Rachel Khoo has been touted to be the next Nigella Lawson but comparisons aside, the half-Malaysian, half-Austrian beauty is known for her book and TV series The Little Paris Kitchen, making French food accessible to everyone with simplified methods and her signature red lipstick. When she was in town to promote her latest show, Rachel Khoo’s Kitchen Notebook: Cosmopolitan Cook, we got to know her a little better.
Here are 15 things you probably didn’t know about Rachel:
1. She used to be a nanny to a French family –
I trained in French patisserie so I have a background but also when I graduated I worked for a French family – I was the cook and the nanny and I had to cook for French kids and French kids are not easy. Kids are not easy in general. I worked on several food projects, taught French patisserie and I did consulting work for Volkswagen – I trained their chefs. I kind of stumbled into the food writing side of things and that’s what I mainly do now.
2. She wanted to be a food stylist –
From a professional angle I think it came when I was at university. I did a degree in Arts specialising in graphic design and photography. I worked as an assistant on food shoots. I was interested in being a food stylist – I like the creativity and I like details. With food, it’s all about the details like taste, texture and colour.
3. She prefers cooking with grannies –
I just finished my fifth cookbook, which is out in February – Rachel Khoo’s Kitchen Notebook – which is the sixty recipes from the show. My first two cookbooks which I wrote in French were very small cookbooks, they were the muesli one and savoury spread and I had a short amount of time. It was less personal and more about the subject. Whereas The Little Paris Kitchen, it was a long project because it was recipes I collected over the years and refined when I got the book deal. That whole process was about 9 months, you start with the research – you meet people and start with their stories and taste their food as well as cook with them whether it’s a granny or a Michelin starred chef. Actually I prefer the grannies – they have the best stories and the best tips because they’re cooking from a home environment. I am a home cook.
4. On her Malaysian family –
I have an Austrian granny and a Malaysian granny. I remember my first trip to Malaysia – it was very hot and humid, there was no air-conditioning, you have a shower and it’s a bucket with water and I remember my granny’s kitchen outside and she had to teach my mum who is Austrian how to cook. I was too little at that time to remember – I was more interested in playing with my cousins. I remember the wonton man on his bike with a cart and we would come running out with our bowls. I have a lot of fond memories of that but the cooking only came later on in life.
5. On toning down her signature red lipstick look –
It’s just because I want to eat more food and it’s not that practical. The hair and makeup artist is myself and I’ve become really lazy [laughs]. It’s just out of laziness. I have so many red lipsticks!
6. She loves cleansing her skin –
I’m big into cleansing – I went through a hot cloth cleanser phase. I’ve just started the Clarisonic. I went to visit a dermatologist and they said cleansing is important especially if you live in the city – it’s really good to take everything off and toning as well. I wear sun factor 50 in the UK, I’m that paranoid.
7. On French cooking being one of the toughest cuisines
There are two types of French cooking, there’s the Michelin starred cooking and there’s the home cooking. The home cooking is the French cooking I experience so whether we’re cooking for a French family or being invited to friends’ places. French cooking at home is really about the produce – buying the best produce you can afford in that season.
8. The difference between a Michelin starred chef and a home cook –
At a restaurant, the techniques are a lot more advanced. At home, you try to get to the end result.
9. Why she loves French cuisine –
The history. There is a story to everything. For instance, there is this pastry – one of my favourites called the Paris Brest and it’s a choux pastry ring, like a donut with some almond sprinkled on top and a praline pastry cream inside. This pastry chef in Brest – a city in north west of France – he wanted to celebrate the bicycle race from Paris to Brest, so he made a bicycle shaped pastry. There’s all these little quirky stories to dishes.
10. Her favourite holiday food –
I’m in Austria for Christmas and all my aunts, it used to be my grandma when she was alive, they would make all these little biscuits some in the shape of a crescent which are called vanillekipferl (vanilla biscuits), there would also be some walnut cream ones, a flower shaped one with jam in the middle. We have that with eggnog and sing carols.
11. The most difficult pastry she has every attempted –
Croquembouche
12. The simplest dessert to make –
Crème brulee – I do half cream and half whole milk with egg yolks, sugar and vanilla.
13. The strangest thing she’s ever eaten –
I was in Tokyo and I got invited to the hotel bar by the manager there and he said, ‘Oh you must try these snacks!’. There were crickets, silk worms and honeybees. The crickets were fairly crunchy, the silk worms were a little chewy and the honeybees…I just felt bad eating the honeybees.
14. Must-have ingredients for French food –
Eggs and butter and dairy products basically.
15. On her YouTube channel
At the moment I’m starting it very simple because I’m self-funding it…until some brand sponsors me and gives me a budget. Just recipes with tips and what I like about it is that people can comment and ask me questions.
Catch Rachel Khoo’s Kitchen Notebook: Cosmopolitan Cook on BBC Lifestyle (HyppTV Channel 620)
