On The Hob

Welcome to our weekly look at new cookery programs on British TV.  For the week of 23rd March – 29th March 2009.  Here we look at new Cookery programs on Terrestrial and Freeview TV (No repeats are listed).

Monday 23rd March 2009

Taste The Nation ITV1 17:00 to 18:00 (1 hour long)

Nick Hancock hosts the cookery show that pits county against county in a nationwide cook-off amongst amateurs coached by celebrity chefs. Today, Perthshire takes on Leicestershire and Rutland in an incredibly close competition. The judges must decide which of the mouth-watering offerings, including roast loin of Perthshire lamb, prosciutto wrapped saddle of rabbit, and plum bread and butter pudding with spiced pink champagne sorbet, is the worthy winner.

Click here to go to ITV’s Taste the Nation website, catch up on the program with the ITV player, find out more about the chef’s and judges and download the recipes.

Tuesday 24th March 2009

Taste The Nation ITV1 17:00 to 18:00 (1 hour long)

Nick Hancock hosts the county vs county cookery competition, in which amateurs are mentored by celebrity chefs. Today Cheshire competes with Wiltshire, and the menus include an exciting mix of traditional fare like Cheshire cheese and apple cake and ham hock cakes, alongside more contemporary dishes such as venison carpaccio and burnt custard with poached pears. Will everything go to plan for our amateurs?

Click here to go to ITV’s Taste the Nation website, catch up on the program with the ITV player, find out more about the chef’s and judges and download the recipes.

Heston’s Roman Feast Channel 4 21:00 to 22:00 (1 hour long)

Heston Blumenthal is on a mission to use myth, science and history to create the greatest feasts ever known. Ancient Roman cuisine meant theatrical, devious and orgasmic food. The Romans had few boundaries and unusual appetites, eating everything from flamingos to parrot tongues and jellyfish.

Click here to go to Channel 4′s All about Heston’s Feasts website, read his blog, get the reciepes and more

Wednesday 25th March 2009

Gastronuts BBC 1 16:05 to 16:35 (30 minutes long)

Can We Eat The Same Food As Animals?.
Food fanatic Stefan Gates and his intrepid Gastronuts go on wild culinary adventures to discover the truth about how we eat, what we eat and where it comes from. Stefan and the Gastronuts find out what animals from dogs to lions, and penguins to pythons eat in their diet. They try their hands at eating the same things, sampling the fare of dogs, penguins and the king of the jungle.

Taste The Nation ITV1 17:00 to 18:00 (1 hour long)

County takes on county in the cookery competition where amateur chefs are tutored by celebrity captains. Today, it is Surrey v Suffolk, and regional ingredients feature strongly in dishes like Tillingbourne trout and Suffolk cure bacon. But judges Henrietta Greene, Richard Johnson and William Sitwell are divided. Nick Hancock hosts.

Click here to go to ITV’s Taste the Nation website, catch up on the program with the ITV player, find out more about the chef’s and judges and download the recipes.

Thursday 26th March 2009

Taste The Nation ITV1 17:00 to 18:00 (1 hour long)

Nick Hancock presents the cookery competition which pits county against county, each captained by a celebrity chef. Today is the last chance this week to reach Friday’s cook off, and Graham Tinsley leads Carmarthenshire against Rosemary Shrager’s Northumberland team. Tempting the judge’s taste buds will be a cheese souffle, Northumberland lamb, and a cream liqueur chocolate tart.

Click here to go to ITV’s Taste the Nation website, catch up on the program with the ITV player, find out more about the chef’s and judges and download the recipes.

Friday 27th March 2009

Taste The Nation ITV1 17:00 to 18:00 (1 hour long)

Nick Hancock presents the cookery competition that pits county against county, each captained by a celebrity chef. We reach another Friday gourmet feast as the week’s eight teams are whittled down to four. Today the amateur chefs must come up with their own recipes, and the judges are replaced by a team of inspectors. The menus feature hare, loin of pork, wild duck and venison. Only two counties will go through to the next round.

