Britain’s Best Home Cook first appeared on BBC One in May 2018 as a competitive cooking series. Now known as Best Home Cook, the show has aired three series after The Great British Bake Off changed its broadcasting station from the BBC to Channel 4.
The show has three winners now, with Ed Balls winning the Celebrity series on 17th February 2021. Suzie Arbuthnot won the second series in 2020, while Pippa Middlehurst won the first series in 2018.
Britain’s Best Home Cook TV show has become a global sensation among culinary enthusiasts. It continues to attract more people’s attention with each new season because of the competitor’s creative recipes.
If you have missed the show in its three series so far, here’s a list of the top ten recipes from various competitors. Feel free to use and adapt the recipes to make mouth-watering dishes from the comfort of your home.
Let’s get busy in the kitchen!
You can use a puff pastry lid in this recipe and a shortcrust for the base.
Ingredients for the Pie Filling:
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil
- 2 large brown onions, chopped
- 6 large garlic cloves, chopped
- 2 large celery sticks, chopped
- 900g rump steak, cut into sizable chunks
- 3 tbsp plain flour
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 fresh thyme sprig
- 300ml chicken stock
- 150g button mushrooms
- Salt to taste
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 2 large carrots, cut into sizable chunks
- 500ml Irish stout
Ingredients for the Pie Base and Lid
- 350g ready-rolled shortcrust pastry for the base
- 1 free-range egg, beaten, for glazing
- 350g ready-rolled puff pastry, for the lid
- Plain flour, for dusting
Procedure
- Roll out the shortcrust pastry sheet on a lightly floured surface before using it to line the base and sides of a pie dish, preferably one measuring 28x23cm and 4.5cm in depth. Leave a slight overhang at the top part for sealing the lid. Place the setup in the refrigerator.
- Preheat your oven to 160°C.
- Get the pie filling ready by heating oil in a large oven-safe casserole over high heat. Season the sear and beef till it turns brown and transfers it into a bowl. Lower the heat and add a little oil to soften the celery, onions, and garlic at once for about 8-10 minutes.
Add the beef to the pan and keep stirring to incorporate with the flour before adding the thyme, stock, and bay leaves.
- Add the carrots, mushrooms, and stout. Use pepper and salt to season and cook until the dish boils before transferring into the oven and cooking for 2-2.5 hours until the beef tenderizes. Remove the dish from the oven.
- Remove the bay leaves and thyme. Allow it to cool before transferring the filling into the pie dish.
- Preheat the oven and a large baking tray to 220°C.
- Brush some beaten egg on the pastry lid and place the puff pastry on top. Make decorations using pastry trimmings. Use water or some beaten egg to secure the pie. Use the remaining egg to brush the top of the pie.
- Put the pie in the baking tray and bake for about 30 to 35 minutes. Reheat the gravy and serve alongside the pie.
This dish is a detailed recipe in four parts: a cucumber salad, pickled carrot and radish, bao buns, and beef short rib. The dish serves four people and will take you about four hours for both preparation and cooking.
Be sure to have a steamer at hand and all the ingredients ready to make your cooking experience smooth and enjoyable.
If you are looking for a great side dish, you can take under 2.5 hours to prepare this creamy dauphinoise dish using only a handful of ingredients. The dish serves six people.
Fancy some Indian-influenced spicy chicken? Here’s a recipe to try for four people in about 3 hours of both preparation and cooking.
The preparation and cooking time for this meal is about 2.5 hours. The meal serves four people. Be sure to have a pressure cooker nearby to make the cooking process easier and faster.
It will take you about 2.5 hours to prepare this meal for six people.
It is an improvement of your usual Sunday roast chicken with the added flavouring and gravy. You need a handful of ingredients, including Suzie’s favourite celery sticks, carrots, and brown onions.
This two-part meal serves 4-6 people and takes about two hours to prepare and cook. It’s great for a simple dinner since it simply involves frying breadcrumbs and flavouring them with garlic and rosemary.
The preparation and cooking time for this curry is about 3 hours. The dish serves six people. If you don’t have Ox cheek, consider using brisket or braising steak as the substitute.
While it is a single-part meal, you will need a basketful of ingredients like peanut butter, cinnamon, tamarind, chicken stock, massaman curry paste, fish sauce, baby potatoes, among others.
You can serve the dish alongside hot white rice.
It’s for a cake for your birthday or other special occasions. Katie prefers her pinata cake filled with jelly beans in the space inside it, but you can use your preferred sweets. The preparation and baking time is about 2.5 hours. The cake serves 20 to 24 people.
You’ll need a handful of ingredients for the sponge, filling, decorations, and buttercream.
This recipe makes two fish cakes and is suitable for a light lunch for two or dinner for one person. The preparation and cooking time is about one hour. It’s a two-part dish that involves making fish cakes and parsley sauce separately. Serve with wilted spinach when ready.
Conclusion
As you wait for the next series of Britain’s Best Home Cook show, you can always look back to the three concluded series for some inspirational recipes to use to prepare simple and delicious meals at home.
The trick lies in adapting the recipes to allow you to work with what you have available. Choose one recipe at a time and prepare a sumptuous meal for yourself and your loved ones whenever you can.
Credit for all Images: BBC: Best Home Cook Recipes
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