Pat Chapman

Patrick Lawrence Chapman (20 December 1940 – 22 July 2022) was an English food writer, broadcaster and author, best known for founding The Curry Club. He wrote many books about curries.

Early life

Chapman was born in London

Career

Chapman frequently demonstrated curry, held regular curry cookery courses and took small groups of curry enthusiasts to India to visit a region and sample its cuisine. From 2008, Chapman was an active member of the Army Benevolent Fund committee, specifically to help with fund-raising for their annual Big Curry event.

For the 2010 National Curry Week celebrations he was commissioned by Cobra Beer to create recipes which add spice to top British Regional favourite dishes.

From 2012 he was a trustee of the Cobra Foundation, an independent charity supported my Molson Coors and Cobra Beer to distribute funds to young people in South Asia by providing health, education, community support.

Chapman appeared on British television many times, including on the shows Who'll Do The Pudding?, This Morning, Food and Drink, Great Food Live and Good Food Live. He had a regular spot on the Good Morning with Anne and Nick show.

Awards

On 17 November 2019, Chapman was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Asian Curry Awards from the Asian Catering Federation, of which he is the longstanding Chairman of Judges. However, since he was too ill to attend in person, fellow judge George Shaw accepted the award on his behalf saying, "Everyone who works in the curry sector owes Pat a huge debt and never has a Lifetime Achievement Award so been richly deserved."

On 22 November 2020 it was planned that Sanjay Anand of Madhu's Caterers and Restaurants would present this Lifetime Achievement Award to Pat Chapman in conjunction with Yawar Khan owner Akash Tandoori Restaurant, Wallington, Surrey and founder The Asian Catering Federation and Awards. The ceremony to present the award was cancelled as restrictions on gatherings were in force due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The award was delivered to Chapman's home.

Works

Chapman's first cookery book, The Indian Restaurant Cookbook, was published in 1984 and is still in print. Chapman wrote some 36 books, with international sales exceeding 2 million copies. Most are on curry, but some of his other books cover cuisines such as Thai, Chinese, Middle Eastern and International spicy cuisines. His Balti Cookbook was the first on the subject and became a Sunday Times Number 1 bestseller.

Books

1984 Curry Club Indian Restaurant Cookbook, Piatkus, London 1985 Little Curry Book, Piatkus, London 1986 El Librito del Amante del Curry, Spanish version, pub El Cuerno, Madrid 1988 Curry Club Favourite Restaurant Curries, Piatkus, London 2004 Modern Indian Cooking, republished by John Blake 1989 Sainsbury's Curries, Octopus, London 1989 Curry Club Chinese Restaurant Cookbook, Piatkus, London 1989 Curry Club Middle Eastern Cookbook, Piatkus, London 1990 Curry Club Vegetarian Cookbook, Piatkus, London 1991 Curry Club 250 Favourite Curries, Piatkus, London 1993 Curry, Human & Rousseau, South Africa 1993 Kerrie, in Afrikaans, Human & Rousseau, South Africa 1993 Curry Club Vindaloo and other Hot Curries, Piatkus, London 1993 Curry Club 250 Hot and Spicy Dishes, Piatkus, London 1993 Curry Club Tandoori and Tikka Dishes, Piatkus, London 1993 Curry Club Balti Curry Cookbook, Piatkus, London 2006 Modern Balti Curries, republished by John Blake, London 1994 Sainsbury’s Balti Cookbook, Martin Books, Cambridge 1994 Curry Club Book of Indian Cuisine, US edition, Prima New York 1995 Curry Club 100 Favourite Tandoori Recipes, Piatkus, London 1995 Pat Chapman's Quick and Easy Curries, BBC Books 1995 Curry Club Quick After Work Curries, Piatkus, London 1995 Meatless Indian Cooking from the Curry Club, Prima Publications 1996 Quick After Work Curries, US edition, Fisher, Tucson, Arizona) 1996 Curry Club Bangladeshi Restaurant Curries, Piatkus, London 1996 Curries - Masterchef Series, Orion, London 1996 Pat Chapman's Thai Restaurant Cookbook, Hodder & Stoughton, London 1997 Pat Chapman's Taste of the Raj, Hodder & Stoughton, London 1997 Sainsbury's Quick and Easy Stir-fries, Martin Books, Cambridge 1997 Homestyle Middle Eastern Cooking, Crossing Press, Berkeley, California 1997 Masterchefs (Compendium volume), Orion, London 1997 North Indian Curries Classic Cooks, Orion 1997 Pat Chapman's Curry Bible, Hodder & Stoughton 1998 Homestyle Indian Cooking, US edition, Crossing Press, Berkeley, California 1998 Pat Chapman's Balti Bible, Hodder & Stoughton 1998 Pat Chapman's Noodle Book, Hodder & Stoughton, London 1998 Classic Cooks (compendium volume), Orion, London 2000 Pat Chapman's Vegetable Curry Bible, Hodder & Stoughton, London 2000 Petit Plats Curry, French edition, Hachette Marabout, Paris 2005 New Curry Bible, republished by John Blake 2007 India: Food & Cooking, New Holland, London

Good Curry Guides

Chapman built up a database on Indian restaurants with a team of some 60 reporters who visited restaurants all over Britain. In 1984, this led to the publication of the Good Curry Guide, a critique of the top 1,000 UK curry restaurants. It has been sponsored by Cobra Beer since 1992, and was cited by the Oxford English Dictionary for usage of the noun balti house

1984 Good Curry Guide, Curry Club 1987 Good Curry Guide, Piatkus, London 1991 Cobra Good Curry Guide, Piatkus, London 1995 Cobra Good Curry Guide, Piatkus, London 1998 Cobra Good Curry Guide, Hodder & Stoughton, London 1999 Cobra Good Curry Guide, Hodder & Stoughton, London 2000 Cobra Curryholics' Directory, John Blake Publishing, London 2001 Cobra Good Curry Guide, Simon & Schuster, London 2004 Cobra Good Curry Guide, Curry Club, Haslemere 2007 Cobra Good Curry Guide, John Blake Publishing, London 2009 Cobra Good Curry Guide, John Blake Publishing, London 2010 Cobra Good Curry Guide, John Blake Publishing, London New cover same text as 2009. 2013 Cobra Good Curry Guide, Curry Club Publisher, Haslemere — Complete rewrite.

DVDs

Pat Chapman's Curry Magic (2006)