Tom Kerridge's Best Ever Dishes
Season 1
Michelin-starred chef Tom Kerridge show how to cook the best ever versions of the kind of food we all love to eat. In this series his aim is to turn ordinary dishes into extraordinary ones with a few simple tricks.
Where to Watch Season 1
6 Episodes
- Crowd Pleasers
E1Crowd PleasersTom's serving up some great crowd-pleasing dishes, perfect for sharing with mates at a party. However, there are no canapes on this menu - Tom likes to make proper hearty food for his guests that you can eat in your hands, packed full of flavour. To start, he transforms ordinary filled potato skins into extraordinary crispy stuffed skins filled with creamy roquefort and salty pancetta. He visits Brixton market and discovers a place doing a roaring trade in slow-cooked, barbecue-style food. Tom loves this style of food and, inspired by his visit, he shows how to make your own melt-in-the-mouth pulled beef brisket. He gives coleslaw a bit of a kick, adding some unusual vegetables and dressing it in a hardcore garlic mayo - the perfect side for his brisket dish. If he hadn't been a chef, Tom always dreamed of being a fisherman and in this episode he gets his wish and goes mackerel fishing off the Cornish coast. This fish is a great alternative to burgers and sausages when you're doing a barbecue for a crowd. Tom cooks up a fantastic mackerel recipe stuffed with flavours of the sea for the fishermen to tuck into. Every party needs something sweet and Tom's chocolate tart is sensational. It's pure indulgence on every level, but best of all, it's a cheat's version so is really easy to pull off. - Takeaways
E2TakeawaysTom creates dishes inspired by some of his favourite takeaway foods. This is the kind of casual grab-and-go food that puts a smile on people's faces. He starts with a puff pastry pizza that saves on making pizza dough and is topped with delicious crispy beef. Next he cooks an upmarket version of the classic post-pub takeaway - the doner kebab. He swaps the usual lamb for duck, marinates it in Asian flavours and threads it on to lemongrass skewers for maximum flavour. Tom's favourite takeaway treats from his childhood were doughnuts bought at the end of Weston-super-Mare pier. Doughnuts are currently making a comeback and Tom visits a stall in London's Borough Market serving some of the best doughnuts he has ever tasted. Inspired by his visit, Tom shows us how to make a grown-up doughnut stuffed with an innovative chocolate filling that tastes of turkish delight. Tom loves a pasty and has come up with a twist on the traditional Cornish pasty by replacing meat for lovely smoked haddock. Lastly he serves up the ultimate takeaway treat - the burger, but he makes hamburgers made with real ham to feed some hungry crowds trackside at the dogs - Weekend Specials
E3Weekend SpecialsThis episode is all about dishes for the weekend, when there is a bit more time to enjoy being in the kitchen and cook something extra special to share with family and friends. Tom turns an ordinary leg of lamb into an extraordinary dish by roasting it wrapped in branches of bay leaves to pack in extra flavour. He wants to shake up our Sunday sides so is salt-baking garlic and lemon before stirring it through some wilted greens - much better than boring boiled broccoli. He visits a Malaysian supper club to find out the secrets of authentic Malay-style satay. Inspired by the wonderful flavours, he decides to fuse Asian and British cuisines by creating his own satay roast chicken. Not everyone gets time off at the weekend, so he decides to cook a brunch for a group of firefighters. An easy one to replicate at home, this is the ultimate English breakfast omelette cooked in one pan. And at the weekends you've got to have a special pudding, so Tom does his treacle tart with a few twists to add texture and flavour, which will make it a cut above the norm. - Tasty Dinners
E4Tasty DinnersTom believes that we should cook and eat good food no matter what day of the week it is, so he's got some incredible fuss-free dishes that are quick to make without compromising on flavour, like lemon pepper chicken - a whole meal in one pan that saves on the washing up. He shows us how to spice up traditional lamb chops by giving the Barnsley chop a north African twist and serving it with a courgette and feta salad with an unusual dressing, before demonstrating his take on the old retro dinner - scampi and chips, made using fresh monkfish and a fantastic crispy batter. And for pudding, there's an easy midweek option - a rice pudding that's quite unlike any you'll have tried before and it only takes half an hour to make. These dishes should definitely persuade you to leave those ready meals on the shelves. - Old Skool Favourites
E5Old Skool FavouritesChef Tom Kerridge shows how to cook the best versions of the kind of food we all love to eat. In this episode he cooks dishes based on some of his favourites from his childhood. These dishes bring back many happy memories, full of flavours that he loves, with a few improvements over the years. He brings chicken kiev up to date with a fantastic home-made version that's almost as easy to make as it is to get out of a packet. There's a corn on the cob dish with a burnt onion sauce to liven up this often overlooked but delicious side dish. Tom recreates his version of his mum's sausage roast that he enjoyed growing up and visits a Gloucester old spot farm to find the best pork possible to use for his recipe. He cooks his version of a lasagne with a few twists that are guaranteed to pack in extra flavour. Lastly, he visits his old school in an attempt to put an old fashioned pudding back on the menu. But how will his pineapple upside-down cake go down with a group of hungry teenagers? - Lush Lunches
E6Lush LunchesTom believes that everyone deserves a proper lunch and he's not talking about soggy sandwiches and a packet of crisps. In this episode, Tom shows some great recipes for livening up lunches. First up it's tomato soup done properly - made with fresh tomatoes and thickened with bread. There's his twist on a classic ham and mushroom pie and then he makes a crispy duck salad with an Asian-style dressing. He also visits a steelworks in York to cook up the ultimate steak sandwich. The Pittsburgh black and blue steak was so named because the steelworkers would apparently cook their meat on the hot steel so it was black on the outside and blue on the inside. Tom wants to see if this really works. The hungry guys at the metalworks certainly seem to think so as the steak sandwiches go down much better than their usual lunch options. For dessert Tom serves up a light muscovado cream topped with fruit, that can be made up in advance.