim? And then Matt literally went, we'll move on. Let's move on. And I just kept saying the word quib.

And then he formally apologised and said, we'd just like to say, we are so sorry about the word poppy used earlier. She had no idea. Honestly, I was completely, I was going, what on earth have I said? I actually said, have I been cancelled? What have I done? And then just had to carry on presenting the dish like nothing. had happened. I've also seen you and we should say you're a very good sport because you do repost these all on your Instagram but there was one where Poppy had a chicken and was saying

I mean let's face it no one likes a dry old bird you all want a wet bird don't you yeah yeah that was and then you shoved it with what appeared to be two giant breasts in the top I mean, the whole thing was like some weird porn video. I like to think that I'm a bit carry on. I didn't mean to do the breasts. I'll be honest of you. I did not mean to put breasts into the chicken breast, but they did look like implants, which was hilarious.

But really bad. But really bad implants. We're really wonky. A really kind of surface level implants with butter onto the chicken. Sometimes I just think, I might as well just go. Let's go for it. what's the worst that's going to happen? Yeah.

And it was the first live one that we'd done since Quim. So I don't think they want... I like the way you're talking about it. Like it's some great piece of... Since Quim. Since Quim. It's one of my like eras. Since Quim.

So yeah, so it was the first live show. They let me back on Saturday kitchen. And I said, no, everyone likes a wet bird. No one wants a dry bird. I do... It's to the line a little bit sometimes. So here's what I want to know. Chef? Yes. We eat.

She's French. Suddenly. What dish, as a chef, do you least like people ordering when you have to make it? Okay, I think as a generalisation, making an afternoon tea is one of the hardest, most annoying things to make.

That's just my experience. Because you've got three different types of sandwiches, or four, you've got scones, you've got cakes, you've got little pettifors, all that stuff. It's just so much work. I used to hate making sandwiches. We used to do afternoon teas. They used to do my head in.

Especially if you do a bougie ones, you got to do all the fillings as well, different nice fillings for something. It's not just a cucumber sandwich. It's a chicken parfait with a lettuce, remolade, or something like that. It's just like, oh, shut up, but eat a cucumber sandwich. What?

I've been told. No, not you. Just in general. It's alright if it's a place that is just afternoon teas. That's fine because you're doing the same thing. It's when it's like, I used to work in a bank, and the clients there would just request stuff that's not on the menu. I get that.

Oh, great. Yeah, let me just pull an afternoon day out my ass for you love. Not literally. Innuendo queen. That's less of an innuendo than just truth. So Poppy, here's a question for you. All right. I like these questions.

Go on. Go on. So you may have heard people being asked, how many times a day do you think about the Roman Empire? Yes. I'm taking it in a slightly different direction. We're going off menu. Oh, go on then.

I want to ask you, Poppy Cooks, how many times a day do you think about potatoes? Oh, that's hard because I do think about them quite a lot. lot. I do genuinely think about potatoes quite regularly. I'm thinking about recipes that I need to do, recipes that I've done. A day. Come on. Ballpark. Ballpark five times a day. Easy. Five times a day I'm thinking about a potato. That's the saddest thing I've ever said in my whole life. God, my day's interesting. Five times a day. Mashed. Boiled, roasted, chipped. What sauce, sauce, That's enough about me.

Oh, beautiful. We need friends? Yeah, absolutely. A bit needy of me. No, I need friends. I won't reply to you, but I do need some friends. Life's good. We met Tom, your other half earlier.

Yeah. I absolutely thought it was lovely. He is, he's all right. And you know what's nice? It must be hard when you have a successful business like yours. Yeah. And kind of a CEO, for the same, you know, of your own brand. an identity now. I guess it must feel reassuring that he didn't know any of this was going to happen

when you were 15 and snogging in the field, did he? Oh Tom. Maybe he did. Maybe that's why he got with me. Maybe that was it. It was all part of the camp. No, but you know what I mean you know that it's completely genuine. Yes, exactly. And he was in it for all the right reasons. To be fair, if someone's coming in thinking that they're going to get a lot of something from poppy cooks, it ain't happening in Shred. I got not that much. So good luck to them. It's definitely the, you know, it's lovely to kind of have that story, I think. What would you say is the nicest thing from earning a reasonable living online?