Click here to go to ITV’s Taste the Nation website, catch up on the program with the ITV player, find out more about the chef’s and judges and download the recipes.

Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares USA Channel 4 21:00 to 22:00 (1 hour long)

Black Pearl.
Gordon Ramsay visits a struggling seafood restaurant in Manhattan. The Black Pearl is hampered by debts, and the problems in the kitchen are multiplied by three different owners: Brian, David and Gregg, all of whom are trying to run things. The result is chaos and confusion, above all for the staff trying their best to make sense of it all.

Click here to go to Channel 4′s Kitchen Nightmares website, find the recipes and learn with Gordon’s training videos

Saturday 28th March 2009

Saturday Kitchen BBC 1 10:00 to 11:35 (1 hour and 35 minutes long)

James Martin presents another menu of mouth-watering recipes, great chefs and celebrity guests, including top chef Bryn Williams and West End musical star Lee Mead, who faces his food heaven and hell. Plus helpings of the Hairy Bikers, Rick Stein and Keith Floyd, another dramatic omelette challenge and more top wine choices from Olly Smith.

Click here for the Saturday Kitchen Website and fin out what’s cooking

Rachel Allen: Bake! BBC 1 11:35 to 12:00 (25 minutes long)

Recipes and cooking tips with Rachel Allen. Rachel makes a wonderfully rich baked cheesecake with blueberries, and visits virtuoso pastry chef Gerhard Jenne who shows her the spellbinding secrets behind his magic cakes. The cookery school students get to grips with choux pastry to make the ultimate teatime treat: eclairs.

Click here for the BBC’s Rachel Allen Bake Website, see whats coming up or rewatch episodes on the Iplayer

Sunday 29th March 2009

Come Dine with Me Channel 4 20:00 to 21:00 (1 hour long)

Four competitive cooks from Huddersfield take it in turns to host their idea of the perfect dinner party over four nights. When kitchen designer Neil Hemingway invites his prized pooch to sit at the table it puts hair salon owner Christine Wright, who hates dogs, off her food.

Click here for Channel 4′s Come Dine with me website.

Shop at the BBC Shop for all your favourite chef’s cookery books, dvds and more, or subscribe there to BBC Good Food and never be lost for Kitchen ideas.  Click here for the BBC Shop

Welcome to our weekly rundown of cookery programs on TV.  If you watch any we’d love to hear your views in the comments, especially if you try any of the recipes!

Monday 9th March

Ready, Steady, Cook BBC 2 16:30 to 17:15

Gladiators James Crossley (Hunter) and Du’Aine Ladejo (Predator) pitch full-bloodedly into the kitchen contest. Ainsley Harriott presides over another classic twenty-minute cooking challenge.

Click here to rewatch old episodes and download recipes at BBC

Britain’s Best Dish: Celebrity Special ITV1 17:00 to 18:00

It is the first day of finals week, and eight celebrities have made it through from the previous rounds. Today the surviving celebs have been sent out of the studio to Hammersmith Catering College in West London where they will have to cook their signature dishes for three uncompromising food critics – Bill Buckley, Charles Campion and Sophie Grigson. Only six celebrities will make it through to the next stage.

Click here to find Britain’s Best Dish recipes at ITV

Tuesday 10th March

Ready, Steady, Cook BBC 2 16:30 to 17:15

It is definitely not a case of ‘here’s one I made earlier’ in the kitchen today, as former Blue Peter presenters Zoë Salmon and Matt Baker battle it out to see who is top of the hobs. Ainsley Harriott hosts the conversation and the cooking for another classic twenty-minute culinary challenge.

Click here to rewatch old episodes and download recipes at BBC

Britain’s Best Dish: Celebrity Special ITV1 17:00 to 18:00

It is the turn of the three remaining main course chefs in today’s celebrity cook-off. They must each come up with a pudding that perfectly complements their signature dish, and then prepare both dishes at once. Only two of them will make it through to cook another day.

