Table Manners with Jessie and Lennie Ware - S11 Ep 18: Paul and Mary McCartney
Episode Date: May 12, 2021How do you behave when you have a music icon on your podcast? Well, you have a massive fight in front of him of course!Aside from a small bout of bickering, we had lunch with Sir Paul and Mary McCartn...ey and talked about 30 years of Linda McCartney's legacy in the vegetarian food market. We hear about Mary’s adventurous childhood on tour with Wings, Paul talks about life after The Beatles and they share memories of becoming vegetarian with Linda cooking a macaroni turkey so Paul could carve something at Christmas. Lennie crowns them ‘the Vegeneers’, Paul talks about his famous margarita cocktail ‘Maccarita’ and explains the real way to eat Yorkshire puddings. He also offers us a step by step brief on how to make the perfect bagel, gives us a quick eye yoga lesson and reveals how the song Let It Be came about. We could have gone on forever!!It was an honour and absolute pleasure to have Paul and Mary on the podcast. Linda McCartney’s family kitchen cookbook out June 24th. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
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Hello and welcome to Table Manners. I'm Jessie Ware and I'm here with my mum and we are sat in central London, Soho.
Yep.
A bit empty, darling, I have to say.
What, Soho?
Yeah, not many people about.
They have now taken over half the road for tables for restaurants.
That's good.
I'm trying to find a spot to...
It's been a bit chilly, hasn't it?
Yeah.
We've gone from being really boiling to windy
and I'm going camping tomorrow.
Which means, when did it go from?
It's not been warm at all yet.
Mum, it has been warm.
We had two days that were warm, Jess.
Okay, well, now it has dropped
and I am going camping tomorrow,
which is slightly worrying.
But don't worry, I have a very nice box that I've organised.
Well, when you've got over the lack of...
I've got a Rick Stein lobster box coming, don't worry about it.
So even if I'm...
Even if it doesn't blow away...
It won't go off, will it? It'll be refrigerated.
Oh, God!
But I'm telling you something,
if the cold doesn't get you, the wind and rain will.
Can you stop tapping like you're a politician?
Sorry.
Mum, not only were you just tapping the table,
yesterday when I came round for lunch,
you've decided to shove me
When I'm not looking in your direction
So you go like that
Two fingers on my arm
That's been injected this week
It was a salt
What were you injected for?
Oh, anti-D for pregnancy
But anyway, so we are in central London
Enough about us and mum poking me
And abusing me.
Yeah.
This is probably...
Probably the biggest...
The biggest?
The biggest guest.
Most international global superstar.
Look, we've had Dolly.
In the whole world.
We've had Tom Jones.
Yeah.
We've had Ed Sheeran.
We've had Kylie.
Yeah.
But this one is a whopper.
A big one.
We've got Sir Paul McCartney on this episode with his daughter, Mary McCartney.
It's so exciting.
And more excitingly, we're going to be talking about vegetarian food all the time.
Do you know, I have to say, I've read the cookbook and it's a really good cookbook that works.
I mean, we'll talk about this.
It really, really is good. It's not daunting. It doesn't frighten you.
It's got normal ingredients and it really works.
So to celebrate the new book that's coming out, Linda McCartney's Family Kitchen, which is made by Linda, Paul, Stella and Mary.
We've done some recipes from that.
Which actually was probably, you probably preferred that, right, Mum?
Yeah.
I mean, you know, I felt comfortable making chili con carne.
So we've, yeah, we've made it.
And it wasn't too far away from what I normally use.
But what I've discovered is Linda's mints.
Because I found it very hard to find good mint substitutes.
And this is fantastic.
I think it's new out anyway.
It's the texture and everything's really nice.
So basically, we've got a vegan chilli coming with mum's onion rice minus the chicken stock you've done a veggie stock and we've got a salad and some avocado and cheese is optional
yeah i shall be putting cheese on mine but i've also made what coconut squares oh and that's a
linda recipe that's a phone off we're about to meet a sir. Okay. A beetle. It's eBay, same as 20% off.
Who knew?
So I've made these.
Do you want to try one now?
I do, but I think I should probably wait.
We've got them coming in a minute.
It's a bit weird.
We're kind of, we're waiting for them.
And we're in their house or their office.
Their office, darling.
And we're at a big or their office their office darling and we're a big conference table yeah
so it's pretty you won't be allowed to kiss paul mccartney today mom because you won't be able to
get near him do you know how much how long i've longed to be near paul mccartney since i was 15
darling thank me later mom for just making this shit happen. Yep. Yeah. This is your life now, Mum.
This is it.
Just, you know, cooking for a beetle.
So actually, I was 13 when this came out.
Probably my favourite song.
Well, my very favourite song is And I Love Her.
Get this all out now because we're not going through.
I'm going to Hard Day's Night.
I love the album Hard Day's Night.
Okay.
And I love the song And I Love Her.
It was one of my favourite Beatles songs.
And how old were you? 13?
13.
So it came out in 1964.
I was born in 1951, darling.
Oh, wow.
God, I didn't realise.
It's a long time ago.
So, yeah, Sir Paul McCartney and Mary McCartney
coming up on Table Manners.
Yeah. and Mary McCartney coming up on Table Manners yeah well cheers
well cheers
cheers
cheers
thank you for having us
cheers
cheers
cheers
and thank you for having us. Cheers. Cheers. Cheers. Cheers. Cheers. And thank you for inviting us.
Yeah.
Have that lovely cookbook.
Thank you for having us in your office.
We're going to have some lunch in a bit.
Mum's already opened the bubbly.
Yep.
Didn't take much.
She just needed Mary to enable it.
How are you?
Good.
Thank you.
Very well.
Very good. Very happy to be here doing this. I love this podcast. How are you? Good, thank you. Very well? Very good.
Very happy to be here doing this.
I love this podcast.
Oh, you're so sweet.
Mary, you've got a new puppy.
I've got a new puppy.
How old?
I'm sleep deprived.
He's 11 weeks.
He's from Battersea Dogs Home, and he is a little ridiculous fluffball.
What have you called him?
Very cute.
Murphy.
Oh, that's a great name.
With the only name I could get all of the kids and my husband to agree
on it was like their last dog was called patty so it's like a little irish thing i like it yeah
our irish heritage i know that's right oh mccartney of course cartney so so my emerald oil
i've just got to tell you yes go on that i've loved you for a very long time. Never heard that.
Are you looking at me?
Yeah, looking at you, Paul.
I loved you.
I stood outside Granada Studios and screamed, Julie,
when you just went in in a car.
Just let her get this out and then we'll talk about it.
I saw you perform, I think, at the Ardwick Apollo in Manchester.
Oh, yeah.
And you came to my university when i was on the events com and you gave us two hours notice
and you came with wings with your mom yeah and you came to birmingham university and i had to
ring as many of my friends as possible because you gave us such short notice not short why do
you know what happened they rented a u- truck. I saw a picture of it.
I mean, you could tell this story.
No, that's good.
It was a U-Haul truck, and we all got in,
and they were, like, going back to basics,
because it was after the Beatles had broken up.
Of course, I'm forgetting.
I'm saying, we all got in.
You were a little baby.
I was there as well.
She was a little baby.
I saw a picture the other day,
and they just drove, did a road trip,
and you would, you'd say two hours notice,
because you would go to the car park,
and then you'd go in and say,
do you want us to play a gig tonight?
