One adjustment we made for time was, instead of boiling an egg, we “poached” an egg by putting it in the microwave. Before reading the recipes on these pages, or indeed watching my cooking show, you should be aware that I can’t really cook. Aided by domestic economist Nicky, May is charged with learning fundamental knife skills and simple cooking hacks capable of transforming even the most basic bowl of pasta. It didn’t take long to realise that this was an extended piss-take of Jamie, Nigella, Nigel, Delia et al, and quite a good one at that. His publishing team is even part of the first episode (that’s why everything has to be on white plates, May tells us; book people demand it), sampling his Thai chicken noodle soup and sitting in the audience laughing at the self-referential gags.

I used to occasionally watch a cooking programme and think, 'Oh Gordon, stop being such a big diva, standing around swearing'. Heat a nonstick pan on a low heat, add the remaining oil and fry the burgers in batches for about 5 min on each side until golden. is a foolproof manual packed with more than 60 delicious recipes for even the most basic of home cooks.If you’ve watched the show and want to try the recipes out for yourself, then the James May Oh Cook!

The hook with this brand new series, as suggested by May’s introduction, is that he isn’t even trying to pretend that he’s an expert in the kitchen, even if he then goes straight on to knock up an impressive-looking Asian chicken soup, some “Spamen” (a mix of ramen and, yes, Spam) and a glazed salmon dish. If, like James May, the sight of the kitchen strikes fear into your very heart and you can't identify a spatula from a fish slice - t .They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site.