Saturday 25 October 2014

Oils Well That Ends Well

I couldn't leave Greece without blogging about one of my biggest pet hates in the food world. No, not olives - I love olives. Not even olive oil per se, but cooking with olive oil. I would hazard a guess that most people reading this blog have cooked with olive oil at one time or another and perhaps half cook with it all the time. I absolutely don't blame you - it had been marketed extremely effectively and relentlessly since around the 1960's. It's packaged well, in a glass bottle rather than plastic, it's a gorgeous colour, it smells and tastes brilliant and it costs more so it must be good. And it's healthy, right?

Don't get me wrong, I agree with all of the above - it's hard to beat flavour-wise and equally it's hard to beat in its raw state, so it's perfect for dipping bread, making salad dressings or even drizzling over your favourite [already cooked] pasta or a rack of lamb for example. Particularly extra virgin olive oil has one of the highest concentrations of monounsaturated fat, which actually reduce cholesterol and help to maintain joint, heart and brain function.

However, the key thing to note about oils is their "smoke" or "burn point", which causes these fantastic beneficial compounds such as monounsaturated fats and antioxidants to degrade and break down. Also to note - the oil is burning, so it is creating smoke containing carcinogenic toxins and other harmful compounds. So what are the "burn points" of various fats?

  • Extra virgin olive oil - 160 degrees Celcius
  • Butter - 177 degrees Celcius
  • Virgin olive oil - 190 degrees Celcius
  • Sesame oil - 210 degrees Celcius
  • Rapeseed oil - 238 degrees Celcius
  • Sunflower oil - 246 degrees Celcius
You will have noticed that I included butter. Burnt butter [beurre noisette] is a prized element of classical French cooking, which gives me a good opener to mention that things won't harm you in moderation. It's when we cook with them incorrectly all of the time that they become a problem. Water, our staple of life, is toxic to us in large quantities. I saw a chef once fry something in butter and extra virgin olive oil. When asking him why, he quite rightly replied that he wanted to have the taste the butter but didn't want it to burn, so the oil would increase its burning point. It's a common technique, but not with olive oil please...

There is a grey area - slow cooking with olive oil, sub 160 degrees. In my mind this is fine and I do it on occasion. It is important to note that the heating of the oil will still degrade the monounsaturated fats and antioxidants, but we don't get any of the carcinogenic toxins or other nasties resulting from burning the oil. For something like roasted Mediterranean vegetables, you can't beat drizzling them with a bit of olive oil and balsamic, but cook them low and slow.

So what's the alternative? Well the best news is that it's local, it's British and it's delicious - rapeseed oil. It has a n earthy, grassy quality to it when fried, which gives food a lovely moreish flavour. It's the oil of choice in many top restaurants around the country, with good reason. Rich in the prized Omega 3, 6 and 9 oils (usually obtained as a supplement from that horrific stuff cod liver oil), it also contains lots of monounsaturated fats and Vitamin E, which is a great natural antioxidant. 

We hear this "antioxidant" word a lot and know that it's good for us, but what exactly is it? In simple terms, it is a particle that gets rid of toxins. More technically, it reduces thenfree radicals (toxins) in our body by inhibiting oxidation of that radical with another molecule, turning it into something that isn't harmful. In the case of rapeseed oil, for example, let's say we're serving it as part of a salad full of Vitamin C. The antioxidants from the Vitamin E in the rapeseed, persuade the Vitamin C to give up a hydrogen molecule, which binds to the toxin. 

So just to be clear - I don't hate olive oil, I love the stuff. I just hate seeing it misused. By cooking with olive oil (and particularly extra virgin olive oil), we're not only destroying what we love it for  - the aroma and the flavour - but we are actually reversing the beneficial properties that it gives us in its raw state. It's madness.

