Prue Leith Reveals the “Luxury” Ingredient She and Paul Hollywood Can Never Agree On [Exclusive]

Prue Leith is no stranger in the kitchen. The restaurateur, cookbook author, and judge on the infamous The Great British Bake Off has seen it all, from spectacular showstoppers to less than appealing “soggy bottoms.”

Despite the dazzling displays she judges in the tent on the show, in her own kitchen, Leith actually likes to keep it fairly simple. In her latest cookbook, Life’s Too Short To Stuff a Mushroom, she illustrates that things don’t need to be complicated to taste good. The book is filled with helpful hacks, shortcuts, and recipes that even the most novice cooks can master.

“Young people, at least in England, no longer learn to cook at school. So they don’t know the simplest things, like how to chop an onion, and if you know that, it makes it a pleasure and a satisfaction to do it,” Leith says. To help teach some of these basic techniques, she’s streamlined things by cleverly adding QR codes throughout the book that you can scan to see her demonstrating her tips in action (rather than reading through tons of instructions).

For this edition of Cooking Diary, Leith shares her favorite baking tips, the dishes she loves to make for the holidays, and the one thing her and Paul Hollywood disagree on.

What’s your favorite recipe from the cookbook? 

At the moment, I think it’s the Caribbean jerked fish with pineapple salsa. Then there’s a ribollita, a very simple Italian vegetable soup, which does take a little while to make, but it is so delicious, and it’s got really rich, deep flavor. I love it. All you have to do is take the time to chop [everything] up.

The book has a lot of shortcuts and hacks. Which one is your favorite? 

There are loads, but if you don’t want your avocado to go brown after you’ve cut it up, rinse it under cold water. It’ll stay green for hours.

What about baking? Any tips that even novice bakers could hack?

I don’t know how well it will appeal to American tastes, but I’ve got a Christmas pudding ice cream. We do it every Christmas, and it works perfectly. Instead of making a classic Christmas pudding, which is very rich, absolutely stuffed with dried fruit, and children don’t like it, simply buy a really good quality soft scoop ice cream. Take a bit of mince meat from a jar, or crumbled up mince pies, or a bit of last year’s Christmas pudding, which has been sitting in the freezer for a year, mix it in with the ice cream, then refreeze it in a Christmas pudding shape. Take it out sometime on Christmas morning, and turn it out onto a plate. Then put it back in the freezer. When you’re ready to serve it, take it out, stick a bit of holly into the top, pour some brandy over it, light it, and flame it. That’s really popular with kids. I mean, have you ever met a child who didn’t love ice cream?

Then there’s a really good baking tip, which I stole from Paul Hollywood I must confess — tear and share star bread. It’s got pesto in it, but you can do chocolate or anything you like. It’s just a technique of how to cut up dough. You roll out four pizza rounds of dough. Stack them one on top of another, and then cut them like slices of a cake all the way around. But don’t cut right to the middle. Then pick up the portions and twist them. It looks fantastic, as if only a posh baker could do it, or you’d have to be Paul Hollywood to do it. But actually, anybody can do it.

Is there a certain dish that you’re famous for making among family and friends for the holidays?

Well, the Christmas pudding comes out every year, and we have quite a lot of vegetarians in my family. Everybody eats so much rich food at Christmastime, and after having dinner at lunchtime, they want to eat something. So I make a noodle salad with a peanut dressing. It’s just really fresh and lovely. And you can vary it, but I like very few noodles and lots of peppers.

Is there a certain cocktail you like to make as well?

There’s one that’s quite funny called “jam cocktails.” I absolutely hate to waste anything. You know when you got a jar of jam or jelly, and you’ve just got a bit in the corner at the bottom. You never put it out on the table because it’s quite hard and empty, and you’re too mean to throw it away. So [I make a] strawberry jam daiquiri. Basically, you use that little dog end of jam. It doesn’t have to be strawberry. It could be whatever you like, mix it with vodka, and turn it into a cocktail.

Or a pickle juice Bloody Mary. I don’t think many people make their own pickles, but I do. After you eat all the pickles, you’re stuck with the juice. Most people just throw it away, but that pickle juice is sweet and very flavorsome and delicious. So make a Bloody Mary using it and tomatoes and whizz it up. It’s delicious.

Is there a certain ingredient that you never bake with or don’t really like?

Funnily enough, I never make sourdough bread. It takes a lot of care and attention. I like things that happen fast.

With the Bake Off, is there one big mistake or major issue you’ve seen the contestants make over the years?

One that always surprises me, because it’s such a simple hack, is caramel. Most bakers pride themselves on doing bright, dry caramel. So they heat the sugar slowly in a pan, and it gradually melts. But it very often crystallizes, especially if you’ve got unwise enough to stir it. You need to swirl it, not stir it. If you stir it, you get it all stuck on the spoon, which is a pain. But I always put in a squeeze of lemon or a tiny bit of vinegar. Any acid will do. It just prevents it from crystallizing. Most bakers don’t know that, and I see them over and over again having to make their caramel two or three times.

What’s the most embarrassing moment that’s happened on the show? 

I never understand the innuendos. I think I’m just too old to get them. The bakers are always going into hysterics because I say something, which is apparently really rude, and I don’t understand it. Last year, there was a challenge where we asked the bakers to make their favorite animal for a showstopper, and one of them made a beaver. Everybody was in hysterics, and I had no idea what everyone was talking about. That’s quite funny.

Is there anything major you and Paul disagree on?

He doesn’t like saffron. I love saffron. I don’t like peanut butter, which makes it difficult judging American Bake Off because you love peanut butter. You’re all born and brought up on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I like peanuts. I like the flavor of peanuts. What I can’t bear about peanut butter is the way it’s claggy and sticks to the roof of your mouth. It’s horrible. But I have to pretend that I like it, because it’s not the baker’s fault that I don’t like peanut butter.

Is there something that we would be surprised to know about you?

Most people only know me for Bake Off, but actually, I’ve had a whole other life, a lot of it in food. I’ve been a restaurateur and opened a cookery school and a catering company and lots of foodie things. But I do a lot of campaigning, [most recently for] assisted death legislation. I chaired the School Food Trust, a government organization trying to improve school food. And I’ve written eight novels.