What's the nicest thing you've been able to buy yourself? Red, probably. Honestly, because when we got the Pugs, we were on nothing. Neither of us, we were, what, 21, so we didn't have any money. And we skrimped and saved. and begged and pleaded and did, you know, oh, go on boys this way. Sorry. But what's that?

Is that a dog? Because that woman looks like she's got a deer. It's got a very large greyhound. It's beautiful. Oh, it's so cute. My first dog was £750, Kipper. And then Crypto was £1,000. But Kipper did some modelling.

Right, so he worked for pace. Crypto looked really hurt when you said that. Honestly, we tried to do. get him into it but Cryptoan got the face for it unfortunately he's very cute but he the camera doesn't love him as much as Kipper did really um so we got Kipper he did some modelling made made a thousand pounds and so we bought crypto how much does the German Shepherd cost these days he was 1,500 pounds so that was like i was like okay cool but he looks like we can do this do you know what he's got the thing about um red i would say is that he looks like he looks like he looks like we can do this.

more like those, they're called Belgian Maloire? Yeah, yes. He's got the longer sort of. Yeah, he doesn't look 100%. He looks more like the kind of German Shepherd you'd actually, you'd see in Bavaria or something. Yeah. Rather than one of those police ones in London.

Oh, he's got one of the most prettiest German Shepherd faces I've ever seen. He's got more of an Alpine village vibe to him. Yeah. Do you know what I mean? Oh, look at this enthusiastic little bugger. Red, red. Red, come. What's that?

Is this a cabapoo? Cocker. Yeah, well, miniature cockapoo. What's the name? Fergus. Fergus, what a lovely name. Fergus, you're very lively, aren't you? She is very lively.

Oh, this is Raymond. Lovely to meet you. Lovely twins there. They're cute, aren't there? And the dogs. Come on, Raymond. Come on, Raymond. I've got to get red out of that.

It was too small of a situation. He's going to barge someone over. Oh, yes. Do you worry about that sometimes? I do. I've been used to pugs where no one crosses, everyone likes seeing little dogs and stuff. And it's definitely different with a big dog,

which does have, I mean, my mom's terrified of him. I read? Yeah. She doesn't like dogs in general. She gets on with crypto and she got on with Kipper as well, but she doesn't like dogs. So did you not have dogs growing up? No, I had one, which was,

a cavalier King Charles Manning who's lovely called Jeeves it was our friends Such a good name I know Jeeves is great But he was a friend's dog And then they went oh we're going on a holiday And they never

Not that they never came back in a bad way They shouldn't pick him up Home alone Yeah so we had Jeeves for like two years So I love I love a cavalier Because a little Jeevese But yeah it wasn't through choice

That we had a dog I did have a What they called a Chinch-E chinchilla at one point called Poochie. I was all coming out now. Oh, I know. Chinchilla. I love chinchillas.

And then about a year, we don't. Poochie was so cute. And then we lost him for a year and he was in the cupboard. Survived. Sorry, the chinchilla was in the cupboard. He was under the stairs. He might have been many other places. He's like little Harry Potter.

So he went missing for a year. And then we found him. He said he went missing. I mean, he's in the cupboard. But he survived. We only found him there. He could have been everywhere. We did think we had rats at one point because of the noise.

And I think it was just poochie running around the house. Anyway, so after that. I'm not sure I'm ready to move on yet. I'm quite invested in Pucci and his survival story. How long? What did Poochie eat? How did he live for a year? Your guess is as good.

as mine. I have no idea. I have no idea. It was incredible. It was unbelievable. Like, I think mum, I think mum let him out and then he came back. Honestly, because she was shocked. She was like, oh, how? How? I think she tried to get rid of him. He came back. I mean, to be fair, to be fair, I am remembering this as a child. It could be less than a year. I'll be honest with you. I was little. Do you know, I think one of the neighbours stole him and then got bored? Yeah, and just get him. Because I think it's too weird that hit the enchil her, would hide in a cupboard, three years and then suddenly returned. Well, after that, I came home from school one day

and mum said that she'd given him to someone else. So I was like, oh, okay, well, you know what? Only had him for a few weeks, so it's fine. So Pucci was gone. I don't know what she did to him. I don't know what happened. I never asked the question. You strike me as someone who's quite resilient.

