Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
A self-taught three Michelin star chef whose Fat Duck was named world's best, known for molecular gastronomy.
On the island
Eight records
And my daughter, Jessica, my oldest daughter, bought me this album, this compilation album, for Christmas. And so, one, it reminds me of that time at home of post-operation. ... So it was a fantastic memory. So it's as much about the memory of the build up over Christmas post-op as the track itself.
I think the f film is Fantastic Serge Eleonee and it was his sort of he did all the Fistful of Dollars films and this one was his uh his series Western. It's pretty powerful. But what I loved about the film what I do love about the film is its use of music and the main characters each have their own track.
Love Has Finally Come at LastFavourite
This is actually from a concert at Hammersmith Odeon that my wife and I went and saw. And this this song became our this was our our wedding song.
reminds me I picked this track because right in the early days of The Fat Dark. We actually played some music because it was a converted pulp. And this was one of the tracks it reminds me of. The fonder bits of the early years of the Fed Duck.
I love my car basically and it's a great driving track.
I've chosen it because this the three days that I call it the three days that changed my life I I'd had I bought this album shortly before before that and this track completely reminds me of those three days and in particular when I got back from Spain I got home opened the door sat down and my wife and kids had put their three little gold balloons they they they had those tied onto the chair and there were some cards and the and the times piece in a frame and it just was just lined up and they're all in bed
I chose this for I bought my wife for birthday this year. tickets to Ada in uh Verona. We went for a couple of days and it's only uh the second time we'd been away together in like well, since the kids are born. And it was just unbelievable.
In conversation
Presenter asks
1:20Those three Michelin stars, the highest conventional recognition for a very unconventional chef, what do they mean to you?
Um, I think it's only now just sunk in, to be honest. ... And the six months following actually being awarded the third star, I spent most of the time apologizing to people that literally, I don't know why we've got it.
Presenter asks
1:54Was there a moment in your life that you fell in love with wonderful food?
Yes, it's very, very distinct cemented memory now. I was about fifteen and we'd gone to France and my father had read about this restaurant in Provence. ... and just the whole experience completely knocked me for six.
Presenter asks
4:48Is that science thing all about perfection? Is that about understanding the food and therefore getting it more perfect?
First, you mentioned this term molecular gastronomy. ... And so he advocated the use of some knowledge of some of the science that goes on in the kitchen, because it it's there, it goes on whether you like it or not, it's happening. And some knowledge of that could help us in the kitchen.
The keepsakes
The book
On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen
Harold McGee
it really was such a big catalyst for me. I've read bits of it... I'd love the pleasure to be able to sit down and read it from cover to cover.
The luxury
Tojiro Senko Japanese knives (full set)
They're so sharp when you cut with them you do such little damage to the cell walls. It preserves the whole structure of the fruit and veg.
Presenter asks
16:07In 1986, you read a book [On Food and Cooking] that you say changed your life. What was it about that that so captivated you?
Um it was all about the science of cooking. ... But it took somebody to explain it, to then think. God, that's really obvious, isn't it? But it's only obvious when somebody explains it to you.
Presenter asks
29:59Is there a regret there that you've missed things, that they've gone and you'll never get them back to times with your children and your wife?
Yes, there's a certain yeah, there is. So when uh my kids were putting the decorations up on the tree and I was standing there with my walking stick, my son just turned around and said, This is the first time you've done this. You know, he's thirteen and it's awful. I mean, talk about a big lump in my throat.
“I can remember what I ate, definitely, but it was as much about all of the other sensory hits, the noise of the gravel crunching, glasses chinking and wine being poured, and the smell of the food around and just the the wild herbs around the tables.”
“I had some idea that I was going to go off and do my own self-educational process. and then I will go off and um earn myself uh l some money doing something else and then start my own restaurant. So I'd somehow jump I would jump that um that path and go f straight from A to Z as it were.”
“I was then started to think how many of the other things that I've been reading about are not quite as they seem. Maybe the how many bits of information I read are wrong. So that's where the real catalyst for the inquisitive approach came from.”
“I sat there with this glass of wine listening to that track and it was the probably the only time really I can really truly say I woke up and smelt the roses.”