Friday 24 October 2014

Perkins Wine Series


One of the perks of a job in this industry is the ever-present opportunity to taste lots of great food, wine, beer and other equally delightful products. On this occasion I was invited to a tasting at my old stomping ground, The Carriage Hall, by our wine supplier Peter Bamford. First off, I must say that one of my favourite ever wines was a 2001 Ken Forrester Grenache-Syrah blend called "The Gypsy". I first drank this in 2005 at a tasting, subsequently buying a half a dozen bottles and true to my style, saving none of them - so a South African tasting was a good start. Equally, knowing Perkins and The Carriage Hall as I do, I knew this would be no ordinary tasting and hearing that it would be guided by Master of Wine Richard Kelley I really, really couldn't refuse the kind offer. My only previous exposure to a Master of Wine was taking my 3-day Wine Diploma at Tante Marie with John Downes, who like all "MW's" knew more about wine than the rest of us know about everything else put together. With a heavily pregnant wife, I decided that my "+1" could only be our resident "sommelier, wine guy/geek/pervert or weinmeister" - we do call him all of the afore - Simon Franklin.

I have to take a minute to briefly introduce Simon as he will undoubtedly make a regular appearance in my blogs. Whilst I know he will utterly hate to be the centre of any sort of fuss, I have to say that it's an absolute pleasure to work with him every day. He will also hate the below photo, which is why it's there. Simon's knowledge and passion for wine is mind-boggling and feeds my own inner-geek. It helps to keep me [in]sane. I'm certain that it won't be too long before he joins the elite class of Masters of Wine or Master Sommeliers himself. Simon has his own wine blog at http://simonpaulfranklin.blogspot.co.uk - please do follow him.



After a brief introduction to  Richard Kelley himself (some of which I will interweave into the below tasting notes), we embarked on our six-wine tour of South Africa.

The Liberator "Francophile" Chenin Blanc, 2012
This was an interesting choice by Peter because it transpired that "The Liberator" (a.k.a Rick) was in fact Richard Kelley. Richard lived in South Africa between 1995-2002, seeing the country and it's wine evolve post-apartheid. As well as basing his MW thesis on South African wines, Richard  the"Francophile" and lover of French-style wines is a big, BIG fan of Chenin Blanc. This wine was sure to be a winner. Back to "The Liberator" for one moment -  "Rick", is Richard's alter-ego. A caped crusader  committed to rescuing wines becoming to a dire fate. Distressed by the amount of wine being blended away or even disposed of, Richard created this brand to give the wines a second chance. With no set formula or price point, Richard chooses only the best wines from the region to showcase. "The Francophile" is the 5th episode in his comic-book series and focuses on showing off wines in his favourite French style. Given that Richard is exhibiting his favourite grapes in his favourite style in this "episode" of The Liberator, he can be forgiven for wandering slightly off-point in not actually saving these particular grapes. Instead, he has worked tirelessly to find the best example of the style and commissioned future production to ensure its sustainability. To the wine itself - I noted a very floral nose, with a crisp, acidic green apple, citrus and mineral palate. The wine is aged in its lees for ten months, in addition to part oak and part stainless steel ageing. This gives a more balanced and subtle oaking. I must admit that I preferred the other Chenin that we tried, but then I prefer the richer style.
Vivino Score - 3.0 stars

The Liberator "Francophile" Syrah, 2012
The second of our caped crusader's latest instalments. This wine was commissioned at De Morgenzon [Afrikaans for "the morning sun"] winery. High in the cool granite soil of the Bottelary Hills,
Richard felt this would be the ideal location to represent the Crozes-Hermitage styly. The vineyard is indeed the first to benefit from the morning sun, which reflects in its dense, fruity character. The nose is strangely floral, with Richard suggesting lillies in particular. The flavour is very much plum and blackberry, with a hint of bitter coffee and a smoky, peppery vanilla finish. The dryness of the tannins balances the richness of the fruit very well. Richard was keen to ensure that the fruit in this wine was pure and naked so it hasn't seen any oak, only stainless steel and concrete tanks. For my personal taste, I felt it needed the oak.
Vivino Score - 3.0 stars

