From the archive (season 4): Graham Norton

Comfort Eating with Grace Dent

Grace Dent welcomes legendary talk show host Graham Norton to discuss the intersection of food, memory, and personal history. The episode tr

Key takeaways

• Graham Norton's ultimate comfort snack is a plain Waitrose scotch egg, which he prefers microwaving for exactly 40 seconds.
• Norton recalls his father worked as a sales representative for the Guinness brewery in Ireland.

Main topics

• Comfort food preferences
• Irish upbringing and family history

Notable quotes

I think we're in national trash territory here.

Conclusion

A nostalgic and humorous exploration of how simple comforts and life t

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:00) This is The Guardian. Speaker 2 (0:07) Hello friends and buckle up because we have a little treat for you at the end of what has been an absolutely banging season of guests, an autumn mini-series of five of my old favourites. So, as autumn turns to winter, snuggle up, settle in and wallow in this little selection of the most cockle-warming interviews. Here's my chat with the sovereign of the sofa. It's Graham Norman, who came over back in 2023 to chat all things food. Speaker 2 (0:47) It's an overused phrase, but honestly, I think that we're in national trash territory here. Arriving through that very front door, in a moment, we have Graham Norton. He's coming over for a good old chat. Not before I fuel up with a snack. Look. I'm on the last of the Crimbo Ferrero Roches. I'm going to make it into a hot chocolate. It's a little trick. I've been microwaving them and pouring milk, stirring, and basically just mainlining them, just pushing them into my face as quickly as I can. I love a Ferrero Rocher. Speaker 2 (1:36) Graham Norton is an Irish actor, comedian, commentator and presenter. He's best known for his five-time BAFTA award-winning chat show, The Graham Norton Show, which has seen him invite celebrity guests onto his couch for over 15 years. He's an author with four novels to his name. And before all that, he acted in three episodes of Father Ted. Speaker 2 (2:10) Graham is such a staple on our TV screens. We all feel like we know him, don't we? But there are layers of mystery that I want to uncover. Not least, I want to know what this media maestro is munching on when the TV set is shut up for the day and he's back at home on his own couch. OK, he'll be here soon, but first, just a little sip. Mmm! This is why people see me as a pioneer in food. Speaker 2 (2:53) Graham Norton, welcome to Comfort Eating. Speaker 1 (2:56) Thank you very much, Grace. Speaker 2 (2:58) Look, right now I am dressed up to the nimes. I've got some jewellery on, I've got my make-up on to welcome an esteemed guest into the house. The truth is, I am feeling a little exposed though because we go to the same gym. Speaker 1 (3:13) I know, that is embarrassing. Speaker 2 (3:15) Not long ago, you witnessed me with a rather sweaty boob cleavage midway through doing six Bulgarian split squats. Right. And I just think there's something very vulnerable about being seen in very tight lycra. I Speaker 1 (3:31) am so with you. Whenever I see someone in there, I hope, I think to myself, that looks like Grace Dent. But hopefully it isn't. And then I'll say to my trainers, we're kind of pushing something. And then you've got to say hello. But equally, it's weird. It's like we owe each other money or we've had sex or something. It's that vibe. Speaker 2 (3:55) Graham Norton, this is a point in the show where you introduce me to the snack that makes you happy. I do not know what. is under this tea towel. It smells quite nice. There's a nice aroma. Do you want to unveil your snack for me? Speaker 1 (4:16) Well, all I'll say is I listen to this podcast and I think some people try very hard. You kind of think, oh, come on. But this is genuinely something if I'm in the supermarket and I'm going home and I just feel a bit peckish, I know what I'd love. And it is this. It is a very simple scotch egg. Speaker 1 (4:37) Waitrose scotch egg. None of your fancy. Because waitrose have overcomplicated the scotch eggs. There's now kind of sort of Indian summer and weird ham weirdness. This is your plain. And just have a little bit of ketchup. And I like, I mean, today it's your cutlery, but I like to serve it on a small plate with a small knife and fork. Speaker 2 (4:59) So it feels Speaker 1 (5:00) like a tiny feast. Oh, you got me a small fork. Thank you very much. Speaker 2 (5:06) So you feel like you're like a little Lilliputian. Yeah. First a Lilliputian. I'm not sure I can eat this whole egg. It's so big. Alan Speaker 1 (5:17) Sugar has the small fork diet. Speaker 2 (5:19) No. Yeah, Speaker 1 (5:20) it's how he lost weight. He invested in a small fork. So he takes smaller forkfuls and I think gets bored eating. And you know, you can laugh at it. It worked. He did lose weight. Speaker 2 (5:32) Anybody who's thinking that this is like a tiny picnic egg would be mistaken. This is a big, brassy, I'm going to say balls out scotch egg. I'm sensing it's warm. Is it warm? Speaker 1 (5:46) It's been microwaved for about 40 seconds. Oh, Speaker 2 (5:48) heavens above. You've microwaved it? For Speaker 1 (5:50) 40 seconds. Speaker 2 (5:52) 40 seconds, precisely. Well, you Speaker 1 (5:53) don't want to, because if you do it too long, it gets soggy. But you just want to take the room chill off