Marco Pierre White

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**Marco Pierre White**

Born	December 11, 1961 (age 45) Leeds, England
Cooking style	French cuisine
Restaurants	Belvedere Drones L'Escargot Parisienne Chophouse Maison Novelli Mirabelle Quo Vadis
TV Show(s)	Hell's Kitchen (UK) (2007)

Marco Pierre White (born 11 December 1961) is a leading British chef and restaurateur, he is regarded as one of the most creative and talented chefs of his generation, known as much for his quick temper as for his exceptional skill as a chef.

Although the chain-smoking White is variously described as the first celebrity chef, the enfant terrible of the UK restaurant scene or the Godfather of modern cooking, he is universally recognised as the first English chef to put English cooking on a par with classic haute cuisine.

1 Formative training
2 Career zenith
3 Retirement, Restaurateur and Global Influence
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Formative training

He was born in Leeds, England, to an Italian mother who died of a brain haemorrhage when he was just six. He began his training in the kitchen at the Hotel St George in Harrogate, North Yorkshire and later at the Box Tree in Ilkley, West Yorkshire. Arriving in London essentially penniless as a precocious 16-year-old, White began his classical training as a commis under Albert Roux and Michel Roux at Le Gavroche, a period that would lead Albert to describe him as 'my little lamb'. He continued his training under Pierre Koffman at La Tante Claire (now the site of Gordon Ramsay), moving to work in the kitchen of Raymond Blanc at Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons and Nico Ladenis of Chez Nico at Ninety Park Lane.

[edit] Career zenith

On completion of his training in 1987, he opened the now legendary Harveys in Wandsworth Common, London (now the site of Chez Bruce), where he won his first Michelin star almost immediately and was awarded his second in 1988, before moving on to become chef-patron of the Oak Room at Le Meridien Piccadilly and the dining-room at the former Hyde Park Hotel. His pursuit of excellence extended to each plate that left his kitchen and it is said that he spent most of his twenties driving himself relentlessly in pursuit of recognition through Michelin stars but leaving him a deeply unhappy person in the process.

Marco Pierre White is also the youngest Briton to be awarded the accolade of three Michelin stars at 33 years of age.

During his buccaneering early career in the kitchen, White provided ample fodder for the tabloids when he was regularly reported as ejecting patrons from his restaurants if he took offence at their comments. Most famously, when in the 1980s a City trader asked if he could have a side order of chips with his lunch, White hand-cut and personally cooked the chips, but charged the customer £25 for the honour.^[1] In a similar vein, a young chef at Harveys who once complained of heat in the kitchen had all of his clothes cut off his body by White wielding a sharp paring knife.^[2]

[edit] Retirement, Restaurateur and Global Influence

Although White was the youngest chef in the world and the first Briton to be awarded three Michelin stars, he announced his retirement from the kitchen in 1999, cooking his final meal for a paying customer in December at the Oak Room, to develop his portfolio of restaurants through his eponymous White Star Line company. His ever-changing London portfolio currently comprises Belvedere, Criterion, Drones, L'Escargot, Luciano's, Mirabelle, Quo Vadis and the rapidly expanding Frankies chain of Italian pizzerias in partnership with jockey Frankie Dettori.

He has published many books including 'White Heat' (including a photograph of a young Gordon Ramsay as a terrified young commis), an autobiography 'White Slave' and 'Wild Food from Land and Sea', and has acted as a mentor to a number of prominent chefs of the current generation including his fellow three-star recipients Gordon Ramsay and Heston Blumenthal.

As well as influencing the cuisines of celebrated chefs who have apprenticed and worked under him in Australia, the likes of Donovan Cooke and Philippa Sibley formerly of est est est and Ondine, Shannon Bennett of Vue du Monde, Warren Turnbull of Assiette, and Curtis Stone of Quo Vadis among others.

White has been married three times. In his leisure time he can be found freshwater fishing and game hunting. In Marco's recent biography he has a picture of Gordon Ramsay in tears. This was caused by Gordon making a mistake and Marco shouting at him.

In 2007, Ramsay admitted stealing the reservations book from his own Chelsea restaurant in 1998 and blaming the theft on White to prevent White being appointed as chef in his place.^[3]

Pierre White appeared in trailers for the 2004 film Layer Cake

He has agreed to appear on the next series of ITV's Hell's Kitchen. Under the terms of the deal, which is still subject to contract, the new series will be produced next year but no further details have yet been confirmed.

[edit] References

^ "Marco: Man and Boy". "Guardian Unlimited". Retrieved on February 21, 2007.
^ Buford, Bill (2006). Heat: An Amateur's Adventures as Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta-Maker, and Apprentice to a Dante-Quoting Butcher in Tuscany. Knopf, p. 95.
^ Ramsay cooked up theft. Daily Mail. 27 March 2007