Feedback with Tom Kerridge

From acting as a child in the 90's to owning the first pub ever to hold two Michelin stars.

Tom Kerridge's journey has taken him from a childhood in Gloucester, to his first roles in professional kitchens in London under chefs Philip Britten, Stephen Bull and Gary Rhodes. With six restaurants under his keen eye and his ninth book Real Life Recipes just published, we caught up with him to talk about his passions in food and cooking and what he likes to eat after a hard day in the kitchen

What food always reminds you of your childhood?

Tinned corned beef is something I always think of being a kid in the 1980’s. I remember eating corned beef sandwiches with English mustard on hot crispy rolls on a Saturday night in front of the telly, it’s definitely a childhood memory for me. It must have English mustard with it though.

You have an allergy to shellfish, how do you manage to incorporate them into your restaurant menus if you can’t taste the dishes?

To be honest that’s all about teamwork and the people you’ve got around you. We have people who’ve worked for us for well over 15 years and every head chef in the business has been with us for over 10 years so we’ve been working to our own personal and professional standards for a long time. Just because I can’t eat a lobster dish they are not going to let standards slip

Do you miss shellfish or were you never a big fan?

I loved it, although I’d always been allergic to crustacea (lobster, crab, langoustine etc), but  it moved over the last maybe 15 years, to mollusc; so mussels, oysters, scallops which used to be okay aren’t any longer. So yes I do miss it, but there’s plenty of other lovely things to eat

Do you have a current favourite restaurant or type of restaurant?

There are so many amazing, brilliant places to eat, but probably my best mate and great chef Paul Ainsworth has a brilliant pub called The Mariners down in Rock, Cornwall. It’s just simple but beautifully executed, good, fun, pub-style food. It’s an amazing setting and if your down in Cornwall it’s one of those places that ticks all the boxes

What food or ingredient could you not do without?

To be honest it’s a food type, and it’s dairy, I absolutely love it, and it’s because it’s got so many different components and flavours. You can add things to it to make it rich, indulgent and creamy. Things like cheese, if you think of all the different flavour profiles and power you get from cheese, whether it’s saltiness that comes from Parmesan or Roquefort cheese, or  that kind of punchy, pungent kick you can get from washed rind cheeses or blue cheeses and the way you can add that to different dishes. Then the versatility you have with something like creme fraiche, so for me, dairy as a product and food type is the thing I think is amazing and an ingredient that I use so much

It’s 5 years since you wrote your dopamine diet book, do you still stick to it or is a diet you come back to every now and then?

I vary it. It was the main way I lost a huge bulk of weight, 11-12 stone, by being on a low carbohydrate diet, concentrating on what I ate and how I exercised, I was on a process. Now I suppose I try to maintain it and it depends on how I train and what I am aiming for in the gym. When I was going for big weight lift and dead lift, I was eating all sorts and everything, I was bulking and getting bigger. Now I’ve done that I will go back to eating normally - don’t get me wrong, I’m still a massive bloke, but I’m never going back to putting that 12 stone on again. I do try to stay relatively low on the carbohydrates though.

When you get home after a long day of cooking for everyone else, what’s on your plate?

Very easy for me, cheese and grapes, quite simple. Some nice cheese a few grapes and that’s it - no cooking, no nothing, just a really nice easy to do snack that’s super tasty

Is there a particular memorable meal you can remember eating?

I’m very lucky, I’ve travelled all over the world and eaten in many different places but one of the best dishes I’ve had was some tacos in Tucson, Arizona. Just this little, battered old taco shack that I don’t think you would ever normally choose to go to. It was unbelievable, the flavours were fantastic, you couldn’t replicate it anywhere else because of the bit of kit the guys were cooking on. The best way I can describe it is like when your nan used to say never wash your Yorkshire pudding trays, just wipe it out. It’s like a whole shack that had been cooked in for over 20 years and just wiped down a bit, all that flavour, history and heritage was in these tacos it was just absolutely delicious

You recently launched a £15 set lunch at the Coach, Kerridge’s Bar & Grill and The Bull & Bear - how has that been received?

It’s gone down really well, all the restaurants have been very busy across the board. It just helps to create a really good energy and vibe; we’re constantly hearing about what a nightmare everything is and how dark the world is, so it’s a way to add a bit of excitement to everything. It creates a buzz and not just for the guests but for the staff as well, I think it’s good for them to feel they are part of a vibrant place

What would be your last supper if literally anything was available to you and where would you eat it?

It would be fish and chips and a can of Lilt! Probably sitting on the beach at Whitstable

Real Life Recipes by Tom Kerridge is out now (£26, Bloomsbury Absolute).