News

« Headlines

Delia Smith cheats again

07.06.07 Katherine Rushton

Delia Smith is to write a new version of her 1972 début cookery book, How to Cheat at Cooking, to tie in with her return to television for a BBC series of the same name.

The £20 hardback (BBC Books, 4th October) will offer abbreviated recipes for wholesome, quality dishes, that use "cheat" methods or pre-prepared ingredients. "It's going to cut out time-consuming processes," Smith said. "We're short-circuiting all the rules."

The title will be crisply designed and entirely rewritten, she added. It will also recommend specific products—although it is not yet clear whether she will be able to do the same on television. "This book has nothing to do with the original one," Smith said. "It's completely different. Cheating's come on a lot and there's so much more available. The way it's going, I can't think of anybody who wouldn't want it. I think it's what I need."

Smith's research for the book also inspired her to sign up for her first BBC series in five years, to be aired next spring, despite telling fans in 2004 that she planned to give up television "while the going [was] good". "I had no plans to do any more at all, but I always said 'never say never' . . . It's been good for me to sit back and watch for five years."

She added that some of the methods and ingredients she recommends are likely to draw gasps of horror from other celebrity gastronomes, but stressed that it is not her aim to impress them: "I'm not a chef and I'm not about chefs. I'm about people at home."

Smith was persuaded to redo How to Cheat at Cooking after the Random House Group acquired a majority shareholding in BBC Books, her long-time publisher, in June last year, and absorbed the company as an imprint under Ebury. News of the launch comes as a boon to Ebury's food list, which also boasts the Moro cookbooks, but lost River Café authors Ruth Rogers and Rose Gray to Penguin in April. "Delia is the number one cook in this country and has a longevity that has never been surpassed," said Ebury m.d. Fiona MacIntyre. "She's a phenomenon."

Book Katherine Rushton Random House BBC Books Delia smith

See Also