John Torode banned wife from doing one thing in their kitchen at home

John Torode has also spoken about what he's learnt in the nine 14 years since he met his wife Lisa Faulkner - but the couple don't agree on everything and there's one item that caused a real difference of opinion between them

Renowned television chef John Torode has said there is one thing in the kitchen that he simply cannot bear.

Speaking at the Cheltenham Literature Festival, the 59-year-old admitted that he seriously disliked the humble potato masher.

The Australian-born chef, who became famous in the UK in part due to co-presenting MasterChef with Greg Wallace, admitted that when it came to the business of mashing he preferred using a fork.

John explained why some potato mashers actually make a mash worse rather than better. This didn’t stop the presenter from admitting he’d given one to his wife, actress Lisa Faulkner.

He said: “One thing I cannot bear, but I did give one to my wife recently, was a potato masher....Some of those mash potato mashers, they push the starch down and make it really hard and it doesn’t make a fluffy mashed potato.”.”

John went on to clarify that the best way to achieve the fluffiest mashed potato was in fact with a fork whilst Lisa added that after she married John one of her grandmother’s mashers was thrown away during the merging of their two families.

He recalled: “My grandmother taught me to mash potatoes with a fork and I still use a fork. It’s really the best-mashed potato.”

Lisa, 52, added: “When we merged our kitchens together as a blended family, my two potato mashers – one which was my grandmother’s – was thrown away and I was told ‘you don’t need that…you need to mash it with a fork’.”

John and Lisa’s comments come as the pair continue a successful on-screen as well as off-screen relationship with the continuation of their ITV show John and Lisa’s Weekend Kitchen which has recently commenced its ninth series.

The duo, who married in 2019 nine years after they met on Celebrity MasterChef in 2010 have spoken in the past about the early days of their relationship and their shared passion for cooking.

On how said shared passion makes them feel, they both agree that it takes them to a place of happiness and calm. John told the Mirror: “It’s my favourite place to be. I feel really happy in the kitchen.” Lisa added: “It’s kind of our calm place, isn’t it?”

Whilst both are experienced in their fields, John has said that he and Lisa continue to learn from each other every time they work together. He explained: “My father always said to me that if you go through a day and you haven’t learnt something, a day is a waste. And I learn something from Lisa every day. There’s always something.”

As an example, John added: “I suppose for me, the big thing I’ve learnt from Lisa is that you don’t have to make a chicken stock at home. You don’t have to do all these things and there are ways you can buy little bits and pieces to be able to bring a dish together.”

Lisa concurred saying that she’s learnt a few things from working with John. She ruminated: “He is very methodical. Obviously. He’s a chef. Everything has an order. When he cooks, it’s all very, very neat….With John, everything has its order, its place. He’s got the plates out and everything. If we have people over on a Sunday afternoon, on Sunday morning all the plates are out, ready. Everything’s sorted. So he knows what’s going on.”