I don't know if that word, what that means to you. that word in terms of if you relate to that but I feel that's something one of the key qualities I think one of the most important qualities in life is resilience really you know yes I do agree with you on that yeah absolutely because I think whatever you go through it means you have to get up again you have to and that's what holds so many people back yeah and I think that's something you really, really have to learn in the kitchen. Why in some ways it's an essential life skill? I think it is.

I think my mum's definitely the person who has built a lot of resilience. Resilience, right? Is that how you say it? In me. Always, you know, don't cry in front of anybody. You know, don't, you know, if you like scrape your knee, like get up, don't, you, don't ever let anyone see you like this, blah blah blah blah and always been very tough in that way but not tough it's been really good

it is a life skill I think and I think it's definitely bought on that work ethic and also that kind of willingness to stay in work when it's hard rather than stopping well it's interesting because you were raised before she met your stepdad presumably she was a single parent And that, you know, tappens you up, doesn't it? Yeah, absolutely. Well, she would have been single parent for like, I don't know, six, seven, six, seven, six years or something like that. I can't quite remember the age, but I know I was under 10. I can't remember when they met.

He's like, Mommy carry you for the rest of the way. He's got that face of, oh, do you know he'll sleep so well tonight. Have you loved your little Broms Grove walk? It's been good, isn't it? Yeah. We've seen all of it. We've seen different terrains. we've seen sand, we've seen mud.

Here's a couple of things before we go, Poppy. What do people most get wrong about you? What do people assume about you that's not actually true? I think everyone assumes that I'm very, very confident, which in some degrees I definitely am, and I pride myself a little bit on it. but there's definitely the other side of my brain which is like not that at all and and and kind of I think if if I really listened to it I'd probably just stop everything and open a dog shelter

and just stay a recluse but I don't think about it and I kind of want to see what happens which is I think my curiosity gets the better of me I suppose or that I know what I'm actually doing, I don't know. A lot of my things, I'm quite a hypocrite on all of my... I say I'm two things at the same time, always. Like I say, I'm very confident, but I'm also terribly insecure. But then interestingly, I think in order to cook, as well as you do, you have to be pretty confident.

Because you're saying to people, I think I'm good enough to make this. and what holds a lot of people back in the kitchen is confidence. Yes. Cooking requires confidence and self-belief in a way. It does. It really does. You have to, sort of, if that doesn't come naturally, you have to fake it till you make it in the kitchen. Oh, I'm a winger. I've wing everything, yeah.

Always have. In kitchens, they'd be like, oh, can you go and make this, I don't know, savion? And I'd be like, yeah, no worries, goes to toilet, search what the hell that was. What is it? How do I make it? like I basically like yeah winged everything

blacked it said that I can do more than I can I've got a couple of personal questions to ask which for me and it's regarding potatoes because I know I shouldn't use this as cooking 101 but I'm afraid I need the answers

you're not my cooking 999 but I need these answers I can be you put me on speech the right thing when I roast my potatoes and I do love to roast myself a little potential good we love that quite finely don't you know what I mean like little oh little yeah yeah yeah um am I right to give them a little parboil oil first yes make them fluffier inside absolutely someone laughed at me for doing that and no I parboil

most of my potatoes for everything for chips for fries for roasties for for for cubes for even I do like this this nice German dish was called Cutlerfoglund something like that not German. Poppy, I'm willing to bet a thousand pounds that it's not called cuttle fucking. No, I didn't. So don't say that. You did it? No. Cotterflokl. Fogl. I don't know what it's called. I can't pronounce it, but it's German potage potatoes. Yes, hello. I would like, I would love some, uh, One order of cuddlfucking.

No one has ever said that at any German restaurant in the world. Maybe, maybe, maybe. It's just me, it's just me, ask it. That's why they looked at me strange. Yeah. But it's basically slice of potato with bacon in a thing. But you parbole the potatoes before that as well. I've got very into potatoes and bacon.

Oh, this is not like a thing for you before? Do you know? You're going to be so proud of me. I am. My mom was an amazing cook and very 70s. She did all that cordon bleu. Nice. Yeah.

