Aidan Brooks: Trainee Chef: Thanks Guys

Saturday, 10 October 2009

Thanks Guys

Thanks to the 194,141 people who looked at 348,185 pages on my blog since I began in August 2006 and especially to my 46 registered Google Followers. Much appreciation also to the 1,379,717 people who have visited my YouTube site since September 2006, my 170 regular video subscribers and the many thousands of people who have checked out the photo sets on my Flickr site (Flickr stats only just started recently). It's not always easy to find the spare time and motivation for blogging in-between the work shifts of a highly demanding day job, but you guys really do make it all worthwhile. Thank you.

6 comments:

James said...: Mr. Popular!

No time for blogging? Isn't that what the hours between midnight and 6am are for?; 10/10/2009 01:43:00 pm
Tri2Cook said...: Strange. In the "followers" list it shows my name as "reppost" which is my email, not my blog name. I'm going to have to look into that.; 10/10/2009 03:44:00 pm
Trig said...: Remind me to get a job as a personal chef, James, so I've got plenty of time to post comments on blogs. Most Saturdays I'm in work by 10.30 at the latest and not out again before 01.00 Sunday morning. It's rare for me even to get a siesta break.; 10/10/2009 06:03:00 pm
James said...: Ha ha - you can always find time. I did that while I was waiting for the printer to fire up to print menu cards.

Was late starting at 9:30 this morning actually. Just got back from the venue 00:45 and have a couple of hours clearing up to do. 25th day in a row - so maybe a siesta tommorrow before it's January.....; 10/11/2009 01:52:00 am
Agirlhastoeat said...: These are fantastic stats! Keep up the good work.; 10/23/2009 04:41:00 pm
ruby said...: hi Aidan! I like the way your profile looks. It's cool!; 7/04/2010 11:08:00 am

Post a Comment

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.