Tom Kerridge

Tom Kerridge
Born 27 July 1973
Salisbury, Wiltshire[1]
Spouse(s) Beth Kerridge

Culinary career

Cooking style French British cuisine fusion
Website
The Hand and Flowers

Tom Kerridge (born 27 July 1973) is a professional English chef who has worked mainly in the United Kingdom. After initially appearing in several small television parts as a child actor, he decided to attend culinary school at the age of 18. He has since worked at a variety of British restaurants, including the Michelin-starred Rhodes in the Square and Adlards. With his wife Beth, he opened the gastropub The Hand & Flowers in 2005 and within a year gained his first Michelin star. In the 2012 list, he won a second Michelin star, the first time a pub had done so. As a chef he has appeared on the Great British Menu, MasterChef and Saturday Kitchen. Since 2015, he has presented Food and Drink on BBC Two.

Early life

The elder of two brothers, Kerridge's parents divorced when he was eleven. His single-parent family moved around several estates in Gloucestershire while his mother held down multiple jobs.[2] He attended Saintbridge secondary school in Gloucester,[3] and began cooking for himself and his younger brother after school while his mother was at work.[4] Kerridge enjoyed riding his bike and visiting Westonbirt Arboretum.[2]

He attended a youth theatre for three weeks when he was spotted and cast in the Christmas special of the BBC One television show Miss Marple. A number of other small television roles followed, but at the age of eighteen he decided to pursue his love of cooking instead of an acting career.[4] Kerridge found Marco Pierre White's White Heat cookbook inspiring, and states that it encouraged him to pursue a career as a chef by attending catering college in Cheltenham.[3][5]

Career

His first role in a professional kitchen was as a commis chef at Calcot Manor in Tetbury in 1991. He moved around several restaurants as a chef de partie before joining Rhodes in the Square as sous chef under Gary Rhodes in 1999.[6]

He spent a further two years as sous chef at Odettes in London. In 2001 he became head chef for the first time, at Bellamys Dining Room, and then at Great Fosters in Surrey. He moved back to London to become senior sous chef at Monsieur Max until 2003, before moving to Adlards in Norwich as head chef once more. In 2005 he opened his own gastropub,[7] called The Hand & Flowers, which gained a Michelin star in 2006.[6] The Hand & Flowers gained a second Michelin star in the 2012 list,[8] becoming the first pub ever to hold two Michelin stars.[9]

Kerridge describes himself as "not a Michelin-star kind of guy",[7] which influenced his choice to open his gastropub.[7] His signature dish is his take on a hog roast involving cooking pork belly in a bain-marie, which is then wrapped in skin and roasted. This is accompanied by a stuffed pig's trotter.[7]

Kerridge has appeared on television in series five and six of the Great British Menu, supplying main courses to the final banquet on both occasions,[10] and has subsequently appeared as a judge on the programme every year since competing[11] and has also appeared on Saturday Kitchen.[12] He is a brand ambassador for Nestlé.[13]

In February 2013, he appeared as guest chef on the BBC programme Food and Drink. He later became the new co-host on the show in 2015.

In 2013, he presented his own BBC Two food programme Tom Kerridge's Proper Pub Food and then in spring 2014, he hosted Spring Kitchen with Tom Kerridge, which was aired in a daytime viewing slot on BBC One.

Controversy

On 7 November 2012, Kerridge was among a number of chefs who joined in the cyberbullying of a customer to his associate Claude Bosi's restaurant Hibiscus. James Isherwood had written on his blog 'Dining With James' that he had not enjoyed his starter, leading Bosi and several other chefs to verbally abuse him on Twitter. Kerridge intimated publicly on Twitter, where he has over 90,000 followers, that the customer was a "cunt", "bellend" and "dickhead" and would never be welcome in his restaurant, and encouraged Bosi to "smash him in".[14][15][16][17][18]

Personal life

Kerridge does not cook often when at home and claims that his oven is the least-used appliance in his house.[5] He is a season-ticket holder of Marlow F.C.[4] He is married to Beth, a sculptor who has previously worked with Sir Anthony Caro.[4]

References

  1. ↑ "Tom Kerridge – Salisbury Born and Bred". mywiltshire.co.uk.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Kerridge, Tom (5 February 2012). "Soul food: Tom Kerridge recalls the roasts of his childhood". The Daily Telegraph (London). Retrieved 5 February 2012.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Two Michelin stars for Gloucester old boy". This is Gloucestershire. 8 October 2011. Retrieved 6 February 2012.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Pownall, Elfreda (7 October 2010). "Bloke cuisine: delicious recipes from Tom Kerridge". The Daily Telegraph (London). Retrieved 6 February 2012.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "My life in food: Tom Kerridge". The Independent (London). 6 January 2012. Retrieved 5 February 2012.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Tom Kerridge, Esq". Debretts. Retrieved 5 February 2012.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 Englehart, Katie (30 July 2011). "FT Foodies: Tom Kerridge". Financial Times. Retrieved 6 February 2012.
  8. ↑ Rogers, Simon (7 October 2011). "Michelin stars 2012: get the full list of restaurants". The Guardian (London). Retrieved 5 February 2012.
  9. ↑ Davies, Caroline (6 October 2011). "Hand & Flowers becomes first pub to win two Michelin stars". The Guardian (London). Retrieved 6 February 2012.
  10. ↑ Stamford, Jason (27 May 2011). "Great British Menu: Tom Kerridge completes the finalists line-up". Caterer Search. Retrieved 6 February 2012.
  11. ↑ "Tom Kerridge - Hand & Flowers - Marlow - gastropub". The Staff Canteen.
  12. ↑ "Recipes from this episode". BBC Food Programmes. Retrieved 6 February 2012.
  13. ↑ "Tom Kerridge and CHEF® join forces". Vending International. 9 May 2011. Retrieved 6 February 2012.
  14. ↑ http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:NPebmhg5ZX8J:https://twitter.com/ChefTomKerridge/status/266348539435683840+https://twitter.com/ChefTomKerridge/status/266348539435683840&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk
  15. ↑ MacKay, Luke (8 November 2012). "Top chefs unite against blogger's review". The Guardian (London).
  16. ↑ Peck, Tom (10 November 2012). "If you can't stand the heat... Chefs sharpen knives for hapless blogger". The Independent (London).
  17. ↑ "You're a c*** and this is personal! Claude Bosi launches Twitter tirade at reviewer". The Evening Standard.
  18. ↑ "'You're a c*** and this is personal': Michelin-starred chef's bizarre Twitter rant at reviewer who gave his restaurant 3 out of 5". Daily Mail (London).

External links