6. Classical French Kitchen
So I got myself a job in a classical French kitchen, at a restaurant run by a French family in Yorkshire. It was a good solid foundation. I did everything: butchered the meat, plucked the birds, boned the fish, shucked the oysters... It was a hard time, but an awakening.
Next, I spent two years in the Michelin-starred Arkle restaurant at the Chester Grosvenor, followed by a spell at Winteringham Fields, Lincolnshire, which had two stars at the time. My travels took me to Canada for a year, working at one of the country's best hotels, a five-star Relais Chateaux, but it was after I returned to England that my eyes were really opened.
It happened while I was head chef at the Mirabelle in Eastbourne's Grand Hotel. I took a trip to Paris to eat at Pierre Gagnaire. The experience blew me away! I know a restaurant has been good if, when I come out and I'm walking down the street, I've got flavour memories in my head.
I had a sole dish at Pierre Gagnaire and wow! I can still taste it. That was 2000... the year I woke up... and the beginning of the next big change in my life. Since then, my cooking has been evolving into the modern cuisine that I do now.
The thing about Gagnaire is, he pushes the boundaries of cooking. He became a mentor for me and made me start questioning everything. Up to that point, I did things because that's the way they were done. After Gagnaire, I wanted to understand why.
So, I began to read a lot more on the science of food, by authors such as Peter Barham, and Harold McGee. I was intrigued. I started studying the work of the brilliant French scientist, Hervé This, who wrote Molecular Gastronomy: Exploring the Science of Flavour.
He has worked with a number of chefs, including Gagnaire, and is one of the founding fathers of molecular gastronomy. It's all about breaking things down so you understand them... simple things like crème anglaise. Traditionally, you would split a vanilla pod, put it in the milk and heat, not realising that there is an enzyme in milk which works against vanilla and mutes the flavour. But, if you heat the milk up to 80ºC first and then add the vanilla, the enzyme is killed by the heat, and this allows the vanilla to be absorbed better.
It's such a simple little thing... but only when you know!