Hello and welcome again.

As the queen of UK cooking, Delia Smith has ruled the roast for over four decades.

Delia is the bridge between Fanny Cradock and the loonies that are cooking as we speak.

And just whisk the whole lot together.

In this programme, we'll be looking at the Noughties and she'll be revisiting some of her favourite recipes from the last ten years.

That is going to be just what that chicken needs.

It was a decade of highs and lows when success was sweet…

She's achieved the honour of being an entry in the new edition of the Collins English Dictionary.

But things started to turn sour when she scored an own goal on the pitch.

They just handed me a microphone and said, "Go on, go and do it."

And then got into hot water with how to cheat.

If I had lived in Medieval times, I'd have been burnt at the stake without any doubt whatsoever.

The Noughties was the decade that started with a bang, but ended with a crunch.

Coldplay were cool, Girls Aloud were hot and globally we were told things were changing.

On TV, reality ruled and Simon said that was fine by him.

It's not actually.

It was the decade when we downloaded music and uploaded…

well, most of our lives really, making new friends at the push of a button. 'Delia Smith and I have been friends long before the days of Facebook 'and Twitter.

This year represents the start of her fifth decade 'as a TV cook, so I felt it was time for a good old-fashioned 'one-to-one interface via the medium of tea and cakes.'

Cooking has been your life and you've shown the nation to some extent, certainly me, how to cook in the most basic way.

This isn't your style at all, actually, is it?

No.

I'm not a great cook or a great chef, or anything like that, but if I can get somebody else to make something and know that it works for them, and it's right, then that's where I get my…

That's what I am.

And what Delia is can be summed up quite simply - for millions of us, she's the woman who taught us how to cook.

The go to girl for clear, easy to follow recipes.

From her first ever TV dish back in the Seventies, Alpine Eggs…

In spite of the Alps, it's really an old English recipe and it crops up in early, early Mrs Beeton.

…through the Eighties, when her complete cookery course became a national phenomenon.

I want to just show you a few tips about roasting meat.

Mmm, nice jumper there.

There we have it.

In the Nineties, her summer and winter collections became the cornerstone of many a dinner party.

I can't believe that something so simple really does taste wonderful.

Then in the Noughties, she went right back to basics after a meeting with the head of BBC2. 'He said, "I'd like you to do the cookery course again."'

He said, "Because since the cookery course "there are many more generations that followed "and the young people of today need to know the basics of cooking "just like the young people wanted to know it then."

What we having for starters tomorrow?

Well, I'm thinking of Cup-a-Soups.

Cup-a-Soups?

Yeah, but with a twist.

Oh, what's the twist?

It's going to be in a bowl, not a cup.

So that was…

me going into a very mammoth project, which were three series and three books.

I feel tired even thinking about all the work that went into it.

A lot of work went into it.

And the first recipe I want to show you is…

How to make bread.

Sauce.

Vegetables.

Pastry.

Fish.

But if Delia felt tired, the nation's chickens were knackered.

When she did that, how to boil an egg, egg sales up 10%, or something.

That is power, real power.

The power became known as the "Delia Effect".

She was so much a part of the national psyche, that there was a word for it.

Maybe one of the millions of people who are doing a Delia.

Using Delia Smith's recipes has become so popular that she's achieved the honour of being an entry in the new edition of the Collins English Dictionary, and she's the first person to be listed under her first name only.

Take that, Lulu.

In the world of television chefs, there's the ones like you who are all about talking to people about…

cooking things at home, and there are those who are, ultimately, restaurant chefs and it's a completely different way of doing it.

And it's just a shame that it's got confused now.

People at home are trying to do what chefs do and it's…

It doesn't work, I don't think it works and I think we just need to keep good old homely cooking going.

And good old home cooking is what Delia does best, preferably in her own home in Suffolk.

Now, we're going to do something called fast roast chicken.

I'm going to make, first of all, a sort of herb butter to go with it, and I've got a small amount of butter here and what I'm going to add is garlic and tarragon.

And I'm just going to mix those together with a little bit of seasoning.

