Where's Fanny Craddock (or Cradock!) ?
posted on 2 Apr 2005 by maki ::
17 comments
[Update, added October 2006:] my review of the BBC bio-drama about Fanny, Fear of Fanny.
When my family lived for a while in the '70s in England, my mother was given a small paperback cookbook by a neighbor. It was by Fanny and Johnny Craddock, who were television cooks on British TV in the 1950s to 1970s. (My mother told me later that she was rather shocked and amused that her neighbor had given her a used, tattered book, since such a thing would be rather unthinkable in Japan. She took it as an indication of how frugal English people were.) I was too young to watch the programs (or if I did watch them, I don't remember doing so) but much later I remember reading the book over and over and being simply fascinated by it. It had a very bossy and conversational tone, and started with a very bombastic declaration as to how awful British cooking habits were.
Unfortunately, that book got lost in the many moves various members of the family made. For the past few years, since I started to buy cookbooks for myself (or rather had the means to do so) I've been looking for a Fanny Craddock book. But...nothing. Given the current fascination with food and food writing, and the re-issue of many older cookbooks in the UK from authors like Elizabeth David, Constance Spry and even Mrs. Beeton, I'm really puzzled as to why there's been no revival of Fanny Craddock. I think I saw a brief mention of her once on Ready Steady Cook, as to how she did something wrong... but what? Does anyone in the UK know? Better yet, is there anywhere that might have her old books?
Edit: wow, someone's already kindly emailed me (thanks Julie!) that Craddock is spelled Cradock! (Though most recent media mentions of spell it Craddock...very confusing.) So now I've bid on a couple of "Fanny Cradock" books on ebay. I'll report back here after I've read them!
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Where's Fanny Craddock (or Cradock!) ?
It’s Cradock with a single D, which might help your search - there are a number of used books of hers available on line.
Basically she was an appalling person, and even worse cook, but she did have flair and pizzazz and a French background. And she came along at a time when people wanted to experiment more with food. Some of her recipes are awful, she used a lot of blue and green food colouring for things like mashed potato, and was very concerned about how things looked like on the plate rather than what they tasted like. I have a treasured set of part-work magazines, and they’re great to read, but I would never cook anything out of them. It’s the worst possible mix of bastardised Cordon Bleu with posh ingredients, and 60s party food.
Her downfall finally came when she talked, on TV, to the winner of a national cookery contest, who had had to design a 3-course meal. She ripped the poor woman to shreds, was incredibly rude and superior, and pissed a lot of people off. Then members of her staff and family started coming out of the woodwork and saying that she couldn’t actually cook for herself, that she was not far off a con-merchant, she’d lied about her family and upbringing, her house was filthy etc etc.
It’s all fascinating, but she was not a Real Foodie (TM).
If you’re interested in her life and times, there’s quite a lot of material about her around, including this http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/womanshour/200146fri_04.shtml listen-again interview with 2 real British cooks and the author of a book about Fanny.
Where's Fanny Craddock (or Cradock!) ?
Hi, Maki,
Longtime lurker, first-time commenter here. :) I do love your page so — such beautiful prose and photography.
I can’t really add much to Julie’s excellent comment about Fanny. I do remember, though, a long-defunct British food magazine called EatSoup that had a regular TV food column called Planet Cradock. I always found that kind of amusing, especially because most of the chefs and cooks profiled — Nick Nairn, Nigel Slater, Sally Clarke, etc. — were much, much better cooks than Fanny and Johnny. :)
Where's Fanny Craddock (or Cradock!) ?
There was a programme on British TV a year or two ago on TV cooks through the years. They showed some of Fanny and Johnny, which took me back a long time. Someone sent me a videocassette (I’m in Germany).
Great site - I’m glad you’ve been writing more again.
Where's Fanny Craddock (or Cradock!) ?
Hi Makiko - I live in the UK and watched the programme Margaret mentioned. I didn’t know about her or Graham Kerr until then and I found it really interesting (and a little shocking too). I often hear about how awful British cooking was (and maybe still is), but I enjoy British cookery programmes nonetheless. I hope you can find her book!
Where's Fanny Craddock (or Cradock!) ?
I love the cultural misunderstanding about the tattered book… it was probably a sign of the British woman’s high regard for your mom, since she gave her a favorite book!
Where's Fanny Craddock (or Cradock!) ?
Sofa, many thanks for the information about Fanny, and also the link to that radio program! It was very interesting indeed, to see what people thought of the impact she had on British cooking habits/culture/etc. Dressing in ball gowns…now I am on the search for tapes or something of her shows! (I don’t think she’s an icon in the U.S. as that page states, though I vaguely remember that ad.)
