Kingdom of Cooks: Conversations with Britain's New Wave Chefs

Introduction

Kingdom of Cooks has been a labour of love. I've spent a good part of 2014 travelling the country from Scotland to Northern Ireland, Wales, the Midlands, the South West, East Anglia, the North, London and the South, eating in restaurants and interviewing chefs at length in order to capture a snapshot of professional cooking in the UK in the mid 2010's.

It's been a journey of over 2000km spread over 11 months during which I ate about 80 dishes, spent more than 20 hours interviewing 14 chefs which resulted in 100,000 plus transcribed words that have required many hours of editing. Let's forget about the number of calories and amount of booze consumed shall we?

I've been passionately interested in food and drink for more than 30 years and writing about it for a decade. In my experience there has never been a more exciting time to eat out in this country. You can trace the roots of the new wave of British chefs to a handful of thoughtful, talented and ambitious London-based cooks of the late 1980's including Alastair Little at his eponymous Soho restaurant in Frith Street, Rowley Leigh at Kensington Place, Ruth Rogers and Rose Grey at the River Cafe and Simon Hopkinson at Bibendum who began to transform eating out in the UK.

Where there was only disappointing trips to identikit Italian trattorias, faux-French bistros, high street curry houses and 'going for a Chinese', suddenly there was a particularly British blend of European and Asian influences that put the emphasis on quality ingredients, previously unheard of regional specialities and the chefs own signature dishes, all done with enormous style and éan.

In 1987, Drew Smith, then editor of the Good Food Guide, used the expression modern British cookery to denote this emerging band of chefs who rejected the constraints of classical French cooking, looking instead to nouvelle cuisine, American 'Cal-Ital' cooking and the cuisines of Japan and Italy. And although the term has become irksome to some, that urge to look beyond the obvious and the accepted that Smith first identified and labelled is alive and well today among the chefs interviewed for this book.

As the excesses of 'molecular gastronomy' have slowly faded away, like the smell of a particularly pungent fart, a breath of fresh culinary air has swept across the country. Where chefs has previously been tying themselves into knots trying to evoke 'childhood memories' in an ever more convoluted fashion, now they are concentrating on the here and now, coaxing maximum flavour and impact from mostly (but not solely) British produce.

Rene Redzepi at Noma in Copenhagen might be an oft-mentioned influence, but the new wave of British cookery isn't about slavish imitation, and rarely strays into the sort of extreme localism of the Nordic school. Global influences are so abundant that the word 'fusion' has crept into my mind, and the conversation, on more than one occasion during the process of researching and writing the book.

As unpopular as the opinion might be, you can't avoid the fact that the largest concentration of great restaurants is in London and two chefs included in the book do cook solely in the capital. But I've literally gone out of my way to show that there's note-worthy stuff happening all around the country.

You might know some of the names in the book from their appearances on TV and you may even have cooked a recipe or two from a newspaper article or even, in the case of the Pennington brothers, a cookbook written by some of the chefs. But for the most part, they are not well known names and that was a deliberate choice. The criteria for inclusion was that the chef should either be in their first head chef position but not working under a more established chef or have opened their first restaurant. Although the age range is quite wide, I've attempted to capture a generation of chefs who've worked for the likes of Raymond Blanc, Heston Blumenthal, Gordon Ramsay, Fergus Henderson and Redzepi, but who are doing something quite different from their mentors.

You will probably have noticed that Mary Ellen MacTague is the only female chef on the list. I would much prefer that wasn't the case but in order to get the right geographical spread, meet the first head chef/first restaurateur criteria and get the right mix of culinary styles it was unavoidable. If Kingdom of Cooks is successful, the next volume will reverse the ratio with a dozen female chefs and one bloke.

Simon Rogan is included as a godfather figure. His name more than anyone else's came up when I asked the question who chefs most admired or where they had eaten recently that had impressed them. Rogan's more naturalistic approach to cooking (albeit one that employs a great deal of fancy pants technology) using organic and foraged produce chimes closely with the food at many of the restaurants included in Kingdom of Cooks.

