Two Fat Ladies: Obsessions

by Clarissa Dickson Wright, Jennifer Paterson

Clarissa Dickson Wright and Jennifer Paterson are two opinionated, forthright, eccentric ladies; they also know an awful lot about food. In this totally reformatted book (once again tied-in to their primetime BBC, Food Network and ABC TV series), they turn their attention to what turns them on, choosing 30 of their favourite ingredients from cherries and asparagus to steak and scallops. Including over 150 recipes, the book provides unique insight into how these formidable women cook and goes a long way to explaining why they are passionate about what they do.

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Food

240 pages, Hardcover

First published September 7, 1999

About the author

Clarissa Theresa Philomena Aileen Mary Josephine Agnes Elsie Trilby Louise Esmerelda Dickson Wright is an English celebrity chef and food historian who is best known as one half, along with Jennifer Paterson, of the Two Fat Ladies. Having trained as a lawyer, at the age of 21, Dickson Wright passed her exams and became the country's youngest barrister. She is also one of only two women in England to become a guild butcher.

Reviews

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting! The book is organized in short sections according to a central favorite ingredient. There are some recipes I plan to try, and the rest were definitely fun to read about.

[Allison · Rating 5 out of 5]

pretty much the same review for me as Cooking with the Two Fat Ladies...
This book as a little different as it was four or five recipes for each one of their favorite foods preceded by a little write up from one or the other of them why they liked the food so much or memories they had around it. And here are their fav's: salt, pasta, lobster, fava beans, beef on the bone, chicken (surprising because they didn't seem to think much of chicken in previous books), chili peppers, parsley, mustard, olives, snails, anchovies, sausages, roe, garlic, variety meats, cardoons, peaches, butter, apples, chocolate, cream, raspberries, coffee, figs, lemons, walnuts, lamb, salmon, eels, tripe, crab, pheasant, oysters.

[Gail · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you love to cook, or if you're interested in food prepared in unusual ways, this is a good bet for you. Published after the death of Jennifer Patterson, the book is a sort of tribute to her quirkiness, British humor, and fascination with foods as works of art. Foods are presented with full descriptions of their properties, histories, and current uses. Topics considered run the gamut from lobster and crab, through peaches and raspberries, and on to such obscurities as eel, tripe, and pheasant.

As a collector and obsessive reader of cookbooks, I think this is a treasure that belongs in every foodie's collection.

[Jean · Rating 2 out of 5]

Only copied two recipes from this book. Although my ancestry is British, my tastes aren't!

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed this cookbook, there are recipes I look forward to making.