Fable Mountain Syrah, 2012
Peter had certainly given Richard a tough ordeal in his Chenin and Syrah pairings. This wine was another 5* wine in the Platter's Guide - an honour only bestowed to the very, very best. For us it was great - we were tasting some absolutely brilliant wines! Fable Mountain specialise in Rhône varietals and their high vineyard on mountainside shale encourages slow growth, which for me means big flavour. Every day the shadow of the mountain blankets the vines and keeps them cool, which allows the wine's balanced acidity. Great care is taken at every stage of the process, with a gravity-fed system to preserve quality through minimal pumping. All this adds up to a hefty price-tag (circa £40
a bottle) - well worth paying for such a delicious wine. Again, there is a floral nose and distinctly dark berry palate. Rich fruit means a big body, but the slightly higher acidity gave it a much more balanced profile and longer finish.
Vivino Score - 4.5 stars

Miles Mossop "Kika", 2013
This 100% Chenin Blanc dessert wine paired exceptionally with our  treale tart, courtesy of the Perkins kitchen. Since opening his winery in 2004, Miles Mossop has affectionately named his three wines after his three children; Max, Saskia and Kika. Kika, then third instalment, was added to the collection [of wines] in 2009, and was immediately given an impressive 94 points by Robert Parker. The grapes are picked in the noble late harvest style, in three pickings, only when they are ready. The result is a heavily-honeyed wine with a nose of stone fruit and spice, and a distinct orange marmalade flavour, followed by honeysuckle flowers. For me it was just a tad too sickly-sweet, but perhaps the sugar rush could have been the treacle tart's fault.
Vivino Score - 4.0 stars

Adelina Nebbiolo, 2011
Upon careful contemplation we decided that we were still far to sober and that six wines wasn't quite enough for our table. I'm glad we did - Peter sprinted down to the wine cellar and came back beaming with this beauty. Adelina is a small vineyard just south of Clare, Australia. Although I hadn't heard of them myself, few can not have heard of their neighbour Tim Adams. Equally, it turns out that they produce the striking, edgy, quirky and bloody delicious Some Young Punks range, whose labels everyone must have noticed at some point. True to form, this label was awork of art. The wine makers, Col McBryde and Jennie Gardner set up the operation in 2002. Following a trip to Piemonte, they (as most do) fell in love with Nebbiolo. This wine had a delicate but ripe and juicy strawberry and raspberry flavour, with a liquorice and vanilla finish. I was glad that it wasn't as acidic as its Italian cousin Barolo and it boasted good tannin and length. In fact, I tried very hard to persuade both Simon and Peter that we need this wine on our list - something that I hope will still happen. Just look at that label...
Vivino Score - 4.5 stars


Kick Ass Ales


With more small breweries than ever before in the UK, it's not a great surprise that one has made it out to Santorini. What does surprise, however, is just how good this brewery is! Pulling off the main road in Meso Gonia, I was searching for the big industrial unit that I was sure would be the home of Santorini Brewing Company (a.k.a. Donkey Brewing Company). In fact, we almost drove past the brew house, which didn't appear much bigger than any of the other buildings and was whitewashed in the traditional style. Yet we couldn't help but notice the giant pump-clip stuck to the front facade - their trademark - either the result of months of careful thought, or a stroke of marketing genius, or both. Witty, eye-catching and "different", it reminded me a lot of the Blue Monkey brand back home. I'm going to be controversial here and say that branding has clearly worked miracles for Blue Monkey. Whilst I appreciate that they have won multiple awards, including Nottingham Beer of the Year four times, I can't understand how - aside from their dark Guerrilla, I find their beer really average at best. I just don't get it. In a similar vain, my immediate impression of Santorini Brewing Company was that at least if their product was average, I bet their marketing and branding carried them through. Even their slogan "hip hoppy, kick ass ales" was brilliant. 