Click here to find Britain’s Best Dish recipes at ITV

Heston’s Medieval Feast Channel 4 21:00 to 22:00

This four-part series follows renowned chef Heston Blumenthal on a gastronomic adventure as he attempts to create the greatest feasts from history. In the Middle Ages, food was used as a source of entertainment and escape from the harsh realities of everyday life.

Wednesday 11th March

Gastronuts BBC 1 16:05 to 16:35

Why Don’t We Eat Custard on Pizza?.
Food fanatic Stefan Gates and his intrepid Gastronuts go on wild culinary adventures to discover the truth about how we eat, what we eat and where it comes from. Roast beef and gravy, fish and chips, and chocolate with almost anything. Some food combinations are classics. But what happens when tastes clash, and can we make and break the rules of food? In an effort to find out Stefan and the Gastronuts eat the world’s weirdest combinations, cook with a steam roller and make a strange sandwich.

Ready, Steady, Cook BBC 2 16:30 to 17:15

It is off to Ambridge today in the company of Louiza Patikas and Tom Graham, better known as Helen and Tom Archer from The Archers. Will Tom bring home the bacon or will he end up looking a bit of a sausage? Ainsley Harriott hosts another twenty minutes of classic cookery.

Click here to rewatch old episodes and download recipes at BBC

Britain’s Best Dish: Celebrity Special ITV1 17:00 to 18:00

In today’s celebrity cook-off the three remaining pudding chefs must each come up with a main course that perfectly complements their signature dish. Then they must prepare both dishes at once. Only two celebs will make it through to cook again.

Click here to find Britain’s Best Dish recipes at ITV

Thursday 12th March

Ready, Steady, Cook BBC 2 16:30 to 17:15

Chico and Kenzie swap reality TV for the real thing in the kitchen as North Londoner Kenzie parades his food credentials against Chico’s exotic mixture of North African cuisine. Ainsley Harriott hosts another classic twenty-minute cooking challenge.

Click here to rewatch old episodes and download recipes at BBC

Britain’s Best Dish: Celebrity Special ITV1 17:00 to 18:00

We have reached the semi-finals and today the four surviving celebrity chefs must cook for a crowd of discerning diners in a swanky London restaurant. Only two celebs – one mains chef and one pudding chef – will go through to tomorrow’s Grand Final.

Click here to find Britain’s Best Dish recipes at ITV

Friday 13th March

Ready, Steady, Cook BBC 2 16:30 to 17:15

Comic actors Jan Ravens and Phil Cornwell battle it out to see who can make the best impression on the studio audience in the red and green kitchens. Ainsley Harriott introduces another twenty minutes of high-speed, top quality cookery.

Click here to rewatch old episodes and download recipes at BBC

Britain’s Best Dish: Celebrity Special ITV1 17:00 to 18:00

It is the Grand Final, and the two remaining celebrities go head to head. Former contestants will return to help the judges decide the series’ outcome. Which celeb will be crowned the winner?

Click here to find Britain’s Best Dish recipes at ITV

Saturday 14th March

Saturday Kitchen BBC 1 10:00 to 11:35

James Martin presents another menu of mouth-watering recipes, great chefs and celebrity guests. James is joined by top chefs Nic Watt and Glyn Purnell, and former EastEnder Todd Carty faces his food heaven or hell. There are helpings of Celebrity MasterChef, Rick Stein and Keith Floyd, plus another dramatic omelette challenge and more top wine choices from Tim Atkin.

Click here to find out more about this week’s show at the Saturday Kitchen Website

Rachel Allen: Bake! BBC 1 11:35 to 12:00

Recipes and cooking tips. Rachel shows how to make a wonderfully fragrant lime yoghurt cake with rosewater and pistachios, and meets French chef and master bread-maker Richard Bertinet, who believes that the best way to make the perfect bread does not involve kneading the dough; the technique might sound unusual, but the results are fantastic. And the cookery school students learn how to make a classic sticky toffee pudding. This guaranteed crowd-pleaser features a gorgeous sweet toffee sauce.

Sunday 15th March

No New programs, just repeats

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