Kingdom of Cooks was originally created as an interview series to be published on the website of American magazine Food Arts. Sadly the magazine folded suddenly in September 2014 with only half of the interviews published in shortened form. I'm therefore excited to have the opportunity to present all thirteen interviews in their full, unexpurgated form.

Although I take it for granted sometimes, I realise that my work as a journalist affords me privileged access to talented chefs. There is nothing I like better than a good old chin wag about food and drink and that recording some of those conversations in print in full (apart from the scurrilous, unprintable gossip of course) would allow readers in on a chat they might otherwise not be party to. I got the idea from reading Daniel Rachel's wonderful book Isle of Noises: Conversations with great British songwriters. As a former amateur musician, I found the extended interviews with people like Ray Davies and Paul Weller fascinating and though that a similar book on a food theme would be a winner.

The other inspiration for the book was Great British Chefs by Kit Chapman. I bought the book in the early 90's and it literally changed my life. As someone who grew up in a council house in the culinary desert that is Portsmouth in the gastronomically challenged 60's and 70's, reading about restaurants like Simon Hopkinson's Bibendum and Shaun Hill-era Gidleigh Park for the first time was mind bending. It's a brilliantly written book and one I would high recommend tracking down (you can buy it, and the follow up book Great British Chefs 2 for a penny on Amazon).

This book also acts as a short guide to some of the best restaurants in the country (even if one, Mayfields, has sadly closed since this book was written) and a recipe collection, but mostly it's intended to be a bloody good read. If you enjoy it, let me know at andylynes@gmail.com. Follow me on Twitter @andylynes

Chapter 1: Ben Radford, Timberyard, Edinburgh

There's a real 'through-the-back-of-the-wardrobe' feeling when you walk into Timberyard. Tucked away on an Edinburgh back street between a surf shop and a Chinese restaurant, you can't help but be lured in by the huge red painted folding doors. Inside, you find yourself in a Scandinavian-influenced foodie Narnia. The converted 19th century warehouse has an arresting rustic charm, with exposed timber rafters, painted iron pillars and white washed brick work. At night the room is lit by decorative filament bulbs that hang from long wires while during the day, light floods in through a series of large windows and a set of glazed double doors that give out onto the yard.

Timberyard is a real family affair. Owned by husband and wife team Andrew and Lisa Radford, son Ben is head chef, younger brother Jo is assistant manager and runs the bar while sister Abi handles marketing duties.

Tell me about your work background.

I didn't go to catering college. I started part-time when I was in school – working on a Friday evening and on Saturdays for my parents who used to have the Atrium and Blue in Edinburgh. Atrium was open for 20 years and Blue was open for 17 years. I started part-time in 2001 when I was 15 just doing kitchen porter work, so washing the pots and prepping vegetables. When I left school and went to university, I started working on the sections learning the ropes through that.

I finished at university and started working full time in Blue. I did six months in Blue and then followed the head chef who was going on to open up a place called the Jam House. It was eventually sold to a big chain so when he left there, I left as well. I went back to the Atrium and I worked there for a year and a half. I learned the ropes under Neil Forbes, who's the head chef at Cafe St Honoré now.

I then moved to Cafe St Honoré as a chef de partie and stayed there, worked my way up to sous chef and then when the old head chef left I was made head chef. I was there four and a half years.

They've been established for 21 years. It was kind of a French brasserie where you go for a good steak, Montpelier butter and some great hand cut chips and we continued that philosophy but using British produce. A lot of locals that came in where a little bit put out at first because they wanted more French food. And I guess it moved a little off the French theme in that it wasn't Mediterranean veg and things like that being used. It's still doing very well and my wife and I eat there quite a lot, it's a good restaurant.

I learnt the classic French sauces and techniques there and I think that’s quite a good background for a lot of chefs. You can bolt a lot on to that and you can use them and change them, however you like. It was a good starting point.

Have you been involved in Timberyard from day one?

