LOVE LOCAL
THE FLAVOUR FACTOR
Eating out in the region’s best restaurants is a pastime all foodies enjoy, for the precisely plated dishes, creative cookery methods and unusual ingredient combinations. Head Chef of The Olive Tree, Bath, Chris Cleghorn, explains that great tasting food starts at very rudimental beginnings with seasonality and quality produce at the heart. We spoke to Chris about his love for seasonal cooking, the regional producers that are the cornerstone to all his dishes and how you go about creating next-level fl avour when cooking...
Everything that I do in the kitchen is shaped by the seasons. Using seasonal produce is the best place to start and is never questioned. Even though supermarkets allow you to get your hands on most ingredients all year round, the diff erence in fl avour of local, seasonally-grown ingredients does not compare. Along with less food miles and a relationship built with your supplier, using local produce is hugely rewarding for both chef and customer. Here at T e Olive Tree, we are always on the
lookout for exceptional products from artisan suppliers, be it Ivy House Farm for our dairy or Woolley Park Farm for some of the best duck we’ve ever eaten. Reared and produced within 30 minutes of my hot plate, it truly is ‘local’. We source our venison, would you believe, from
Conscious cookery and premium produce – how to achieve next-level fl avour… At this time of year, we like to do a lot of
Salisbury Plain. Although associated with the military, Salisbury Plain has in fact great pasture for rearing fl avour-rich deer. Quality and fl avour is always top of our list and as a result, you need to do little with it to let the fl avours shine through. Classic seasonal combinations are a great place
to start though. As chefs, we like to be innovative and creative, and understandably, this is how we keep food exciting. Despite this, there will always be combinations in the foodie world you will simply never beat. It is what you do with these classic combinations that keep diners on their toes. One of my favourites is lamb, pea and mint.
Peach and fennel, apple and blackberries are also combinations that work perfectly in season. Pairing ingredients that are in season at the same time might seem obvious, but this is where culinary harmonies fi rst started. Not only do you benefi t from fresh tasting fl avours, buying in season oſt en sees you paying a better price, with greater availability and less in the way of travel costs.
preserving in our kitchen; jam making and pickling to carry us through the next couple of months. Aſt er such a vibrant summer it is hard to leave the summery fl avours totally behind, so it helps with the transition into more hardy, autumnal ingredients. T is summer, we have dried elderfl owers and made fragrant vinegars, pickled the elderberries and developed an elderfl ower syrup which is a great fl oral addition to desserts. When it comes to changing menus, we
are constantly trying out new dishes for the impending season. Despite using high-quality, seasonal ingredients that require clever yet simple cookery, developing a new dish is all about achieving balance on the plate. When we get a dish that we feel does our producers justice, it is only then it makes it onto the menu. With that in mind, September is an exciting
time for any chef as we see the start of the game season. With grouse coming to the end of its hanging period, a process employed to allow the fl avour to become perfectly ripened, venison, partridges and mallard are also close to being available. Paired with the fruits of the season, including perfectly ripe, late season peaches and plums, and new season apples and pears, the change of season looks to be an exciting prospect already.
FOODLOVERMAGAZINE.COM | 39
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68