We'd just show up at places, universities,
because we figured there'd be a captive audience.
We'd just show up and we'd say,
hello, there's Paul McCartney here.
Would you like us to play?
We thought it was a prank at first.
We thought, no, it's not Paul McCartney.
And then it was.
And it was so exciting.
It was 50p on the door.
Yeah.
I thought that was reasonable.
Yeah.
Was this when Wings was just kind of...
It was the very, very beginning of Wings, yeah.
And we just needed to get a little bit of road practice.
So that was the madcap idea.
And we just went up the motorway north.
And if we saw a place we liked we'd sort of ask around
has he got a university here and then the students union guy would come out because he didn't believe
it come out to our van when i slide the window open hello what paul called it that's how i talk
normally and those must have been the first gigs that mum had ever played in her life.
I think it was one of the first ones.
They were.
She did a percussion.
Good on a tambourine.
Yeah, on a tambourine.
And she looked gorgeous.
And we were all fascinated by it.
So what was it like for you, Mary?
I love that, Lenny, you were there.
You were there.
She was at one of the years.
It must have been, I think it was my second year, 1972.
Yeah.
Not my third year.
Yeah, I would have been three.
Do you remember touring in those early days?
Yeah. What's your memory of that, Mary?
Just, I mean, meeting, it's sort of like a family atmosphere.
We all just went along.
So it was just, we'd follow around, seeing lots of music,
going, like, wandering around.
All the crew, I think, are my biggest memories, like wandering around all the crew i think are
my biggest memories like playing around with the crew and the roadies and you know they all became
family like mike wally at the travel agent is still uncle mike to this day right yeah exactly
yeah no it was very disorganized but we just wanted to just go out and just sort of find a gig and
do it
but it did mean it was crazy we'd often
show up at the place and they'd say
yeah you can play tomorrow so
we'd have to find a hotel there was nothing
booked I mean it was insane
it was the 70s dude
Dad did you do that to avoid
press knowing about it or did
you just do it because you were like, let's go tomorrow?
That seemed fresh and we got.
I think there was a bit of that.
There was no pressure.
Yeah, I think there was a bit of that.
But also it's because we didn't know what we were doing.
Did the gigs go well?
Yeah.
They did.
They went very well.
Unfortunately, we only knew 11 tunes.
So that can go pretty quickly when you're excited but we used to repeat a couple
fair enough yeah repeat a couple and we said we've had a request to do lucille yeah i know we did it
earlier but yeah lucille was a high spot yeah lucille yeah little richard lucille i was great
i must say and i think it was a good idea because it kind of you know the alternative for me
was to just get a big famous
group of people and just carry
on at the level the Beatles were on
but I kind of liked the idea of going back
to square one and just
building it all up again
so that was what we did
you must have been really satisfied
it was fun yeah
it was quite hair raising sometimes
you'd find like the worst
B&B in town
to stay with all these kids
oh my god
yeah it was an adventure
adventurous childhood for me
Mary's friends say
she was in a hippie commune
one of my friends used to call me Peace Convoy Child
because you'd see the pictures of me dressed in dungarees
with food around my mouth and little plaits in my hair
and pull back onto the farm in Scotland,
and they were like, really?
It was just a kind of very sort of crazy period
because I'd left the Beatles
and I just wanted to be sort of very free.
So we just did all the things we'd never done, you know.
It's a good idea, though, because it was so different.
It wasn't like retracing.
Right, yeah.
And then Wings ended up in like 75, 76 doing a huge stadium.
Yeah, it came around eventually. Yeah, 76 in America was big.
But I wouldn't do any Beatles songs and promoters would say,
oh, go on, do a Beatles song, you know.
I'd say, no, no, this is post-Beatles, we're doing Wings
or Little Richard or whatever, you know.
It was only when I felt confident enough that we'd now built a new thing
and it wasn't all just going to rely on the Beatles
that I started doing Beatles songs, which, of course, were the hits.
It's the only ones they wanted to hear, really.
So would you do Beatles songs now?
If when you tour next time, you'll do Beatles songs?
Yeah, I do Beatles songs, yeah.
Because, you know, over the years you get very comfortable with it.
So you're talking the 70s and now I'm completely comfortable with it.
And I often say to the audience, you know, we know what you like.
I said, because when we do a Beatles song, the whole place lights up with your phones like a galaxy
of stars. I said
I know you're all listening.
So when we do one of our new
songs, it's like a black hole.
But except
when you do wing songs like Live and Let Die
That's true.
I mean it was exaggerating
but it's
I actually had a go at him on the last tour
because you were like, it's like live and let die.
It's like pyrotechnics.
And the pyrotechnics guy is called Shakey, which I love.
And all these explosions go on.
It's like live and let die.
And then suddenly dad felt like around the piano,
he had to have like flaming fire balls
going around front and back.
And the explosions front and back
and I'm like dad really
do you have to do that to yourself
he's like but the audience love it
but they can just have the
pyrotechnics
I mean we only do one
spectacular pyro
number in the whole show
the rest is pretty straight
so we thought we'll give
it all we've got but the flames i'm like i can even flames are hot yeah i'm like very hot sometimes
you feel the back of your neck get warm i'm like begging him you smell a singeing do you worry i
feel like when i asked you i was like dad please not with the singeing fire flames i'm sure the
next time you had them front and back and they were just in the front,
it's like, if you tell him not to do something,
he's like, let's add more of them next time.
But so what's it like when you're not playing stadiums
and you're not in a tour bus
and back at home, all of you on the farm,
were you living on the farm all together?
What was the dinner table?
Who was cooking?
I presume it was Linda.
Linda, yeah.
And what was, like, one of those memorable meals for both of you?
Ooh, well, we got lots.
Chef Mum's big...
Well, Mum was American, so it was lots of big, like, salads,
big, like, chef salads.
Yeah.
Lots of pasta dishes.
Was she always vegetarian?
When you met her, was she a veggie?
No, when we first met...
You should tell the story of how you became a veggie.
Yeah, when we first met, the Beatles thing had broken up.
So it was pretty difficult with business meetings and things.
All the kind of things you didn't want.
So we kind of escaped to Scotland.
And we just lived there and we
mary was little and uh her elder sister heather was um six or so six and uh we just we just went
and lived up there and improvised so we were one day we weren't veggie at that time. So one day we were just eating Sunday lunch and it was lambing season.
So we saw all these lambs.
And you had lambs on the farm?
Yeah, lambs on the farm.
They're all gambling.
And what they do is they run from one end of the field.
It's like to the other.
And it's as if one of them says,'s go back yeah and they all go so it's
just feeling spring and the the new lives and we looked down and we were eating leg of lamb
and we went oh okay wait a minute maybe we should do something about this and that's the moment we
went veggie but uh was it tough at the beginning to change?
Were you a big meat eater before that?
Not really.
No, but I mean, yeah, traditional.
And Mum was a great cook.
I brought up traditional British cooking.
Mum was a great cook.
And also you and Mum, because then you guys sat us down and said,
we've decided we're not going to eat meat anymore.
