I am getting very used to the journey between Bodmin and London now as I seem to be making it virtually every week at present. In a way, I don’t mind as it gives me some time to sit quietly, mull things over and dream up ideas for new dishes. I’m not one for having telephone conversations on the train, for one I don’t think other passengers would be very interested in what I have to say about fish prices and the like and also it can be a pain reception-wise, so I take this time to plug in my Ipod (what did I ever do without one?)and sit back to take some time out.
A couple of weeks ago when travelling there, it was a little more lively than usual as I was accompanied by my good friend, Mitch Tonks. We were off to the Groucho Club in Soho, not for a jolly (honestly!) but for the official launch of our new books. The people at the Groucho Club made us very welcome and we had an interesting evening chatting to those who had come to see what we had managed to produce…and eat some examples cooked by us to prove that the recipes really do work!
I am pleased to say that those who have had early copies of my book ‘Nathan Outlaw’s British Seafood’ seem to think it I’ve done a half decent job. I’ve already had some feedback from people who have cooked something using one of the recipes and had good results so I hope that once its published more people will have a go at fish cookery and it becomes the book I want it to be – one that is used and not just left on a coffee table for show. Fish is a great ingredient and we don’t use enough varieties of it in this country.
Something that I’m sorry I missed happened in the kitchen on Tuesday when we took delivery of two huge cod. Apparently, they were so big that there was a constant stream of staff coming to look at them and Danny (of course) proudly showed them off before he deftly gutted and portioned them to go on the menu that evening. I’m told that they were so heavy that Danny had trouble lifting them…perhaps a little storytelling coming into play there? Now, I can hear you tutting about the use of cod but the fact is that in some waters around our coastline they are sustainable, as they are off the Cornish coast and be assured that they were caught according to the Responsible Fishing Scheme, as is all the seafood we use in the restaurants.
Someone we are missing this week is one of our young chefs, Georgie. She is the only female chef we have at present and is proving to be very talented. She is off in France on a gastronomic tour with Cornwall College as part of her course and from the tweets she’s been sending, is having a fantastic time and is particularly taken with the patisserie she’s seen. No doubt she’ll be back next week with lots of ideas to try out on us. Can’t wait!
Finally, I was in again on Monday, but I can’t tell you why at present…you’ll just have to read my blog next week!
