Two Fat Ladies Ride Again

This cookbook includes all the recipes from the BBC TV series "Two Fat Ladies Ride Again", such as: cooking lunch at a motorcycle rally; a formal dinner for the officers of the Hussars regiment; tea for a cricket club; and a cocktail party at the Brazilian Embassy.

Streets are shaking and buildings are trembling! This can mean only one thing: the two fat ladies, those disciples of all foods good and forbidden, have returned! No thin stomach is safe from the pleasures of Jennifer Paterson and Clarissa Dickson Wright's 130 titillating new recipes. Even the names ooze joy, wonderment, and yearning--Mrs. Anne Bearley's Rhubarb Whim Wham and Fried Eggs on Puffball Mushrooms, to name but two of these delectable dishes. As in the style of the fat ladies' previous (and wondrous) creation, Cooking with the Two Fat Ladies, witty anecdotes and a uniquely British brand of humor make The Two Fat Ladies Ride Again much more than just a list of recipes. When speaking of pudding (that's dessert to any nonroyal subject), Clarissa writes, "A pudding should be unequivocally a pudding ... at your next dinner party, try serving two puddings, one in my style with cream and meringue and delicious things, and one soi-disant healthy variety, and see which you are left with to carry back to the kitchen." How right she is--foods ooze with richness and high taste. Rigo Jancis Chocolate Slices require not only bittersweet chocolate, but also cocoa powder, eggs, sugar, and heavy, stiffly whipped cream. There are no low-fat yogurt substitutes here!

Recipes are neatly and simply categorized as appetizers, main dishes, puddings, and picnic foods--divinely illustrated with full-color photographs. Also included are chapters on the three best times of the day--breakfast time, teatime, and cocktail hour! Meat, game, and fish feature heavily--Beef with Chestnuts, Pears, and Almonds is a particularly succulent Catalonian dish, combining a tasty, tangy fresh sauce to accompany roast beef or steak. These beautiful creations do require a degree of cooking experience, and cannot be whipped up in the microwave. But the rewards are high--delicious, pleasing foods that will nurture the soul. --Naomi Gesinger