Chip off the old block - How Jack Stein has dad to thank for book idea

The 36-year-old is Rick Stein's middle son, and chef director of the Stein empire. Based in Cornwall, he's responsible for developing and implementing menus across the family's restaurants, and now he's preserved a slew of his favourite recipes - some borrowed, some adapted, some all his own - in Jack Stein's World On A Plate, his debut cookbook.

The idea he nicked from his dad was to collect ideas, magpie-like, from his travels and then reproduce them with British produce. "We've travelled the world and found these amazing recipes and ingredients," says Stein, "but what Dad does when he comes back to England is, he does them with local, British ingredients."

For three months a year, setting off in December, the whole Stein family would travel the world together. The other nine months, Stein's parents were busy running their Cornwall restaurants. They "were virtual strangers to their three offspring", he writes in the book.

He slurped oysters in France for the first time aged four, witnessed the poverty of India at 11, and went on to work in kitchens in Sydney, Paris and Switzerland - but the cuisine that's most surprised and intrigued him is that of Spain. "I know it's not very far away, but when you're long-haul and you land in Singapore or Bangkok, and it's night-time and you're having a beer and all these crazy flavours, that's what you go for. But," he continues, "I always thought Spanish food was just tapas, and a bit of paella." That changed on a recce trip to San Sebastian with his dad for Rick's Spanish series. "It was like, this place is mental!"

When we talk on the phone, he's looking out at the surf, the waves concealing his beloved Cornish crabs. "I love crab, it's very sustainable, there's heaps of it down here," he says. "Just above the reef where I'm sitting now, you can go down with a pole and stick it in a hole and get your own." With seafood that fresh at his feet, it's a wonder he ever leaves the country at all.

These days, there's almost nothing he won't try, from locusts and crickets (including a "delicious cricket marmite") while surfing in Mexico, to a tarantula in Laos ("which was weird, I don't like spiders at all, that was horrible"). He's pragmatic about eating insects though; after all, it's "normal for most of the world's population, they're just a bit strange when you first see them".

He thinks we're on track for a battle akin to "VHS and Betamax, or CDs and mini discs and mp3s" when it comes to which will most impact western diets: eating insects, or going down the lab-grown meat route. "Lab-grown meat will probably win," he says. "We shouldn't be eating as much meat as we are for the environment, but everyone likes meat, so it's the obvious way."

Spider disgust aside, there's little he actively hates, except for an absolute classic: "If people ask at a restaurant, 'Have you got any allergies?' I say, 'I don't like quiche'."

* Jack Stein's World On A Plate by Jack Stein, photography by Paul Winch-Furness, (Absolute Press, £26)

Chilli crab

Ingredients

(Serves 4)

2kg boiled brown crab

4tbsp groundnut or sunflower oil

4 garlic cloves, finely chopped

2.5cm fresh root ginger, finely chopped

3 medium-hot red Dutch chillies, finely chopped

4tbsp tomato ketchup

2tbsp dark soy sauce

1tsp Marmite

2 spring onions, cut into 5cm pieces and finely shredded lengthways

A handful of chopped coriander

1. Put the crab on its back on the chopping board, so that the claws and softer body section face upwards, then simply twist off the main claws, leaving the legs attached to the body. Now put your thumbs against the hard shell, close to the crab's tail, and push and prise the body section out and away from the shell. The legs should still be attached to the body. Remove the small stomach sac situated just behind the crab's mouth and pull away the feather-like gills ('dead man's fingers') which are attached along the edges of the centre part; discard these.

2. Using a teaspoon, scoop out the brown meat from inside the shell; reserve.

3. Chop the body into quarters and then cut the main claws in half at the joint. Crack the shells of each piece with a hammer or the blunt edge of a large knife.

4. Heat the oil, garlic, ginger and chilli in a wok for one minute to release their aromas.

5. Next, turn up the heat and fry off the brown crab meat, then add the ketchup, soy sauce, Marmite and 150ml of water. These all add savoury and sweet notes to the finished dish. Now add the remaining crab in its shell and stir-fry the crab for two minutes. Remove from the heat and finish with spring onions and chopped coriander.

6. Serve immediately - with lots of finger bowls and napkins, as this is a messy dish.

Charred broccoli

(Serves 4)

"It was in Hawaii that I first fell in love with ranch dressing, a simple mayonnaise-based sauce, with garlic, buttermilk, soured cream and chives. The charring technique gives the broccoli a wonderful extra layer of flavour - a kitchen trick that works with pretty much any vegetable," says chef Jack Stein - son of Rick. "Blue cheese makes for a great addition to the dressing - melt 100g of Roquefort and add it to the mixture. Use this cheesy adaptation on Baby Gem salad leaves along with crispy bacon strips," he suggests.

1 head of broccoli

2-3tbsp olive oil

1tsp sea salt

4 turns of freshly ground black pepper

2 garlic cloves, peeled but left whole

500g broad beans

75g flaked almonds

½ tsp butter

Juice of ½ lemon

For the ranch dressing

150g mayonnaise

½ tsp red miso paste

75ml soured cream

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

50ml buttermilk

½ tsp salt

1tbsp white wine vinegar

A handful of chives, finely chopped

A handful of parsley, finely chopped

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C Fan (220°C/Gas Mark 7).

2. First make the dressing: Mix all the ingredients together - except the herbs - until combined. Now stir the herbs through. Keep in the fridge until needed.

3. Cut off the broccoli stem and cut it into small pieces; break off the florets and slice in half to make smaller pieces. Mix one tablespoon olive oil and the salt, pepper and garlic cloves in a bowl. Add the broccoli pieces and stir to coat (stir in a little more olive oil if necessary). Place them on a baking tray and cook in the oven for around 10-15 minutes; then turn them over and cook for another five to 10 minutes until they are starting to brown and crisp. Keep an eye on them - depending on the strength of your oven they may brown very quickly.

4. While the broccoli is cooking, place the broad beans in a bowl, cover with boiling water for one to two minutes to soften them, then drain. Heat the remaining olive oil in a frying pan until hot, then fry the broad beans for about five minutes until crisp but not too browned.

5. In a dry pan, toast the flaked almonds on a low heat until starting to colour. Add the butter and allow to foam for 30 seconds, then tilt the frying pan and spoon the foamed butter over the almond flakes. Remove from the heat and drain on kitchen paper.

6. Mix the broccoli and broad beans together and squeeze the lemon juice over; season with more salt if needed. Place in a bowl and top with ranch dressing and toasted almonds.