What you need when you're roasting a chicken is for it to be really crisp on the outside and lovely and moist and succulent on the inside.

Now, I've got a chicken here.

This is a small chicken, and it's going to be enough just for four people.

What I'm going to do is, first of all, put into the cavity some slices of lemon.

I've got about half a lemon here.

The next thing I'm going to do is just put that herb butter inside, with the lemon, which is all going to sort of perfume and permeate the chicken whilst it's roasting.

And what we're going to do is fast roast it by preheating the oven to the very highest temperature it'll go, and cook it very, very quickly.

A little bit of olive oil on the outside…

…because that's going to make the skin nice and crisp.

And then some pepper…

…and some salt, and then we're just going to whack that in the oven now, and it's only going to take 45 minutes to cook.

When the time is up, take the chicken out of the oven and carefully lift it up with two spoons to allow the juices to run out into the roasting tin.

Then, put the chicken on one side whilst you make the sauce.

So what you do is just whack the juices onto the heat, keeping the heat fairly high, and then we're going to add the juice of half a lemon, some dry white wine and then just mingle that together.

And what we need to do now is just let that white wine come up to a fierce bubble, till it's reduced to about half it's original volume.

That's reduced now and it's gone a bit more syrupy, and so the last ingredient we're going to add is just a little bit more chopped tarragon and that sort of livens up the colour, and gives you a little bit of extra flavour.

So you've got garlic, lemon, wine, tarragon - all those wonderful flavours, and that is going to be just what that chicken needs.

The Noughties was the decade when we suddenly started reading the small print on our food labels.

Fat, salt and sugar were given the red light.

Look at her, clocking my salt content.

I'm in there.

Oh, get over yourself.

Check the label.

I've got less salt than you.

Get a load of these salt levels.

Fruit and veg were all green.

Well, they would be, wouldn't they?

But we needed at least five a day.

If you were on 20 a day, you were really out in the cold.

Smoking is to be banned in every cafe and restaurant, most pubs and places of work in England.

It was all about fresh air and if you wanted to achieve a size zero, that's about all you could eat.

It seemed that the Noughties were all about nobodies weighing nothing, and they were everywhere.

I couldn't say that my job is a talented job, no.

With their designer clothes and accessories weighing more than they did, this was the decade of tags, bags and WAGs.

But for Delia football is more than fashion, it's passion.

Look, look, look, look, look, look!

For me, it's the brightest, shining star of community there is left, because you get people from nine to 109 all together, you know, all as one and the whole human experience of intense joy…

Absolutely.

..

and intense misery.

Absolutely.

All of those two, kind of, lubricated together by banter, by humour.

Yes.

The wonderful, self-deprecating humour that is a characteristic of the English.

We're talking about the best football club in the world.

Well, definitely the best football club in Norwich.

I have to say, it's getting really serious now…

Because my mum has put £500 on Ladbrokes.

Top three, top three.

Delia and her husband, Michael, are in the board at Norwich City and they're whole-hearted in their support.

Holy wow!

But on one occasion, her attempts to cheer them on turned out to be a bit of an own-goal.

They said the only way, if you want to get the supporters cheering, the only way you can do that is to go on the pitch.

And they just handed me a microphone and said, "Go on.

Go and do it."

I had heels on and the pitch was muddy and it was hard to walk on the pitch.

A message for the best football supporters in the world.

We need 12 men here, where are you?

Everybody thought I had…

I was drunk.

Where are you?

Let's be 'aving you!

The coverage made a huge impact becoming an overnight sensation.

I think it's safe to say, it did you the power of good because the image of the demure Delia Smith in the Laura Ashley frock in a little kitchen set on BBC television…

And that's now replaced with the passionate football lover and that's closer to you.

You're not a, you know, you're not a sort of puritanical…

Not at all.

…person who blushes at a rude word.

No, no.

You're a proper human being.

You know me.

I know you and I think, now, the rest of the world knows you too.

THEY GIGGLE On or off the pitch, Delia's fame means that she's always held accountable for her actions.

These are rice noodles.

