Jamie Oliver - Jamie At Home

Fantastic series. This is the best type of cooking, good home cooking using pure fresh ingredients and even if you do not grow your own, all of the ingredients are readily available - it is down to earth, it is practical and so doable - if you only buy one cookery dvd & book in your life make it this one.

JAMIE'S GETTING BETTER AND BETTER

I have to admit that a few years ago I did not really like Jamie - found him a bit annoying, but boy have I changed my mind - he had made what is without a doubt the best series of cookery programmes there is around at this time. Using fresh everyday ingredients from his garden, everyday equipment which is in most homes he produces delicious, nutritious wholesome healthy food - yes there is the odd rich desert but nothing wrong with a bit of cream every now and then. Loving cooking and not being a bad one I own many cookery dvd & books, 99% pale in comparison. Buy Jamie, use it and enjoy good food.

Unexpectedly witty and wonderful

Not having seen the series, I was urged to buy this boxset by an insistent friend, and I confess to doubts - lots - not least because, with a couple of exceptions, I've never found a wine that didn't leave a horrible metallic aftertaste and harsh acidity. I've always been convinced that old saw 'the more expensive the wine the better it is' was just a rip-off ploy by vintners!
On Top Gear James May's 'character' is vital, but subtle - he is the straight man, the foil for big shouty and little angry; to be the understated Everyman always almost but not quite in the limelight.
But I had real doubts as to how well that would translate in 'Big Wine Adventure'. True, May's affable irony and wry self-deprecating wit on TG were tempered by occasional flashes of a darker, inner bleakness, as he sometimes inadvertantly let slip a tendency towards melancholia(quote:"that moment of Black Dog despair") but away from Hamster and Jezzer, wouldn't it be bland and boring? I didn't really see how the combination could work - Oz Clarke, genuine theatre thespian dahlink and leading Brit wine critic alongside a beer-swilling, petrolhead pianist with depressive tendencies. I prepared for boredom or one of those celeb obviously-in-it-for-the money jaunts.
And I'm very, very sorry, because the DVDs are worth every penny. Both seasons were perfect examples of what documentary shows should be - funny without descending into juvenile puerility, and you learn useful stuff almost without noticing it. Season 1, as these two disparate men adjusted to each other brought forth several moments of hilarity: sharing a tent, the naked Spa pool, and my personal favourite was the Ozilator, a penny-whistle James blew whenever Oz went on too much in that sort of pretentious waffle usually only seen in an AA Gill food review column in The Times. Who hasn't craved such a thing to shut up some pontificating windbag at some point? Priceless!
But Oz wasn't obnoxious. Despite his occasional lapses into overblown oratory, he loves wine, he's interested in the history and the culture and his enthusiasm makes the viewer interested as well. Likewise James stayed true to his 'affordable wine for normal people' stance without being offensive, boorish or an 'inverted snob' about it. And both men clearly genuinely got on well with each other. JM has always been diffident about admitting to any real emotion on screen (remember Hammond's return to TG after the accident - Jeremy launched in with a bearhug, James backed away from Hamster like he was a live cobra and proffered a handshake). Oz gently poked fun at James' aversion without being cruel or offensive about it. It was...nice TV, pleasure-to-watch TV.
And the California one was, in my opinion, even better. I'm trying to avoid spoiling it because my advice is to buy the boxset - Amazon making both seasons available as a boxset is an excellent idea - and I sincerely hope it doesn't end there. I can surely hear all non-French/Californian vintners gnawing their livers in frustration at how much Franco-Californian wine sales must have increased - what about Italian/Spanish wines, or Latin wines (Chile, Brazil), then there's Eastern European wines (Hungary, Romania, etc) and of course, the Antipodes of Australia and New Zealand. I can just see the tagline for Oz and James's Big Wine Adventure Series 3 now;"Oz does Oz in May..."

Food escapism at its best

I can't praise this series enough. When it was first broadcast on BBC Television in 2005 I thought it was a very good but after getting the DVD I have to say it is fantastic. I find Rick Stein fascinating particularly as he adds stories or anecdotes about the various dishes that he prepares during the course of his journey from Bordeaux to Marseilles onboard the"Rosa" and the"Anjodi" which incidentally are canal barges. What is also great is that in his quest to get to Marseilles, he does not forget Brittany which gave him so much inspiration during the early days of his seafood restaurant. You can expect to see Rick indulging in great food (eels in cider for example) at truck stops to roadside cafes which highlights the different attitude that the French have for food ie in Britain at a truck stop it would be Beans and egg, beans on toast or just....beans!

