Every Thursday, our Money blog team interviews chefs from around the UK, hearing about their cheap food hacks and more. This week, we chat to Phil Kearsey, executive chef at the London-institution and Michelin-starred Pied à Terre.
A top tip for amateur chefs is… acidity is a seasoning! Just like salt and pepper, citrus or vinegar can take a simple thing to another dimension.
The most overrated single food item is… micro herbs with no flavour. Yes, it looks lovely on Instagram but if it adds nothing to the dish get it out of there!
My secret ingredient I love and use all the time is… sherry vinegar. It adds so many layers of flavour in a sauce, a puree or a dressing. I can drink the stuff!
My go-to cheap eat at home is… courgette pasta. It’s so simple, so quick and so delicious!
One restaurant that’s worth blowing out for is… the French Laundry, in California. After I did a stage there and before I joined, I got to dine on my own there. Chef David Breeden and Thomas Keller cooked me a 22-course tasting menu.
A cheap place to eat where I live is… Tooting. I enjoy going for an authentic curry there. I enjoy sitting on plastic garden chairs in a simple restaurant to enjoy authentic Indian food cooked by someone with pride, passion and years of experience, which is unbeatable for me… pass me the plastic fork!
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My pet hate in restaurants is… when guests book and don’t show up or cancel on the day. We would love to be able to give that table to someone else and with it the opportunity to sample our hospitality.
The biggest mistake I see in kitchens is… chefs being wasteful, normally due to lack of organisation. Personally, my style is built around sourcing the best produce and celebrating it. So, seeing an ingredient not being used to its potential is very frustrating.
My chef heroes are… Gordon Ramsay and Heston Blumenthal. I’ve been very lucky in my career to work for some of the best chefs in the world, but I have to say, as a young chef falling in love with gastronomy I was (and still am) a big fan boy of them.
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My one piece of advice for an aspiring chef is… work for chefs you want to be like when you’re doing a stage. Don’t be taken aback by a slightly reduced salary for an hour to work somewhere where you learn a lot more. Work hard and invest in your future. Trust me, it’s worth it in the long run.
One cookbook I recommended is… The French Laundry cookbook. It changed my life and inspired me so much that I ended up working there and I also worked on their latest book.
I’ve cut costs in my restaurant by… being more aware and ordering smaller quantities daily, as everything is so much more expensive now. To cook with the best produce you have to count every onion.
My favourite cheap substitute is… anything that takes longer cooking is always the best way to go when we are talking cheaper products and ingredients. It’s the chef’s skill that can unlock the flavour potential. For example, a beef fillet is amazing, but a great braised short rib is a fraction of the cost and if cooked well, is miles ahead in terms of depth of flavour.
I’ve given free meals… At Pied à Terre my first ever chef came in for dinner and cooking for him and showing where I’ve come since the spotty teenager with burns all over him to this was incredible. When we got the bill, David Moore (the restaurant founder) almost brought me to tears when he told me to just drop a note on the table saying we have taken care of it all. Giving back to people who have shaped me through the years is the best feeling ever.
