Shaun Rankin: The yum factor needs to triumph over the wow factor
The award-winning Michelin chef on why style over substance is bad for cooks
Michelin-starred Great British chef Shaun Rankin thanks the less than stellar weather conditions in the north east of England for fuelling his interest in food growing up. “On rainy winter days, especially on Sundays, I’d help my mother bake and prepare our Sunday lunch, making the Yorkshire puddings, apple pies and custard tarts. What kid doesn’t love licking the spoon at the end?”
First job
After starting his apprenticeship at the Mayfair in London, Rankin worked at the Black Bull in Moulton, north Yorkshire and Chicago, France, and Australia before finally relocating to Jersey sixteen years ago, where he won his Michelin star in 2003 at Bohemia, rated one of the top restaurants in the UK by the legendary Egon Ronay. “No matter what how I ranked in the kitchens I was working at, I was always trying to learn from everyone around me to get to the top of my game, and by the same token, people at home should be constantly gleaning tips and techniques from the people around them to help them improve.”
Planning for the seasons
One of Rankin’s pet issues is championing seasonal, local produce and he sees it as the responsibility of all chefs, both in restaurants and on telly, to get the message out.“You can’t brainwash people into doing it; they’re either interested or they’re not. But using the excuse of they’re too busy to think about it is a load of cobblers. If you plan and shop properly, it’s cheaper and healthier than bad decisions made when you’re hungry.”
Style over substance
Rankin also rails against cookbooks from famous chefs that are churned out and those who focus on style over substance.“A lot of recipe books now are tested by home economists and then when readers try them, they fail because the weights and timings are all out. If, as a nation, we want to encourage people’s confidence at home, getting recipes tested by cooks at home is vital as they ask questions and point out problems that might not otherwise have occurred to us. Last year, when I released my book, Shaun Rankin’s Seasoned Islands, rather than replicating the successful recipes from Bohemia, I wanted to use accessible ingredients and educate people about combining flavours in easy-to-follow recipes. Hats off to Jamie for his earlier books, but when food starts being about weird and wonderful scientific processes and looking nothing like it’s natural state, rather than simply enhancing its natural flavours, it may arouse people’s curiosity while at the same time intimidating them.”
Rankin's basics
Rankin recommends always having these store cupboard ingredients to hand: Maldon sea salt, lemons, limes, good quality olive oil for dressings and frying, and fresh herbs like thyme, rosemary and garlic. “You can do so much with these basic items including marinating and making ceviches. I also can’t live without my Thermomix, which is like an all-in-one cooking station – it chops, mixes, makes soups, and a thousand and one other things, which matches its price tag!”
Rankin himself is partial to eating simple food made with good ingredients, like a club sandwich, charcuterie, and tapas – “I’m more of a grazer as I just don’t have the time to be sitting down for anything longer.” His pet peeves are glacé cherries, force-fed chickens (‘the water content is huge”) and frozen fish (“we never have any frozen meat, poultry or fish at home or in the restaurant”). “As far as the restaurants in the area are concerned, we eat a lot of snails and frogs legs, but that’s quite normal. When I was in China, I’ve eaten locusts – you’ve just got to close your eyes and think, ‘Mmmmm crispy chicken.”
Choosy children
Despite his professional credentials, Rankin isn’t immune to every parent’s nightmare – a fussy eater. “When Ethan was first born four years ago, I made all his purees, which he gobbled down, and when he moved onto solids, he loved salmon and beetroot, couscous, quinoa, you name it! But then we had a setback for two years after he developed a throat infection and all he would eat was cheese and Marmite sandwiches. We’ve really had to train him gently to regain his confidence with his food. We were told to just let him get on with it and eventually he’d come back round. Now, I’m just like, ‘Eat some pizza, I don’t care, as long as you’re eating!’”
What's next?
After representing the southwest in 2009 for BBC2’s Great British Menu, for which he made the winning desert of treacle tart with Jersey clotted ice cream and raspberry coulis and releasing his book last year, what’s next on the agenda for Rankin?
“We’re working on starting a cooking school here at Bohemia, similar to what Raymond Blanc has done at the Manoir. Jersey is like my own nine-mile kitchen garden, so foraging and collecting the ingredients before returning to the kitchen would be key. I also want to pass on as much of my expertise as possible, so I’ll be continuing to develop more interactive recipes and demos for the Great British Chefs website.”
If you have an iPhone or iPad you can download a host of Shaun Rankin's recipes, along with dishes from 11 other top chefs. Visit www.greatbritishchefs.com for more details.
Competition
To win one of two signed copies of Shaun's book tells us in the comments below what recipe from lovefood.com's recipe database you'd cook for Shaun if he came for dinner and why.
Terms & Conditions
This competition is open to all UK residents aged 18 or over who are registered users of lovefood.com. To register, visit https://www.lovefood.com/login/register
1. All entries must be submitted below by Monday 31st October 2011 to be valid entries.
2. Third party registrations will not be accepted.
3. The draw will be made by Wednesday, 2 November 2011.
4. There are two prizes of ‘Shaun Rankin’s Seasoned Islands’ for two winners.
7. The winners will be chosen by the editor.
8. No alternative prize is available and the prize is not transferable.
9. lovefood.com reserves the right to publish the user name of competition winners.
10. By entering the prize draw, entrants agree to be bound by the rules and by other requirements set out in promotional material.
11. The promoter (lovefood.com) reserves the right to amend the terms and conditions of the prize draw or cancel at any time in the light of fraudulent activity.
12. This competition is only open to residents of mainland UK as delivery of the competition prize will only be to an address in mainland UK and will not include the highlands and islands.
Want to hear more chef talk?
Daniel Galmiche: A fresh take on French home cooking
Comments
Be the first to comment
Do you want to comment on this article? You need to be signed in for this feature