Sometimes they are called cellophane noodles and they come in three different sizes.

If she suggests a certain new ingredient or utensil, the 'Delia Effect' immediately kicks in.

It's quite a responsibility.

I have a little bit of advice to you before we make omelettes and that is - first catch your frying pan.

I had a team of people working with me and we got all the suitably sized pans to make omelettes and we tested them.

And, so, we found this heavy gauge aluminium pan that was really cheap and we looked at some very, very smart expensive ones and this did the job perfectly.

For one small factory, this was very good news.

They've been making these here for about the last 40 years and every year they've been making only about 200.

That was until, of course, the 'Delia Effect'.

Now they are making between 6 and 7,000 of these pans every week.

This factory that was making them found they had to take on extra people, they had to all work overtime, because the demand was so high.

I'm sure, following the media frenzylast week, everybody knows about the Delia Factor.

Of course, there are the cynic, you know, who will say, "Ooh, how much did you get for each omelette pan?"

You know.

There will always be cynical people out there and they will always read thing into it.

But, luckily, because to date I've never done any advertising or accepted anything for nothing in my career, I do feel completely at ease by recommending people.

Well, that's all about pans, now for the art of actually making an omelette.

And, in Delia's opinion, it's something that everyone can make.

Can I do you something before you go out?

We'll probably eat later so I'm all right, thanks.

I'm not hungry.

I'll just have a couple of omelettes.

Cheese?

Mushroom?

Ham?

Tomato?

Yeah.

Cheers.

So, keeping it simple, here's Delia's version of the ultimate fast-food meal.

If you want to make the perfect fast-food meal for one a fluffy melted cheese omelette is quicker, much cheaper and, oh, so much nicer than a ready meal.

For a two egg omelette, beat the eggs with some seasoning.

Add butter and oil to a 15 centimetre omelette pan and swirl it around the edges.

When the pan is very hot, pour in the eggs.

Leave them for about five seconds until a frill appears around the edge.

Now, tilt the pan and using a table spoon, draw the mixture into the centre and allow the liquid egg to fall back into the spaces.

Then sprinkle in some cheddar or grated greer cheese.

And when there's only a little liquid egg left on the surface, tilt the pan, fold the edge over into the centre and the last fold is as you turn it out onto a warm plate.

Serve sprinkled with some parmesan cheese and a green salad.

The omelette may be Delia's all-time favourite fast-food, but for the rest of us there was a mind-blowing range to choose from.

Fast food in the noughties was all about healthy options.

So we had super foods, anti-oxidants, freshly made sandwiches and sushi.

Even the traditional burger chains were forced into healthier menus.

This is completely different to a burger.

This is quite nice.

In 2003 the government called time on the licensing laws.

Pubs could open all day.

It was great news for dedicated drinkers.

Many city centres are blighted by binge drinking and anti-social behaviour.

So we were all advised to drink responsibly.

LAUGHING What have you put in it?

Blue rum, blue vodka, blue WKD then 7Up, you know, for those who don't drink.

Good idea.

Mmm.

Or non-drinkers could try a shot of mocha choco latte in one of the thousands of coffee shops that seemed to spring up everywhere.

As for Delia, she felt that she'd run out of steam.

Well, after How To Cook, I decided to, what the press call, hang up my apron.

Anyone who wants to learn to cook, they can just get on with it.

They don't need me anymore.

While Delia took some time out, TV was changing.

We've come to check up on her to see if she's really learnt what not to wear.

It was all makeover madness.

In the blink of an eye you could change your home, your garden, even yourself.

People wanted instant results.

Especially when it came to food.

Here we are, ready made mash potato.

You could get all these lovely baking potatoes.

But you've got to peel them.

Yes!

You have got to peel them.

And then you've got to cook them.

Seeing what was going on with television and in magazines, you know, reading recipes, I just felt that there was now, um, an enormous gap growing between a small minority of people who liked to cook and spend a lot of time cooking, and then a vast majority of people who don't have time to cook.

To cater for this busy generation of cooks, Delia went back to an idea she'd had in the '70s.