Bakerina, I’m glad you like this site :) I’ve only seen Nick Nairn on Ready Steady Cook, but I’ve read Nigel Slater’s recipes which are pretty brilliant. It’s really interesting to see how cooking in the media (on TV or as popular cookbooks) has progressed, from Fanny Cradock to Graham Kerr to the current crop.
Margaret, I’m now on the lookout for tapes of her show…I really want to see them now :)
Keiko, I do very vaguely remember the old Galloping Gourmet book..it was pretty outrageous. I think the highlight was always when he ate the food he had prepared..that dreamy, ecstatic look on his face, in extreme closeup…then cut to the audience sitting forward in their seats and drooling in envy…. it was so funny. The very health-conscious show he did in the U.S. in the ’90s was so tame in comparison…
Suebob, you’re probably very right about the neighbor’s intentions :)
Anyway, an update on my book search: I’ve won a bid for 4 of the Fanny and Johnnie Cradock books on ebay (hooray for ebay!) and now I’m waiting for them to arrive. I’ll report back here when I get them!
Where's Fanny Craddock (or Cradock!) ?
Maki, if you don’t find anything, you can have this tape or borrow it. I’m going to watch it again and decide if I want to keep it.
Where's Fanny Craddock (or Cradock!) ?
Try www.exlibris.com for some of her old books.
Where's Fanny Craddock (or Cradock!) ?
Hmmm, how interesting that there is a comment here that says she could not cook. I have SIX volumes of printed magazines by her, have cooked LOTS of things from it and they are all pretty terrific. I have used her recipe for choux pastry for years. She debunked lots of cooking myths: for example, those recipes that tell you that you have to scoop out the uncooked dough from such choux puffs- she tells you how to avoid that completely!
I learned how to make perfect chicken kiev from pictures in her book, something I would NEVER have done otherwise. Can’t cook? Piffle. But I agree, she was pretty critical of many things!
Carylton Cooper
Where's Fanny Craddock (or Cradock!) ?
I’m looking for any references to former British TV cook, “Philip Harpin.” Can anyone give me some links to his books or info about him? Thanks!
Where's Fanny Craddock (or Cradock!) ?
Maki, for future reference, abe.com (or abebooks.com) is the place to go for out of print books. ExLibris is also okay, but there are mostly a wholesaler to libraries, and don’t have the selection of ABE. Most used booksellers in the English-speaking world list on Amazon (for books that have ISBNs in Amazon’s database) and on ABE. Some also list on other services like ExLibris.
I see a ton of Fannie’s books for a buck or so listed.
Where's Fanny Craddock (or Cradock!) ?
hello to all,
Can you assist me here please. i will be peforming next year and am interested in trying out some fanny cradock recipes especially if she has a section on making biscuits. Is there anyone who can email me some of her recipes so i can try them out.She has recently been made known to me here in England through other people. i am currently studying acting and will like to base my performance on her recipes while talking about Breast Cancer for the charity i support. thank you i would really appreaciate this because i have not been able to find a book of hers at all and not all libraries stock her. kaite
Where's Fanny Craddock (or Cradock!) ?
Well i have a complete set of the Fanny and Johnnie Craddock Cookery Programme,(part works) from the 1st issue right through to issue 80 published on 23rd March 1972 all in the original five binders all in excellent condition,
I think they are fantastic
Scott
Where's Fanny Craddock (or Cradock!) ?
Hi Scott,
Since I wrote this entry I was able to get quite a few Fanny Cradock books via eBay and used booksellers, including the bound magazine series you have. I keep meaning to write a detailed article about Fanny…I should do it some day. There’s so little love thrown her way, compared to other ‘celebrity’ cooks of the past like Elizabeth David, Julia Child, etc. OK she may not be as trendy and it seems from all accounts that she had a rather unpleasant personality, but still…
Gordon & Fanny
So if Fanny Crad(d)ock is so reputedly crap / rude / patronising etc, why has Gordon Ramsay chosen her as the icon for his search for a top female chef in “Find Me A Fanny”? Is he just being patronising / rude / insulting etc to female chefs by implying that they are bitchy and incompetant?
Find me a Fanny
I haven’t watched the F-Word but I don’t think that Gordon Ramsay, despite his many faults, can be called a male chauvinist - he’s hired female chefs I think in most of his restaurants, and one is a head chef at one of them. He may just have picked Fanny because she is so iconic in British television cooking. (and maybe he didn’t want go with Deal me a Delia? :))
re Gordon Ramsay and Fanny Cradock
I’m guessing Gordon also got a major kick out of using the word “fanny” — in the right (wrong?) context, in England, it’s very rude.
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