The Galloping Gourmet

Graham Kerr is still alive and going strong at the age of 85 and lives in Skagit County Washington. I was wondering about him after coming across some of his cookbooks in my culinary library and looked him up.

See https://www.heraldnet.com/news/tv-chef- ... breakfast/

He was really the first TV chef that got me interested in cooking, back around 1970 when I started watching his shows. They were made here in Canada between 1969 and 1971 and the series featured wine prominently before wine appreciation was really getting started.

I still have the dutifully collected cookbooks from the TV series in seven volumes. He took some stick from serious chefs of the day for camping things up, but so did Julia Child, if in a less flamboyant manner, and they certainly coincided on their view of the use of butter, cream and other such guilty pleasures. Her career on TV was longer, starting earlier and ending later, but the two of them were pioneers in getting the North American public interested in actually cooking something for themselves. I still go back to some of his recipes after all these years.

FWIW, the recipes he published are available in a single volume https://www.amazon.com/Graham-Kerr-Cookbook-Galloping-Gourmet/dp/0847861481/ref=sr_1_1?crid=6LQB2YCUOD4M&keywords=graham+kerr+cookbook&qid=1573762478&sprefix=graham+kerr%2Caps%2C217&sr=8-1

Graham back in the day:

Oh, lordy. I loved Graham Kerr. I watched GG whenever I could. The recipes have since fled my mind but the joie de vivre remains indelible.

Ahh GK. Memories indeed.
My partner gave the Complete Galloping Gourmet cookbook for my 21st Birthday and it is still in my collection. Now I have to go through it and see if I can remember what I cooked from it.

[Jenise]

The article isn't quite up to date. Yes he still lives in Skagit Valley, but he no longer lives in the (nautically-themed) home pictured. He's moved to Warm Beach on Camano Island. I've met him. And in listening to him talk about his life--from celebrity, to sailor, to Christian convert, to a man determined to feed the hungry from his own garden (he who wouldn't even pull weeds prior to getting this idea and planting his entire front yard to crops), whatever he does it does it 110%. I have never met, I don't think, a more passionate person who more fully puts himself into whatever it is he believes he must do. A very, very impressive man.

I fell in love with him watching his show when I was a kid. I don't think I ever quite got over it.

Just looking through the cookbooks I keep finding things I made in the past and might want to resurrect. for instance a simple palmier that I used to make for wine tasting using puff pastry.

Roll out a package of puff pastry, lightly spread with some freshly grated Parmesan cheese and a dusting of cayenne pepper mixed with butter and chives, then fold in three and roll out again and add more Parmesan mix. Fold each end into the centre and fold over then cut 1/2" thick pieces, brush with egg yolk and bake until golden at 475 F. (about 7 min).

Perfect for wine tasting with just enough piquance to titillate without interfering with the wine, and a plate is guaranteed to disappear in very short order. In fact if I recall, some attendees seemed to neglect their wine until the palmiers had disappeared. A good do ahead recipe to pop in the oven when people show up, too.

Like Julia Child, Graham's recipes seemed to include a fair bit of butter!

[Jenise]

Palmiers are easy and fun to make. You can mix virtually anything into a spread (without adding butter, just a bit of cheese for 'glue'.)
Always tasty--artichoke, ham and gruyere is a favorite.

Agree, but in the case of Parmesan it doesn't work as well as 'glue' (although it makes superb tuiles all on its own!) You don't have to use very much butter to get something spreadable. Gruyere is a great palmier ingredient as is thinly sliced ham, though I don't recall trying artichokes. The thing I like about the basic Kerr recipe is that it doesn't interfere with any wine you are sipping, and the light dusting of cayenne add a certain something.

For sipping bubbly I almost prefer the all Parmesan tuiles, maybe with a dash of thyme and black pepper.

[Jenise]

In the case of the artichoke/ham/gruyere, or any other filling I make for palmiers, the ingredients are finely chopped into a spread that presents as one good, mediterranean-ish flavor. For these I'd be using store-bought marinated artichokes (pressed to squeeze out the liquid/oil inherent in same). Another favorite is are the flavors of a cheese pizza--tomato sauce, parm, oregano, garlic. I sometimes add ground salami to those. All of which I make up when I do them based on stuff on hand, I've never actually used a recipe. But really, almost anything works. Speaking of champagne, would be interested in a blue cheese mixture!

Speaking of champagne, would be interested in a blue cheese mixture!

You mean like this....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL3C3UozFsr6xbo283zKfRSKidS-hEvAOp&v=kkdovAsVF3M

Maybe we need a palmier and bubbly sampling!

[Jenise]

Wow, yeah, those will do! But I'd choose walnuts over pecans for champagne.

Wow, yeah, those will do! But I'd choose walnuts over pecans for champagne.