And you were like, it's your decision when you're outside of of home but we're not going to cook it at home anymore and
so you were great your mum there were lots of conversation about food growing up and that gap
on the plate dad was like what are we going to have instead so we debate and talk about it so
i think that's why we've become such advocates for yeah doing mum's food brand and doing the
cookbooks and things and meat free monday is a way
of because not everybody does like if somebody yeah well because of that very reason because if
you now today go you're a grown-up and you've grown up in a meat-eating family you go i want
to do this for my carbon footprint and i'm relating to how this got to my plate i don't want to do it
i mean i sympathize and we sympathize it can be kind of like what am i going to eat then so mom and dad we would just listen to them talking about what else
so that's what we've done yeah we just had to kind of make it up um but as you say um we did eat i
think linda did the turkey the best you'd ever tasted it you know she just was really good cook um so the first christmas we weren't
going to eat meat was like oh and what do we do because i was like proud dad i want i wanted to
carve the bird i saw that as like a traditional role you know um and so we had to work something else out. So we did. We had what we called a macaroni turkey.
Tell me about a macaroni turkey.
Well, it's basically a mac and cheese.
That sounds pretty great.
A really good mac and cheese.
It's a baked mac and cheese, so it's firm.
Baked mac and cheese, and then it's firm.
And you leave it overnight sort of in the fridge.
Yeah.
So it gets even firmer.
And then I can carve it the next day.
Oh, how sweet.
She gave you that.
Yeah.
She knew you needed that carving.
That's amazing.
And the other one was barbecuing.
Again, you know, I saw that.
I was like, yeah, I should be the guy out by the barbecue.
So what we put in the barbecue.
But then so now, no, but the thing is then mum would do the cookbooks to give ideas.
People would go, God, if I could eat, they'd come to our house for dinner.
And then people would say, look, if I could eat like this, I'd eat more veggie.
And eventually she did the book.
She'd hand it to them and go, look, you can, here's some ideas.
And that did so well that then she was approached by a frozen food.
Was that home cooking?
Yeah.
And then she was approached and they said,
could we adapt some of your recipes into a food line?
And that's how the food range came about.
So now we can do barbecues with our veggie burgers and the sausages
and we have a roast that we can do.
So it's all, we're not baking the macaroni turkey anymore at home
is the same cookbook from the cookbook is the new cookbook the new cookbook is adapting because we
what i worked with her on a lot of her food we'd always say me and dad and mom and all our family
would talk about food and she just said she would do it now but adapt the ingredients so things where
she might use butter she might use olive oil.
So we've sort of updated and refreshed.
Can I say?
It's quite exciting.
Well, I'm not a natural vegetarian.
I know you're not.
I'm actually, I know you're not.
Okay.
And I found that cookbook.
You love vegans.
I love them.
You should feel very lucky we have these two in the room.
I found that cookbook really easy to follow.
It was how I would cook.
So I do do veggie things, kind of diet, and it's more healthy to eat.
And also, my husband's very flexitarian, which I think you kind of, you know, we talk about.
He really wants to implement it into life.
Because of Save the Planet.
Well, it makes sense
but i thought your recipes were very easy to follow and they work really well talk about and
i also must tell you about the veggie mince so i think it's the best veggie mince that i've ever
used and we've tried many of those lots of veggie minces and there's nothing as good as that we've
been doing it a long time and that goes back to the nothing as good as that we've been doing it and that goes back to
the beginning of your story that you've been you know we've you and mum went veggie what in the
70s yeah so i think we've there was nothing there it's a very good cookbook because it's not
frightening ingredients either i mean there are things that you're familiar with i'm really tasty
i think it's a part of the idea for the cookbook
and the recipes that I've done as well
is to make, because people are like,
if you eat veggie, it's like more ingredients,
it takes longer, it's more fuss.
So that's exactly what we try not to do.
You're kind of veggineers, aren't you?
It's like accessible ingredients.
Vegineers?
Yeah.
I like it.
Can I have that for the name of my next cookbook?
Yeah, the Vegineers.
Oh my God, I'm making that for the next cookbook I do. Vegineers next good book? The Vegineers. Oh my God, I'm licking that for the next good book I do.
Vegineers.
I mean, you know, your family were revolutionary at the time.
It is revolutionary.
I'm so proud of them, honestly.
And it was mum and dad.
It really was.
Mum, like, obviously was the cook.
And everyone would be a bit like,
oh, I'm sure everyone wants to eat meat in your family.
But really, you and mum together were, always talking and so positive about it that you never felt like you were missing out.
So Mary, when you had friends back for tea, did they mind?
No.
Or was it all a bit curious?
I think they liked to know because mum was such a great cook.
Going back to the salad thing, I went to my best friend Sue's house and her mum was like, do you want salad with your pasty whatever and i said yes and i was like what is she doing she sliced a piece of cucumber
and a slice of quarter of tomato and a lettuce leaf and pour salad cream on it and i'm like what
is that because you come to our house that's a british salad and actually it was delicious
because i didn't have salad cream but mom mum would have this huge salad bowl and you'd chuck everything in it
and toss it with the salt dressing.
So our friends loved coming to our wedding day.
What was your favourite thing that your mum cooked?
What was your special birthday meal?
I mean, my comfort thing was her tomato soup always.
Yeah.
That was one that you did on...
Yeah, we'd been to the south of France
and there's a lovely hotel down south of France
called Beaumont in Lebeau.
Very posh, like only nine rooms.
Oh, wow.
Super posh.
And I don't know how we'd heard about it,
but anyway, we went down there.
I think Grandpa used to go there maybe.
It was really good and, you know,
and Linda and I would go in and have a little meal
and sort of being all very romantic in the french place and they had this bisque du amard
which was lobster soup and it looked great and everything um but then when we were veggie she
made that as a tomato soup so it was kind of pink and very lovely you know so that was one of her great things that was often
my favorite started my birthday meal and then a quiche yeah she made the most amazing quiche
i mean that sort of sat up and bubbled you know it wasn't some quiches you get and they're just
sort of flat yeah this was like dad you know when i left home i made a quiche and it just was like
didn't rise and i phoned mom yeah and i was like what the heck why does yours because mama take it
out and it's like this show stopper like a souffle and simple turn the oven up to 200 it needs to
cook at a higher heat it fluffs up it was literally all i needed to know oh wow so okay well let's go this is what
we ask everybody and mary knows this last supper starter main pud drink of choice you can either
combine or you can go you can go solo both of you no why don't we have a family meal together
we will have a family meal let me start with my margarita oh yeah that's actually what i saw around the edge yes i do um we call
it a macarita actually a macarita i mean is it going to be in the line that we're going to put
a little song the record dad let me put the recipe in my food cookbook actually. Why is it so good?
Come on, tell us.
So, I mean, all it is, it's a normal margarita.
It's not a normal margarita.
It's the best margarita.
But I put some orange juice in it.
Oh, wow.
So a normal margarita is tequila, Cointreau or triple sec, and then lime.
Yeah.
It's a little bit tart for me.
So to that, I add.
So if I go to a restaurant,
this is what you'll hear me say to the bar.
Could I have a margarita, please?
And I like it straight up with salt
just around the outside of the rim.
And I can explain that if he needs it.
And then I say, and to your normal recipe,
just stick some orange juice,
just a couple of dashes of orange juice in the shaker.
Oh, wow.
So then you don't need agave, it's just sweetened with that.
Oh, that is good.
And if they do the salt on the inside,
I'm going to sound obsessive here,
but if they do it on salt, you have this great drink
and then the last sip is salt.
You've drunk a few margaritas in your time, Paul.
Which one do you like the best?
No, that's true.
And don't you now, haven't you developed it?
Because you're asking about the favourite tequila.
Do you still use two types of tequila
or have you moved away to just one again?