And I used to laugh at her cooking because you always laugh at your parents. And I would say, oh, Mom, you're so 70s with these. She used to cook things like birth, borgignon, you know, all these kind of like stews and chicken. And I would think, oh, it's so dated, so 70s. But of course, what she was cooking was real classic, like Delia Smith, recipes, which now have sort of come back into the fashion and hearty cooking. One of my favourite kind of ways to cook is that kind of French classic, the kind of heavy, rich, decadent stews, the mashes, the pom puree has got five kilos of butter in it. And do you know, there's something really lovely.

And I know you write about this a bit in your books that there's certain dishes I cook and I find myself doing things without even really. realising in the kitchen that my mum would do. Do you know what I mean? Little ways, little traditions she would have for her recipes. Without realising it, I'm like, oh my God, I'm doing that because my mum did that. I see her putting a little bay leaf in the bolognaise sauce or something. Just little weird habits of hers that she'd do things in a particular way. And I think that's really lovely how you do pass that on through generations.

That it is a kind of love language cooking. It is. I really, I really think that. If I ever had children or anything like that, the first place they'd be in is the kitchen. Just, I think, it's- You'd have them working. I'd have them working, absolutely.

But there's, I think there's such a life skill in being able to feed yourself and feed yourself well. It's not just about, oh, I've got to eat, it's no, this is literally how you survive in life, this is how humans have survived for however many millions of years is through feeding ourselves. So why not make it the best you can when you're gonna do it? or learn some of the skills to make it extra delicious,

rather than just fuel, rather than just because make it exciting and fun and different and tasty. There's so many ways to do it. And it's not like, you know, like how you're saying your mom was more traditional. We're not, we don't do, we don't need to do that anymore. You can have as many spices as you want. You can have flavors from all over the world. You can have different products from all over the world and ingredients.

We're so lucky to be able to do it. just celebrate it. I think the way you teach people how to cook isn't about making a show of cooking. You know, like here's a big dinner party where you can show off to your friends how much you know. What I love is that I really think people should be encouraged to cook for themselves. Because I think we have this idea that why would you bother cooking nice food for yourself? And I think, I actually live alone. And I think, do you know what? I cook myself. this week and it was the loveliest ritual. I do it every week I cook myself a really lovely roast. Oh that's delicious. Lovely little boo-sat, your favour. Now I do a chicken, I do the potatoes,

I do courgettes, I do carrots, I do everything and I love the ritual and I give Ray a little bit of the chicken, the non-spiced stuff from inside. And do you know what? It feels like a real looking after myself. It's like caring for myself saying I'm worth a lovely meal. Yeah, absolutely. I think even in couples or on your own, you expect it to be a big grandeur. It doesn't need to be. It just needs to be lovely for whoever it is that you're doing it for, whether that's one person or two people or four or five or six. But it is about treating yourself the way you'd want other, the way you treat someone else. If someone else has come into your house, you would do it and you would look after them, whereas a lot of people forget about themselves.

I can never forget about myself with food, though. I'm always going too far with it. Tom complains that sometimes I cook better meals for myself when he's not there than I do when we're together. It's like, oh well, you'll be all right. As someone who's risen to fame pretty rapidly, what would your one piece of advice be to anyone who said, I just want to be famous?

Be vigilant of that, I think, is the best piece of advice. And the good things that you expect to come will come, which is amazing. But there needs to be a longevity to it. Otherwise, what's the point in some ways? Or just be vigilant. There's always going to be someone trying to take you down. And that person will be Liam Neeson with his set of skills. It's saying I want to be famous.

What's the thing? I don't know. It's hard that is because it is, you do have. have to be careful with that because what comes with I don't even I'm not even very famous but having that much attention on you is it's not all it's cracked up to be it's not as exciting as you might think it is and also life is just normal anyway it's just occasionally someone might go oh you're the potato girl which is great I love it and obviously I get to write his books but the book I think if it was just for

fame, I would hate it, but I love it because I get to give recipes, make recipes, do delicious food. That's a really hard question that is. I think you're right. Well, do you know what? I think you and I probably think similarly and that I always think it's important to remember this distinction, which is you've always got to want to do something, not just be someone. Yes, I think that's what I was trying to get to. There's got to be a reason behind it, I think. I think if you if you, if you, if you're expecting to be famous then I think the harsh reality of it is that it won't be very nice because what's the point a lot of people want to be these days but they don't want to do and I think yours is a real example of how you got well known