The brewery is owned by four unlikely fellows - Yannis Paraskevopoulos the owner of Gaia Winery, along with a Serbian Head Brewer, an English ex-buyer for Oddbins and an American ale enthusiast. Their combined knowledge and experience in different aspects of the market seems to have been one of the keys to the brewery's great success. Just like the four carefully selected ingredients of malted barley, hops, water and yeast in real ale, each of these guys was there for a specific purpose.



Stepping inside I was faced with probably the most impressive brew kit I had ever come across. Just  last week I had been chatting to my father-in-law Richard, who owns North Star Brewery in Ilkeston, about changes he'd like to make to his kit "in an ideal world". Literally everything on our "wish list" was on this kit. Two out of two for the Donkey. The layout of the brewery was smart - with a big bar and gift shop stocking t-shirts, key rings and hats emblazoned with the clever branding and (of course) lots of beer, overlooking the second-hand but pristine and mightily impressive bottling and labelling machine.



Around the corner was the main kit - boiling vessel, mash tun, FVs and six smaller FVs for secondary fermentation to occur under more controlled conditions before casking or bottling. The kit was all from an Austrian company [Fleck's] and it was no surprise that the Austrians had thought of everything. If they could make it more efficient, more controllable, more measurable at every stage or more simple they had done it. The thought that kept flowing through my mind is "this must have cost a small fortune..." - it was the Benz of brew kits. Since opening in 2011 they have already had to replace the whole kit, tripling in size to keep up with demand - not a great surprise from what I had seen so far. At full capacity they brew 75,000 litres [just shy of 1,850 casks in our money] of the stuff a year and they still can't keep up.



The final thing to note was that the whole place was spotless. I've been to too many breweries in the UK where I've thought either "do I really want to drink a product made here?", or even as bad as "how have the hygiene regulators not noticed this?". With a long history in the pharmaceutical industry, I'm glad to say that Richard's operation at North Star is similarly carefully managed, but I always thought of that as somewhat of a rarity in the brewing world.



So the beer... I must say that I taste beer just the same way as I taste wine - a set order of characteristics that I go through; colour, clarity, nose and aroma in the bottle, viscosity when pouring, aroma in the glass, [an addition for beer] texture, colour and size of the "head", initial taste [bitter, sweet, sour], secondary and tertiary flavours and finally length and flavour of the finish.



Santorini Brewing Co, Yellow Donkey, 5.0%
This golden beer, their "staple" was exactly what it said on the tin. Just as is the tradition with European lagers, there's no room for wasted effort on wishy-washy sub 4%-ers. This was summarised in another rib-tickling slogan, which amused me for a good few minutes - "people who drink light beer do not like the taste of beer, they just like to pee a lot". Aurora and Styrian Golding hops from Slovenia gave all three beers their characteristic undertone of pine on the nose. The head was a bit "fizzy" for my liking, but fairly characteristic for a paler ale. Not too bitter, as can be the case with overly-hopped pales. Cascade from Oregon brought the citrus hit, along with the more unusual Motneka from New Zealand. There was also a hint of bitter tea in the finish, which can also be attributed to the Sturian Golding. A subtle sweetness from the malt followed, before a long finish that was a bit spicy [possibly from the farmesene in the Aurora hops] and a bit metallic, which I attributed to the local water. One important thing to note is that all of their beers contain no fining or filtering so, while the beers are cloudy, I actually really like this. Despite best efforts, I'm certain that fining beer affects the quality and purity of the flavour so it's nice to have it au naturelle, as it should be.
Vi-beer-o Score: 3.5 stars

Santorini Brewing Co, Red Donkey, 5.5%
As the name suggests, this beer is darker in colour. Chestnut in fact, but that doesn't have the same ring to it in the marketing scheme. Again, cloudy as hell [but we like that...] and an undertone of pine from the Slovenian hops. They also bring an element of ripe stone-fruit and a hint of caramel before the hoppy bitterness kicks in on the finish. This time, the offering from Oregon is the fashionable Citra hop, accompanied by Nelson Sauvin from New Zealand. This combination of hops gives me a flavour described as the bitter oils extruded from squeezing the zest of an orange. Belgian-style yeast makes the whole package more fruity and full-bodied, again with a lingering finish.
Vi-beer-o Score: 3.5 stars

