The perfect Guest
Richard Guest's initial worries that he would be limited by the British focus of the menu at the Castle at Taunton have been largely unsubstantiated. Since taking over the running of the kitchens of the 44-bedroom hotel in September last year - two months after Phil Vickery's well-publicised departure - he has settled into the job more easily than he imagined.
"When it comes down to it, I'm a British chef working with a British brigade in a British kitchen and we use British ingredients - therefore, the food is British. It's as simple as that," he says.
However, there has undoubtedly had to be some shift in his culinary thinking. Having spent the six years prior to his arrival at the Castle working alongside Jean-Christophe Novelli, his cooking inevitably had a strong French bias. Guest, though, would say that there are many similarities between British and French cooking. "Take braised oxtails, for instance," he says. "We've been eating oxtails in this country for centuries, but the methods used for preparing and cooking them are very French."
For Guest, braised oxtails should be served rich and sticky, preferably with a finger bowl to allow customers to suck every last morsel of meat from the bones. After marinating the tails for two to three days in port, Madeira and red wine with red onions, a bouquet garni, garlic and some orange zest, he makes a glazed sauce from the marinade using a gelatinous cow's foot stock. The oxtails are then slowly braised for four hours in the glaze. "By braising them in the sauce they take on the flavour of the sweet, cooked wine instead of using the harsher, uncooked marinade," he says.
Guest's arrival at the Castle was unexpected. Just a few months earlier he had been installed by Novelli as head chef at Gordleton Mill in Lymington, Hampshire. The position, however, was short-lived. With Novelli pulling out of the property deal at the last minute, Guest was suddenly out of a job and a home. Having sold their property in London, Guest and his wife, Vicky, went to stay with his in-laws in Somerset.
The capital had been Guest's workplace for 10 years - ever since leaving his home town of York, where he had undergone an apprenticeship in a small, family-run hotel and restaurant. His first position in London was at the Savoy, where he stayed for two-and-a-half years. He then moved on to the Four Seasons as a chef de partie, joining as Novelli took over as head chef.
Working with Novelli was constantly thought-provoking. "He was always on your case to taste and smell everything and to consider exactly why you were putting together a particular dish," recalls Guest.
When Novelli left the Four Seasons to open Maison Novelli and Novelli EC1 in Clerkenwell, Guest - who had been promoted to sous chef at the Four Seasons - followed. He eventually ran Maison Novelli as head chef while his boss was opening new ventures elsewhere.
Although he didn't think it at the time, the timing of Guest's arrival in Somerset was spot-on. Having read about Vickery's departure, he wrote to the Castle's proprietor, Kit Chapman. Following a two-hour interview, in which Chapman drilled him intensely on his food philosophy and his thoughts on British cooking - and a subsequent food tasting - Guest got the job.
Moving into a position where the proprietor is well known for having strong, and very specific views on the kind of food he expects from his chefs is something that is not alien to Guest. "After working with Novelli for so many years, it is something I understand very well," he says. In fact, he points to the similarities between Chapman's and Novelli's passion for food. "They come from different points of view, but they both care a great deal about their food," says Guest. "I respect what the boss says - he's enormously well-read - and speaks a lot of sense. But it doesn't mean to say he is always right."
One area of slight disagreement is the use of any ingredient that Chapman regards as un-British. "I've had to stop him from using any item that might give the Castle even the merest hint of appearing to be influenced by ‘fusion food'," says Chapman. "Ingredients such as chilli, lemon grass and polenta are all banned."
While Guest recognises the sense in most of what Chapman says, it amuses him that he can slip the odd chilli into the occasional dish as background seasoning. He also says it would scare him if couldn't put something like pasta on a menu again. "But I believe you could have pasta in a dish at the Castle today and for that dish to be regarded as British."
For Chapman it is paramount when eating out that you should have some sense of place, some geography. "Food served at the Castle should be particular to the Castle, to Somerset and to the West Country. You shouldn't eat here and end up having a experience similar to one you might have in London," he believes.
The Chapman philosophy is one that he has instilled in all his chefs. Before Guest, Vickery, Gary Rhodes and Chris Oakes were all encouraged to explore the British repertoire. "Richard has been the first chef to come here with such a strong French technical influence, but he has taken those skills and successfully translated them into the British idiom," says Chapman.
British rarity
For example, Guest takes the technique generally used to confit duck and applies it to mutton - a distinctly British rarity these days. It is a skill that is perfect for tenderising the two-and-a-half-year-old ewes he buys in whole from his brother-in-law's nearby farm. They each weigh eight to nine stone and, under the skin, have a thick layer of yellow fat.
After they have been hung for two to three weeks, Guest strips off the fat and rubs Maldon sea salt into the meat before boning and rolling it. After being braised slowly in its own fat for 14 hours, the mutton is pressed into a terrine. Slices of the meat are then reheated gently to order in a gravy made from the mutton bones and served with rosemary fondant potato and buttered spring greens. "It's a wonderfully strong-flavoured dish for winter," he says.
Out of choice, Guest himself prefers to eat some of the lighter dishes on the menu, such as the starter of salad of lobster, cucumber and fennel with gooseberry dressing. A touch of vanilla oil helps to balance flavours between the lobster and gooseberry, while the cucumber and fennel are marinated in lime juice, olive oil, honey and crushed coriander seeds to create a fresh-tasting salad. He is also fond of sea bass roasted on bay leaves and lemon with sautéd pumpkin and potatoes. But his current favourite dish - and a big seller at the Castle - is seared halibut on a bed of creamed potatoes flavoured with white truffle oil, served with a light celeriac emulsion and a reduction of Muscat.
As well as the Castle, Guest is also responsible for the menu of the hotel's adjacent brasserie, Brazz, together with its head chef Matthew Eke. Eight chefs work for the Castle and six for Brazz. Their loyalty and stability has been a great boost to Guest as he has settled in to the challenge of the job. Among them, sous chef Mike Davis has been at the hotel for nine years, while kitchen manager and breakfast chef Gerry Barge has worked at the Castle for more than 20 years.
The Castle at Taunton
Castle Green, Taunton, Somerset TA1 1NF
Tel: 01823 272671
Fax: 01823 336066
Web site: www.the-castle-hotel.com
Owners: the Chapman family
General manager: Kevin McCarthy
Head chef: Richard Guest
Bedrooms: 44
Restaurant seats: 60
Menu prices: set menu (Monday-Thursday), £15 for two courses, £20 for three courses; set menu (Friday-Sunday), £18.50 for two courses, £24 for three courses); à la carte menu - starters £5.50-£14, main courses £15-£22, desserts and cheese, all at £6.50
Source: Caterer & Hotelkeeper magazine, 18-24 May 2000