NOT TO BE confused with the indoors-outdoors KITCHEN GARDEN. DOROTHY SLEIGHTHOLME pottered around the said establishment – despite the camera never straying from the worksurface – taking biscuits out of ovens and chopping up pre-blender-days leeks to make soup. Decidedly pre-fitness-oriented recipes abounded (Cheese and Cream, Beer and Pop, Jams, Jellies and Curds) as well as Economical Meat Dishes: “Liver and hearts are not to everyone’s taste, but with careful cooking they can be delicious as a well as extremely nourishing. Today, Dorothy Sleightholme offers a Hampshire recipe for Liver Puffs, and Love in Disguise, a dish from Herefordshire using stuffed hearts. For those who have not tried offal, there is Aberdeen Loaf and, using a recipe from Warwickshire, an excellent way to cook belly of pork with tomatoes”. Occasional appearances by home brew expert side-kick ALAN BRIGGS gave invaluable advice for thirteen year-olds with illicit barrels of Tom Caxton’s stashed in the garden shed. Thrifty cook BIDDY CLAYTON also cropped up, demonstrating the art of feeding a family of eight with a three pound chicken. PEGGY MILLS and FARMER’S WIFE MRS ANNE WALLACE also appeared. It wasn’t altogether afraid to change with the times; by 1983, vegetarian SARAH BROWN was tentatively allowed onto the premises. Neither as energetic as THE GALLOPING GOURMET, nor GARDENER’S WORLDfor that matter, it nevertheless retained an olde worlde ’70s charm and a wonderful “dip-doodle-oodle-dee-dah” jazz theme tune. Second helpings came courtesy of THE HOME COOKERY CLUB.
Joanne Gray
February 12, 2017 at 4:12 pm
Was it true that thrifty Yorkshire used the same set as Annie Sugden’s kitchen in Emmerdale Farm?
Applemask
September 24, 2019 at 11:34 am
Flutes, vibes ‘n’ percussion jazz trio theme ruined in the last few seasons by uncalled for synthesized remake
richardpd
September 24, 2019 at 1:16 pm
I’ve still got my Mum’s tie-in cook book.
Droogie
September 27, 2019 at 12:40 pm
Did you know that the ace theme tune is actually called Fruity Flutes? It was released on a collection of library music by Trunk Records a while back.