The food that he prepares during each episode is, as always, wonderful but what stands out is the journey that Rick has through the wonderful South Western French countryside and the people he meets on the way. The whole journey unfolds like a storybook rather than a cookery programme and as indeed the title suggests, it is most certainly an Odyssey and so much better than his previous Seafood Odyssey which took him to various places around the world.

If you want to escape from the hum-drum for a few hours then throw this DVD in the player and relax with a glass of"the red stuff" in one hand and the DVD remote control in the other as you will want to replay all those glorious bits of food and France again and again!

Amusing, Informative & Nostalgic

Whether you wish to call Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall a journalist, cook, smallholder, entrepreneur of story teller, after viewing the River Cottage Box Set one could argue that he trancends every one of these traits in one way or another throughout the three volumes.

Fearnley-Whittingstall takes you through a journey, starting at the beginning where he purchases his first two pigs, some chickens and plots out his vegtable garden, to the end of his experiment at down sizing where the series ends with Hugh posessing a thriving polytunnel, pigs, cattle, sheep, chickens and numerous amusing tales of his journey from being a 'city downsizer' to an established 'dorset smallholder'.

The 3 series' all include amusing anecdotes about Hugh's relationship wih his animals to even the smallest critters such as mice and slugs. It also provides great information about animal walfare and cooking (with some great recipies included) and conveys a great sense of nostalgia and takes one back to the 'Great Britain' era where food was sourced locally and there was a great sense of community.

After viewing the River Cottage Box Set it would be naive to assume that Hugh's smallholding operated soley down to his quaint bartering technique but it does provide an intrinsically warming and a humerous approach to the idyllic, country life and asks questions of the quality of food the general public consume. Overall this Box Set comes highly recommended, is well worth the money and highly compulsive.

Refreshingly funny take on cooking and culture.........

I watched this programme for the first time on the evening of 29th March 2007 and thought it was brilliant!!
So refreshing and humourous to watch.
Si and Dave were travelling through Southern India and tasting Indian doughnut snacks in the street areas. Then visiting the tea grown high in the lush green hills and talking about which teas they particularly liked.

They also got dressed up and very intricately made up; to have a go at Kathak dancing (they did quite well actually.)
They also went to a fish market Paradise with a huge range of all different types of amazing fish.

I love the way their spontenaity and the way take the micky out of each other. Throwing in one liners here and there.They really get right into the culture of a place and make friends with the locals and are always polite and open minded.
Obviously they cooked up of some traditional Indian dishes in a laid back easy going manner and then tuck in afterwards.
I would definately recommned watching them.

Wonderful DVD collection

I have never really wanted to cook any of the recipes that jennifer and Clarissa have prepared over the years.....but I love them because they are so entertaining! What a great idea to bring these two larger than life ladies together!! The DVD collection is a perfect tribute to the late Jennifer Paterson, which does include a wonderful tribute programme as a DVD bonus. Also look out for the photo gallery. Marvellous!!!

Not bad content but flawed encoding

I found these series to be fairly reasonable contentwise. The cooking related content was very good with the animal raising being particularly illuminating but the celebrity content seemed rather superfluous. That said, perhaps celebrity content would be more relevent to UK residents (I'm from downunder).

The absolute worst aspect (literally) of these DVDs is that they are incorrectly coded as being 16:9 when the main content is actually 4:3. This means that you need to manually switch aspect ratios on your display each time you watch them unless you like Gordon being 20 stone - if you cannot force the aspect ratio on your display, then you're stuck with fat Gordon. The packing misleading states that the content is 16:9 which it technically is due to the encoding flags but it is verging on false advertising.

I can understand the bleeping out of the swearing since this show would have aired at family TV hours and reencoding the audio may have been prohibitively expensive. More annoying for me are the commercial break trailers as these would have been easy to edit out.