Yes. When we moved in in March 2012 , it was quite a dilapidated building. All the windows were bricked up and there were parts missing in the roof so it was quite a big undertaking. At that point I was working full time as a head chef over at Cafe St Honoré and said I was leaving. The owner said I could drop down to part time so I worked weekends there and through the week here. Myself and my brother were stripping walls and helping with the painting which was great.

All the landscaping in the courtyard was carried out by myself and the Sous Chef, we laid all the slabs and put the gravel in. He was my Sous Chef over at Cafe St Honoré and he went part time as well and on his days off he'd come over and get involved. This was a particularly big job because we had to remove 30 tons of earth because it was just clay and it would just have ponded, so we got a mini digger in and excavated the whole area and then we put 20 tons of new top soil back in.

How does your previous experience translate to what you're doing at Timberyard? Have you brought any of that background into play?

My dad has always been a big advocate of slow food and sustainability and that came through in the Atrium and Blue and that’s where I got the ethos that we try and work with here. But, also, what we were doing at Atrium and Cafe St Honoré was quite different from other restaurants in that we were buying in whole animals and doing all the butchery ourselves and trying to figure out what we’d do with the different cuts. I brought that definitely to here. We’re doing our own bacons and our own hams. We’re doing our own smoking. So, that part of what I learned at Cafe and Atrium has definitely come along here.

It’s strange because looking back a year ago, the food’s changed a lot. When we first opened, we were thinking we'd go in a different direction and just the way it’s evolved we are where we are.

Not that the food we're doing now is fussy but it was simpler, more stripped-back. And I think we have brought it up a level. It’s not fine dining food, we wouldn't want to do that kind of food, both the service and the style of cooking. I think obviously as anywhere we get influenced by what's going on in the food world and that is simplicity-there's not twelve components to a dish there are five or six components and each of them are done well. We keep pushing and keep upping our game each time. I don’t know where we'll be in a year’s time, but it is evolving.

How is it working for your father? How does the professional relationship work relationship?

It just does! As in any kind of business there's always sparks every now and again. I think it’s always that little bit more personal because it is family, but it's absolutely fine. The kitchen is my domain with the guys and we do what we do. I'm sure if we stepped out of line we'd probably be called up on it but I think he’s happy with what we do. He doesn't interfere with it.

Growing up, food was always around us. We were eating out quite a lot and dad was cooking a lot at home. So from the start my brother, my sister and I all had a slightly more unusual upbringing with food, because we were eating venison and a lot of game at home. So, I guess that’s where it started.

How would you describe your style of cooking?

It’s very hard to pigeon hole it. We’ve sat down and actually said, What do we say to people?. I hate words like 'contemporary' and I don't like 'modern' so I wouldn't say modern British or contemporary British. I'd definitely say British. My parents are both English. It comes across a bit in the food, our background, so perhaps 'New British'. I don't know!

Is using local ingredients important to you?

Yes, definitely. We get our veg from Phantassie Organics in East Lothian. They send us twice weekly a list of what's good, what they're harvesting at that time and we base our menus on that.

We use another veg supplier and I talk with the rep who comes round quite a bit. I tell him I don't want anything from outside Scotland although we're a fan of using English carrots and potatoes.

We get the herbs we don't grow ourselves from a chap called Hamish who owns an organic herb farm just outside of Edinburgh. We get quails eggs from his as well-he's got quails and hens and bees actually so we get honey from him and apples as well.

The potatoes we buy are mostly from Carroll's Heritage Potatoes based just over the border in Northumberland. They bring back varieties that a lot of farmers stopped using because it wasn't economical. The last one we used was salad blues which are kind of vibrant royal blue all the way through. If you peel one and leave it overnight the colour will oxidise even more-it’s just an extremely vibrant colour. A lot of people have asked if we dye our potatoes because they don’t believe it’s natural, but it is.

We boil them, peel them and then just cook through with a little bit of butter, lemon juice and a little bit of fish stock just to make a nice a creamy sauce which is delicious.

What about meat?