and successful and over five million followers through being passionate about doing something yeah I like that I like that I'll take what do you know what poppy O'Too I like you I like you too can I ask you a question. Yeah. What is your favourite way to eat potatoes? It's a real toss-up. It's hard, isn't it? People ask me this all the time and it's hard. I tell you what. It depends what mood. My dirty ball at you. I'm pointing at you with a dirty ball. Tell me your favourite potatoes. It depends what mood I'm in, but I would honestly say the potatoes I eat most frequently, I parboil and then I cut them into, I think of them as my creation. They're

almost like cut little triangles. Okay. What's that called copy? Do you know what I mean? They're like, I cut the potatoes in half, but I don't like them too big. It's not a peasant. There's a certain cut where it's just random,

but I can't remember the French. They're like little triangles or something. Roasted, I think small roasted potatoes. And these are new potatoes, so it's in on, boiled. I love a delicate little potato. A nutty little delicate potato. But I think I like roasting because I'm a bit of a control freak. Okay. And I feel like I can constantly keep an eye on them. I'm so sorry. You

talking about, did you hear my stomach just growl then? I went, I'm gagging for one of these roasties now. Just talking about food gets me going. But you know what? You have turned me on to mash again. Really? Oh it sounds like you can make me whole again. Whoa. But it's true because you just make mash look so mouth-watering. I mean, I think the key to it with me, I've got to add some cheesy elements. I've known to dip some filly in there. Oh, filly's good in mash. Yeah.

He's very good in mash. Boys, come here. Because we're by the car park again and I don't trust you to. Right, we're back at the car park. Where's, where's Tom? Oh, he's coming. He didn't see my text, so he'll be on his way. Oh, we'll wait for Tom here.

Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no. Oh, there he is. There's Tom. Boys, come here. Tom looks, I mean, I don't want to reveal the secrets, but Tom looks like he's got a right. I'm a smart electric car if I'm not mistaken. Our new investment.

I'm put it this way. I don't want to go into any details. This information is private, but it's not an Uber. It's not going to be mistaken for an Uber. Well, I didn't realize these were such bougie cars. Hi, Tom. I feel like I'm going to move in now. Come on, Ray.

You wouldn't notice us. If Mary and I moved in, we'd be like the chinchilla in the cupboard. You wouldn't even notice us. Pooching Ray in the cupboard. Poppy's, partner Tom is looking at us like, oh, do you think they're still talking? It's all all right. Hiya.

We're still on. We're still talking. We've had a great time. Oh, she's so lovely. I really love her. Yeah? Yeah. Yeah.

I've actually fallen in love with Red. He is good. He had a few moments where he really wanted to play with Ray. But Ray's so little, it is like it would be like him picking up a ball if he did play. You know what? I thought Red was very good about he wasn't pushy at all. He was really lovely. As soon as you said, no, he understood. Yeah, he's really gentle.

Thank you so much. Yeah, thanks for picking me up as well, babe. Appreciate that. Well, do you know what, Poppy? We're going to have to say goodbye to you now because Tom's arrived looking rather glamorous in some Back to the Future style car. I've loved meeting you. And me. And me.

And me. And me. And me, I've loved meeting me too. I've learnt so many things about myself. And you, I've loved meeting you. That's what I was trying to say, I'm sorry. And you, my little boy, boy. Oh my goodness.

What is it? An emperor shih Tzu. No, Papu. Imperial Shih Tzu. He's not a penguin. No, sorry. Imperial, I'm sorry. Loves you too.

You're so cute. Well, I really insist that everyone goes out to buy. Your brilliant book. Oh yes. Oh yeah. That's what we're meant to be talking about. We did talk about it a bit, but you're making me laugh too much. Do you want to formally remind everyone what it's called?

Okay, so new book out in September is the actually delicious slow cooker cookbook. And it is actually delicious, full of lovely recipes for slow cooker. And I've had a sneak preview, and it's actually a brilliant book. So I really urge you to go out and grab a copy and it's being slightly interrupted by a little, some sort of cockapoo, all cavalier. Cabapoo, maybe. Poppy, it's been a delight to meet you, and Ray and I will be moving in. Absolutely.

Whenever you want, come down our Albury. Put you in cupboard, you'd be fine. Thank you for having us. Bye-bye. Thank you. Bye. Say goodbye to her again. I really hope you enjoyed that episode of Walking the Dog.

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