Santorini Brewing Co, Crazy Donkey, 6.5%
This is their Champagne, their premier Cru - and just to make the point clear, they present it in a Champagne bottle. Love it. The beer itself is an IPA. "Do you want to hear an interesting fact about IPA?", the guide gleefully asked. I couldn't resist stealing her thunder and replied "it never made it to India, it was too good.". Damn, should have amused her. That was clearly her party piece... Nothing left to do but taste the beer. In typical IPA style there was a big citrus hit from the Citra and the cleverly selected Nelson Sauvin did actually add a grape or white wine element. This was followed by a spicy tropical fruit flavour [I'd say pineapple] and a hoppy caramel finish. While I'm generally a lover of darker ales, this was clearly a top IPA - smart, sophisticated, cleverly thought through and delightfully presented. It's special and these guys really do deserve all the success that they get!
Vi-beer-o Score: 4.5 stars

Thursday 23 October 2014

Treasures from the Lost City


I've been meaning to start a blog for some time now but time seems to always run away from me. Sitting here overlooking the stunning Caldera lagoon on the Greek island of Santorini seemed like a good time to start - time is in abundance. The vast lagoon itself is in fact the crater of an enormous volcano and the site of one of the largest eruptions on record - an eruption that formed the breathtaking landscape as we see it today and wiped out the Minoan civilisation with a huge tsunami along with [allegedly] the lost city of Atlantis. Whilst the views are certainly astonishing, the food and drink geek inside me was primarily interested in how this all affected the local produce. Santorinians are certainly proud of their food and wine in particular, so I had to find out more.

I must confess I was sceptical about Greek wine. Not because I had particularly heard bad things, but more that I just hadn't heard anything. I had visions in my mind of barely palatable "rustic" table wines, but what I actually discovered was far from that. So why have I never heard of it? Well, I think the Greeks probably just want to keep it for themselves! They have certainly had plenty of time to perfect the process, with excavations of the ancient city of Akrotiri revealing evidence of wine-making dating as far back as the 3rd millennium BC.

The wine is distinctive and unique, just as is the ecosystem here. Continuous volcanic eruptions and flowing lava fields have made the soil particularly absorbing and porous, as well as being full of minerals. Low levels of rainfall require thinking outside the box in order to keep the harvest hydrated and the resulting cliff side vineyards are both stunning and practical - allowing easy cultivation and maximising absorption of water as it flows down the cliff face. Another big success for wine makers results from the trapped humidity and morning dew evaporated from the Caldera. To maximise its effect, the locals have developed a unique pruning method, curling and weaving the vines into a basket shape at ground level. Incidentally, this also protects them from the strong sea breezes, which give the wines their characteristic high acidity.



Argyros Santorini Assyrtiko, 2013
The first two wines I sampled were from one of the oldest vineyards on the island, some parts of which are over 150 years old. Georgios Argyros set up his 5 acre traditional vineyard in 1903, selling his wines at the local market. His grandson Yannis inherited the site in 1974 and since then has grown its size to over 65 acres. Before I begin any brief tasting notes, I must confess from the outset that the vast majority of wines in Santorini are white, which isn't my preference. And they are dry, crisp whites, which if I'm drinking white isn't my preference either. But when in Santorini... Assyrtiko is the indigenous grape variety of the island so the majority of wines produced are either exclusively or a blend of that grape. Argyros' Assyrtiko is taken from a single vineyard in Episkopi Gonia, using 50-60 year old vines. Their low yield produces a big body to the wine and although crisp and refreshing, their acidity wasn't quite as mouth-puckering as the Gaia equivalent, which it describe further down. Robert Parker certainly rates this wine, consistently scoring it in the high 80's and low 90's across vintages. In addition, it bagged a Gold Decanter Award in 2010. I have to say I disagree and that this was the least enjoyable Assyrtiko that I tried - well, it's just a matter of opinion. First off, there was a big unpleasant waft of bottle stink as I popped the [incredibly sexy, black] cork. Once this had blown off, I detected a strong mineral aroma, almost metallic and the wine had a heavy citrus palate. The mineral quality is clearly a product of the volcanic soil and is abundant in all of Santorini's wines. One thing that does strike me about Santorinian wines is the quality of their bottle presentation - whilst I appreciate you should never judge a book by its cover, I do believe that you eat [or indeed drink] with your eyes first so labelling and bottle selection is important. And I supposed the backdrop helps...
Vivino Score: 3.0 stars


