Fanny at Christmas

December 22, 2014 8:09 AM

Fanny Cradock makes Mincemeat out of an Omelette

Fanny Cradock was the queen of cuisine in 1970s Britain

Fanny Cradock - a Christmas cracker

Fanny Cradock Cooks Christmas Puddings
Fanny Cradock Cooks For Christmas- Christmas Bird 1, 2
Fanny Cradock Cooks For Christmas- Petits Fours 1, 2

(She was a national institution until one television appearance, where she over critical of an award winning amateur cook - and was blamed for spoiling her meal of a lifetime - ended her career overnight.)

posted by fearfulsymmetry (20 comments total)

Fantastic!
posted by Artw at 8:14 AM on December 22, 2014

Tee hee hee. "Fish-and-Chips-Fanny"
posted by pmcp at 8:27 AM on December 22, 2014

Her assistant Sarah is clearly suffering from Stockholm Syndrome.
posted by Fnarf at 8:28 AM on December 22, 2014 [2 favorites]

What is she dusting (drowning) that omelette in at 3:05? Flour? Sugar?
posted by rtimmel at 8:31 AM on December 22, 2014

Is powdered sugar on an "omelette" a British tradition, or was that an original concoction of the host?
posted by codacorolla at 8:31 AM on December 22, 2014

Is powdered sugar on an "omelette" a British tradition, or was that an original concoction of the host?

It's a sweet omelette... you can have them with various types of fruit but I think mincemeat is Fanny's own idea. I've never heard of it before.
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 8:35 AM on December 22, 2014

I grew up on grape jelly omelets myself.
posted by zinon at 8:43 AM on December 22, 2014 [1 favorite]

Grape jelly omelet sounds marginally less revolting than mincemeat omelet.
posted by MartinWisse at 8:52 AM on December 22, 2014

I've never seen or heard of her before, but I really like her, and am vaguely terrified of her. I only watched the omelette one but there's a sense of menace to her, somehow. Sure enough a quote from the Christmas Cracker article, 'she spat: "Only a slut gets in a mess in the kitchen."' seems to back up the venom impression. But still, and again, I like her. I'd watch this show.

I can't help but point to Julie Child's famous omelet episode, both for the contrast, and also for the awesomeness.

And finally - and a little sheepishly - 'fanny' as a British English vs American English dustup is infamous. I don't know what to make of this homonymously. Seriously - do English schoolboys giggle at people named Fanny?
posted by dirtdirt at 8:57 AM on December 22, 2014

English schoolboys of all ages find Fanny very funny. We particularly enjoy the American use of fanny packs.

And, speaking of TV cookery, I've always found Fanny's batter most tasty.
posted by Devonian at 9:01 AM on December 22, 2014 [2 favorites]

do English schoolboys giggle at people named Fanny?

As a former English schoolboy I think I can proudly say that giggling at Fannies would have been one of the more mature and least puerile things we got up to.
posted by sobarel at 9:07 AM on December 22, 2014 [3 favorites]

do English schoolboys giggle at people named Fanny?

The only other Fanny we had in the house at the time was a copy of Fanny Hill that my dad kept on a top shelf in a brown paper wrapper.

Fannies shaped my childhood.
posted by marvin at 9:25 AM on December 22, 2014

There's the old story about an episode of the show that Fanny and her husband presented. While ending a show which hopefully taught viewers how to make donuts, her husband turned to the camera and uttered the immortal line.

"may all your donuts turn out like fannie's"
posted by gnuhavenpier at 10:16 AM on December 22, 2014 [2 favorites]

Devonian: "English schoolboys of all ages find Fanny very funny. We particularly enjoy the American use of fanny packs.

And, speaking of TV cookery, I've always found Fanny's batter most tasty."

If a bit yeasty.
posted by symbioid at 11:43 AM on December 22, 2014 [1 favorite]

I could see a sweet omelette like that. I mean the way she made it, it's darn near a crepe minus the flour, so dusting it in powdered sugar or having a sweet filling isn't that much of a stretch.
posted by xedrik at 12:25 PM on December 22, 2014

I'd try the sugar-dusted omelet if it was served to me, but I don't imagine it working too well, unless the omelet was very very dry. Raw sugar in loose oil doesn't sound promising.

I also think that this bit does more to explain why non-rich people vote Tory than most other explanations I've read.
posted by benito.strauss at 1:22 PM on December 22, 2014

That was hilarious. Was her assistant wearing a nightdress? And the moment when they transitioned from stove to table, and then Fanny says something like, "Now we have to talk about this." I thought she was going to explain why the table looked like a reindeer had vomited tinsel all over it. But sadly no.
posted by lollusc at 7:29 PM on December 22, 2014

There's also Sweet Fanny Adams, which I thought was a slightly grisly but apocryphal story about tinned meat but which actually turns out to be a legit horrific murder.
posted by Artw at 8:04 PM on December 22, 2014

Let's face it. With a name like "Fanny" her days were numbered as a personality in the UK.
posted by clvrmnky at 6:09 PM on December 23, 2014

Was her assistant wearing a nightdress?
It was the 70's.

what the fuck kind of omelette was that? *retching*
posted by glasseyes at 7:55 PM on December 23, 2014