Cooking with Poo

My cookery books are gathering dust. Rather than get one off the shelves and flick through the pages I’ve been going on to YouTube and watching how a dish is cooked. If they say a picture is worth a thousand words then how many for a moving one on a cookery channel.

Mind you there is a lot of dross out there and some crummy recipes, amateur chefs who haven’t thought through the demonstration or considered the camera angles. Hang on, I want to watch what you’re doing in the pan not hear you talk about it.

Rather too many of the chefs are American and I usually click off at the first ‘Hi Guys’ rather as I used to remove a mark for service if addressed that way when reviewing a restaurant. I do like Chef John, however, a quiet, thoughtful chap whom we never see, just his hands, as it should be. And if you haven’t got an ingredient, don’t worry, he soothes. He’s the Laid-Back Chef.

There is the frenetic Vah Chef from India and a a doughty Indian matron who persists in saying ‘taybellyspoons’ when she gives measures.

It is always a bonus if the female chef is as much a dish as her recipe, as is Miriam Kinunda on Taste of Tanzania. But my vote goes to Poo. She is a Thai girl, real name Saiyuud Diwong, who cooks her national cuisine with spirit and brio and has appeared on dozens of videos including some with Jamie Oliver. You’ll find her easily enough, as you will any of the others.

Just put Cooking with Poo into the search engine and you’ll find the videos. She also has a cookery book out. No prizes for guessing what the title is.