FIRST there were websites, then blogs, and now there are vlogs – or video logs.
Amateur chefs with a passion for food and showmanship are getting busy in the kitchen in front of wobbly tripods in order to demonstrate their culinary skills to the world.
Simon Rimmer, chef on BBC2’s Something For The Weekend and owner of two restaurants, believes everyone is going to be at it soon.
The innovative young chef has become involved with a new website called www.eatthechef.com
It’s a community site where anyone can upload their vlogs, and Simon hopes to create a database of free videos created by the users themselves.
Launched last November, eatthechef.com is steadily growing. And while its progress isn’t quite as fast as Simon had hoped, he knows that word-of-web is very powerful.
Already, food vlogs such as mydaddycooks.com, steamykitchen.com and notwithoutsalt.com are attracting thousands of loyal followers.
And now that digital recording equipment is comparatively cheap and editing tools are widely available online, does Simon think that soon everyone will start sharing their food secrets with the world?
“It’s quite a big commitment to cook a dish, video it, upload it and send it off,” he admits.
“This is why I suggested that we start with something easy.”
The chef is also spreading the word via Twitter (he has 8,500 followers) and a Facebook group.
Why not try some of his recipes for yourself?
Serves 4
50g butter
1 onion, finely sliced
200g waxy potatoes, peeled and finely sliced
75g mature Cheddar cheese
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Preheat the oven to 180C/355F/Gas Mark 4.
Heat half the butter in an ovenproof pan and fry the onion until soft, then remove from the pan.
Put a layer of potato in the same pan and fry for a few minutes, until golden.
Now layer up onion, potato, onion, seasoning each layer and finishing with potato.
Melt the remaining butter and pour over the pan. Cook in the oven for about 40 minutes, until soft.
Before serving, grate the cheese over the top and put under a hot grill until the cheese bubbles.
Serves 4
400ml tin coconut milk
100ml stock
225g cooked fine beans
225g cooked broad beans
1 bunch spring onions, finely chopped
2 tomatoes, chopped
Lime wedges and fresh coriander leaves, to serve
10 black peppercorns
2 tspn cumin seeds
2 tspn coriander seeds
10 red chillies (de-seeded if you like)
5 shallots
2 garlic cloves, crushed
Piece of fresh ginger
6 stalks lemon grass
12 kaffir lime leaves
Pinch of ground cinnamon
½ tspn turmeric
Splash vegetable oil
Splash chilli oil
1 tblspn palm sugar
2 tblspn vegetable oil for frying
To make the curry paste, dry-fry the peppercorns, cumin and coriander seeds until fragrant, then grind them in a mortar and pestle. Put them, with all the other paste ingredients except the oil, into a blender and blitz until smooth – it takes 5-10 minutes.
Warm the oil in a pan and add four good spoonfuls of paste (one per person). Cook on a low heat until it becomes fragrant.
Crank up the heat and add the coconut milk and stock and bring to the boil. Boil for 3 minutes.
Add the fine and broad beans, onions and tomatoes and simmer for about 4 minutes.
Divide the luscious curry between four bowls, garnish with lime wedges and coriander and serve with rice.
Serves 8-10
For the pastry:
225g plain flour, plus extra for the dusting
75g unsalted butter, cubed
Pinch of salt
100g sifted icing sugar
50ml milk
2 egg yolks
1 egg, beaten, for egg wash
Icing sugar, to serve
350g caster sugar
150ml water
Pulp and juice of 12 passion fruit
9 eggs
300ml double cream
To make the pastry, put the flour, butter, salt and icing sugar into a food processor and pulse until “crumby”. Add the milk and the egg yolks and pulse until it forms a dough. Turn it out on to a floured surface and knead for a few minutes, then cover and chill for at least 1 hour.
Turn the pastry out on to your floured surface and roll out to 5cm (2in) larger than a 28cm (11in) tart case. Push the pastry into the base, leaving the excess hanging over the sides and chill for at least 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 180C/355F/Gas Mark 4.
Line the pastry case with foil and rice or baking beans and bake in the oven for 20 minutes. Remove the rice or beans and foil, brush with the egg wash and cook for a further 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and trim off the excess pastry with a sharp knife. Leave to cool.
Whisk the eggs and sugar together, then add the cream. Using a slotted spoon, add all the passion fruit pulp to the cream mixture with a little of the juice – probably about 1 tablespoon. Reserve the remaining juice to use as extra sauce. Pour this custard into the cooked and cooled tart case.
Incidentally, a little tip is to fill the tart case while it’s sitting on the oven shelf with the shelf pulled out – genius or what?
Reduce the oven to 170C/340F/Gas Mark 3 and bake the tart on the middle shelf for about 40 minutes. It should still be a little wobbly, but it will carry on cooking and will set.
To serve, dust the tart with icing sugar and a spoonful of extra sauce.
(Note: 450g = 1lb; 600ml = 1pt)
Recipes taken from The Accidental Vegetarian, by Simon Rimmer, published by Mitchell Beazley, priced £9.99. See www.octopusbooks.co.uk