No, I use, you know, to mix it up,
I sometimes use two types of tequila.
Which ones?
Silver and dark. Oh, I didn use two types of tequila. Which ones? Silver and dark.
Oh, I didn't even know there were two colours.
No, there's blanco.
You're still on cosmopolitan.
She still thinks you carry Bradshaw.
We need a margarita night, Lenny.
Honestly.
They're the best.
Do we have, we're definitely, can we have,
so we're going to have Dad's margarita with nuts and olives.
All right.
Just to sort of get ready.
Yeah.
Then can we have the tomato soup
yeah i would like to add something about the tomato soup she would make it like the beast
so she would have celery onions fresh tomatoes and then she'd grind it through a thing so that
you would get all of the flavors but then take away sort of the pulp. Yeah, yeah. And then she'd mix cream into that and season it.
Oh, you love cream.
Honestly, the most delicious.
Well, that soy, the Alpro single soy cream works perfectly.
I didn't even know there was one.
Your soy cream works really well.
You just don't, you don't put it in hot.
You put it in cooler and warm it up.
And actually, I would argue it actually tastes better
because it actually soaks in the flavours meld in better.
So you were going to add something before I rudely interrupted asking for your mother's tomato soup recipe.
You were like, I'm going to add something here.
Oh, I'm going to add, and I know it's not really going to fit in with, because the last supper can be anything.
I'm going to add, because we are a family obsessed with sandwiches, completely.
Yeah, I've heard about this.
I'm obsessed obsessed
like I could almost
have for me personally
the whole thing
just be toast
sandwich
French toast
tomato sandwich
would be my
everything
so I'm going to have
the mum's tomato soup
and I'm going to have
one of dad's sandwiches
on the side
are you the sandwich
yeah I'm the sandwich king
so what I've heard about
on Adam Buxton's
I've heard about the bagel
with the marmite
and the hummus.
It's everything.
Okay, so sandwich.
I always said, you know, of my career, thanks.
I'm going to get one of those little bikes and a little thing on the front
and I'm going to go around selling sandwiches,
probably going to the city where they've got a captive audience.
I've got it all worked out.
Isn't that the cutest thing ever?
I love it.
I'm going to be buying them.
So what are the fillings?
Here's what I do.
What's the hero?
I mean, again, it's going to sound a bit obsessive,
but I don't care.
It is what I do.
I'm having it in my last meal, so you need to be loving it.
Oh, I've got to be obsessive.
Embrace the obsessive.
What I do is I get a nice onion bagel.
You love bagels.
From Pansers. I love onion bagels. From love bagels. From Pansers.
I love onion.
From Pansers.
From Pansers.
We love Pansers.
Sorry, okay, Pansers.
So I get a nice fresh Pansers bagel.
Yeah, onion.
And then an onion.
And then I cut it in three.
Yeah.
So it's kind of slimmish.
Okay.
Because bagels are pretty weighty.
So.
Like a finger of bagel.
No, they're thin, so it's almost like a...
They're all normal bagel, but I just...
He cuts it like that.
I just slice them into three.
It's like making a club sandwich bagel.
Yeah.
I like this.
I like it.
Carry on.
Believe me, you haven't heard anything yet.
I'm ready.
So I do...
Let's say I'm making one sandwich.
Pop two of those in the uh toaster
toast them and then the first thing i will put on it depending who i'm making it if you're making
it for my last meal it's for you you like marmite i like everything you do she likes mama okay
i'm not afraid of anything you put in the sandwich all right right. So for Mary, I would just, first of all,
when it comes out of the toaster,
spread a little bit of Marmite on it.
Because can I stop you?
Get a bit of taste.
Dad has turned the world onto Marmite and hummus on a bagel.
You can buy it.
Baby!
Was that because of you?
No, it's just the best thing in the world.
I'm not claiming it.
I bought it for you and you weren't keen.
No, but I don't think I'd want it mixed. I think you'd toast it. No, I think you need to make your decision in the world. I'm not claiming it. I bought it for you and you weren't clean. No, but I don't think I'd want it mixed.
I think you need to make your decision
on the ratio. His afternoon stack at the studio is a
cup of tea and a toaster bagel with
Marmite and hummus. Anyway, carry on
with the sandwich. That's right.
I did try the Marmite and hummus
and I don't want to put them down because I love
Marmite and I love hummus. And their
new products is okay, but not as
good as separately. Anyway, so I'll put some Marmite and I love hummus. And their new products is okay, but not as good as separately.
Anyway, so I'll put some Marmite on this
toast, toasty bagel
and I will
work on the bottom of the
bagel. Put the
top over there, ready.
And then, I will then
because the bagel's got a hole
in the middle of it, I will then get some lettuce
to stop the hole, stop everything falling through the middle of it, I will then get some lettuce to stop the hole,
stop everything falling through.
Yeah, genius, I will admit.
I mean, forget about the songwriting.
Bagel maker.
Can you see why I wanted him to describe this?
Because now I have a record of how to do it.
So you have a bed of lettuce to make sure you don't lose any filling.
Marmite, lettuce, hummus.
Okay.
Any particular homemade?
San Ambrose.
It's called Ambrosia.
San Ambrose.
San Ambrosia.
It's so good.
And they sell that at Panzer's as well.
Okay.
It's really nice.
It's almost like a whipped hummus, and I don't know why,
but it's lighter, and it's the only one that my kids will eat.
Yeah.
So you put hummus in it. And then anything goes.
You know what I'll do is I'll make a few slices of cheese.
So hang on, can I stop you?
So that is basically the base.
It's got to be Marmite, lettuce, hummus, and then anything that's in that area.
Okay.
So then I will slice a little bit of cheddar cheese, say, into little slices.
Arrange that on the hummus where it kind of sticks to the hummus.
Sinks in.
It's not going to move.
Would you get a gusset?
It sinks in.
Would you do a pickle?
Well, yeah.
Ooh, a gherkin.
A little bit of dill pickle, sliced.
Lovely.
I got some from Panzer's the other day.
The only thing I'm worried about is you toasting the bagel.
Can I say, can I say? I don't like thing I'm worried about is you toasting the bagel.
Can I say, can I say, Lenny, you need to just trust it and just go with it.
None of it makes any sense, but it's the best thing you've ever tasted.
You see, if you have a Manchester bagel, they're superior to any bagel in the whole of the universe.
Really?
Did Liverpool get this bagel? You're not from Manchester, are you, by any chance?
of the universe.
Really?
Did Liverpool get this bag? You're not from Manchester,
are you, by any chance?
But they're chewier.
They're crispy on the outside
and very chewy.
And they're light in the middle.
You're not going to get
three slices out of a Manchester bagel?
No, you're not.
They're smaller.
You're going more
kind of New York-style bagel, yeah?
Are we talking kind of...
Yeah, well, I mean,
because Linda was from New York,
so I wouldn't have known
what a bagel was.
We had a lovely housekeeper called Rose for years and years and years.
She'd got bagel, bagel.
Do you remember when London they say bagel?
But also I think it's just even people who haven't got the London accent,
some Jewish people call it bagel.
Yeah, they say bagel.
Rose was with mum before, Rose was with dad before mum and dad met.
And when you met mum, Rose was like dad's housekeeper before.
You want the Rose story?
I want the Rose story.
Yeah, I do.
East End genius.
She was the best.
I was living on my own in the 60s.
And I needed someone.
