More than one in 10 Brits have had an accident in the kitchen or damaged their home while trying to copy top TV chefs, new research has shown.
The moves, which have wracked more than £5 billion worth of damage to UK homes, are more often than copied from shows such as Saturday Kitchen and Great British Menu.
A study commissioned by insurance company esure found that despite 73 per cent of people deeming themselves ‘amateur’, ‘novice’ or even ‘useless’ chefs, three quarters of people would still attempt a complex culinary technique.
The methods found to cause the most accidental damage in the kitchen were fast chopping (77 per cent), deep frying (48 per cent), steaming (37 per cent), tenderising meat (31 per cent), and skewering (27 per cent).
Roasted peppers and crème brûlées topped the list of most dangerous dishes, as over a third of amateur chefs would consider using a DIY large-scale version of a blowtorch to replicate these dishes after watching celebrity chefs on TV.
More than a quarter of those consequently caused damage to their kitchens, utensils or themselves in the process.
One in five households have a TV in the kitchen and 62 per cent prefer to attempt re-creating a dish in ‘real time’ along with the chef.
Consequently, a quarter of amateur cooks admit to leaving their kitchens unattended whilst they run into the lounge to catch the next step on television, and 86 per cent admit they have carelessly left something cooking on the hob while doing so.
One in 10 home cooks have even been injured when running from kitchen to lounge in order to copy recipes from the TV - in fact, 34 per cent of those admitted to having slipped on peelings and spilt liquids in the process.
Celebrity chef Tony Tobin from the BBC’s Ready Steady Cook, said: “It’s great to see that kitchens across the country are becoming hubs of creative cookery - fuelling a passion for food and the growth of the dinner party. However, all celebrity chefs have had years of training and people at home must remember this when attempting to recreate any dishes they see on TV.”
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