When my mom was pregnant with my little brother, she stopped cooking towards the end of her pregnancy because she was tired, as you are when you have a baby growing in your belly. So cooking was a way for me to do a chore around the house: as a fat young man, it fulfilled my need for food and also meant I was a good boy. Two birds, one stone. I used to send my mom out to make jollof rice. I am now selling it to the public. I got to raise Miss Johnson, my high school food technology teacher. He taught me how to make my first béchamel, how to make a roux. How to make pizza dough, how to make a tomato sauce from scratch, all the little things that I still use to this day. I also did food technology with Tubsey and Hyder, we all went to the same school and used to do food technology together. It’s sick to see how we’ve grown from then to now that we have our own show. I thought I was going to be a rapper, try to win a Grammy. But I won a Bafta instead, so not bad When I was 18, I went on the Nando’s website and it said, ‘Do you want to be a griller?’ I went for my first day with my instructor and the grill was so hot! Oh my days, I was melting like a candle, bruv! But then you get used to it: the juice of the chicken seeps into your pores. I worked there for about half a year and you smell barbecue all the time. It doesn’t matter how much you wash. But I was getting 40% off Nando’s which was good. I never thought that cooking would become one of my main jobs. Rap was my main thing: I thought I’m going to be a rapper, do shows until I’m 50, in my 60s, retire, try to win a Grammy. But instead of winning a Grammy, I won a Bafta, so that’s not bad. My ex was French and her family showed me this French style of cooking and the love they have for food. We don’t have the same passion for production. The French will shoot someone for a fresh baguette. We’ll shoot someone for a sausage from Greggs. So it’s a little different. I live with Tubsey and Hyder so we’re around each other a lot and it’s intense. Tubsey does nothing, just like Big Eats. Hyder doesn’t do anything equally well. We had to buy a new fridge because the other one was full of mold. Living with boys is bad. It’s like a uni house but we’re all 26, 27, and not going to uni. And we’re also Bafta-winning chefs. Michel Roux Jr cooked me a soufflé at Sunday Brunch and, I have to admit, it wasn’t that nice. It was very peachy, very like wow-I’m making a soufflé. Nah! I’d rather just have a cookie or a brownie. He was too focused on his incredible method, less on the incredible taste of happiness that a dessert is supposed to give you. A dessert shouldn’t be like and, ahem, fluffy. No! It’s supposed to be full of joy. I sacrifice my life to eat this sweet. That sounded very sentimental, but it’s the truth.
My favorite things
Food You can’t beat a good lasagna and my lasagne will change your life. DrinkOrange juice just became the love of my life: smooth and very cold. I could drink a glass of orange juice in 0.5 seconds. Then I could drink the second one in 0.5 seconds. I could finish a whole Tropicana, the big one, the family one, not the baby one, very quickly. Not good. Place to eat I’ll give Maison Bab a shout out in Covent Garden. It’s a kebab but done in a bouillabaisse style. Order a fried chicken kebab and they have great broccoli. Their broccoli will make little kids want broccoli. Dish to make Good tomato sauce but with good ingredients cooked for a long time. The longer you cook it the better it gets.
