Delia Smith has raved about a ‘sensational’ deep fried jam sandwich she has added to the menu at her Norwich City restaurant.
The legendary British chef, 82, admitted she was sceptical when she first saw the unusual sweet treat on offer in a chain of Norfolk fish and chip shops.
Speaking to The Telegraph, Delia explained how she tried the divisive pudding at Eric’s Fish and Chips in the Georgian market town of Holt two years ago.
The sweet treat – which costs £5 – is made up of two slices of white bread with Tiptree’s strawberry jam in middle.
It is then put in the deep fat fryer before then being rolled in sugar and served.
Pictured: Delia Smith pictured in April 2018 during the Sky Bet Championship match between Norwich City and Leeds United at Carrow Road
Pictured: the deep fried jam sandwich was developed by Eric Snaith five years ago. The legendary chef enjoyed them so much that she is now serving them at her own restaurant in Norwich
Admitting that she wasn’t sure if she would like the dessert, Delia said: ‘[It] sounded so unlikely, yet was sensational and quite different from anything else.’
Eric Snaith – who owns the chain of restaurants – said he came up with the ‘intriguing’ pudding five years ago after remembering an old Scouts fried sandwich recipe.
When Delia came into their Holt store with friends, Eric said he ‘assumed she was just being kind’ by ordering all the desserts on the menu.
He added: ‘It’s never been a huge seller for us – but when people try it, they do love it.’
After this, Delia made several trips back to Holt and then invited Eric – who is a season ticket holder – to watch a Norwich City game from the directors’ box.
The chef and her husband Michael Wynn-Jones have been joint majority shareholders of their beloved football club since 1997.
What’s more, Delia also has a restaurant on site called Yellows Bar & Grill. She later asked Eric if she could add his deep fried jam sandwiches to the menu there.
Although the chef said it was a ‘strange’ thing to ask of another restaurateur, Eric was flattered by the request.
Pictured: Eric Snaith outside one of his branches of Eric’s Fish and Chips. He said he came up with the ‘intriguing’ pudding five years ago after remembering an old Scouts fried sandwich recipe.
Speaking to the BBC, Delia added: ‘It was so amazing we cheekily asked Eric if we could serve it in Yellows Bar and Grill to bring it into the city and our customers, just like us, love it.
‘The only way we can describe it is ‘think doughnut, only even better.’
Delia announced her retirement from television in 2013 and says that while she won’t rule out another appearance, she feels ‘a bit too old’ to make more TV.
In an interview with Platinum magazine, Delia said that although she wasn’t bored of her career, she felt that after 50 years in the industry all of her recipe ideas had been spent.
‘It wasn’t that I was bored with it, but I did have a sense that there was nothing more to give,’ she said. ‘Quite honestly, when you’ve produced recipes for that many years, it’s all there.
Delia Smith, 82, has enjoyed a television career spanning four decades before retiring from television for good in 2013. The chef is pictured in 1971
‘Recipes are ten a penny and I couldn’t see any point in spending my life trying to think of more.’
Delia released her first cookbook How to Cheat at Cooking in 1971 and became a household name with her TV cookery shows.
She has since sold over 21 million copies of her recipe books and has seen her name become synonymous with home cooking – with ‘Delia’ entering the Collins English Dictionary in 2001.
The devout catholic and Norwich City shareholder was once deemed so influential on the nation’s tastebuds that the term ‘the Delia effect’ entered the Collins English Dictionary in 2001 after sales of cranberries quadrupled the day after she used them on television.
She was honoured by the late Queen in 2017, receiving the Order of the Companions of Honour for services to cookery.
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