Cuisine
until even and flat,
roll and straighten
the banana in the
coriander. Put the
banana into the
middle of the
Chicken, season then
roll and wrap in the
ham slices, wrap in
caul fat then cling
film, water bath at
64°C degrees for
25-30mins, remove
and rest then toss
in a hot pan with
butter.
place, learn from that chef, stay
for a couple of years, then move on,
and build on experience and you will
climb the ladder. Then, you will be a
top chef and earn the wage that
goes with it.
Also, always listen to your chef and
do things the way he wants; they have
the experience, they have the
knowledge, and then when you leave,
you can choose to use that knowledge
or change it to suit yourself.
Maralyn: Do you cook at home a lot?
Chef David: If you ask anyone about
having a chef as a husband, they will
always think of what great food my
wife must be eating every day. In
reality, we are like ships in the night,
don’t see much of each other and
don’t cook much either.
Maralyn: What are the highlights
of your career, your “ah ha” or
“wow” moments?
Chef David: I am very lucky in my
career to date; I have cooked for
the queen, Prince Charles, the
Prime Minister and on a number
of occasions. I’ve represented my
country, Wales, for 14 years in
various competitions around the
world. I have been voted best chef
in my region of work and also been
on TV in a cooking competition. So
I have been very lucky so far.
When you go out, where do you
go to eat?
Chef David: If and when I go out,
I am always with my wife and 2 kids,
so where we eat is never an
important one, as long as we
have quality time together.
Maralyn: Do you focus on
using local products? If so,
to what degree?
Chef David: We try to use as much
local products in the hotel where
the product is good and right for
what we need. Not everything local
is the best, but
we do have 7 counties around
where we work, which I call our local
neighbors and where we spread our
net wider for the right products.
Maralyn: How do you work with
local growers, if you do?
Chef David: I have one local farmer
which I have used for many years. He
phones me up and tells me what he
has. I will take as much as I can from
him- fantastic products.
Maralyn: Anything else you would
like to share about being a chef?
Chef David: Being a chef is great,
hard work with long hours, under
appreciated by most, but with the
greatest satisfaction of any job. To
be able to give a guest a memory and
an experience that they won’t
forget is priceless.
Quail Egg Bhaji
4 Quail eggs soft boiled 2½mins
and shelled
2 red onions thinly sliced
1 small green chilli – chopped fine
1tbsp butter melted
½tsp. red chilli powder
½tsp ground turmeric
2 curry leaves
6tbsp gram flour
3tbsp rice flour
¼ bunch of coriander chopped
(Small fryer/Japanese vegetable
slicer)
Mix all the ingredients together
except the quail egg. Season and
leave to settle for 10 mins. Then
wrap 4 quail egg in the mixture and
deep fry until crisp when needed.
Chicken Jus
Main Course
Carrot Puree
2kg chicken wings
2ltrs chicken stock
1 carrot chopped
½ celery chopped
½ leek chopped
2 onions chopped
2 cloves garlic
3 tbsp curry powder
1 bunch coriander stalks
1 bottle white dry wine
Place all of the ingredients into
a Vac Pac bag and seal, reseal into
another Vac Pac bag, place into a
pan of boiling water, cook until the
carrots are soft, remove from the
bag and place ingredients into
a blender, blend until smooth.
Roast the Chicken wings until
golden brown, in a heavy bottomed
pan. Sweat off the Vegetables and
Garlic, when browned off add the
Curry Powder and cook for a few
minutes, then add the white wine,
reduce all the wine then add the
bones, Chicken stock and the
Coriander stalks, cook out for 1hr,
strain and reduce to the required
thickness.
Maralyn: Would you share a recipe
with us?
Chef David: This is my main course
dish from when I was on Great
British Menu on TV.
2 large carrots
2 pinches of curry powder
200ml double cream
½ clove of garlic
Chicken & Banana
500g Carmarthen Ham slices
2 chicken breast (corn-fed)
100g coriander chopped
2 large bananas, straight as
possible
500g pigs’ caul fat
Remove skin from Chicken, using a
meat hammer, batter the chicken
Black Onion and Crispy
Chicken Skin
4 large chicken skins
100g black onion seeds
clarified butter
salt
Using a sharp knife, clean as much
fat as you can from the chicken
skin. Then brush with the 'WGFW"