Mumsnet Talk

Hi Lorraine, our DS (11) is transfixed by your recipes as are we ;-). We particularly liked the Crouching Tiger hidden Zebra in the first episode and were very disappointed it wasn't detailed in the recipes on the BBC website. So please, please, please could we have it.....

Also, we regard you as the Nigella of the 21st Century ;-)

As our question: where did you develop your love of cooking and at what stage in your career, and why, did you decide to pursue your culinary pursuits....? And also, congrats on your first from Thames Valley Uni....

Hi Lorraine- didn't know you studied at TVU! (I live in Maidenhead)

I'd like to ask as a blogger with an alternative to the normal cooking sites and books (its for people who really cannot cook, I used to burn holes in pots and gave up until my Partner taught me in very basic terms!), how did you get yourself noticed to release your books and win your wonderful show?

You are obviously very entreprenurel as you set up a business from scratch. Do you have any tips fir other women wanting to do the same? Did you make any mistakes when you started?

Hi Lorraine, thanks for some great recipes and a really enjoyable programme.

Just one question though: why don't you wear an apron when you cook? I wince when I see you in your uncovered white T-shirts stirring away with gay abandon .

I'd love to see more 'healthy' cooking on your show. I love the food you do, but find it a bit heavy on the salt and fats (except the sweets, which look gorgeous).

Why do you use so much salt? I never do (using Tuscan recipes where they don't use it), and find that my break keeps absolutely fine for up to a week in my breadbag. I find chefs say 'use salt or your food will be rotten' but don't find this to be the case.

Not a question, just to say, we eat your baked camembert with the baked garlic and your no knead bread on Sunday evenings.

Toast the bread and pour the garlicy butter, spread with a clove of squishy garlic then dip in the melted camembert, 'tis lovely.

Thank you.

PS. I have loads of cook books and your one is the one all messed up with the pages stuck together as I use it so much.

Hello and congratulations on your new book, we've really been enjoying your programme!

I have always been a keen baker but now I have a fussy eater of a toddler I am trying my hand at low or no sugar baking. I have successfully used mashed banana and apple juice in one recipe but beyond that I am clueless. Internet searches tend to bring up sugar substitutes so I wanted to ask if there was anything particular you would recommend trying?

Thank you!

Hi Lorraine.
What will you be cooking for Christmas dinner this year?

Hi Lorraine. Welcome to Mumsnet.

Did you always want to be a chef/baker and modelling was just a detour, or was modelling your dream?

And if MNHQ will let me squeeze a second question - after your experience as a model, would you advise your daughter against choosing modelling as a career?

Hi Lorraine,

I love your desserts, they always look so impressive and easy to do. I also wonder how many white t shirts you must have on standby!

I too am interested in the modelling - cooking link. What do you think about modelling? Would you be happy if your daughter wanted to be a model?

Hi Lorraine,
really impressed with how you changed careers and have been so successful both as a model and as a cook and entrepreneur. I guess you must always have had a lot of self confidence to just go for it.
I'm a good baker but have always found Genoise cakes so hard to make. Is there anything you found very hard to master but finally succeeded at?

Hello Lorraine

I want to know how you stay so slim given all the goodies you bake. Obviously youth is on your side, but do you also have a strict exercise regime that allows you to eat all you want? <hopeful>

If you went out for a 3 course meal, but could only choose two courses - would you pick :

a) starter and main
b)main and dessert

Basically, do you prefer sweet or savoury?

Hi Lorraine.

I am grateful for the very clear puff pastry instructions in your first series. I made it with great success after that (having previously failed) and it turned out to be way nicer than even the highest quality bought puff pastry. Thank you! Do you agree that more people should having a go at making their own puff because even though it is a bit of a faff, it is really really yummy?

My kids sneaked downstairs and watched the episode of this series with the tiger cake and the lemon jelly, and they were completely entranced! I think you should do a cooking show for older kids.

Hello Lorraine

I am rubbish / not interested in cooking (it's more of a chore for me!), but your programme actually makes me believe I could give it a go (you make it look so easy ).

I just wondered if you actually get to eat the food you cook on the programme?

Hi,
Could you do a vegan book please!?
And - how do you stay so slim?!

Hi Lorraine, I love your shows and your book. I've made some really lovely things from your Baking Made Easy book, so thanks for that ! I'm an avid baker and have been making cakes since I was really little, however, I've recently been placed on a restrictive diet to help with a hormone imbalance. I'm not supposed to have any refined sugar, white refined flours or dairy. We've made a couple of cakes using agave, einkorn flour and olive oil as the base with veg / fruit / nuts and cashew butter and coconut topping. Do you have any other hints or tips that you can pass on re ingredients or method? xx

Hi Lorraine, my daughter & I have loved the programmes and enjoy looking at the books and trying recipes together.

My question today is do you have a totally fail safe meal that you can always cook either under pressure or at short notice that you use as your reliable regular?

Hello

My daughter loves your show and your books- in fact she has been inspired to bake because of them, and has discovered a real talent for it.

This is great as she struggles at school and is very happy to have something she's really good at.

My question is, did you like school and when did you discover your talent for cooking?

Thanks

Hi Lorraine,

I've got your first 2 books and love the recipes, our favourite is the 21st century bread.

My question is... I loved the grey kitchen in the first 2 series, was it filmed in your home?

Hi Lorraine,

I have a couple of questions.

From your books, what is your favourite recipe?

Do you find that as you are such a good cook, your friends are nervous inviting you over for lunch or dinner?

Hi Lorraine,
My problem is very, very basic: everything I cook, ends up very bland and tasteless . I cannot flavour my food (I only use salt, pepper and three to four herbs like parsely, basil and dill, and nothing else). I would love to be able to do a very simple and easy cooking, with easy-to-find, common ingredients.
I am also not very good at combining different tastes to create a tasty meal. It is as if my ingredients do not combine well . Hope I am making some sense...
Therefore my very basic questions:
1- How can I tenderise meat to make it soft as well as tasty . Meat usually comes up hard and it tastes like cardboard so I try to cook it in the slow cooker in which case it comes out soft and chewable yet still very, very bland.
Any fool-proof basic sauces to tenderise as well as give flavour to meat?
Same question for casseroles: anything to add to make it tastier?

Thank you very much in advance.

Hi Lorraine, i absolutely love your show and always have my notebook handy when watching. Quick question is that i tried baking that lovely twister bread with the poppy seeds the other day and it was so hard that it could have been used as a door stop! I thought i followed the recipe to the letter but obviously went wrong somewhere, do you have any thoughts? My friend who bakes suggested that i may have had the oven on too long therefore it was too hot. what do you think?

Hi Lorraine, I love your programme! My question is you are obviously highly qualified to talk about and demonstrate food so how to you feel about celebrity's and tv personalities releasing cookbooks without having any background in food? It annoys me so wondering if it annoys you!