We get Shetland lamb twice a month during September, October, November and the beginning of December from a guy called Richard Briggs. The lambs feed mostly down on the salt marshes so they're eating seaweed. When we don’t buy in the Shetland lamb we buy a breed called Texel lamb and they're in open pasture and you can tell the difference straight away because the Shetland salt marsh lamb have an almost natural seasoning to them really which is amazing.

Venison is probably a favourite meat-we use a lot of game. During the summer we use quite a lot of beef from Gilmour's butchers and they get it from their own head of Aberdeen Angus cattle. We also buy from Hugh Gasisons who are based up in Perthshire.

When you’re putting a dish together how does that creative process work?

It’s very much ingredient-driven. A lot of the dishes that are currently on the menu are elements from previous dishes. A lot of it is trial and error to be honest. A dish won't go on until we're ready for it to go on, but that's not to say that will be the finished dish. We may turn around after a service or two and say You know what, that's missing elder berries or whatever it happens to be and it does just evolve. The garnish of a vegetarian dish becomes the garnish of a meat dish and that kind of thing.

Where do you begin with a dish, what's the inspiration?

It usually starts with a protein or a core vegetable that is quite interesting and we work out from there and hope it works. On the menu just now there's a salt-baked beetroot with some smoked beetroot and pickled beetroot, pan fried chard - a little pumpkin purée.

There's these great little artichokes that are in the same season as Jerusalem artichoke and they're grown in the UK but they're called Chinese artichokes. They look like a little witchetty grub but they're delicious, taste just like a Jerusalem artichoke, so they're in the dish as well. We've got some great cob nuts coming from Kent which are toasted and cooked off in a little bit of butter with seeds from the pumpkins and then just any leaves that are available.

Are you thinking about your customer base when you're writing a menu – are you thinking 'I have to moderate the dish so that it appeals to a general audience'?

I probably should! But no, we just go with what we want to create. There are people that come in and they don’t get it. We’re not that different really. We’re not doing anything that's too out there but people do come in and they don’t get what we’re doing in terms of the space, they don’t get what we’re doing in terms of the food. They enjoy it but it’s not for them. I think that's the same anywhere really in any restaurant. We don’t moderate what we do. We go with what we’re feeling and hope they’ll like it.

There's no pasta or rice on your menu, what's the thinking behind that?

It helps define what we are. There's nothing wrong with a bit of pasta or rice it’s just something that we don’t do. We don’t do pastries. We don’t do pastas or risottos or bakes or anything like that because we are trying to make British food. We’re not Mediterranean influenced really.

You've said that what you do isn't fine dining but some of your dishes like the ham hock jelly wouldn't look out of place in a Michelin-starred restaurant.

I think with a lot of dishes there is a lot of techniques going on, but you can almost eat them and not notice that, just take it as a simple dish which they are. They are finished in a simple way. The jelly was inspired by a ham hock terrine, so that's a prime example of using what we've learnt over the years. That’s a good little dish that's been on in different forms for a while now.

We buy in whole pigs which get utilized on other parts of the menu. The hocks are salted for 10 days, heavily smoked over beech then slowly cooked for about five hours in water and mirepoix. The meat is then flaked up off the bone. A ham hock is quite big and we'll probably get 30-40 portions out of it The stock's reduced down to both the right consistency and flavour and the natural gelatine within the ham hock sets it in the bowl so we're not adding any bought in gelatine to it. There's quite a lot of salt in that stock just from the curing process so we don't actually season that dish after the initial curing.

There's pickled winter chanterelles and a little bit of the flaked ham hock meat in the jelly and then on top a little more of the meat and mushrooms, a little soft boiled quail's egg, pickled beetroot, croutons and then just garnished with whatever herbs we've for available. There's fresh apple and apple purée with it as well.

Your Shetland lamb is a robust dish and a good example of your use of local ingredients. Can you explain how you put that together.

We pan fry the loin but we don't add any fat because its quite fatty so we don’t cook it in butter or oil. We just start it on low heat and the fat renders out and that what's used