Kitchen Sink Drama

Originally taken from the Independent

Richard O'Brien.

Richard O'Brien, 56, was the creator of the cult Rocky Horror Picture Show and master of The Crystal Maze. These days he concentrates on acting, recently starring with Drew Barrymore in the film Ever After. He is shortly to release an album of new songs. Although married, Richard lives alone in a south London town house. His wife and two children, Josh, 15, and Amelia, 10, live mainly in the country, but each of them has a bedroom in his house.

"The nicest kitchen we had, growing up in New Zealand, was in a colonial homestead built in 1890. The kitchen was huge with a large wood-burning range. We lived on a working farm of 120 acres at Tauranga, where they still plowed using shire horses. I'm adventurous with food, but I won't eat offal—and especially not brains. Being brought up on the farm, I saw enough offal to keep me going for life.

"I love leg of lamb, wrapped in two layers of tinfoil so the juices don't leak out. I slip cloves of garlic into the joint, cover it with garlic granules, honey and mixed herbs and sprinkles rosemary over the top. Then I let it cook for about three hours. Lovely.

"My kitchen tip: with most tea towels you wipe the plate and it smears, but muslin nappy liners are really much more absorbent. And you get about 15 of them in Mothercare for £10.

"I enjoy cooking, but mostly snack cooking. The kids like it when I make them something on the griddle. I'll butter two pieces of bread, put one slice butter-side down on the griddle and put some cheese on top. Then I put the other piece of bread on top, this time butter-side up. Cook it on both sides, letting it fry in the butter, until the cheese has melted and it is nice and crispy: the best toasted cheese sandwich you are likely to taste in your life.

"I don't need an awful lot of sustenance. I listen to my body and feed it only when I'm hungry. I'm the original hunter-gatherer. I think we eat far too much in the West. There's a compulsion to have three meals a day, but it's just not obligatory.

"I'm forgetful about food. I forgot to take the plum pudding to my wife's for Christmas, so it's still in my fridge. The chocolate belongs to the children. At the moment I'm on a detox programme. I've only had two cups of tea this week. I've been on water and fruit for four days.

"Eating out? I like Italian food—so do the children—but I'm not keen on Chinese. I prefer places where I can rubberneck, like The Ivy or Le Caprice. That's partly because I like looking across the table and seeing Robin Williams. But being a minor celebrity, I don't get hassled for autographs."

Andrew G. Marshall

FRIDGE FILE:

Richard O'Brien's food fridge contains:
Ham, Stilton, Brie, onion and garlic dip, Mini Jaffa Cakes, Anchor butter, plum pudding, Dolmio sauce, Pepperami, Champagne Rosé Brut, Gordon's brandy butter, eggs, Caesar dressing, Evian water, Chablis premier cru, yogurt, Hellman's mayonnaise.
( I thought he said there was chocolate in there from the kids. Maybe not. -Q)

Richard's drinks fridge contains:
Fanta, Coca-Cola, ginger beer, Southern Comfort, Bacardi, Taittinger champagne, Absolut vodka, Bombay Sapphire, PLJ lemon juice