Meet the Finalists: The Booze Brothers

Next up in finalist introductions is Billy Abbott & Michael Reeve aka The Booze Brothers.

What makes you two the perfect NomNomNom pairing?

Michael: Our joint love of the booze that we are forbidden from including in our NomNomNom dishes!

Billy: I'm not sure if booze is forbidden but we support a responsible attitude to drinking in the workplace, including during lunch breaks. That said, please come and talk to us after work, you’ll find us in an establishment that sells drinks.

What impact do you think social networks and bloggers have had on the world of cooking and/or restaurant reviewing?
Billy: In general it's given many people an outlet to have a go at writing about things they are interested in that they didn’t have before. On the cookery front this has produced generally great recipes and on the restaurant reviewing front a whole pile of jobs for PR people who now need to deal with hundreds of faceless bloggers as well traditional journalists. A lot of complaints have been made that the increase in the amount of content has increased the amount of rubbish in the field (with something appearing from old school professionals once every few months in print claiming that the blogging trend will wash away good writing with a sea of mediocrity) but it's also given us a bunch of great new voices.

Michael: Absolutely - a lot of the best culinary experiences I've had in the last year have been in restaurants that I've only heard about through blogs and social networks, and I'm always finding innovative new recipe ideas online!

What's your most memorable kitchen disaster?

Michael: Thinking "I like pancakes. I like chocolate. Maybe I could put batter and chocolate in the frying pan at the same time." Destroying frying pan.

Billy: Dropping a bowl of carefully skinned and crushed gooseberries two feet onto a table, causing a gooseberry spout to launch from within covering me and the nearby wall in gooseberries. Not that disastrous, but it was during crunch time at NomNomNom last year. We didn't win.

If you were marooned on a desert island, what food couldn't you live without?

Michael: Bacon sandwiches.

Billy: Beer. It's basically runny bread that's gone off, so counts as food in my book.

And finally (aside from bribery), what is the special element that will ensure that your team wins?

Michael: Billy. Unfortunately, he has me to hold him back.

Billy: Michael's misplaced confidence in me.

The Booze Brothers can rest assured that there will be plenty of booze after the cooking is over, thanks to Top 100 IGP France, when the finalists sit down to enjoy lunch.  In the meantime, I'm keeping Billy away from gooseberries and Michael away from frying pans, batter and chocolate.