How To Cheat At Cooking had been the first book she'd ever published and she felt its time had come again.

What I've got here, first of all, is a tub of ready made cheese sauce. 'I spent a lot of time researching ingredients and experimenting 'in developing recipes that were quick and easy.'

And it's something I'm really proud of.

What I have got in my freezer is a ready made, ready to go, tart case. 'The reaction to How To Cheat was phenomenal.'

Because, um, you know, I was slammed in every newspaper that's published.

And after all those years of helping people to cook I'd sold myself cheap.

The sauce I've got is a jar of thick, concentrated tomato sauce.

Everyone was having a go about it.

The real villain of the piece was her use of tinned mince beef.

Shock horror!

And, actually, it came from here.

It was as though she had made a video nasty.

You're not going to believe it, but the proof of the pudding is in the eating.

When you taste it, you'll know it's OK.

People were saying, "I'm going to burn her cookery books now. "She's let the side down."

If I'd lived in medieval times I'd have been burnt at the stake without any doubt whatsoever.

You can use this and it's frozen chopped onion.

After all the flack I got from How To Cheat, when it had all settled down, the dust has settled, a lot of people have said to me through letters it took away some of their guilt because when they knew a product was really pure and really good and it did cut down the cooking time, how helpful that was.

Instead of going and out and buying all those jars of spices you can actually buy them ready blended.

And of Delia's favourite recipes from the series is also one of the quickest and easiest to make - Shami kebabs.

It's an Indian recipe and I'm starting off in my bowl with some minced lamb and the first ingredient is whole crushed peppercorns.

Now we're going to add a little bit of salt and then it's going to need some onion.

I'm going to chop the onion finely in this because it cuts out an awful lot of the chopping with knives.

It's done in moments.

Now, what I'm going to add to that is now lentils.

We've cheated on the lentils because they're canned lentils and I'm going to add half of them to join the onion, so they get sort of mashed up to a puree.

So, on goes the lid again.

So that's going to join the rest of the meat next.

And then it's going to need some spices.

One of the wonderful things about the 21st Century is when we used to cook Indian food we had to go and buy all the spices and then we'd use a bit and then it would go off, on the shelf.

Now, we can buy them already blended.

Roasted, ground and blended for us.

And this is the blend I'm using.

It's called cardamom masala.

And let me just read out to you what's in it.

Cardamom, coriander, cinnamon, red chillies, black cumin, cloves and toasted coconut.

So you can imagine how much time that's cutting out.

Now we're going to add a heaped teaspoon of that.

Then I'm going to add a beaten egg and what we're going to do now is go in with the fork and just combine all that together very, very quickly and very easily.

Now I'm going to add the rest of the lentils.

And they go into the Shami kebabs whole.

And then what happens when it's thoroughly mixed is you make it into little patties.

And why they're called kebabs is because in tandoori ovens they're put onto skewers and blasted in the tandoori heat, but we're going to fry them in a frying pan so we need them just in little round patties like this.

And we're just going to dust them with flour before we cook them, so I'll just do one more so you can see how very, very easy it is to do that.

And this mixture should make about 12 little patties.

So there's one more.

When you've made 12, fry them in hot ground nut oil for two to three minutes on each side.

I like to serve them on thinly sliced raw red onions with lots of coriander and a squeeze of lime on top.

After the huge impact of How To Cheat, Delia ended the Noughties with Delia's Classic Christmas, which rounded off the decade nicely.

It decked the halls and floored the opposition.

I have to say, I've never ever had a dry turkey. 'Someone said Delia keeps her pudding under the bed. 'Perish the thought.'

Delia is the bridge, she's the bridge between Fanny Craddock and the loonies that are cooking even as we speak.

That's it, squeeze the lemon juice into your pan!

Um, I think this has got a bit too hot.

PUFFING NOISE AND In TV, it's hard to say what makes someone hot or not.

Styles come and go, but Delia doesn't have to worry about going out of fashion.

Mainly because she's never been in it.

Over the years, she's never changed her belief in simple and easy to follow recipes.