Argyros Atlantis White, 2013
This wine was in fact a delightful unexpected welcome drink from our hotel, which I managed to save until day two. Again, Assyrtiko came to the fore and the same citrus and mineral composition dominated the nose and palate. It was just more "drinkable" than the previous wine. Earlier that day, we had visited the Gaia Winery and stocked up with more samples - as we were guided through our tasting at the vineyard we were told to decant the wines just like a red to release the full flavour. With no decanter on hand at the hotel, I decided to re-cork half of the Atlantis and come back to it the next day to see if it made any difference. Did it just! Although the original characteristics were still present, the wine's first flavour had now developed a floral quality, followed by a more tropical fruit flavour, then came the citrus hit, which lingered on as a result of the acidity. 
Vivino Score: 3.5 stars [4.0 stars on second day]

Gaia Thalassitis, 2013
As mentioned above, we took time out of our whistle-stop tour of the capital Fira to head down to the coast and taste some wine at the Gaia Winery. A relatively young venture, it was founded in 1994 by Leon Karatsalos and Yannis Paraskevopoulos, who dreamed of producing award winning wines from indigenous grape varieties. Thalassitis was their first wine and is still a staple of their production, which has grown somewhat from their first run of less than 1,000 bottles. Thalassitis now constitutes the largest proportion of their operation, with over 100,000 bottles out of a total 350,000. It is, of course, made from the Assyrtiko grape and their version quickly rose to the top of the pile in its regard as one of Greece's best whites. Its name, Thalassitis, is taken from the ancient practice of mixing wine with sea water, which I was glad to find no longer occurred, but the vineyard's close proximity to the sea gives it characteristics appropriate to the name. Unlike the previous Assyrtikos, I noted a clear honeysuckle and mineral aroma on the nose. I also picked up a feint sulphurous tinge, which the woman guiding us through the tasting seemed a tad affronted by. On the palate the mineral subsides and is replaced by yellow citrus and just a hint of honeyed sweetness. This balanced its higher acidity, which I assume came from close proximity to cool sea breezes. 
Vivino Score: 3.5 stars

Gaia Thalassitis Oak Ferment, 2013
Giveth wine some oak and Andrij will drink it! This was definitely more up my street. The flavour profile of the wine was largely the same as the previous wine, but the oak ageing gave it better balance in my opinion. The finish was now more opulent and slightly oily, clinging to the palate and complementing the acidity well with a hint of vanilla and even a bit of spice. Although its name suggests otherwise, this wine is aged in a combination of oak and small acacia casks over a period of 7 months, so the oak isn't too heavy.
Vivino Score: 4.0 stars

Gaia Agiorgitiko, 2010
To my surprise, this red was far from the "table wine" that I half expected. I suppose I should have known better by now, but I had been told that similarly to English wine, it was better to stick to white here. Grown at their sister vineyard in Nemea on the mainland, this wine had bold, ripe plummy flavours that gave way to spice and  pepper from it's six months in French oak. The finish was long, with hints of a tannic bite. Scanning back over my notes, I thought it would be perfect with sticky BBQ ribs. 
Vivino Score: 4.0 stars

