Tom Kerridge Q&A: Best Ever Dishes
The BBC show will see the chef create his 'best ever' versions of some of Britain's favourite dishes such as lasagne and treacle tart.
The first episode showed Kerridge creating party food dishes including crispy stuffed potato skins with roquefort and pancetta, pulled beef brisket with garlic coleslaw and a chocolate tart.
This first episode also saw him visit Brixton market looking at slow-cooked, barbecue-style food and going mackerel fishing off the Cornish coast.
A fortnight ago, Kerridge's Hand & Flowers retained two Michelin stars for the fourth year. He is still the only pub to hold this accolade.
His second site the Coach opens in Marlow in November.
Kerridge will also be presenting the PMA's Budweiser Budvar Top 50 Gastropub Awards 2015. See www.top50gastropubs.co.uk for more information on how to enter.
What are some of the restaurants/concepts most inspiring you at the moment?
The comfort, relaxed dining scene. This is where pubs are doing very well. Simple but strong flavours, using great produce, such as Neil Rankin at the Smokehouse in Islington, London.
Back to basics is at the forefront of what is doing well and pubs are captialising on this with simple ingredients treated very well and chefs not over working dishes but letting ingredients speak for themselves.
The Great British public's perception is changing on what is good food and they are appreciating great trasting veg and slow cooked roasts.
What ingredients are you enjoying working with at the moment?
As its game season I am loving grouse and partridge. Also doing braised dishes and root vegetables which have been slow cooked. It is a great time on year from a flavour point of view. Autumn and winter are very British and the dishes and produces suit pubs very well.
Will any of the dishes on the new show be on the menu at the Coach?
Elements of what I'm doing on the show will be seen at the Coach such as slow cooked dishes, rotisserie dishes with rubs etc. There is definitely a synery between what I'm doing on the show and the offer at the Coach.
What would be your desert island pub dish?
Fish and chips - a beautiful piece of fish, malt vinegar and tartar sauce.
What are the biggest crimes against pub food?
I'm not a massive fan of overly complicated dishes that contain new cooking methods for the sake of it and use expensive kit that doesn't enhance the dish. Over garnishing also doesn't rock my world.
*Tom Kerridge's 'Best Ever Dishes' is on tonight at 9pm on BBC Two for six weeks.
