Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
A Michelin-starred chef known for his legendary dishes and fiery temper, who owns restaurants in London and Glasgow.
On the island
Eight records
YellowFavourite
We always drive home between two and three o'clock in the morning and I'm always over Battersea Bridge or Chelsea Bridge and it's just we go to Helenbach every day and it's just a really nice way of finishing the day and it relaxes you.
Thad was involved in music um in a big way and he played alongside Marty Wilde on a few occasions and he used to ask me along to come and listen to him, which I was not interested at all. But the fact that this guy that he was playing with had a daughter called Kim Wilde really, really excited me. Sadly I went to listen to him twice, she didn't turn up.
Blondie, great pin-up. I had a picture of her on my wall. I remember my folder. There's another picture of her inside there. But it was a great soul. Great girl.
Quite an eerie record for me because it's by Tina Turner, simply the best, and it's the record five to three on a Saturday afternoon at Ibrooks that gets played whilst the players are running out the tunnel to play for Glasgow Rangers.
First serious girlfriend, her name was Helen, she was with me throughout the sort of Rangers saga and she bought this record for me.
(Everything I Do) I Do It for You
We had a very special uh wedding at Christmas back in nineteen ninety six, and we had three hundred guests. It was just a great um day because normally in weddings they get slightly stuffy in the afternoon and because everyone's wondering what should we do. Should we go home, should we change, we go back to the hotel? But no. Half the guests all went down Regent Alfer Street. Christmas shopping. Came back after a fantastic lunch cooked by Herbert Berger and Tana and I song was by Brian Maddens, Everything I Do is For You.
Tom Jones Sex Bomb, and it's the first ever song I heard Megan sing. She's four in May, and she is a little sex bomb, curly hair, blue eyes, and doesn't take flat from anybody.
We have good days and bad days in in cooking and my job is to keep the mistakes in the kitchen. And when you've had a bad day and you've had twenty five vegetarians walk in unannounced, this is a song that just puts it all into text.
In conversation
Presenter asks
0:30Is it true that you've never eaten in your own restaurant?
No, you can't eat in there, no. ... Well the first question you get asked of course is that you shouldn't be here, you should be behind the scenes. But that doesn't really bother me really because it's nice to see the delight and the joy on the customers' faces.
Presenter asks
8:58Were you frightened of [your father]?
He changed through drink and you just see a a character forming of ugliness and someone that is not.
Presenter asks
9:49Do you think you get some of your aggression from your father?
A combination of my father and my determination.
Presenter asks
12:51What happened [to end your football career at Glasgow Rangers]?
I got my first team games. I was with the first team squad. I played um three first team games and and then I had a really bad injury. I had my cartilage removed and three months after that particular operation I tore my ligament, my crucial ligament, which just not every ounce of confidence in me.
The keepsakes
The book
Anthony Bourdain
He's done what no chef has ever had the balls to do, to give a proper insight to the hellish environment uh that kitchens have uh still today. And you can never get bored reading it. And um Certainly not for the light-hearted vegetarians. Please don't go there.
The luxury
Something incredibly um sensuous and something you never get bored with. A fresh vanilla pot And when you look at these obscure, long, ugly sticks Bootlaces, exactly that. You've got no idea of the impact it has on making a wonderful English custard. Flavouring a fish stock with fresh vanilla and caramelizing the sea bass with crushed new potatoes with a light touch of um vanilla fish stock. Mind blowing.
Presenter asks
14:30What was the effect long term on the family [after your football career collapsed]?
Yeah, I mean then you we found out that dad had been seeing somebody else and it was all um very messy and Ronald got involved with some guys that were smoking drugs or whatever, and and the whole thing started to disintegrate. And I carried that burden on my shoulders because I felt that that was uh my fault. It's so I needed to do something completely different and get out of that situation.
Presenter asks
21:32Why do you have to bang on and on and rub these people [in your kitchen] into the [ground]?
But it's not ... kitchen is you need to drive. And can you imagine one hundred pound a head? Three Michigan stars and you've got three or four tables turning up late. You've got one lady who has dietary requirements being a vegan or a vegetarian and you've got to create this special menu instantly. ... It's huge pressure. And then and you don't run a kitchen and when you've got two minutes and you've finished your cigarette, please pass me the CBAS. And when you've done that, then be a good boy and steam the spinach. And then would you like to pass me the salad? No. I mean, you have to drive it. It has to be given. That push and kitchens are boisterous environments. There's huge amounts of insecurity throughout every cook that works in kitchens.
“I'd never be able to relax in the dining room atmosphere, known full well that I'd be too obsessed with what's going on the plate, is it seasoned properly, is the beef cooked to perfection, you can never relax in that kind of environment.”
“I look at a l a lot of young chefs today that get bored doing those menial jobs and peeling shallots, picking salad, popping feves are the fundamental ... techniques of great cooking from an early age.”
“I had the problem that I could never come to terms with the pressure from home. And everyone thought that Rangers was the pressure, but it wasn't Rangers the pressure. It was going home to that environment where everyone was expecting me to go on and do great things. And I felt awkward. Because I didn't deliver.”