it. Speaker 2 (5:59) Do you half it? You know, you literally get the scotch egg with your knife and fork. I don't think anyone's in the history of Speaker 1 (6:06) Scotland. Yeah, and then I would normally quarter it like that. So then you end up with a feast. A little bit of ketchup and then you just dip and then you go. Speaker 2 (6:18) Look at your face of absolute joy as you put that into your mouth. I'm delighted. It's the fact that the pork's grey. Is that grey? Speaker 1 (6:26) It's not brown, Speaker 2 (6:27) is it? Speaker 1 (6:28) Well, no. It's not pink either. So you're safe. Speaker 2 (6:31) It's like, I think a Scotch egg feels, in theory, it should be nice. Oh, but it's the fact the breadcrumbs aren't crisp. The pork no longer tastes of pork. How long's that egg been in there, though? Who knows? Speaker 1 (6:49) That fascinates me. And how do you cook one? Like, I like buying them and eating them, but how do you hard boil an egg? Do you then put it in raw sausage meat? It can't be. It must be cooked sausage meat. And then you deep fry it or fry it or something. I don't know how you make it. Speaker 2 (7:06) Well, I know that... If you go to a gastropub, then the middle is lovely and runny. Speaker 1 (7:12) Now, how you do that, I don't know. And actually, there are some other supermarkets who have forgotten that. They do a runny one, but they're quite hard to eat on the go. Speaker 2 (7:21) I can Speaker 1 (7:22) shovel one of these in my mouth as I'm cycling. Speaker 2 (7:24) Oh, that's a really erotic thought, actually. Just you, you with the traffic lights, slightly sweating, eating a scotch egg like an apple. Speaker 1 (7:35) Keep my head down so no one recognises me. Speaker 2 (7:37) How long have you been eating scotch eggs for? Speaker 1 (7:39) Oh, a long time. I think, though, since I came to England thing, I don't remember ever eating a scotch egg in Ireland growing up. That's when Speaker 2 (7:51) you knew you'd got to the big city. Speaker 1 (7:52) This is sophisticated. This is sophisticated. This is like, wow, I'm living abroad. Look what I'm having. Speaker 2 (7:59) Your first postcard home. Eggs. Speaker 1 (8:02) Yeah, scotch egg. Of Speaker 2 (8:03) course, I know it is a scotch egg. That's where they're from. Yeah, that's where they're obviously from. Yeah. Let's go back to those days in Ireland. You were born Graham William Walker on the 4th of April, 1963, to parents Billy and Rhoda. You grew up in the town of... Bandon in County Cork, along with your older sister Paula, take us back to those early years of your youth. What did Bandon have to offer to Graham as a young boy? Speaker 1 (8:36) I mean, very little, to be honest. It was just, it was like a waiting area. It was like a departure lounge is what it was. And it was as much fun as a departure lounge. I really was just waiting to go. You know, I would watch telly and that was my departure's board. That was where I was heading. Speaker 2 (8:57) If there was one show playing on this television in this imaginary departure lounge that made you want to leave, what is the show? Speaker 1 (9:07) In a way, it could have been anything. Because I watched whatever was on. We only had one channel and I watched it all. But I suppose the big hitters... would have been things like Charlie's Angels, Chips. Speaker 2 (9:22) I remember Chips because that was two absolutely gorgeous men on motorbikes, wasn't Speaker 1 (9:28) it? Speaker 2 (9:28) And then Charlie's Angels, just gorgeous women being gorgeous and fabulous. Speaker 1 (9:33) And of course, it's that funny thing, when you're in Ireland, you think you're watching American television. Speaker 2 (9:37) And Speaker 1 (9:38) it's only when you get to America, you realise, oh no, it's California. Yes. This is where they make everything. Speaker 2 (9:43) What were your mum and dad like when you were a little boy? They were kind of... Speaker 1 (9:46) getting on with it they were kind of making sure that me and paulo were being you know clothed watered and fed um did they both work no my dad worked for guinness uh the brewery oh um he started off as a service rep and then he was a sales rep moved around a lot and here's the weird thing now that i'm well i'm 59 i think he took early retirement at 50. Speaker 2 (10:13) I mean, Speaker 1 (10:13) I can't imagine just packing up tools at 50. Speaker 2 (10:18) And Speaker 1 (10:19) he didn't really have any hobbies or anything or interests, it seemed. Speaker 2 (10:23) So Speaker 1 (10:24) I think it was quite hard for my mother after that. Speaker 2 (10:27) Did they know you were going to go? So you're a little boy and you say you're waiting in the departure lounge. Did they encourage that or did they try and... Speaker 1 (10:36) I think they tried to manage my expectations, you know. Speaker 1 (10:41) I would say, and this sounds like they were bad parents and they really weren't. This was all done with love. I think they sort of bred us for failure because that way you would never be disappointed or upset. Speaker 2 (10:56) Mealtimes back then when you were a little boy. Were they a family affair? And what was on your plate? Speaker 1 (11:04) They were very much a family affair. It was all, you know, the four of us sitting down together. And I was kind of growing up in, you know, coming to that, being aware of what I was eating, sort of late 60s, early 70s. And so there was a change. Speaker 1 (11:22)