I can barely believe that.
I know.
I just want to say.
Well, occasionally.
No.
So I needed someone to kind of help, you know,
with the house and stuff.
I was hopeless.
A woman's touch.
And a woman's touch, yeah.
So I asked a guy out of our office, you know,
if he could look around and see if he could find someone.
And anyway, he came back.
He said, well, this lady lady called rose would you like to see
her so i said yeah so i'll have an interview so she came in and she had bright red lips
she had a black turban on she was very excited red hair red hair so I said oh hi
you
have you
is it you
that's come about
the housekeeping job
yeah
alright
yeah
Rose
real Cockney
proper Cockney
Cockney girl
Cockney girl
spelt G-E-L
anyway
yeah so
she was great
and she loved the kids
and was just
with us forever
but then when you met mum
she basically when I met mom yeah um
linda i'd had occasional girl friends to the house i must admit but i was young i was carefree i was
you know and it was it was the 60s uh so but so rosa kept quiet but but then when Linda came round, she said, I like this one, Paul.
Oh, how sweet.
I like that one. She's all right.
So that was really the seal of approval, you know.
And I think Mum looked in your fridge
and saw, like, a hard rind of cheese and, like...
And a half-sour bottle of milk.
I mean, not only was she a beauty,
but did she...
The way to your heart was through your stomach did she cook for you what was the first meal that linda cooked for you do
you remember well that's going back um i mean she made a mean scrambled egg that kind of thing was
i love that you know but uh she did say to me you know what know, what do you want to eat tonight?
I go, oh, anything, anything.
She said, no, I'm looking for menu suggestions.
And I hadn't understood till then why women do that.
And I agree. Because it's the thinking about what you're going to cook.
If that helped me out.
Like you told us what you would like to eat.
That was so much easier than me working out.
But Lenny, you know what I love?
Because when I'm cooking for people, like if I was cooking for you guys,
I'd be like, well, I wouldn't.
And do you do this?
You guys.
I would think about you guys and think, what can I feed them that they're going to like?
Not like I'm cooking this for you.
Is that why mum would have been like, what do you want?
Because you cook for people to make them happy and
please them and you just want to see people's faces light up that's a great instinct in a cook
mary's definitely got that linda had it which is like you know it's not work she actually wants to
put a meal on the table where you go oh it's fantastic you know i think that's the ultimate
isn't it that's the ultimate happiness isn't it? That's the ultimate happiness when you do that.
The mum I don't feel like sounds as...
I don't think I'm as kind-hearted as that.
I'm so tired.
You're like, you're shooting me.
Yeah, she's like, I've been cooking this all day.
But yeah, okay, so we've got the bagel
and we've got the tomato soup.
Now, is that, would we say that's a preemie?
Are we going for a main?
Yeah, that's the preemie.
Because if this isn't going to make, obviously you wouldn't have it.
No, no, no.
Really in real life.
Actually, probably I would have that for lunch.
Yeah.
The soup and sandwich I love for lunch.
And then we'd go.
You can go and have this preemie.
Then we'd get the margarita with the olives and the nuts.
Yeah.
Probably salted, roasted cashew nuts you like.
Yeah.
And then we'd go on for a big Sunday roast with all the trimmings.
That'd be good.
McCartney vegetarian style with all the gravy and the stuffing.
It's funny because I've actually met you before, Paul, quite accidentally.
I gatecrashed one of your Christmas dinners.
I could have put some food on.
Are you starving?
Yes.
You did. I mean mean i didn't gate
crash i was i was a plus one oh because um a producer called paul epworth was invited
and i was working with him that day but i was not only working with him but my friend and producer
of my first record david kumu paul from um s judeo's as well paul epworth it was a good
thing paul had been invited to your Christmas do.
Right.
And he was in the studio with me
and he was like,
listen, I'm really sorry,
but I've got to go to Paul McCartney's Christmas do.
And he went,
I can see whether you can come
and you were very sweet and accommodating
and you let us come.
And how good was the food?
So good.
So good.
So firky you had.
So you had this full Christmas dinner.
Everything was there. Everybody was there.
Did you get the little party favour?
I'm not sure. I think because we were supposed to be writing a song.
So we came, we ate, we said hello.
And it was full of family and friends.
And it was just such a lovely atmosphere.
But yeah, it was a full Christmas dinner roast.
And it was such a lovely spread.
This would be more like a Sunday roast, I think.
But you can also do it for Christmas.
But I think we definitely have Yorkshire puddings.
Yeah, and when I was a kid, my mum used to make Yorkshire pudding.
But because it was called Yorkshire pudding, we had it as a pudding.
We didn't have it like with the beef and that.
She always just had it afterwards.
With something?
With golden syrup.
So good.
That's a good idea.
Have you never had it?
No.
Oh, my goodness.
Yorkshire pudding with golden syrup on it.
I mean, this is, we're talking, you know,
there's a little bit of working class creeping in here.
I can actually show you pictures on my phone
of me eating that recently, and I got one in my hand,
and I just had a squeezy bottle of it,
and I just squeezed it on and stuffed it in.
That's how we used to do it, you know, and it was funny.
So we do both now.
Years later, you know, you'd meet people and say,
well, do you want your oxyponine?
They'd say, yeah.
Well, do you say, no?
They'd say, it's with your main meal. We'd go with your main meal we go oh no you're not looking convinced no do you like golden syrup
i mean i don't think i love it i feel like i've been told not to like golden syrup because
it's i don't know you can't make a flapjack we can't make a flapjack that's true i'm very up
for this and i think my children would be up for this
yeah
and I like the versatility
that you've offered up
so what we do now
for the Yorkshire Pudding
you can do both you see
you can have
that's what we do
that's what we do
because the kids love it
with the gravy
and all the steamed veg
and the roast
and then I always
because dad has got me
into this
and I know he has to
have it as dessert
when the Yorkshire Pudding
has come out
i hide them and simon is the yorkshire pudding like he taught us my husband's husband has taught
us how to make yorkshire puddings because they're hard to do well yeah he's the yorkshire pudding
but i'll nick a portion and hide it away because i'm like we cannot have it where they've all been
eaten and dad doesn't get his i can understand with the golden syrup. Thank you, Mary.
I'm going to try this.
I also feel like, and maybe this is blasphemy,
so please tell me if your mother would not have been approved of this.
What?
A bit of custard, maybe?
Oh, yeah.
It could be like a...
You're looking at me and saying...
A bit of what?
A custard.
Custard on the orchard.
No, I wouldn't want that.
No, you'd have it quite straight.
Personally, that would be revolting. No, I like this. I would want that. No, you'd have it quite straight. Personally, that would be revolting.
No, I like this.
I would find that.
Okay, fine.
I won't do that for you at my Christmas dinner.
Costed.
Better costed.
No.
So we have to have the Yorkshire pudding with loads of red onion,
homemade gravy.
Lovely.
I reckon.
I get to carve the roast.
We're going to have mum's roast. Yeah. And you i get to carve we're gonna have mum's roast yeah and we're gonna you're
gonna carve it and what will the um i say meat or no i'm not even gonna say that so would you even
have a kind of uh pretend meat component yeah we do the linda mccartney roast okay fine so
they're really delicious we make a couple of them. Dad will be slicing them.
Roast potatoes.
And we've got all the other stuff.
Yeah.
You know, really.
It's like towering.
Then the stuffing.
Stuffing.
It's fantastic.
