Stepping into Bryn Williams' kitchen
What do you need to do to cook a seriously tasty meal at home? According to Welsh chef Bryn Williams, it's all about letting the ingredients do the talking.
It was a class trip to a local bakery that got chef Bryn Williams hooked on food. It was also probably what determined his first job in a local bakery, but not his rise to Michelin-starred cooking alongside the likes of Marco Pierre White and Michel Roux Jr.
Living off the land
Williams grew up on the family farm in Denbigh, North Wales, amongst an extended family of farmers. Even before the tempting sights and smells of the bakery, he learned to appreciate great ingredients out shooting and fishing with his father and uncle.
‘Living on a farm, it made you understand the cycle of the seasons. It was an amazing way of living off the land,’ he says.
Rise to culinary fame
After five years at his local bakery, Williams left for Colwyn Bay’s Café Nicoise, aged 17. Then his career started to rocket.
He went from the seaside to the capital and the kitchen at The Criterion under Marco Pierre White. Three years later it was on to be a sous chef under Michel Roux Jr at Le Gavroche, and then in 2001 he spent time at the Patisserie Millet in Paris, where the Roux family trained, as well as the Michelin-starred Hotel Negresco in Nice.
Williams’ next position was under André Garrett at the Orrery Restaurant in London, from where he moved to open Galvin at Windows with Chris Galvin.
In 2006, he charmed the steely Great British Menu judges, who chose his fish dish of turbot and oxtail to appear on the Queen’s 80th birthday menu. The same year, he opened Odette’s for Vince Power, who he bought out in 2008 to become the chef-patron.
Food for locals
Williams’ aim for Odette’s has always been to run a neighbourhood restaurant. Set in Primrose Hill in one of London’s original dining rooms, first opened in 1978, a top priority was to bring down prices to make it affordable for the locals.
‘Odette’s is set in a village atmosphere, and it’s important to us to be part of that village,’ he says.
He calls Odette’s a family run business, as his father shoots all the game that he serves up, and his menu is quirky, changing all the time (depending often on what his dad has managed to shoot) and with special elements like a full vegetarian tasting menu.
Welsh influences
The Welsh ingredients are the headliners, so expect salt marsh lamb, venison and chickens from the Rhug Estate in North Wales. However, you’ll also see halibut and scallops from Scotland and other top ingredients from around the UK.
Sweet treats
Williams’ days in pastry are also evident from the scrumptious offerings of Lemon curd arctic roll with cranachan and raspberries, or apricot soufflé with chocolate sorbet.
His desserts in his new book, ‘Bryn’s Kitchen’, don’t disappoint either. Waistlines everywhere will be expanding with plates full of buttermilk pannacotta with poached rhubarb and ginger or heavenly pistachio cake and apple sorbet.
The best ingredients
But despite the tantalising recipes, it’s the ingredients that take the starring role in Bryn’s kitchen. Williams’ passion for ingredients is evident and what he’s really trying to get across to the reader is that we’ve got to show our appreciation for how hard it is to raise and grow them in the first place. ‘The star of any restaurant, or dish, should be the ingredients,’ he says.
Cleverly, the book is divided into 20 chapters, each centred on one of his 20 favourite ingredients and Williams’ gives us five different ways of using each. So chicken is transformed into chicken liver parfait, lemon sole becomes posh fish fingers and apples are whizzed up into crumbles and flapjacks.
Something for everyone
For each ingredient there is a simple recipe, like this roast loin of lamb or braised chicken with shallots and mash. Then there are three slightly harder dishes, such as a beetroot tarte tatin, and then it gets cheffy with one seriously difficult recipe to really get your teeth into.
So you can have a stab at braised pork cheeks with ginger carrots or the Great British Menu winner, and Bryn’s signature dish, of oxtail and turbot.
You can pick up a signed copy of his book at Odette’s in London – if you drop by for some dinner. Plus watch our fantastic video of Bryn cooking and talking about some of his favourite ingredients here.
Also worth your attention
Recipes by Bryn Williams
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