James Martin
Home
James
He used to invite most of the country ’ s food lovers into his kitchen every Saturday . Now , James Martin is showing no sign of having a lie in with a new cookery school and cookware ranges he designs himself …
ritain ’ s best-loved chef is quite a title to hold in a country that loves its food but can turn on its celebrities overnight – and without mercy . But James Martin surely holds that post . A trained chef as opposed to a cook , he ’ s worked in some of the country ’ s finest kitchens while also gracing our screens with his amiable presence . For a chef , he doesn ’ t shout too much – a trait that is surely an advantage when you ’ re on screen on a Saturday morning , easing us into the weekend .
Born in Yorkshire in 1972 , his father was a catering manager . He began his formal training at Scarborough Technical college , where he got his first accolade – Student of the Year – three years running . From college he went to work for his predecessor on Saturday Kitchen , Antony Worrall Thompson , at One Ninety Queen ’ s Gate in London . Spells working for leading chefs in London including a certain Marco Pierre White followed , before a tour of French Michelin-starred kitchens . Moving back to England , he took up a position as junior pastry chef at the prestigious five-star Chewton Glen hotel in the New Forest .
In 1994 , at the age of 22 , James opened the first Hotel Du Vin in Winchester as head chef , and became famous for changing the menu every day . One of the first boutique hotels to sell itself as a restaurant with rooms , nine more sites were opened in the next ten years . The ’ 90s also saw James satisfy another big passion in his life – cars – when he bought his first Ferrari .
James first found his way on to our television screens in 1996 with The Big
Breakfast and Ready , Steady , Cook . Over the next decade he starred in nearly 20 shows , from Fifty Ways to Feed Your Lover to Use Your Loaf with Paul Hollywood . It was in 2006 , though , that he became presenter of weekend staple Saturday Kitchen , regularly attracting in excess of 3.5 million viewers until his tearful last show on 26 March 2016 . He left , he said , “ to have a lie in ”.
Today , he has his floury fingers in plenty of delicious pies , from a series of best-selling cookbooks to winning the prestigious The Craft Guild of Chefs Special Award with side orders of Strictly Come Dancing and presenting This Morning . His second restaurant in The Talbot Hotel , Malton , North Yorkshire made it into the Michelin Guide in 2012 , and Jay Rayner of the Observer described his meal there as “ the single best plate of food I have been served this year ”.
His next big venture away from TV screens this year sees him return to Chewton Glen to set up a new purposebuilt cookery school and dining complex called The Kitchen . He ’ s helped come up with an extensive programme of courses featuring some celebrity chef tutors – including star turns by himself . Students at the state-of-art workstations will be using cookware and bakeware he helped design with Stellar , which you ’ ll see over the page along with some comfort food classics from the man himself . As James says : “‘ If you can ’ t get hold of the ingredients north of Watford , don ’ t put it on your show ,’ my mother would say . I ’ ve always tried to cook great , simple grub for normal people ”. Long may he reign
19
www . hartsofstur . com