Tom Kerridge 'almost set BBC kitchen on fire' in 'terrifying' accident on set

Tom Kerridge and Nathan Davies launched a live cooking demo to party-goers at Pub in the Park Chiswick last week - and Express.co.uk was there to capture all the action. Nathan, who first met Tom via his appearance on The Great British Menu, admitted cooking for the veteran was an "intimidating" experience.

Meanwhile, Tom divulged that his pal had narrowly avoided setting the kitchen on fire. However, he needn't have worried, as Nathan went on to become the second highest scoring chef ever in the competition - and his restaurant's website crashed due to huge demand after he was awarded 10/10.

That didn't mean Tom was shy about embarrassing his pal during a laughter-filled cooking session, when they shared all the anecdotes from their "terrifying" first meeting. "I was judging Wales and Nathan rocked up and cooked some amazing dishes. His main course was amazing, his fish course was outstanding, but the one that really blew us all away was his starter," Tom recalled, as he set about perfecting a steak.

However, the dish almost blew up in more ways than one as the pair sailed perilously close to disaster behind the scenes of the BBC show. "We were worried because we nearly set fire to the kitchen," he chortled.

When asked just how "terrifying" it was cooking for Tom, Nathan mused: "It was such a strange environment, because you're cooking for people you don't know, you're with complete strangers - and using different utensils and tools... but you've got to switch off from that and take it as it comes. It's a difficult environment."

Tom agreed: "You literally see people putting things on a plate with tweezers and their hands are shaking. It does become quite an intimidating space - and if you're not chef-ready, it's very, very difficult."

He then went on to make a quip that had his audience roaring with laughter, as he waxed lyrical over the virtues of a good cut of a meat.

"So much of cooking is sensual - it's about sound, it's about touch, it's about smell, it's about understanding that every piece of meat is different - just like every human being," he exclaimed.

"Some of us have more muscle content than others..." he continued, before someone turned towards to Nathan and joked: "He was looking at you there!"

"Some of us have got a higher fat content!" he added, warming to his subject, while ripples of laughter spread across the crowd.

"We're all slightly different and it's the same sort of thing understanding that every piece of meat is slightly different."

Meanwhile, Nathan urged onlookers to consider cooking "misunderstood" and "underused" smoked eel, musing that many people shy away from it because of its "weird texture", but could be missing out.

He added that it has a succulent "smoky bacon" flavour - and that the unwelcome texture that is associated with it can easily be eliminated by modifying the way it is cooked.

Tom finished off the session by introducing viewers to his mussels dish, which was steamed in beer and sprinkled with shallots, celery, fennel, leeks and a pinch of curry powder,

Before long, as the dish progressed, he was describing it as "mussel liqueur", which he advised those trying to replicate it at home should cook well to dilute the bitterness of the curry.

Tom and Nathan were talking at Pub in the Park Chiswick's charity gala night last Friday, while his new TV series, Tom Kerridge Cooks Britain, began last week on ITV.