OK, but I'd opt for skinned - the high tannins in unskinned walnuts can get in the way of delicate wines sometimes.

[Jenise]

True enough but 1) I wouldn't use as much nuts as he did--just a personal preference, and 2) good luck finding skinned walnuts. Have never seen them!

Yeah, you have to do them yourself and it is a thankless job, for sure. Which is why an alternative nut may be the way to go, not necessarily skinless, but at least without the same tannin levels as the walnuts.

I did a whole Georgian dinner a few years ago (not your Georgia, I'm talking about the country) and they use walnuts for just about anything you can think of (remind me next time to ask the guests ahead of time if anyone happens to have a nut allergy if you do a Georgian dinner - one of mine did!). I spent some time skinning some and will never go back!

Next time (if we do a palmier and bubbly event?) I'll try skinless toasted Marcona almonds.

[Jenise]

Almonds would work. And not such a bitch to skin.* But all the same I would submit to you that walnuts and roquefurt have a very special synergy.

I once skinned a big bowlful of either almonds or filberts. Can't remember which it was, but it was for a special thing and I left the bowl of nuts on the counter to 'dry' out and went off shopping. When I got home, guess who discovered the bowl and had eaten most of them?

But all the same I would submit to you that walnuts and roquefurt have a very special synergy.

I agree, wnd with something like Port, the tannins aren't an issue. I make a 'dessert' tart you have probably had - a savoury tart (not at all sweet) with walnuts and Roquefort in it, custom tailored for dessert wines.

[Jenise]

I actually think the walnut tannins compliment port especially well. And yes, I had that tart once, it's great! Very surprising.

Though I have to agree with the once-famous internet personality and port collector extraordinaire, Elliot Apter, who claimed the best food with port were chocolate chip cookies (with walnuts). The tannins, cocoa, butter/salt and sweetness hit every button.

I’ve just been perusing my copy of The Complete Galloping Gourmet Cookbook 1973
Truly a model of what a cookbook CAN be.
Well set out with good clear fonts.
Proper table of contents and indexing. Proof reading impeccable, I have never found an error.
Preamble and introductory notes are concise and totally worth reading.
The 20or so dot points for planning a dinner party...wow...I really took those onboard back in the the day as they still underpin what I do today.
He addresses the kitchen and the diningtableandchairs.
The recipes are honest and authentic with clear ingredient list,indicating which component of the dish they belong to. And using un ambiguous units ie fl.oz rather than pints which may be 16 or 20 fl.oz depending on your home town.
There are clear directions for prep prior to assembly/cooking
There are clear symbols in the margin, which today would probably be V GF etc but back in the day they indicate relative cost, time required, weather suitability.

Curiously, the photos are very restrained and haven’t dated as much as one might expect.

Indeed a very model of a modern major cookbook

There are so many!: https://www.etsy.com/market/graham_kerr_cookbook

Barb, the big question is... are there recipes in this handsome volume that you want to make? (I ask because I find food archaeology fascinating but I don't often think, "Well, gosh, I'm just going to have to make Tournedos à la Plénipotentiaire!"

(...chunks of venison served with quail puree and a sauce of anchovies, olives, marinated oysters, lettuce, and truffles...)

I've found that the recipes from the old days are a great stepping off point as a basis for something updated with perhaps some changed ingredients to suit modern tastes. But some of them are still just fine they way they are. I intend to do some more archaeology and create a file folder of his recipes to revisit over the next years - maybe one per dinner I do.

I have the one titled The Graham Kerr Cookbook by The Galloping Gourmet. Well-written and well-presented. One standout recipe is a very detailed and illustrated recipe for making traditional British meat pies.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

I've found that the recipes from the old days are a great stepping off point as a basis for something updated with perhaps some changed ingredients to suit modern tastes. But some of them are still just fine they way they are. I intend to do some more archaeology and create a file folder of his recipes to revisit over the next years - maybe one per dinner I do.

What I remember? I was so young when watching his shows, but he did foods I'd never heard of and was absolutely enthralled. I very very specifically remember noting charlottes, crepes and quenelles and promising myself someday I'd make them.

Another thing I loved about Graham: the way he dropped endearments. Honey, darling, and all that. And he was physically demonstrative, touchy-feely. No man I had ever known, not my father, no teachers or relatives, was anything like this. I thought him enchanting! Which I discussed with my mother, who then made arrangements for me to go to her dentist (20 miles away, vs. the dentist comfortably down the street all us kids went to). I've never forgotten the name: Dr. Hyman Siver, DDS! Anyway, so in I went and here was this sweet, good looking guy who patted me on the arm and squeezed my hand and called me 'honey' and 'darling' just like Graham would, and it scared me to death. I told my mother I wouldn't go back.

But yes about old recipes. I love them too--like the old Larousse Gastronomy--though I never had any of Graham's books.