The star chef demystified the restaurant scene with his love of a welcoming pub. Now he explains why hospitality is in crisis – and how to make a sublime venison chilli

Tom Kerridge is the king of meat: first as a chef, transforming pub classics like pork belly into Michelin-starred fare at The Hand and Flowers in Marlow 20 years ago, and later opening The Butcher’s Tap and Grill in the same village; then as a cookery writer: his Outdoor Cooking – The Ultimate Modern Barbecue Bible of 2021 is well named, being both as comprehensive and as worshipful as a holy book; and recently as a “meat-fluencer”, making gorgeous skills videos on Instagram and YouTube.

That was just destiny, he says (more or less). “When you’re cooking in a classic brigade system, the sections are like a larder: you’ve got starters, you’ve got garnish, you’ve got meat and fish, you’ve got pastry. The meat is the lead section, where the most experienced chef is, because that’s where you land when you’ve learned to treat vegetables with love and respect. If you fuck up cabbage, it doesn’t cost a lot.” It’s true, it doesn’t, but if you saw the care Kerridge puts into dicing an onion – peeling its layers apart like he’s making a mosaic, assiduous even about half an inch of waste – of an onion – you’d know that love and respect aren’t really about money. Continue reading…
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