Lochgreen House Hotel - 20th November 2006

Press Coverage

SLTN Catering & Hospitality, January 2007 – 13 PDF format
SLTN C&H – REPORT – The Scottish Chefs’ Conference

From The Herald Tue 21-Nov-2006
Full article in PDF format (opens in a new window)

They're the kings of the kitchen. But who dares take their crowns?

Take four top chefs and add youthful enthusiasm plus quality training to get a delicious result.

By Jennifer Cunningham

IT HAS been a good year for Scottish cooking. With Edinburgh and Glasgow both in the top five towns and cities for eating in the UK, Andrew Fairlie named as the chefs' chef of the year for his work at Gleneagles, and the setting up of a Scottish Food Scholarship, the reputation of Scottish catering as shortbread and soggy, overcooked vegetables looks like ancient history.

Yesterday, 220 of the best Scotland has to offer in the catering trade, from the top names to those aspiring to follow in their footsteps, gathered in Troon for the first Scottish Chefs Conference. They were determined not to rest on their laurels but infuse the ambitions of the next generation with an inspiring mix of culinary verve and a judicious seasoning of common sense.

It was the subject of training that caused passions to run highest. Acutely aware of the importance of good food to Scotland's growing tourist industry, the men and women responsible for the reputation of our restaurants and hotels lamented the lack of good staff and the opportunities for career advancement required to keep the best.

Fairlie and Martin Wishart, with three Michelin stars between them, called for a new qualification in practical cooking skills instead of the wider-ranging courses in catering, which include serving, now offered by colleges. They say celebrity chefs may have generated interest, but have also given a false sense of what is required to join the profession.

"The demise of the City and Guilds qualification was the death knell of training for cooking, " says Fairlie, who now has two Michelin stars at Gleneagles, and whose cooking for the G8 summit last year brought a personal congratulation from French President Jacques Chirac, just a week after he had described British food as "the second worst after Finland".

Fairlie would like to see the industry and the further education bodies get together to set up a new qualification. "We now have SVQs (Scottish Vocational Qualifications) and apprenticeships, but they don't give the same level of craft training. Education and the industry need to join up. Training is now very under-resourced. I would love to see an education system that gives a practical qualification in cooking. It may be difficult to set up on a UK basis, but there is no reason why we cannot do it in Scotland, " he says.

He was backed by Wishart, holder of a Michelin star and The Herald's cookery writer, who added that the industry has made a start by establishing a Scottish Food Scholarship. "It is open to all young people under 28 working in the industry in Scotland, and the first one was awarded this year. We have set it up to nurture talent among young chefs and the first winner, Kevin Sutherland, from the Balmoral in Edinburgh, will spend two weeks in a Melbourne restaurant next year and a week in my kitchen. There is lots of enthusiasm, as we have already received 70 applications for next year's scholarship."

Nevertheless, he wants to see much more focused training at an earlier stage for young chefs. "We need to develop cooking and management skills separately from the serving side of the industry, and we need to teach people about the fresh ingredients in this country. We should also take the focus away from celebrity chefs and show young people that they need to put in years learning basic preparation. Young chefs want to become stars within two or three years, but anyone in that category has put in years of hard graft. Eating is becoming more important to the tourist industry, and if we want to encourage people to come into the industry we need to look at their training, " he says.

William Pike, executive chef at the Lochgreen House Hotel in Troon, escaped the heat of the kitchen to lecture students in the art of cooking for 12 years, but then found himself drawn back to the stove. As a result, he is evangelical about training and his idea of gathering some of Scotland's top names and aspiring young chefs together found ready listeners. A wet Monday in November was the only possible date and so hotels and restaurants from Skye to the Borders were abandoned as their cooks congregated at Lochgreen House. They marvelled at dishes ranging from a braised pig's head with lightly-fried ears to a creamy Guanaja milk chocolate and raspberry mousse.

Tom Kitchin, the latest young pretender to take Edinburgh by storm, Wishart, Fairlie and William Curley, supplier of patisserie to the cognoscenti including Mick Jagger, demonstrated their skills to a rapt audience. Pike, as the host chef, pulls out all the stops for a dinner which showed off a formidable battalion of expertise. That starts with liquid canapes, which he describes "taste and slug", with a haggis ball followed by a whisky sauce or melon and mango gazpacho. Then there's delice of confit duck and foie gras with kumquat and orange preserve and port wine reduction, followed by pan-seared silver sea bream served on an Arran Bay scallop, and crab cake with gingered langoustines and Oriental dressing. Palates are cleansed with crab apple sorbet with liquid apple centre in a blown sugar apple before the main course of medallion of Caledonian crown beef. The real point, behind the adjectives, is that this is best Ayrshire beef and all the other ingredients, with the exception of the exotic, are local.

First-class Scottish-reared produce is the mantra of this conference. There is an acknowledgment that consumers are increasingly demanding fresh produce. Fairlie welcomes what he sees as the fashion for talking about the seasonality of food, but says Scotland has always had fine seasonal produce. "My mother cooked seasonally without thinking about it and you always looked forward to the first Ayrshire potatoes. The difference is that the range of what is available has quadrupled."

Wishart recalls his mother's "fresh stews" while Kitchin, returning to Scotland after 12 years in France, rejoices at the quality of fish he gets "straight off the boat".

Kitchin knew he wanted to be a chef at the age of 14, when he had a part-time job in a kitchen in Kinross. His skills were honed by learning his craft in the kitchens of masters such as Guy Savoy and Pierre Koffman.

Koffman was also mentor to a young Curley, who landed in Gleneagles "by accident" after college. He had no idea what he wanted to do until he tried a cookery course at college because it seemed more interesting than anything else. Now his enthusiasm is as inspiring as his skill. A warm aroma of sugar, hazelnut and chocolate wafts out of the conference room as Curley says: "I can tell by the feel of it that it is about 85C. A good ganache when it's warm will be smooth, shiny and pleasing to the eye."

Suddenly the prospect of years of "hard graft" seems enticing.

Reproduced with permission from The Herald (Glasgow) Newsquest (Herald & Times) Ltd © Newsquest Media Group Ltd.

How they cracked it

Martin Wishart

Left school at 15 and got his first job as kitchen apprentice before working under luminaries including Albert Roux and Marco Pierre White. Worked in Michelin-starred kitchens around the world and opened Restaurant Martin Wishart in 1999. Won a Michelin star in 2001.

Tom Kitchin

His first break came when he was a teenager in Kinross in the kitchen of a local hotel, then at Gleneagles. That led to an apprenticeship, after which Kitchin learned his trade with some famous names. Opened The Kitchin, Leith, this summer.

Andrew Fairlie

Born in Perth, Fairlie's first job was polishing glasses aged 14. He worked for free in the kitchen at weekends; then, after passing his exams at 15, started an apprenticeship. Five years later he won a scholarship to study under Michel Guerard. As executive chef at One Devonshire Gardens, Glasgow, Fairlie was awarded a first Michelin star in 1996. Opened Andrew Fairlie @ Gleneagles in 2001.

William Curley

Brought up in Methil, he has recently opened his own patisserie in Richmond, London, with his wife. He trained with Pierre Koffmann, and Marco Pierre White. They won two gold at this year's chocolate awards.