Mum taught me how to make the stuffing.
It's all like delicious.
Cranberry sauce.
Sagey. It sounds like your mum was a very generous teacher.
Because, I mean, you've listened to my
mum never taught me she told me to back off when she was doing the best she managed to tell me to
back off that was oh listen it's working get back in the kitchen what she really meant to say was
thanks mom you are my inspiration i was a greedy cow so i was learning i was learning mom wanted
company in the kitchen so and mom made it so I was learning mum wanted company in the kitchen
and mum made it so it was the most fun
place in the house so you would be anywhere
and you'd smell the food and you'd gravitate
to the kitchen and you'd just
be chatting and cooking and
that's how we learnt to cook
yeah they would just watch their mum
cook and she
would do some clever little things
she'd sort of say well you know do you want to
sort of uh cut these onions up chop it so she'd engage them in oh great you did the onions wow
well now do the celery dad's a good sous chef aren't you you would always help chopping
yeah i like chopping should we have your mash for this as well can we get right because we're doing everything
dad makes the best mashed potato
I make a sort of decadent
mashed potato but really nicely
like mashed and whipped and you use
the fork at the end to stop the lumps going
in you won't have any lumps
in your mash
it's like the really fancy when you get it in
clarages and it's like the pomme de
and it's like it's really pureed like it's silky it is but it's like the really fancy when you get it in clarages and it's like the pomme de and it's like it's really pureed
like it's
silky
it is but it's just
very home
you know you don't put it
through any of those rices
no I just you know
boil some potatoes
it's actually on YouTube
when they're perfectly soft
mash them with that
that thing that's got
like a grill on it
yeah the mashed potato
it's only used for a masher.
It's called the potato masher, probably.
It's science.
But, you know, mash it with that
and then, like Mary says,
do maybe a fork to get
any rogue
lumps.
And some milk
in it. And then
butter. Yeah, loads. That's the it. And then butter.
Yeah, loads.
That's the thing.
And then really whip that up.
Great.
And if you want to go crazy, very finely chopped onion.
Oh, that's a nice idea.
Yeah.
So there's two things, Dad, on YouTube that I think are the best things that you can Google about you.
Number one is your mashed potato recipe, which you filmed.
Just look me up.
Number two, usually if I'm at the end of the night at a party and I've had a couple of drinks, about you number one is your mashed potato recipe which you feel just look me up number two when
usually if i'm like at the end of the night at a party and i had a couple of drinks i'll be like
google paul mccartney eye yoga is and dad has done his he doesn't wear glasses still and when he was
in india he learned eye yoga and he's actually filmed it and put it onto youtube for people who
want to because it's a muscle.
Can you do me a little bit of eye yoga right now?
Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah, I learned off some, you know, yogi in India.
In the 60s?
No, it was even more recent.
But anyway, he explained that your eyes are muscles,
whereas your ears aren't. So you can't, muscles, whereas your ears aren't.
So you can't, like, exercise your ears.
Yeah.
But your eyes, you can.
Then you can.
So, yeah, so what it is is you head still.
You can do the Google, yeah.
You can Google, yeah.
Head still.
I just want to see what happens with the eyes.
Head still.
Yeah.
Head still.
And then you just look up as far as you come one
two three and then go back to the middle then down one two three and back to the middle you do three
lots of that ballet up and down yeah and then back to the center and you go to the left two three
center to the right two three and you do three lots of that left and
three lots of right so now you've kind of got like a cross yeah up and down and sideways yeah
now you do the diagonals you go up to the top yeah diagonal we're all doing it now by the way
anyone looking in the window i think we're mad i do it in the park sometimes walking the dog and people think
i'm really weird it can look a bit weird and it stops you wearing glasses he doesn't wear glasses
i don't wear glasses but not yet but i dad have you been doing eye yoga for a while if i if my eye
i start feeling like i need glasses i start doing dad's eye
yoga and i and it feels like exercising my bad eyesight pretty good i don't know i know someone
a friend of mine who's like a film director and i'd got chatting about his family and he said oh
my daughter's just going for eye glasses just going to go and get some specs.
And I said, oh, I said, well, tell you what, before she goes,
let me tell you this.
So I sort of did a little diagram, wrote it all out.
And he took it to her.
And apparently then she didn't need specs for like quite a few years.
It really improved her eyesight.
This is very fascinating it's pretty
good stuff even if it doesn't it actually feels good you know makes sense if they are
yeah muscles and so you do that a little bit and i always remember that like the union jack
yeah so up down the diagonals and then you go into the middle, crossing your eyes. Like me every day. But looking at your nose. Looking at the end of your nose.
You do like three, one, two, three, three sets of that.
It's hard to do that on the other way out.
Yeah.
And that's the one if you're like in the gym and you're seen doing that,
you can look a bit weird.
And then even weirder, then you roll your eyes right around in a circle.
Yeah.
And you do like that, five, six.
Then you go the other way, five, six.
And then the last thing is you do, you look at a distant object.
So that's like your long vision.
And then you look at the lines on your hand.
So you pull focus.
So that's a good thing, you know.
Yeah, okay, yes, yes. It all makes good thing you know yeah it all makes sense you know and uh i mean i don't know
that's why i don't need glasses when i'm like reading a newspaper but i think that's really
impressive it makes sense you know it's a good idea that's ioga mashed potatoes so i'd have this
right after the mashed potatoes but i so i you talked about your mum
and the yorkshire pudding and the golden syrup what is a very memorable meal from your childhood
paul pancakes oh was she good at pancake tuesday did you have it not just shrove tuesday you had
it every tuesday no no no it was just shrove Tuesday, but that was so exciting when it finally came around.
Were they like crepes?
Yeah.
But you'd just make
piles of them
and you'd go,
whoa,
can I have another pancake?
But what was your filling
that you'd chosen?
Lemon and sugar?
I like sugar,
which in those days
were white sugar.
You didn't,
nobody knew
there was such a thing
as brown sugar.
But white sugar
and then lemon juice.
This looks delicious.
And then roll that up.
Smells good.
Was your mum a good cook?
Yeah, she was a good cook.
Mum, sorry, just having a chat.
We're doing a programme here, Mum.
I like flowers and salad.
Edible flowers.
They look so healthy, like to eat flowers and the colour Edible flowers. We thought, you know. They look so healthy, like, to eat flowers and the colour.
Anyway.
Looks lovely.
Sorry, so your mum used to do, what was the meal that your mum used to do?
She would do what I'd call traditional British food.
Yeah, meat and tuvok.
Yeah, chops.
Yeah.
Steak, rarely.
You know, beef.
Yeah.
Scouse, which is Liverpool.
Scouse.
Jessica, what?
What have you been?
I've really not educated her.
No.
It's a stew.
Scouse is a stew.
I thought it was going to be something about Liverpool.
It's like an Irish stew.
It's a famous scouse.
It's like an Irish stew,
and then if you don't have the meat in it, they call it blind scouse.
I'm sure that's not very PC, but that's what they call it.
Don't knock on my door.
Yeah, so she would do all of those things.
Did she have much time to cook?
Because she was a midwife.
She was a nurse, a midwife, sister on a ward.
And her mode of transport was a little bicycle,
a little bag on the front.
It's like called the midwife.
Mum's obsessed with it.
She loves it.
That's her era.
And her name was Mary.
And it was Mary.
So you're named after.
Mary Patricia.
And so Let It Be as well is about her.
