Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Chef and restaurateur who is the first and only British woman to be awarded three Michelin stars, known for elevating humble ingredients.
On the island
Eight records
So this song is very much from the restaurant. I remember when we opened it and it would come on, the guests were like, Really? Is this a mistake? Is someone playing the wrong thing?
I think this is, you know, me growing up in Northern Ireland, getting into my teens and starting to be a little bit more politically aware and aware of the situation around me.
The sound of my youth at school, Oasis. I've been very lucky in my life and one particular event that I cooked for was a dinner... Noel Gallagher was playing at it.
This does remind me of my time when I'd left home... living in a bedset and it was tough times.
Adele is someone that I admire greatly... we got our MBEs together at Buckingham Palace.
I love listening to this when I'm going to work... my walk on tunes if I ever win an award.
I'm a massive Chrissy Hine fan and this tune reminds me of getting successful.
Circle of LifeFavourite
I just love the words of this song. And it's really a passion of mine travelling and travelling in Africa and going on safari.
In conversation
Presenter asks
0:44Where did the inspiration for that particular recipe [potato and roe] come from?
I grew up on a farm eating potatoes every day in Ireland and my family, my aunt and uncle, were potato farmers. And I remember digging potatoes in a field and it was by the ocean and the soil was thick and black and the smell of the ocean and that really sort of penetrated the soil was the minerality of the seaweed. That reminds me now of home, that dish of the humbleness of eating potatoes every day. It's cooked in butter and we would grow up just eating literally every meal, potatoes, butter, salt and pepper. So the addition of the seaweed and then the roe on the top, we chose herring and trout roe because it's got more texture than caviar.
Presenter asks
7:05Tell me about your sibling dynamics.
I was three, four years younger than the others, so my brother and sister were like ten days short of a year apart. And they were off out at school, and I'd wait for them to come home. So it was also quite lonely missing them. I grew up with that competitive spirit, I guess, against them, particularly with my brother. We both used to horse ride, and we would compete against each other. And because he was sort of four and a half years older than me, it made me quite good. And I think maybe that's where a lot of my competitive spirit comes from.
Presenter asks
The keepsakes
The book
J.R.R. Tolkien
It's just something that I haven't read since I was a kid, but it's probably my favourite book. And I read all of his works as a child, and I love that fantasy in being taken away.
The luxury
boringly, for me, it would be a chef's knife because it's the most practical thing. ... I think a chef's knife is not just a knife, it's a tool that is a luxury.
So let's go back to your first steps into becoming a chef. You left home at just 16 and went to Catering College at Highbury in Portsmouth. How did your parents feel about it?
They weren't that keen on it, to say the least, but I had already actually had figured it all out. I had got an apprenticeship and I was working four days a week and going to college one day a week. My whole goal was to be in the kitchen as much as I could and to get that college finished as quickly as possible. And working where I was working, I was learning so much more in the real life environment than being at college.
Presenter asks
17:49How did someone who's so restless in the classroom go about getting to grips with a whole new language [French]?
Yeah, I mean, it's ironic, isn't it? I always had my sights in working for the best chefs in the world because I thought if I work for the best chefs in the world, then I've got a chance of making it, learn from the masters. And so, after spending three and a half years working with Gordon Ramsay initially in his kitchen, Louis Cairns to me was like, well, it's one of the most iconic restaurants in the world. Back then, it had gold cutlery, gold teapots. It was just incredible. It was the most luxurious restaurant in the world and probably still is today on Monte Carlo Square, owned by the Prince of Monaco. And Alan Ducas being one of the greatest chefs in history. That was my dream. So, how did you do it, and how long did it take? I went to work as a private chef in south of France for a few months to earn enough to pay for French schools. So, I then went into a French school for a month intensively and got fined a Euro every time I spoke an English word. Put myself through the intensive course to get the job at Louis Cairns, and then I continued on.
Presenter asks
22:12In 2016 you left Gordon Ramsay's restaurant to set up your own place, CORE, in London. Did it feel like a risk at the time?
Yeah, I mean it was a huge risk. I had literally come from running the most high-profile restaurant in the world where we had three mission of stars. We maximized all of the guides. I was doing incredibly well and then it was okay, started at nothing. It wasn't a poor budget, but it was compared to what I was coming from, it was a small budget to start up and set up that restaurant. So, you know, I had to write a business plan, get the site. So I was literally going from hero to zero and starting out at the basics again. But we just had to dig deep and do everything we could to pull out all the stops to get open. And it was horrible. I remember, you know, waiter tripping down the steps in the restaurant and smashing into the glass window with plates of food and food just sliding down the glass window in front of the kitchen on the opening night and it was just awful. But I had a really good team around me and that I knew that we would come through.
Presenter asks
25:59In May 2018 you were asked to cook for the wedding reception of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at Windsor. How did it come about?
Meghan was a big foodie, as is Harry, actually, and she had come to eat at call with a friend. And then, you know, the engagement got announced. I didn't really think anything of it. And then the core came. And core being a restaurant, we couldn't cater for that. So we had to start to find someone we would work with. Anton Mozaman was the official royal caterer who had catered for quite a few role engagements. And they said to me, you know, you can choose whoever you want. You don't have to work with Anton Mozamman. And I said, no, you don't understand. I want to work with Anton Mozammer. So this is the guy. This is your teenage hero. Yeah, the first book that I bought, the person's book that inspired me to become a chef and to do what I did. And so I said, no, you don't understand. Yeah, I want to work with Anton. They selected some of the dishes from Cor, but then we also did a little version of their roast chicken as well for their main course. Just phenomenal. I mean, the minute he found out he did all his research about all of my food, all the dishes, and then I had a meeting with him. And, you know, he's in his 70s, and what a legend. And, you know, when you meet your heroes and they end up being what you wish they would be, and he was. A true gentleman, true professional. And I remember on the day, you know, it was about 6am in the morning and it was a beautiful, bright, sunny day. And I had arrived in the car park, and it was a bit of a joke because they always thought I was one of the Royals coming in in my Black Range Rover. And I was waiting in the car park, and Anton pulled in in his Jaguar E-type with his bow tie on, and I just standing next to him at 6am in the morning. Just what a special day.
“I grew up on a farm eating potatoes every day in Ireland and my family, my aunt and uncle, were potato farmers. And I remember digging potatoes in a field and it was by the ocean and the soil was thick and black and the smell of the ocean and that really sort of penetrated the soil was the minerality of the seaweed.”
“I didn't know any different. It was just normal for me. So police stations being covered in barbed wire looking like prisons, you know, seeing soldiers sometimes on the streets with guns. ... I didn't know any different and it wasn't really until I moved to England that I realized that that probably wasn't normal.”
“I think I literally lost my accent within two to three weeks. I remember my mum picking up the phone and saying, You've just lost your accent. I think part of it was on purpose as well because I wanted to fit in.”
“He was a true gentleman, true professional. And I remember on the day, you know, it was about 6am in the morning and it was a beautiful, bright, sunny day. ... Anton pulled in in his Jaguar E-type with his bow tie on, and I just standing next to him at 6am in the morning. Just what a special day.”