AS host of the Great British Bake Off, TV chef Mary Berry had no shortage of things to nibble on when the cameras stopped rolling.
But the 81-year-old found herself on the menu when her new show took to the Highlands, as the crew were confronted with swarms of midges.
In the first episode of Mary Berry Everyday, which aired on BBC Two last night, Berry cooked venison steaks with Scottish Michelin-starred chef Tom Kitchin on an estate near Inverness. Kitchin said that the meal was amazing, but that thousands of flying guests joined them for dinner unannounced.
He said: “We were right up in the Highlands and it was one of those amazing Scottish days where the weather went from light to dark without warning.
“The midges were abominable, although you wouldn’t know it from the TV show.
“The crew didn’t know what to make of it and they were all draped in these veils and nets, but Mary just carried on. She’s an amazing professional and a national treasure.”
The new show sees Berry share family memories as she journeys back to her childhood, telling how her greatest teacher was her mother, who continued to cook until she died aged 105.
She also talked of her grandfather’s habit of drinking precisely two drams of whisky every evening. “The wee drams gradually got bigger,” she joked, while using a camping stove to cook in the open air by a loch.
Born in Bath, Berry received training at the Cordon Bleu in Paris and Bath School of Home Economics before beginning her food writing career as cookery editor of Housewife magazine in the 1960s.
Last night’s Delicious Memories episode appeared to be a particularly sentimental one for the former Bake Off judge.
She said: “I can think of nowhere else I would rather be,” as she ate fresh Scottish langoustines.
Remembering how she and her family dealt with food shortages during the Second World War, Berry explained that they made the best of their own produce.
She said: “We had goats for milk and we always had a pig.
“But we never got too close to the pig because we knew we were going to eat it and we shared it with the neighbours.”
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