Whenever I can, I get my culinary kicks watching BBC’s Saturday Kitchen, either live or the ‘Best Bites’ – a selection of the best bits of the show hosted by popular TV chef James Martin. With 3.5million watching, I’m not alone, but I’m probably the only one to have my original 4B pencil sketch signed by him.
My culinary curiosity continues. This time it’s Chef from “Hell” Gordon Ramsay. His TV programmes, including Hell’s Kitchen, Hotel Hell, The F Word and Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares have made him a household name. In fact, it was his shows that cemented my interest in cooking and celebrity chefs.
Gordon’s restaurants have been awarded 15 Michelin stars. His signature establishment restaurant ‘Gordon Ramsay’ has held 3 Michelin Stars since 2001.
Gordon has become famous for his use of expletives and fiery temper – a reputation built upon his goal of culinary perfection and probably influenced by previous mentors, including the equally pugnacious Marco Pierre White. But on my sketch I got the other four letter word, so I guess he liked it.
The Little Paris Kitchen is a big news, not only in Paris, but worldwide. Drawing on my gastronomical vice, especially TV cooking shows, I’ve continued my series of celebrity chef sketches.
This time it’s Gallic culinary artist, London born Rachel Khoo, who arrived in Paris four years ago after completing an Art and Design degree form Central Saint Martins to study patisserie at the Le Cordon Bleu (The Blue Ribbon), the world’s largest hospitality institution.
Her father is Malay-Chinese and her mother is Austrian so food was always an important part of Rachel’s life with her mixed cultural heritage creating some interesting family meals. “In Malaysia, they don’t ask how you are, they ask ‘have you eaten?'”she said in an interview.
With a degree in pastry she set up the French Capital’s smallest restaurant – La Petite Cuisine à Paris in her 21sq m flat in the hip Belleville District.
It could only host two diners at a time, but when a new lunch date advertised people responded within 20 seconds. I love the show. It has great production values, set in a picture-postcard artist’s garret, fun to watch, snobbish, great food present with infections enthusiasm by Rachel. She demystifies French cuisine by giving traditional dishes an ‘alt-Brit flavour’ and a fun, fresh approach. I recall the episode when she collected honey with a distinctive ‘city’ taste from the beehives on top of the Grand Palais – formidable!
Bon Ap! as Rachel would say.
Combining two of my vices – drawing and watching cooking programmes on TV – I decided to draw a few of my favourite celebrity chefs. Rick Stein was the first. I sent this sketch to him at his flagship, The Seafood Restaurant in Padstow on the northern Cornish Coast and he sent it back quicker than you could boil a lobster.
He’s been on our TV screens for the past two decades with that happy laid-back demeanour. He also sells seafood by the seashore, and more. His empire includes The Seafood Restaurant, S Petroc’s Bistro, Rick Stein’s Café, Stein’s Fish & Chips, a cookery school, accommodation, a gift shop, a deli, a patisserie, a fishmongers and The Cornish Arms pub in nearby St Merryn… and no Rick Stein at Bannisters in Mollymook in NSW, Australia.
Rick has to be credited for single-handedly reviving the British seafood industry. Padstow is now a popular tourist destination. His impact on the local econmy has led some to call the once sleepy Cornish fishing village ‘Padstein’.
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