Freshen up

I’D like to know what you think. I’m thinking of disposing of all our chefs and letting you do the cooking. We could keep one chef for a bit of purchasing and preparation as I guess you’ll need some things cut up beforehand. But you can do most of the work, we won’t alter our prices, we’ll have a lower wage bill and make more profit. Sounds pretty good to me.

Before I have a strike on my hands I’d better point out to the team that I’m only joking, honestly, really, I promise. Maybe.

But the concept’s interesting because, apart from all the fun you’d have, you’d be able to see how fresh the produce is that we use. Of course, if you cooked it, depending on your skill level and experience, our standards might deteriorate a bit, but at least you’ll know that the resulting badly-cooked dish you’re eating is your fault and not because it’s made from some dried or tinned product.

Because, apart from technique, the quality of the raw materials is so closely linked to the quality of the final dish. You can’t make good wine from poor grapes, you can’t make a good suit out of cheap cloth and you can rarely make a good dish out of anything other than fresh ingredients.

Oh there are some exceptions: rice is an obvious one; canned tomatoes are often much, much better than fresh (you know you’ve got a challenge on your hands when the sign on the tomatoes in the supermarket says “grown for taste”. “Oh”, I thought, “haven’t you got any of those tasteless ones grown for their ability to sing?”), and dried mushrooms and pasta are essential ingredients in my store cupboard.

But fresh, good quality fish, meat and vegetables should be your building-blocks. Have you ever compared dried basil with fresh?

I’ve travelled a fair bit in the Far East and have marvelled at how the Chinese go some way to ensuring that you know what you’re getting is fresh.

Markets abound with live chickens in cages just waiting for that short-lived relationship with a new owner. Similarly, during the correct season, do snakes. Fish are filleted in such a way as to leave the heart still beating just so the discerning customer can see it’s not just been pulled from the freezer.

In restaurants you’re taken by the waiting staff to peer into glass tanks to choose your fish, crab, eel or prehistoric-looking sea creature.

On one occasion I was presented with live prawns at the table; arms and legs waving to demonstrate their present state – the prawns’ that is, not mine.

“You can’t make good wine from poor grapes and you can’t make a good suit out of cheap cloth”

I was told that I’d have to drop them into my personal pot of boiling stock that sat at my left elbow for poaching all kinds of goodies. Mercifully, they took them away first and returned them a few minutes later having somehow being despatched to that great ocean in the sky.

At least I think they were the same prawns. Either way they were delicious.

I’m not suggesting that such practices should be adopted here in the North-East. In fact, it may be a recipe for disaster. But the obsession of the Chinese with the freshness of food is something we should learn from because, without doubt, they have some of the best and most diverse cooking in the world.

They certainly have more imagination than us when it comes to using some parts of the animal.

Interestingly, one of the farms that we use to supply us with top-quality local meat, once made a delivery of a whole sheep during the lunchtime.

Carrying it over his shoulder, the farmer caused one or two diners to pause with their forks halfway to their mouths and others to look a little uncomfortable.

He’s changed his delivery times now but, as he walked past one table, one lady was heard to comment: “Well at least we know the meat’s fresh”. Thank you madam. My point entirely.