Gaia Vinsanto, 2004
I'm not sure what struck me as more surprising - that my first 5 star wine was a sweet wine, or that it was from a small Cycladic island in Greece! All I can say is wow! Vinsanto is a local speciality and it certainly is special. Dating back to the 7th century BC, it is still made in a very similar style. Gaia's offering is a blend of mainly Assyrtiko, with Athiri and Aidani. After hand-picking the grapes, they dry half in the sun and half in the shade in order to preserve some of the freshness of the fruit and acidity of the Assyrtiko grape, which gives it stunning balance. The wine is matured in old oak asks for 10 years(!) and with no fining or filtration to tarnish the flavour, the result is brilliant. The 2004 is their second Vinsanto and  with just 2,500 bottles produced (and none available for export to the UK) I feel really honoured to be taking one home with me. Pouring from the bottle it reminded me almost of maple syrup - sweet, thick and unctuous. Flavour-wise I get a really rich honeyed caramel, tobacco and  leather hit, followed by a subtle mineral creeping in towards the long finish, which can't help but leave a smile on your face. At €35 from the vineyard itself, I'd hate to think what I'd be buying it for if I stocked it at the pub, but it would be worth every penny.
Vivino Score: 5.0 stars



Santo Nyktari, 2013
I couldn't leave Santorini without trying a wine from a co-operative. Founded in 1947, Santo Wines is just that and Santorini's biggest producer. In comparison to the other producers that I tried, they champion technology over tradition, which I must confess I sort of like. When cooking, I love molecular gastronomy and all the modern techniques, so why couldn't this be a good thing for wine too? Santo is built on five levels down a hillside, allowing the must to be transported from one stage of the process to another by gravity alone. The lack of pumps not only preserves the integrity and quality of the product, but I imagine it's much more economical, thus securing an additional brownie point. Like the Vinsanto, santo's Nykteri is a blend of Assyrtiko with Athiri and Aidani and I found it much more complex than the basic Assyrtikos. On top of the usual qualities, I picked up a bit of ripe pear and strangely, what I can only describe as some bitter green tea. 3 months in oak (yay!) also gave it a subtle smokiness. Lovely. Reviewers seem to rate it consistently highly and it picked up a Bronze Decanter Award in 2008. I agree - a very nice way to round off my exploration of Assyrtiko.
Vivino Score: 4.0 stars


Wednesday 22 October 2014

A Life of Hospitality

A Life of Hospitality

My first venture into the world of blogging is somewhat daunting! I have always had a burning ambition to write a book someday, making several good starts to the process a few years back. Anyone who knows me well might find this a bit strange as I rarely pick up a book to read, let alone set aside time for writing. I hope this foray into the world of blogging will be a little more successful. The plus-side - it's succinct, manageable, easy to chip away at. The down-side - it's succinct, and I'm a waffler...

So A Life of Hospitality, my first blog title, is me in a nutshell. Just like writing a book, owning a restaurant has been something that I've wanted to "do" for as long as I can remember. I'm happy to report that I'm living the dream - the proud owner and MD of Over the Moon Hospitality Ltd and the wonderful Derbyshire gastro-pub The Wingerworth Pub & Kitchen (www.thewingerworth.co.uk).


But how did I get to this point? Well that's a long story and I must be succinct... I think high school is where it all really began. I went into Nottingham High School top of my class with a scholarship (having turned down scholarships to two other schools) and spent the first three or four years largely fulfilling my potential - good grades, with side dishes of saxophone, piano, guitar, awards for art and literature, RAF cadets, football, rugby and more. We won't go into details of exactly what happened, but let's just say things went downhill a little from there. I sincerely apologise to anyone who had to teach me at through the A-Level years - it's no secret that I may have been a bit hard to handle. In fact, I believe I just about made it to the top of Mr Williams' "Premier League of School Idiots" after I wrote a [what I thought was] a witty satirical essay about him during my 42nd(ish) detention of the year. That earned me my 43rd detention and I'm told it was passed around the staff room a few times. Around the same time I was also told by our Head of Year that I had "until tomorrow to have a haircut, or you're out - Kurt Cobain died 10 years ago and thank God that haircut went with him." To be fair the man had a point and my Drivers License photo still haunts me every single day. Although I blagged my way through my GCSEs with mostly A's after not a single minute of revision, that approach didn't quite work out for my A-Levels. Don't get me wrong, my two B's and a C weren't disastrous, but it didn't get me into my law degree as planned. As a result, I bumbled my way half-heartedly through a horrifically boring Criminology degree (the Criminology wasn't so bad, it was that ridiculous subject of stating the obvious - sociology) until one day I mustered the courage to tell my parents that if had enough and wanted to be a chef.

