The Hairy Bikers are cool

If there’s one thing I’m not too good at, it’s cooking. I think the last thing I made successfully was soup – when I put a bowl of my mammy’s best into the microwave and switched it on.

Which means it’s even weirder that I love cookery programmes. I used to sky plus Jamie Oliver until too many cookery programmes made the box explode. I could watch cookery programmes all day long. Come Dine With Me, Rachel Allen, Trish’s Country Kitchen, The F Word, and I’ve gone as far as loving cookery magazine, yet here I am not actually cooking. Still it does give me plenty of time to watch them.

Now, since we’re moving into Autumn, it’s the perfect time to do some cookery TV talk. And I’m going to start with the Hairy Bikers.

These two lads are hefty, hairy bikers – who travel around England, and Northern Ireland trying out local dishes, markets, restaurants. The jovial pair are almost unstoppable in their enthusiasm for cooking. They visit different counties and are all smiley and cheerful as you watch their research.

First they usually test out some traditional recipes from the area at a little pop up shed off their motorbikes.

Then comes the best bit… they’ll then head to a fancy restaurant in the area and go head to head with a local chef. It’s all in the spirit of good fun, and everyone’s very pleased all the team, which, you know is kind of nice.

So why do I reckon it’s worth watching?

Well, apart from the good base of loving cookery programmes from the off, these two lads are great. They know what they’re talking about, they knock out delicious looking dishes, and unlike Jamie Oliver’s latest adventure there’s actually cooking in it They vary it up all the time, even though they do use the same kickers in some of them - fried sage leaves, dauphinoise spuds.

It’s just these two lads are lovable, they know what they’re talking about, they use sometimes crazy mixes of ingredients, and they remind you of things you might have forgotten.

The Hairy Bikers, gets a thumbs up from me, (the non cooker, ha).

On another note, their website is actually really beautiful and very good: www.hairybikers.com