Corrie's Malcolm Hebden - give the man a jam butty and he'll be happy

Coronation Street's Malcolm Hebden (Norris) was on Daily Cook's Challenge yesterday, and you can see a video catch-up here. There's also a very funny interview in which he talks about his prowess (or lack of) in the kitchen.

"In the kitchen I'm a total disaster," he admits. "It's background - my parents couldn't cook, nobody taught me to cook, and cooking's moved on so much since I was a child. In those days they put it in front of you and if you didn't eat it then you got it for your tea, it just went on and on until you swallowed it."

His early food memories are a bit alarming...

"I had my first banana after the War, and they had to take me to the doctor's. I came out in spots. So I've always been a bit suspicious - here's a tip for you - you never eat either end of a banana."

Asked about his signature dish he says, "It's just tuna, you can put a hard-boiled egg in, spring onions, capers, and you make a thick paste of it with proper mayonnaise and you wrap it in filo pastry parcels. But you've got to make them thick enough, because if it does show through it looks like frogspawn coming through the bottom. And that's happened more than once. It tastes fine. Or you can put it in a toasted sandwich with lots of watercress or mustard and cress. I'm good at sandwiches!"

And Sue Cleaver is welcome to her foie gras and caviar - for Malcolm the simple tastes are best. "You're not going to believe this, but I think bread, real butter and jam is the best thing in the world," he says. "White bread, or brown if I'm feeling healthy, but truly I would live on jam and bread. I'm like Paddington Bear, though he had marmalade sandwiches. I had one yesterday before I got on the train, white bread and marmalade, and they were all saying, 'You're going to do a cookery programme and you're eating that?' I absolutely love it."

More Corrie kitchen tips and recipes