The chef at Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s wedding has given her take on the duchess’s cooking skills.
Clare Smyth, the first woman in the UK to win three Michelin stars, spoke about Meghan’s talent in the kitchen to The Sunday Times.
“She’s pretty good at filleting a fish,” the chef said. “Meghan is actually really good at cooking and she’s creative, with a good palate.”
Smyth is making an appearance in the second season of cooking show,With Love, Meghan, which comes out Tuesday on Netflix.
In a forthcoming episode, Smyth — the owner of Core, a three-Michelin-starred restaurant in Notting Hill, London — teaches the Duchess of Sussex how to make a “very healthy poached halibut with seasonal vegetables and bone broth.”
Meghan first worked with Smyth in 2018, when the chef cooked for 200 guests at Harry and Meghan’s private wedding reception at Frogmore House in Windsor. Since then, the two women have formed a friendship.
When asked if she would consider Meghan a friend, Smyth said: “Yeah, I would do … I’ve known them for a long time. We stay in contact.”
Meghan “personally reached out” to Smyth to be on With Love, Meghan when it started filming its first season, but they “couldn’t get the timings to work.”
However, the stars aligned late last year, with Smyth flying to California to be on the show.
“The idea was to teach Meghan how to do fine dining and what goes into that, rather than just something you can make at home,” the chef said, noting she and Meghan went to a fish market to buy fresh halibut and picked herbs and vegetables from the royal couple’s home garden in Montecito.
“It was about showing her that level of detail and giving her tips on presentation and skills … she was really interested in that,” Smyth added.
According to the chef, Meghan wanted to make Smyth’s special sourdough that’s served at Core, which the duchess “loves.” However, Smyth told her the bread would be too tricky to make, since it requires a 20-year-old starter.
“I told her the process would be too long for the show,” she explained, noting that they instead made Parker House bread rolls, another beloved dish at Core.
The duchess released the trailer for season two of With Love, Meghan, earlier this month. The clip, set to “Rockin’ Robin” by Bobby Day, shows Meghan cooking, making pottery, and doing art projects with friends and family.
The trailer also revealed the guest line-up for season two of the Netflix show, including model Chrissy Teigen, designer Tan France, and renowned chefs like José Andrés, David Chang, Samin Nosrat, and Christina Tosi.
Days before the trailer came out, Meghan and Harry announced they have signed a new “multi-year, first look deal” with Netflix.
“My husband and I feel inspired by our partners who work closely with us and our Archewell Productions team to create thoughtful content across genres that resonates globally, and celebrates our shared vision,” the duchess said in a statement, to The Independent.
A string of future projects from Archewell Productions was then announced, with season two of With Love, Meghan being followed by With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration, a special episode scheduled to air in December.
When Meghan launched the first season of her Netflix show in March, the program received scathing reviews. In her one-star review, The Independent’s Katie Rosseinsky called the show “queasy and exhausting.” She also said it “simultaneously strains for aspiration and relatability in a way that never gels.”
A month after the show aired, Meghan confessed to The New York Times that she still has more to learn about cooking. She admitted she barely used the two pizza ovens in her home. And when she used the ovens to make sourdough bread, she was not a fan of the results. “There are professionals who do that better than I ever will,” she said.