The song Let It Be, yeah.
Mother Mary. Oh, yeah. be as well is about her the song yeah yeah mother mary yeah because i had a dream and i i woke up after the dream and she had come to me in the dream so it was a lovely dream because she died
um a few years before you were 14 when i was 14 yeah so she died probably six or seven years before that um but here she was in a dream
and it's it's a miracle when someone you've lost is there in the dream and you go wow great to see
you you know this is great because all the old feelings come back you know it was pretty emotional
yeah but and i was in a bit of a rough state 60s doing too much of this and too
much of that and she sort of looked at me in the room she said it's don't worry son it's going to
be all right it's all going to be all right just let it be do you want to help yourself yes do you
want me to do a play and did you and did you when you woke up from that dream did you
feel like things changed?
Do you feel like you calmed down a bit?
Yeah, definitely, yeah.
And I thought that was great.
And you wrote a great song.
It was actually a great thing for her to say, you know.
I mean, you work it out, it's actually me and my brain saying it.
In the dream, it was her saying it.
And I thought, thought wow that's
really good
advice
just let it
be
so yeah
then I
wrote the
song
title by
Mary
but yeah
her stuff
was very
traditional
and the
only one
thing
I mean I
didn't like
everything we
had because you know typical mean I didn't like everything we had
because you know we're typical kids
I don't like that
the one thing we really
wouldn't go near was
tongue
mum I love you so much
we're having a moment
too Mary
what do you want me to do
listeners
this is a little family dispute.
What's going on here?
I'm sorry, but these women
are completely out of control.
We'll hand you over
now.
Do you two fight at all? Do your family fight?
I feel like you're so polite to each other.
Yeah, occasionally.
But we don't think this is fighting,
we just think we're disagreeing.
You tell me to do the food, you sit on your arse
and then I do the food and then
you're telling me to be quiet.
We'll discuss this later.
I'm sorry about this, listeners.
I think we'll now take
a little piece of music.
Stop trying to get allies, Mum!
No, I wasn't!
Paul McCartney's apologising to our listeners.
You don't realise
this happens in every
episode Paul
where are some of your
favourite spots to go
in London or
you know you have your
place in Sussex don't you
you'd love that in New York
that was a beautiful moment
my wife's from
New York so we eat in New York
but talk about that
I would say the River Cafe
love the River Cafe
have you been since
it's reopened? Yeah
oh lovely
it's all outdoors but it's heaven it's the
ingredients are just the best ingredients and also it's home cooked i actually went there one morning
because i i obviously obsessed with food and um i emailed ruthie rogers and she let the chef there
and she let me go in one morning and i realized just i love to observe things and i just she let
me go in and observe everyone and
I think one of the reasons it's probably one of the best London restaurants is everyone comes in
so whether you work behind the reception whether you're a wait or a chef you they all come in in
the morning they all prep together oh really and they and then she and the head chef sit down and
write the menu each each day um and new so the whole thing also that place in
new york you loved abc yeah there's a great place in new york abcv so the kachina the kitchen or
abc kitchen it's so good it's great but then next door to it he's's made one. The chef is Jean-Pierre or something.
Right.
So the food at ABC is great,
but then he's made one next door called ABCV.
How good is this food, by the way?
This is great. Can I just interrupt to say thank you?
It's delicious.
Thank your mother, because this is the recipe.
No, it's really nice.
It's so delicious.
And it's perfectly spiced.
It's not, because you don't like too spicy, but it's got enough of a kick. Yeah. Thank you. It's so delicious. And it's perfectly spiced. It's not because you don't like too spicy,
but it's got enough of a kick.
Thank you.
It's delicious.
No, thank you for making...
I mean, thank you, Mum.
Sorry.
Thank you, Mum.
It's delicious.
I love you very much.
I appreciate you every single day.
You need to appreciate your mum.
I do.
I do.
The argument has finally subsided.
You can add conflict resolution.
I'm going gonna provoke them again
in a minute don't worry um so mary where are some of your favorite spots in london
i love river cafe as well i love a friend of mine has a restaurant which i really love called
pharmacy with an f f am which is a vegan restaurant in notting Hill but also it's got a really great cocktail Bar Lenny's and actually
you don't know this they on my
serves out my cooking show I did
these smoky dogs
which are these homemade so you
can put them in a barn and put all the mustard
and mayo and they're
doing that on May the 17th when everything
reopens they're doing my smoky
dogs on the menu
I've been there a few times doing food tape but I love when everything reopens, they're doing my smoky dogs on the menu. Oh, that's amazing.
I've been there a few times doing food tape.
But, yeah, I love that kind of food because it's... I love, like, food that doesn't feel too righteous.
So it's nutritious, but it can still be like this.
It's like chilli and rice.
And if it's too healthy, I'm just going to want crisps
and a chocolate bar afterwards.
So this is perfect.
I've got a few more questions for you.
I mean, we could carry on, but listen,
I don't want to be like bad fish that's overstayed our welcome
and it starts smelling.
So we didn't get your pudding for your last supper.
Although we don't eat fish, Jessie.
Oh, no, sorry, sorry.
Well, then it's...
See life, not see food.
So get that.
That's getting out have you seen
seaspiracy no i need to see that yeah you do and you don't you maybe just don't eat fish anymore
and then you don't have to watch it okay fine it's up to you you either have to be tortured
and watch it or just say i also made your coconut thing yeah coconut anyway sorry no but i was going
to say so mum mum mum did the coconut chocolate bars for you
that are in the cookbook.
And then I wanted to know,
we didn't get the pud for your last supper.
Now, I don't know if it is going to be the Yorkshire pudding
with the Tate and Lyle,
or you're going to go for a different pud.
It could be the Yorkshire pudding,
and it also could be rice pudding.
Ooh.
I like rice pudding.
From a can? I like rice pudding. No. Why?
From a can.
I like it in the can.
Go on, so do you do fancy pants?
I will say, when we were on hitchhiking holidays as kids,
that Ambrosia cream rice, that was good.
No, mum made a bait, which your auntie Jen taught her.
Yeah.
Well, the thing is, you know, a lot of people think it's like fancy.
And it gets that skin on the top. The skin on the top. Yeah, that's the bit is, you know, a lot of people think it's like fancy. And it gets that skin on the top.
Yeah, that's the bit I like.
Oh, yeah.
But no, in fact, when Linda started cooking,
she asked me, you know, what do you like?
I said, I like rice pudding.
So she looked it up in a recipe, and it wasn't the way I liked it.
It was like a posh French cookbook that had like egg in it and all these.
Yeah, it was actually, yeah.
Do you have a bit of jam on the side?
Yeah.
Yeah.
But I mean, so I rang up my Auntie Gin.
I said, well, she always just made it.
It seemed to be really easy.
So she just took.
She was the matriarch of the family.
Yeah, Auntie Gin.
They called her control
just control control have you spoken to control about this
anyway she'd take a you know like a baking dish kind of thing like a pyrex thing
and she just sprinkled rice short grain rice Short grain rice over the bottom of it.
And then she'd put some sugar over that.
And then she'd just put like a pint of milk over that.
Stick it in the oven.
Loved it.
And, you know, the milk all got soaked up.
Was Auntie Jen quite important?
I mean, I'm sure she was, but when your mum passed away, kind of, you know, she became that figure.
Jen and Millie.
