Sarah Woods - Best Home Cook

by Jacqui Priestley

You will recognise Cheshire based Sarah Woods, from her role in the BBC1 TV show Best Home Cook which aired back in January 2020. Sarah came so close to winning the fiercely contested cooking competition, judged under the eagle-eyed gaze of baking Queen Mary Berry, chef Angela Hartnett and produce expert Chris Bavin, but finished a graceful runner up, as a result of a dramatic series finale twist.

Famed for her red lipstick and unicorn cake - styled on the fringe of the show’s irrepressible presenter Claudia Winkelman - Sarah went on to publish her debut cookbook ‘Desi Kitchen’ in 2023 under the Penguin imprint Michael Joseph and is now a regular on live morning TV, on shows such as Morning Live, which is filmed in our very own Manchester.

Sarah’s cooking style very much reflects her identity and upbringing, it’s Indian-ish. She’s a proud second generation British-Indian Punjabi, born and raised in the Black Country so her food combines and blends both Indian and British influences into a delicious alchemy. Her book explores how food, culture, history and identity are all intertwined. Sarah grew up in a large Punjabi family, one of 5 children.

She tells Cheshire’s Golden Triangle Local magazine:

“We were raised by my paternal grandparents so my parents could work and that meant mealtimes were often at their house. As in most immigrant households - my grandad came to the UK in the early 1960s when citizens of the Commonwealth were invited here to meet the post war labour shortagesthey grew their own. This was a time when so many ingredients they’d come to rely on for home cooking, simply weren’t available, so they had to, and from an early age it was instilled in me to eat seasonally.”

The biggest influences on Sarah’s cooking were her mother and grandmother, both exceptional cooks who were comically competitive about who could make the best curry or the roundest chapati.

However, it was the days when they ate English food like shepherd’s pie, roast dinners or chips (which were on the menu every Friday) that most excited her as a child.

Of course, as with the best stories, it wasn’t all plain sailing. Best Home Cook finished its run just as the Covid pandemic struck, with its multiple enforced lockdowns. TV production had ground to a halt so it was a difficult time for Sarah who by this point had just left her corporate job behind to pursue her lifelong dream to work in food and media. But she kept herself busy.

During this period she wrote a book proposal –which as we know was signed by Penguin no less – enrolled at Ashburton Chefs Academy in Devon to hone her culinary skills (when the first lockdown was lifted), then set up a highly popular food business from her home in Wilmslow:

“I look back on those days so fondly as it was a way to bring people together even though we were required to be socially distanced. At first, we didn’t know if anybody would come, we had very little advertising - nothing more than a sandwich board really – but we were deluged from the start! Our front window operated as the dispatch area; my husband was front of house while I cooked fresh home-made Indian food from my domestic kitchen.

We put a fire pit on the drive to keep people warm as they waited to collect their food at an allocated time slot and offered them a tipple of sloe gin and such like as they waited; though I prided myself on ALWAYS being on time. It developed into quite the cult following. People used to drive from as far out as Knutsford and Cheadle as word spread and it was only meant to be a local neighbourhood thing.”

It’s unsurprising Sarah’s food drew in the crowds, and one day she hopes to open her own restaurant. I think we’re all looking forward to the day the doors on that establishment open.

People used to drive from as far out as Knutsford and Cheadle

Sarah Woods is currently working on her second book, teaches at a local cookery school, hosts regular supper clubs and has a podcast in development; so keep your eyes peeled.

You can follow her journey on Instagram at @originaldesicooking, and get signed copies of her book at Waterstones in Wilmslow.

Photos Credits:

Liz & Max Haarala Hamilton Phil Tragen

This recipe is taken from Sarah’s cook book ‘Desi Kitchen’ which is published by Penguin Michael Joseph and available to purchase online and in all good book stores.