Be a ‘home cook hero’ with Suzie Lee

Winner of the BBC’s national cookery competition, Best Home Cook, Suzie Lee from Lisburn is on a mission to help the people of Northern Ireland make the very best of whatever they have in their cupboards and create great meals from scratch.

In Suzie Lee’s Home Cook Heroes, beginning on BBC One Northern Ireland on Thursday August 6 at 7.30pm, Suzie takes one key ingredient per episode (Whole Chicken/Rump Steak/Eggs), which provides the basis for three different meal options.

Detailing a range of simple techniques, short cuts and money saving tips, Suzie takes viewers through a range of family friendly dishes based on a range of readily available ingredients.

“I’m on a mission to get people back into their kitchens,” said Suzie.

“You can be your own hero, in your own kitchen, own it.

Cooking from scratch is nothing to be scared of and anyone can be a home cook hero.”

Each of the three episodes features a range of recipes, which include Chinese family favourites from her childhood like Beef Ho Fan and popular Irish dishes like roasts.

And each programme concludes with an indulgent dessert, offering even the most tentative home cook the chance to develop their baking skills. From hand making different pastries, to creating homemade tortillas and rice noodles, the series offers a range of new cooking skills to learn and simple quick ways of adding variety to family mealtimes.

Each episode also features a local family, who will turn out their cupboards and fridges to provide inspiration for Suzie’s creations. Suzie is keen to encourage everyone to appreciate that we generally have a lot of usable foodstuffs and exciting meal options right under our noses.

The family also road test one of Suzie’s recipes demonstrating even the most inexperienced cooks have what it takes to create culinary masterpieces. Cooking alongside their children they also discover that ‘food is the glue that holds families together.’

The series has been made by Waddell Media for BBC Northern Ireland. All filming took place under current Covid-19 restrictions, with the family’s self-shot footage providing a portrait of the fun and sometime chaotic nature of family life.