More online www.thecaterer.com Revelations Masha Rener, head chef, Lina Stores, London


What was your best subject at school? Philosophy


What was your first job? I was a waitress in a coffee shop near Portobello Road in London


What do you normally have for breakfast? Black coffee and then an apple or banana later in the morning


What do you do to relax? Gardening at my home in Umbria


Which is your favourite restaurant? Trattoria Lea in Città di Castello, Umbria


What’s your favourite hotel? The Orchid House in Polanco in Mexico City


Sour plum miso (ume miso) Makes: 300g


4 salted sour “plums” (umeboshi) 1 small handful tororo konbu 2tbs sake (or a little more to adjust consistency) 240g brown rice miso 2tbs hon mirin 2tbs fine tendrils of green shiso leaves 1tbs gold sesame seeds, warmed in a dry frying pan until fragrant and coarsely ground


Remove the stones from the ume- boshi and chop the flesh well. Heat a dry frying pan over low heat. When the heat rises from


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the surface, parch the tororo konbu carefully in the pan, turn- ing constantly with wooden cook- ing chopsticks for about 1 minute, to crisp without burning. Crum- ble into a small bowl and set aside. In a small saucepan, bring the


sake to a simmer over high heat to just burn off the alcohol. Immedi- ately remove from the heat. In a small bowl, stir together


the miso, mirin and most of the sake and fold in the umeboshi, shiso, tororo konbu and sesame seeds. The mixture should not be overly stiff, nor loose and gloopy. Add a few more drops of alcohol- burned-off sake if needed to thin the miso, but easy does it.


What is your favourite drink? An Old Fashioned


Which ingredient do you hate the most? Eel


Are there any foods/ingredients that you refuse to cook with? No, but it’s important that they have to be fresh and healthy


What flavour combinations do you detest? Desserts that are a cold, gluey soup – there’s a dessert like that popular in China, I think it’s called tong sui


Which restaurant have you most admired? Uliassi in Senigallia, a lovely restaurant on the Adriatic sea


Which person gave you the greatest inspiration? My mum, she was also a chef


Cast away on a desert island, what luxury would you take? Marron glacé


If not yourself, who would you rather have been? A ballet dancer, if I can dream big!


If you had not gone into catering, where do you think you would be now? Definitely working with plants


What irritates you most about the industry? Food waste


When did you last eat a hamburger? At Baobab in Milan


What’s your favourite film? Cloud Atlas


Who would play “you” in a film about your life? Uma Thurman


What’s your favourite book? Portraits of a Marriage by Sándor Márai


What is your favourite prepared product? S&B Golden Curry sauce


28 April 2023 | The Caterer | 37


PHOTOS: SHUTTERSTOCK/AEDKA STUDIO; ESIN DENIZ; JULIA KUZNETSOVA


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