The TV presenter admits he isn’t a good cook. He however decided to teach himself the “rudiments” of cooking recently, confessing that his venture into farming means he has “excellent ingredients quite literally on my doorstep”.
Jeremy explains that he decided to make a bechamel sauce. And while his first attempt went “surprisingly” well, his seconds resembled “an amputated testicle”.
Despite initially blaming the Diddly Squat Farm Aga, Jeremy conceded that he felt the problem could lie with himself. Writing in The Times, he said: “Could it be that some people simply can’t cook? I know I can’t do DIY or gardening, and I’d have no clue how to mend an engine, so maybe the dark art of making food hot is just another one of those things that’s beyond me.”
It led him to picking up a rib of beef from his local butcher and heading down to The Farmer’s Dog pub, which he opened in 2024, to test whether he could cook using his professional kitchen. He went on to explain that he decided to cook the beef in his “£20,000 Rational oven”.
After the beef came out “perfect,” Jeremy joked all heeded was a “foolproof oven”. However, he went on to reveal he has since whipped up a pho with star anise, a bruschetta, and a pork and black pepper dish.
There is however one cuisine type that still evades the Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? host. He continued: “But I do struggle whenever I try to make something Chinese. I watch the recipes on TikTok and buy high-quality oyster and soy sauces. I even have an expensive wok, but whenever I try to stir-fry slivers of beef, they always come out of the pan looking like burnt matches.”
Jeremy joked that he did attempt to find someone who could give him lessons in cooking Chinese food, but branded the Cotswolds “famously racist”. Elsewhere, Jeremy recently received a boost at his pub after lodging plans to use a neighbouring field as an overflow car park.
West Oxfordshire District Council are said to have granted temporary permission for the plot to be used as Historic England commended the star for engaging in discussions about a nearby barrow.
It said: “Having previously engaged in discussions about the car park and the barrow, we are pleased to see that an application has now been submitted. This is a positive step in finalising discussions around parking for the pub."