Fails miserably

You can almost picture the meeting. Some guy at the BBC has just been to see"Sideways" ( a genuinely enjoyable film) and they think: hmm, a film about an odd couple of male friends, getting on surprisingly well, whilst the educated one teaches his oafish friend about wine. It was a hit as a film: let's make the TV series - and as it really will be about wine, we can tick off our"documentary" box. They replace California with France and have Oz Clarke as their expert: needing an oaf, they turn to James May.
Now, what might the plot be? Could it be that at first, they bicker as Oz Clarke's poncey attitude to wine is scorned by James May, driving a 'quirky' car, who's determined not to turn into a wine snob, and yet gradually, they come to appreciate each other's company and James turns out to appreciate the differences between wine more than he expected?
Guess what, that prediction might just come true.
I was given this as a Christmas present: it was a good idea as I like wine and I like James May.
The problem is it doesn't work at any level. As a documentary about wine, it's all but useless: you learn pretty much nothing e.g. although it's based in France, you go through Bordeaux and it doesn't explain the difference between"right bank" wines and"left bank" wines, or what grapes are in it, or"vin de pays" vs"AOC". So in terms of helping you go to a supermarket and be more informed about what to spend your £6 on to get a bottle of wine, it's pointless.
All of which would be fine if it worked as a comedy: but it just isn't funny enough. They are desperate to create a kind of off-beat chemistry between our two protagonists, but even though in other contexts May and Clarke are both really good, it never materialises. And eventually, it's too contrived. James May is too educated to be an oaf. Oz Clarke is too sensible to be a real wine ponce.
I gave up after episode three. Maybe it improves. I doubt it.
Other people seem to have liked it. I'm amazed.
If you want a wine documentary, buy"Mondo Vino". If you want a comedy, buy"Sideways". If you want James May, watch James May's 20th Century. If you want Oz Clarke, get Oz Clarke's Bordeaux.
If you buy this, you'll be wasting your time and money.

Informative, interesting, enlightening

A really very enjoyable DVD from the marvellous Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall. Trips to the Channel Islands & the Scottish Isles, to catch,prepare & eat, a whole range of fishy delights, highlight the diversity of more sustainable fish options open to the consumer.
Some of the fish & fish dishes featured on this DVD are not your average cod & chips. This is a really excellent effort by Hugh to higlight the more environmentally sensitive alternatives, to the fish we normally eat.
A real must for the seafood fans amongst us & particularly those with a concern about dwindling fish stocks.If you are an angler, particularly a sea angler, then there would be something for you in this DVD too, as Hugh & his mates set off to sea to do some serious fishing.
A slightly different approach to sea food to that adopted by the magnificent Rick Stein but every bit as enjoyable.
Great recipes & marvellous presenting from Hugh - a return to form after the fairly disappointing River Cottage Road Trip DVD - highly recommended.

BRILLIANT.

Jamie at home is probably one of the best tv cookery programmes ever produced. It is basic cooking at its very best. Plain, simple home cooking - no fancy gadgets, or expensive pretentious ingredients - cooking for all times and anyone - whatever level of experience you have at cooking. Five stars is not enough for these series or the book which accompanies them. Over all the series he covers the four seasons, using seasonal fresh food with tips on how to plant and grow your own - a tomato plant in a bean tin - great stuff. As I have already said in one of my other reviews if you one buy one tv cookery series and one cookery book in your life, make it this series and the book that accompanies it - FAB STUFF.

Jamie does it again...Brilliantly

Naked Chef 3 is just brilliant. Like everything Jamie does, he really inspires you to get cooking trying both his recipes and and feeling confident enough to adapt recipes or make up your own from scratch.

Until now Naked chef 3 has only been available on video and not DVD. This boxed set includes all three Naked Chef recipes. Also on Jamie's website, you can now type in one word on the recipe search and it will bring up a list of results, telling you which book and dvd that recipe can be found on. So, if like me, you suddenly decide you'd like to make one of his recipes and aren't sure which dvd you saw it on, you can search his site for say chocolate and in the results it will tell you all the chocolate recipes he has done in his books and videos and in which ones they appear.

A perfect gift for any Jamie fan

An inspirational chef in amazing surroundings

A marvellous set of part travelogue, part cookery show. Floyd is often dismissed as being simply a drunkard, knocking up food in nice locations and rambling on with his camera crew. Interestingly though, you'll often see him cited as a major influence on modern chefs.
This series includes some more unusual dishes from around the med, and encompasses more than just Italy, Spain and Greece - He goes round Turkey, and North Africa too.
Another thing about Floyd is that he comes across a bit 1950s Englishman when dealing with"the natives" but it is clear that there is an amazing amount of affection for people involved in country life and food production.
Theme music a bit dated though!!

inspiring and funny

Although it's a show with a preproduced concept (i think) Jamies way of cooking inspires me to try new things out in the kitchen. It s a simple way of cooking with fresh stuff and left overs. and funny I love to make a mess too out of my kitchen I specialy love the scene where he does this thing with cooking fish in aluminiun foil with allot of herbs, potatoes, veggies and wine!

YUMMIE!