Later, as I set up home with my boyfriend who later became my husband, my own cooking style really began to take shape. I began to buy cookery books and taught myself many basics and fundamental principles from these as well as more complicated things like making my own pasta, Bearnaise and Hollandaise sauce. We began to take interest in organic and free-range produce and drove around Cheshire sourcing ingredients and following Rick Stein’s advice in his Food Heroes books.
One memorable meal that occurred as a result of this was a Christmas goose given to us from a friend with a farmer contact. We cooked it in an oven that was barely big enough to accommodate it for 6 male, single friends who usually would have preferred a plate of chips. The skin was crisp, golden and savoury from sea-salt and thyme. The meat was dark, juicy and gamey and we served it with many side dishes including celeriac mashed with cream and wholegrain mustard. It was a triumph and I became something of a goose cooking legend down the pub for a while.
My most memorable meal ever was during a trip to Anglesey with my husband and a friend. We drove around looking for somewhere suitable to celebrate my recent acceptance to teacher training college and eventually found a small pub in Holy head. I ate half a lobster with garlic and herb butter and chips and followed it with a chocolate mousse cake that was so alcoholic I felt almost drunk. It was so simple and unpretentious but so beautifully cooked with the lobster succulent and buttery. I began to realize then that quality of ingredients rather than fancy restaurant applications is what good food is all about at home.
I worked in administration for 6 years before deciding to become an art teacher and studying back in my native Wales for a highly sought after PGCE, which qualifies you to teach high school in England and Wales. While waiting for my course to begin, I decided to re-visit my love of food and try working as a chef to see how I liked it and what I could learn. Unfortunately I learned virtually nothing. Assuming this would be a 'real' cooking job, I enquired as to whether the chefs made their own stocks and sauces. This was met with laughter and bemused looks.
I soon learned that a lot of restaurant kitchens rely on microwaves. Sauces and dishes are reheated after being delivered from a central kitchen. There are pictures on the walls of what every dish should look like and the only thing literally made from scratch were the soups, which luckily was my job. Broccoli with Stilton, wild mushroom with white wine, Spring vegetable with mint, I soon earned a reputation for great soups and speedy preparation of the starters. One thing I did learn to make was a delicious steak sauce by heating some single cream and Gorgonzola together before adding a pinch of black pepper. There was also one particularly good appetizer we made which was mushrooms sauteed in butter and oil until soft, a pinch of nutmeg added, then tossed with some sauce made with demi-glace and wine, which was then piled onto hot toast and covered with Stilton before being melted under a hot grill.
I would admire the head chefs, but more for their organizational skills and patience than their culinary know how. I seem to have taught myself more from books than some of the 'qualified' chefs, and decided it was not for me. The hours were ruining my social life and I felt I wasn't learning anything, so after only 12 weeks, I quit. Apart from waitressing for a caterer as a school girl and a little silver service catering while in college, my days employed in the food industry were over.
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