海角大神

Prue Leith, 鈥淭he Great British Baking Show鈥� judge, wears yellows, blues, and reds that are as bold as a Mondrian painting and embody the bright optimism she exudes on screen.

Ms. Leith is perhaps Britain鈥檚 answer to Martha Stewart. By age 29, the South Africa-born chef had launched Leiths, a Michelin-starred restaurant. In 1975, she founded her first cooking school. She later became a newspaper food columnist, cookbook author, romance novelist, and a judge on several British culinary television shows.

Ms. Leith, who was made a dame by Queen Elizabeth II in 2021, is also the author of the recent release 鈥淚鈥檒l Try Anything Once,鈥� an updated version of her autobiography.听

Her latest endeavor is a new iteration of 鈥淭he Great American Baking Show.鈥� Filmed inside the same tent in Britain as the original flagship show, it features American contestants under the watchful gaze of Ms. Leith and her regular judging partner Paul Hollywood. The series will debut on the Roku Channel in 2023.

In the meantime, a celebrity holiday episode is streaming as of Dec. 2 on Roku. Ms. Leith spoke with the Monitor via Zoom. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

The holiday episode features celebrities such as actor D鈥橝rcy Carden听(鈥淭he Good Place鈥�) and football player Marshawn Lynch. It seemed like some of them had never set foot in a kitchen before.

[Paul and I] both enormously enjoy the celebrity shows because we usually film them after a run of the main show. You鈥檙e dealing with nothing but madly ambitious bakers for whom it matters tremendously that they don鈥檛 go home. It鈥檚 a life and death thing for them. And then you get a bunch of celebrities who are in the tent for completely different reasons, usually because they鈥檙e fans of the show. So the atmosphere from the beginning is not so competitive.

What鈥檚 interesting is, towards the end of the two days, every single one of those bakers wants to win!听... [Marshawn] was convinced he was doing everything wrong. He was absolutely sure he shouldn鈥檛 be there. He was really worried. Well, his attitude changed. He was good.

When you鈥檙e judging contestants, you always seem to try to find something positive to offer as feedback. Why?

It鈥檚 quite something to cook something in front of millions of people with cameras on. I don鈥檛 want it to be stressful. I think it鈥檚 so easy for us as judges, because we see so much great baking all the time, to just take it for granted that they can make a perfect sponge or that they can make a really delicious butter icing. The easy thing to do is to look for the problems so that you鈥檝e got something to criticize. I make an effort to remember this is a great bake to start with, and then there鈥檚 something wrong with it.听

Did 鈥淭he Great American Baking Show鈥� contestants bring particularly American flavors to the recipes?听

I do remember having to be educated in one or two types of cake that I wasn鈥檛 familiar with. Americans tend to put a little bit more sugar into stuff. Americans are much more used to chile than we are. Once or twice we get chile that would absolutely blow your head off!

The ovens are in centigrade and the measuring cups are in the metric system. So that must be a bit of an adjustment for the American bakers.听

They will be baking very hard for six months before the show ever starts. You have to work very hard. They will be following Paul鈥檚 recipe books much more than mine, because he does more baking books than I do. So they will be very used to different measurements. I have to say, I rather like your cup 鈥� because it鈥檚 so easy, so quick.听

When you launched Leiths in 1969 was it more difficult then, as a woman, to be an entrepreneur?

I left the Cordon Bleu, where I trained as a cook, and I immediately just started cooking people鈥檚 dinner parties. I was a freelance chef for hire. I鈥檇 always work for myself. The problems for women in the workplace come from their bosses.听

I was always very entrepreneurial. When I opened that restaurant, I was losing money hand-over-fist the first few weeks. I thought, 鈥淚鈥檝e never owned a restaurant. I鈥檝e never worked in a restaurant. What am I doing, thinking I can run one?鈥澨鼳nd so I made a deliberate effort to make friends with some restaurateurs. I found a true and wonderful guy called Joseph Berkmann. He said, 鈥淵ou鈥檙e giving huge portions and people aren鈥檛 eating them all.鈥� I thought because I had a fixed price, that I had to be very generous.听

The only woman running a posh restaurant in London at the time was Madame Prunier, and she was running her husband鈥檚 restaurant. Mine was the first one that was my own restaurant. So I got huge publicity. I filled the restaurant up with people. Gradually we got better at it. And then we got a Michelin star.听

What鈥檚 your philosophy on purpose and meaning and fulfillment?

I was born with this glass-half-full attitude. ... I鈥檓 always keen to know the next thing. If I go to a town, I want to go to the museums. I want to do this. I want to do that. I think the one quality which I think I have developed over the years, which is very useful, is that I鈥檓 quite dogged. You know, it鈥檚, 鈥淚鈥檝e got a good idea; I will stick at it until it happens and I don鈥檛 give up easily.鈥�

鈥淭he Great American Baking Show: Celebrity Holiday,鈥� rated TV-14, is streaming now on the Roku Channel.