That's why her readers feel safe.

We have a lot of cookbooks but the cookbook I go back to and back to is Delia.

Em was interviewing a chef the other day who said that it was statistically established that two or three was the most recipes anyone ever took out of a whole book.

And that was not true with Delia, was it?

No, it was 200-300.

It was 50% you'd have a stab at.

Yeah.

The test of a good cookbook is how hard it is to open, because the proof of the pudding should be smeared over the pages.

Cos you're filthy…

I have to say, of all your books, the one that is hardest to open because the pages are all stuck together, in a nice culinary way is your Christmas book.

Yes.

A) Because that's the messiest cooking time for trying to do mince pies and things…

Yes.

And also because I think it is still THE bible on getting a good family Christmas together.

Cos you're filthy…

And I'm not the only one whose mucky book has become a sacred text.

The Complete Illustrated Cookery Course.

It's my bible.

And this particular copy, as you can see, is well worn, burnt, got a lot of food on it, but I couldn't be without it, honestly.

It's got all the basics, whenever I'm in trouble, my pancakes are sticking.

Oh, page 73, pancakes!

Delia, this is your blessed book of cakes.

Which as I flip through, see, falls open at chocolate fudge brownies.

I'm rather ashamed to say the page is all splattered with brownie recipe.

Even on the page for apricot crumble.

It's got chocolate on.

Because I'm a bit messy when I do your brownies.

But they're perfect brownies.

I make them…

every job I do, I take chocolate brownies to, and everybody says they're the best brownies they've ever had.

When you have celebrity friends and are constantly in the public eye, it's almost inevitable that you become a target.

And if imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then Delia should be thrilled to bits.

You'll remember in the last series I spent six programmes showing you how to boil water, properly.

But you couldn't do it properly, could you?

So we're just going to have to do it all again, until you get it right.

Make your breasts and thighs something to marvel at.

Pop a little of this over them.

But who does Delia think is most like Delia?

Bremner did me, in the conservatory in my house.

I just thought, well, I wish my hair was like that.

Yes, can I speak to Debbie please?

It's Delia.

Debbie, no, look, shut it.

I want you to play hard ball with W H Smith on the hardback edition.

Tell them, Delia Smith says piss, or get off the pot.

And what was his verbal trick?

What did he find that you say?

He was presenting me as being a really canny, sharp businesswoman.

And it's especially good for leftovers, like these copies of my first book, How To Cheat At Cookery, which I simply reheat as Delia's Complete Cookery Course.

With a halo, there was the sort of ping of a halo.

Oops, beef dripping.

Halo slipping.

It was really funny.

Tell Sainsbury's it's cranberries this year.

Yes.

No, I've just decided.

Not bad, but not as good as Delia's own impersonation of herself, in this Victoria Wood sketch.

Have a biscuit.

Baked this morning, Squire Hardicroft.

A very fine flavour, to be sure.

Well, I think what makes them that little bit different is that I've sprinkled some rosemary leaves on the top and I just use my fingers to crush it, but what you could do is you could crush it with a rolling pin.

OK, so maybe she's not been around quite that long, but five decades isn't a bad career span for a TV cook.

Whisked for a minute.

In that time, she's sold more than 21 million copies of her books, becoming the UK's top cookery writer.

She's an OBE, a CBE and she turned down a peerage.

Like you do.

So what is her secret?

What, and yes I am going to say it, is the recipe for her success?

I think what Delia's secret really is.

She's got a lot of strength.

She was born in an air raid, guns, '41.

Oh god, everybody knows how old I am now!

I can't believe that that little baby…

…has done so much.

I am a very proud mum.

And what does Delia think?

One of the most important parts of what I've done is the feedback I get from people.

What I hear is that the recipes work.

And I think one of the things, you know, I owe my success to, is that some of the others don't.

And when people say, you know, I can't understand how Delia is selling all these millions of cookbooks, you know, they're not that great.

How can she be selling those millions?

And I think, you know, why doesn't everybody make their recipes work and they'd all sell millions too?

Quite easy really.