BBQ Spring 2017 | Page 30

Ian Sherlock

Please tell our readers a little more about you and what you do?
I am a professional Chef from England, a passion that started as early as 9 years old.
I grew up through my teenage years with five Chinese/Vietnamese families eating in their kitchens and spent my youth raiding bee’s nests and hunting birds; this experience gave me the urge to see what more was out there in the world and changed my life forever.
  This set me off on a career that gave me the fortune to travel the world with my craft, having worked on five continents over a 33 year career, in some of the best hotels in the world such as the Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong, Bangkok Marriott Resort & Spa, Nusa Dua Beach Hotel in Bali and One&Only Dubai just to name a few
 
How do you find cooking outdoors in such a wonderful place?
I have always cooked outdoors with the locals from each country I have lived, and to name a few from the Middle East to Asia and the Caribbean, there is always something new to cook with, I am lucky to live in the tropics on the beautiful Caribbean Island of Saint Lucia, the jungle offers much to my delight as a chef, from wet clay, bamboo, leaves of various sorts just to name a few, it also makes for a great backdrop in which to cook.
 
Any special difficulties you face cooking there?
Aside from the obvious poisonous snakes, scorpions, spiders and a few big cats depending on location, the heat gets very intense and the humidity can be fun but like all places, know your area.
I always cook in these remote type places in groups, as they say safety in numbers; I always make sure I am with people whom know the area.
 
Most unusual things cooked?
There are a few, from various snakes in China and Hong Kong, to beetles, bamboo worms, scorpions and flying ants in Thailand, to Opossums in the Caribbean
 
What kit do you cook on?
I try to be as naked as I can, as they say lol, I like