I have a fantastic team of chefs around me They rise to our daily challenges and they always overcome them. They expand their knowledge in many ways, like reading and eating-out and they take new team members under their wings and they are pushing forwards with great focus, ensuring we can always deliver that wonderful experience that all our guests receive at The Bath Priory. And, it’s all done with a smile... (most of the time!)
The New Year sees Winkie (aka Thomas Hine) heading back to Gidleigh Park as one of their sous chefs.
A strange silence has now fallen into our kitchens at BP. It may be peace and quiet. Winkie goes to learn in a kitchen that taught me much. We all wish him the best of luck.
A strange silence has now fallen into our kitchens at BP. It may be peace and quiet. Winkie goes to learn in a kitchen that taught me much. We all wish him the best of luck.
The best thing about hospitality has to be opportunity. There’s always something new to learn, new challenges to conquer or obstacles to overcome. These are incredibly exciting times. This year sees me become a chef mentor and start my Springboard Hospitality Ambassador training. Asking someone to help to inspire the next generation of chefs is a great compliment and I’m incredibly grateful to Sue for putting me forward for it.
So, the first mentor-day with the young Jack and yours truly. He needed help to prepare for the Future Chef comp. But to be honest Jack already had most of it covered. We had a play. The main was pheasant and then a tiramisu style dessert.
So, the first mentor-day with the young Jack and yours truly. He needed help to prepare for the Future Chef comp. But to be honest Jack already had most of it covered. We had a play. The main was pheasant and then a tiramisu style dessert.
We made a lovely celeriac confit with a little garlic and wrapped the pheasant breast in a bit of smoked bacon. We then had a go at boning out the thighs. All went to plan. Jack made a lovely sauce with white wine. A very tasty main course!! We then realised that we didn’t have then ingredients for the pudding. Damn you sponge fingers! So dessert was an improvised and rushed together tiramisu-style dessert: amazing!
Jack was a pleasure to have in the kitchen. He cooks with real style and confidence. He'll be back soon for a week’s work experience with us. Although he is still at school, he already knows the most important ingredients in the kitchen. TOP LAD!
Talking of top lads... Young Squid (aka Craig Lunn) has been out and about flying BP’s flag high and doing us all very proud. He entered himself into Bath’s under-23 Chef v Chef competition. At 16, that shows some serious balls. We worked on some dish ideas and Craig produced us some lovely plates of food, including a new and rather interesting method of making crème caramels, but we won’t talk about that now.
Young Squid didn’t win but with some fine tuning, he’ll be in with a great shout next year. It did show his amazing drive and self belief. Keep up that spirit and he’ll go all the way to the top. And Gary Jones had some very nice thing to say about him, which was great to hear.
On Friday, 
I eventually had the call I’d been waiting ages for. The veg grower that is Douglas has finally got something worth picking and can hopefully restart our twice weekly deliveries of freshly picked and freshly dug vegetables. All that snow and sub-zero cold had killed all the beautiful black baby leaf kale, so it was a happy day on Saturday when fresh leaves arrived in our kitchen once more.
I eventually had the call I’d been waiting ages for. The veg grower that is Douglas has finally got something worth picking and can hopefully restart our twice weekly deliveries of freshly picked and freshly dug vegetables. All that snow and sub-zero cold had killed all the beautiful black baby leaf kale, so it was a happy day on Saturday when fresh leaves arrived in our kitchen once more.
We are also very excited about working with Buttervilla, a Cornish company, who will also provide us with some great little micro salads. Our first delivery looked great and was all very tasty. There are some really interesting products here, so will keep you posted.
Creedy Carver ducks have gone from strength to strength. They now sit proudly on our a la carte dinner menu. It really is an incredible product. Every one that eats it absolutely loves it. What’s more we confit the legs and use them on the lunch menus. Our guests love it, so much so, we need to change the menu tomorrow.
Slow cooked breast of Creedy Carver duckling, orange puree, anise jus, & then, crisp confit Creedy Carver duck leg, spiced cabbage, Puy lentils, anise jus.
A fun and fast start to the New Year was had and with Alistair coming up from Gidleigh Park to take on the sous chef role here, the future looks exciting!
Time short. It’s the 14th. The ladies need to be wooed and Niall and Vike (aka Ben) can’t do it alone!!! even if the Vike has had himself a nice new hair cut!!
Onwards!
