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Susan Brookes (née Walton; born 28 November 1943) is an English television chef, broadcaster and writer. During the 1980s and 1990s, she regularly appeared on the ITV daytime magazine show This Morning, cooking recipes for viewers as the programme's resident chef. The Times (London, England), 28 November 2023, p. 26. NewsBank: Access Global NewsBank
Accessed 28 November 2023.
Her father, John (Jack) Ridgway Walton, originally from Manchester, was an engineering specialist in non-woven fabrics. She attended Langcliffe School and Settle College, where she was banned from cookery classes because she talked too much. Brookes learned to cook at an early age, but had no formal training. She has a degree in politics, philosophy and English.
It was Brookes' idea to have a cookery series "about down to earth food, not entertaining or posh food"; she was told she could present it if she did a screen test, which she agreed to. Her first programme, On the Market, ran for four years, from 1983 to 1987, and took her around the Northern England The series, which developed from "Talking Shop", a slot Brookes had on Exchange Flags, focused on seasonal foods and cooking with bargain buys. "The thing that annoys me about cookery programmes is that they are not the real world. They don't deal with the kind of things that go through your mind when you're going round the shops," Brookes commented, prior to the programme starting. "I'm not an expert myself. I just regard myself as a normal run-of-the-mill cook." In 1986, she began presenting Gardener's Calendar Roadshow, a Granada production for Channel 4.
In 1995, she was the winner of the Best TV Chef in the World award at the inaugural International Festival of Gastronomy in Deauville, Normandy. It was reported that the judges were impressed by a 10-minute taped item of Brookes, resulting in her beating over 40 other TV chefs from 32 countries. Her prize-winning recipe was chicken supreme with cider and apples, using British ingredients.'TV chef cooks up a winner' (1995) Times, 4 April, ^
accessed. Commenting on the award, she said: "Fancy an English chef winning a cookery prize in France! I think the British have learnt from the French through holidaying there, but while their cuisine has made us more adventurous as a nation the French have become stuck in an idea that their gastronomy is carved in stone and not to be developed." Brookes was subsequently president of the jury at the contest.
Brookes has authored a number of cookery books, starting with Brookes Cooks This Morning in 1990. The follow-up, Truly Wonderful Puddings and Desserts (1995), made The Times/Dillons Bestsellers lists upon its release.'The Times/Dillons Bestsellers', The Times
accessed. Her third book, Susan Brookes' Yorkshire Kitchen (1996), had a foreword written by playwright Alan Bennett, a fellow resident of the Yorkshire Dales, who wrote, "Susan's recipes are for good, straightforward, tasty stuff with not a lot of time wasted on exotic garnishes or elaborate presentation. Nouvelle cuisine it isn't, thank goodness."
In 1999, she hosted Susan Brookes' Family Recipes on Granada Breeze with her daughter Gilly, in which they solved cooking problems for families. Brookes has since retired, but contributed a recipe to a local school's charity fundraiser book in 2007.
During the 25th anniversary edition of This Morning in October 2013, which featured appearances from former cast members, it was noted that Brookes was unwell, and she did not take part in the programme. For This Morning
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