Aidan Brooks: Trainee Chef: Three Days, Two Birds And Some Cooking

Wednesday, 11 July 2007

Three Days, Two Birds And Some Cooking

To celebrate achieving this...

...I went here last night...

...and enjoyed a fan fillet of this, bhuna style with pulao and aloo.

This afternoon I'm off to Stansted to catch one of these...

...for the 2¼ hour flight to this airport...

...just a few kms down the road from this 5* luxury hotel...

...where this informal but elegant restaurant...

...serves food like this...

...and this chap is going to help cook it for a couple of days.

It's my first visit, to meet the team I'm going to be working with and to sort out logistics for my move this Autumn. See you when I get back at the weekend. In the meantime I've written an article about a new BBC TV food series and arranged to have my shocking exposé posted while I'm out of the country and safe from threats of legal action. Watch this space.

1 comment:

ros said...: Oooh, ostrich bhuna? I haven't tried ostrich in a curry yet.

Have fun on your trip. I hope you enjoy your taster of professional life.; 7/12/2007 06:34:00 pm

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Welcome

I'm Aidan "Trig" Brooks, a 22-yr-old from Hackney in London's East End. I left Westminster Kingsway College with a Professional Chef Diploma in summer

2007 and moved to Spain, where I trained in Barcelona at Carles Abellan's Comerç 24 (which won its first Michelin star) and Martín Beresategui's Lasarte (which won its second Michelin star) and was chef de partie and later Pastry Chef to Paco Morales at the amazing hotel restaurant Ferrero in the Valèncian mountains. This Spring I returned to London as part of the team of celebrated Portuguese chef Nuno Mendes, opening East End restaurant Viajante. I'm still working with food, but taking a break from fine dining. Passionately pursuing my life-long ambition to become a top-class chef and, one day, a world-famous restaurateur.

Independence and code of ethics

What's in season in the UK?

Here is this week's UK seasonal food item, courtesy of eat the seasons. This week's seasonal food item is monkfish. This resident of the deep is often described as the ugliest fish in the oceans, though from looking at the beautiful picture below it's hard to see why. Actually, monkfish isn't a fish, but a generic name given to fish from several different genus. The most common is the anglerfish, but the generic term can also refer to angel sharks and sea monks. Whichever variety we are talking about, they should be considered a special treat as all are listed as being unsustainably fished at present. Monkfish has a firm but succulent texture and a slightly sweet flavour and is often compared with seafoods such as lobster and scallops, with which it pairs well to make some luxurious dishes. Monkfish has long featured in Iberian regional dishes, but was almost unknown in the UK until recent years. It now appears on many restaurant menus and is highly sought after by fishing vessels in the waters around SW. England, W. Ireland and W. Scotland. Monkfish is low in calories and a good source of protein. It contains useful amounts of vitamin B3 (aids proper functioning of the metabolic system), potassium (controls the balance of fluids) and selenium (an antioxidant that also helps the immune system). The flesh is sufficiently strong to stand its own against otherwise dominant flavours such as the chorizo, saffron and pimentón typically used with it in Spanish dishes.