Auntie Jen and Auntie Millie. Yeah. way kind of yeah you know she became that she was and jen and millie and she jen and nancy millie
yeah they came round to the house because we were just three boys with my dad and two boys
and you know it was it was desperate times really because you've you've never heard your dad cry
until something like that happens you know and he's in the next room. You hear him crying, you go, oh, God.
It's so heart-wrenching.
But they used to come round a couple of days a week,
and so they'd get the great cooking,
and they'd clean up and stuff.
Proper feeders.
I went and stayed with Millie and Auntie Gin
when I was, like, 16 with my friend Sue,
and we went, and in the room, you're like the sunny,
they had like the drawers for all the clothes
but the bottom drawer she was like
I've left you some snacks and you pull it open
and it was full of crisps
and snacks
and everything and then she'd like give you
some cash to go down to the chippy at the end of the road
so basically I think I came
home about a stone heavier
from that trip.
And Uncle Harry, they were a nice couple.
He was her husband.
And he was very Liverpool, you know.
All right, I'll have you torn.
All right.
Very thick Liverpool accent he had, you know.
He was a builder.
But he would, in the evenings, you know,
particularly on the day he got paid kind of thing,
he'd come home with loads
pocketfuls of sweets
and Mars bars
and aeros and crisps
and all that
so us kids just loved it
really thank you so much for having us
and letting us
feed you, well it's such a pleasure
last question
to you McCartneys
do you have good table manners
do you think you've got good table manners
I mean look I'm not
Mary's
Mary's poured champagne in her ear
I'm licking my fingers
you know in the movie
Aeroplane when they're like
I have a drinking problem
and he does
I do that all the time
my
I have to say
I think I have kind of good table manners
except I hate it when I cook for people and they just wait for me.
I like people to eat things while they're hot.
Yeah, just get going.
So in that sense, I don't have good table manners
because I'd rather start eating things when they're hot
than waiting for everyone to sit down.
And is it good table manners to wait?
I think that's the American in you i think i like that and i
told you that you're supposed to eat when it's hot yeah and not wait yeah i think it's one of those
really posh yeah you're supposed to eat what kind of you think it is it is aristocratic you know
they eat when they sit down you have good table have good table manners do I have good table manners
I think you've done alright
you have been known to lick the plate
sometimes
if it's good why not
get the last
take the soup bowl
get that
thank you for having us
mum you need to ask these two
what their karaoke song is
do you sing karaoke ever Thank you for having us. Mum, you need to ask these two what their karaoke song is.
Do you sing karaoke ever?
You know what?
Not often, but it's been known. If you had to, what would your favourite song be?
I think karaoke.
Not Beatles.
You're not allowed to choose one of your own.
You're not allowed to do Beatles, no.
I think it'd have to be My Way.
Oh, would it?
And now that time has come that one yeah because you would be drunk
singing it that way if you were doing i think because i can't get up in front of people and
sing i would have to do it with people quite drunk with some friends and i probably do
we are family or islands in a Stream or something like that.
Oh, yeah, I like that.
And so I'd have to have somebody with me.
Would you?
Yeah.
Because the thing is, I was really excited at Stella's wedding.
Stella's wedding, they had karaoke.
And I was like, I'm going to do karaoke for the first time.
And then Chrissie Hine got up and sang.
Oh, bloody hell.
And then Charlene Spiteri got up and sang.
And then I did not do any karaoke that night.
They should have sat that one out.
I'm sorry.
But the thing about karaoke is the worse you are, the better it is.
So much better.
I mean, if you're a good singer, it's like no point.
Just go la, la, la, la, la.
But if you don't, I love the people who are out of tune.
You know, that's like, this is good karaoke.
Yeah.
I went to this amazing charity thing ages ago at Ronnie Scott's and they did like a charity karaoke and Nick Cave did Bootylicious, which was probably one of the best karaoke things I've ever seen in my life.
He couldn't slow it down either, could he?
Oh, it was good.
Oh my God.
It was good.
Oh my God.
I can imagine how fantastic that was.
Bootylicious had never sounded so profound.
Thank you for having us.
Thank you for letting us be in your lovely offices,
share a meal with you.
I'm going to have one, definitely.
So the book is out.
The book is out.
On the 24th of June, I think.
Yes.
So we've got Meat Free Mondays.
Let's plug Meat Free Mondays.
Linda McCartney Foods.
We've got the new plant-based milks. We've got theays Linda McCartney Foods We've got the new
Plant Based Milks
We've got the new
Linda McCartney
Family Cooking Cookbook
Right
And we've got
My Cooking Show
Mary McCartney
Serves it up
On Discovery Plus
We've covered all
The bases there
Great
And McCartney 3
Out now
And also
The remix
Kind of reimagined
Yeah
The reimagined ones
That Dominic fight.
Oh, so good.
Yeah, Dominic fight's pretty good, isn't he?
Yeah.
I mean, yeah.
All of it.
You're a busy family.
I thought we were quite busy, but yeah.
I think the McCartneys have just trumped us.
Yeah.
Thanks for having us.
But thank you for having us.
Thank you.
Thanks for cooking.
Yeah, really.
Thanks.
Thanks for cooking, Mom. mum i'm just gonna say paul mccartney just had three of your squares ate all your food
had a lovely time mary mary mccartney's a bit pissed now i love it yeah it's when she pulled
i love it that made me happy because when she pulled the... I love it.
That made me happy
because that was like
exactly the kind of thing
that I would have done
if I was able to drink.
They are such a lovely duo.
What a family.
Lovely, lovely family.
I'm not going to lie,
I'm not proud of our little moment.
Sorry, darling.
I'm sorry too.
Listen, listen.
But the thing was,
she was talking to me and I was trying to get food served up. I've sorry too. Listen, listen. But the thing was, she was talking to me
and I was trying to get food served up.
I've got the worst back that ever knew.
And what you don't know is the fucking microwave didn't work.
Did you not know?
So they had to go down to the basement to heat the food.
Oh, mum.
We've got drama going on.
We didn't know.
Drama?
Wow, God.
I mean, do you know, I'm cooking under conditions here listen well it's already bad
tempered with my back in the microwave you didn't even let on to them you are a pro a consummate
professional mum no one knows that you have a bad back that was particularly special not only because
we are now left in paul mccartney's office saying thank you
for coming goodbye and and your child's just been named my child has just been named basically paul
mccartney decided on the name i said well my husband really wants this name he said well
should i just write it and then it's done deal and i thought i'm going to take that leap of faith
because it's paul mccartney so now i have a signed book for my son my future son
and that is the name and we can say that it was paul mccartney a beetle that named you yeah over
shilly non-carny thank you linda mccartney and mary egging him on loved it it felt like we were
in our natural habitat yeah darling it was lovely i very much enjoyed this i've got very
rosy cheeks and i haven't even touched them.
I've got very rosy cheeks.
I think we're all a bit flush from being with Paul McCartney.
A super stocked up.
But yeah, thank you.
I hope you all enjoyed that.
I know that you're all going to live for that argument that Mum and I had.
So Mum has asked for it to come out, but it won't because...
No, Alice will make me not sound too bad.
I was working under the difficult conditions.
I feel like I can breathe now.
Basically, we've had a house party in their office.
Now we're pissing off and it's been fabulous.
And we don't have to wash up.
Oh my.
She said leave it alone.
The music you've heard on Table Manners is by Peter Duffy and Pete Fraser.
Table Manners is produced by Alice Williams.