About Us

Alex Saidani

About Hairy Bikers Recipes

I am Alex, and I cook Hairy Bikers recipes from a small kitchen in Tunisia. That sounds odd for a British recipe site, so let me explain.

I grew up watching Si and Dave on BBC Two, back when they were riding through the countryside arguing about whether to use butter or oil. I bought my first cookbook, Mums Still Know Best, and the Great Sausage Casserole was the first thing I cooked from it. Twelve good pork sausages, streaky bacon, a tin of tomatoes, and that Worcestershire sauce and muscovado sugar combination that makes the whole kitchen smell like a pub on a Sunday. I made it for six people and ate most of it myself.

Since then I have bought 16 of their cookbooks and cooked from every one of them. My copy of Everyday Winners has a curry stain on the Chicken Handi page. The spine on Great Curries cracked months ago because I open it so often. That is the kind of site this is: someone who actually cooks from these books, not someone who scraped the recipes off the internet.

Dave Myers (1957 – 2024)

Dave passed away on 28 February 2024 after a battle with cancer. He was 66.

What stuck with me about Si and Dave was how much they laughed while they worked. They made cooking feel like something you do with your best mate on a Saturday afternoon, not a performance for a camera. That is the energy I try to keep on this site.

Their final book together, The Best of the Hairy Bikers, was published in 2025. Si wrote new introductions for every chapter, and reading them you can feel how much those recipes meant to both of them.

How This Site Works

Every recipe on this site traces back to a specific source. I tell you which cookbook, which chapter, and what I changed. If a recipe comes from Everyday Winners, I say so. If I adapted their Chicken Handi into a different curry because they do not have an exact version, I say that too and explain what I changed and why.

I cook from these books:

  • Everyday Winners
  • Mums Still Know Best
  • Great Curries
  • The Hairy Dieters
  • British Classics
  • Comfort Food
  • Veggie Feasts
  • Brilliant Bakes
  • Mediterranean Adventure
  • Asian Adventure
  • The Hairy Dieters: Eat for Life
  • Go North
  • The Best of the Hairy Bikers

Living in Tunisia means I cannot always get the same ingredients you find in Tesco. So when a recipe calls for something I cannot source here, I test the substitution myself and tell you whether it worked. That is actually useful, because if it works in my kitchen with local ingredients, it will work in yours with the real thing.

Where To Find the Official Sources

This is a fan site, not an official one. If you want Si and Dave directly, go to them:

I link to these throughout the site because they are the real source. I am just a fan who cooks from their books and writes about it honestly.

Get in Touch

If you spot an error in a recipe, have a question about a substitution, or just want to tell me which Hairy Bikers dish is your favourite, use the form below. I read everything and reply when I can.

    Legal Disclaimer

    HairyBikersRecipes.co.uk is an independent, unofficial fan website. It is not associated with, affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by the Hairy Bikers, their families, their estates, their production companies, or their publishers. All trademarks and copyrights related to “The Hairy Bikers” are the property of their respective owners. All recipes are attributed to their original creators. This site operates under the principles of fair dealing for commentary, review, and personal cooking experiences.

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