Immediately good things started to happen. I joined Gordon Ramsay's Tante Marie Culinary Academy (you can find my profile featured on their alumni page, just under Neil Rankin!) and it turned out I was pretty good! I wasn't just passionate, I was obsessed - reading cook books in the library between classes, cooking constantly when I got home, inventing recipes and found myself top of the pile once again. I had classes with Adam Byatt, Tristan Welch, Tom Aitken and Gordon himself, as well as Commis-ing for Michel Roux Jr in the Masterchef kitchen.

Once I gained my diploma I went back to Nottingham and worked my way up the chef ranks in a few great restaurants. By far the most influential chef I worked with was a actually at my first job at Iberico - a guy called Jacque Ferreira. Jacque was (I guess like a lot of great chefs) a moody guy, but he was unreal. I learnt more in my few months with him than with anyone else since.  His food was incredible and he, like me, was really OCD about attention to detail. The saddest thing for me was to find out that he didn't even want to be a chef, he was just saving up to get his pilot's license.

This knowledge sparked a bit of a personal crusade of mine - why do so few people in the UK want to make a career in the hospitality industry? It's a respected career in both Europe and the US so why not here? Too many people see it as a "part-time" job or a temporary fix until they find a "proper" job.  My dream for Over the Moon Hospitality is to employ people who want a career, not just a job and from the outset we began to put all of the processes, rewards, recruitment and training in place to make this a reality. In return I expect the best from my staff - maximum effort every time they put on the uniform. Yes we serve great food and great drinks at The Wingerworth, but the thing that makes you stand out in this industry is great people and great service. I'm sure that I will blog about this repeatedly in months to come.

As I write this, we're making arrangements to attend our first awards ceremony next week as nominees in the Best Newcomer category. I'm proud to be sharing the evening with some of my best employees, as well as my wife and fellow Directors, all of whom have been through a lot this year!

The other big influence on me came from brothers Jonathan and David Perkins - owners of Perkins, The Carriage Hall and Escabeche. Fellow Old Nottinghamians ["old boys" from Nottingham High School], they were just a joy to learn from in my short time as Carriage Hall Supervisor. Everything about the business had to be "just so". Service standards were near flawless and I try to instill as much of this knowledge on my staff as I can. If you dine at The Wingerworth you will see the occasional small "nod" to Perkins, even in the way we fold our napkins. If you work for us however, you will see much more of what I learned there - the "behind the scenes" management processes in particular.
Perkins is also where I met our wine supplier, Peter Bamford of Modern French Wine - we'll be blogging a lot more about his wines later. Recently, Peter invited me to a South African wine tasting at my old stomping ground The Carriage Hall - there will be a blog about that to follow too.

I can't finish this first blog without briefly mentioning the real reason or source for the  blog title - my late grandmother Evhenia, who made a big impact on my early years. Firstly she was the one to teach me to cook with instinct - using a "pinch" or a "handful" instead of a "gram" or "litre" and to check the "taste" rather than the "recipe". She was the first to teach me how to knead bread and although her style was certainly rustic, it was genuine and from the heart. Secondly, although she never worked in hospitality (as far as I'm aware), she was the definition of the word. She was the one who called and held the family together, always with food. Too much food, just in case. There was always someone we didn't recognise at the Christmas or Easter table too - generally people who didn't have a family to spend the occasion with, but she always managed to find someone! A Life of Hospitality - that's what I try to emulate.