Did I get a shock on Friday or what? Off I went to the Hell’s Kitchen studio to poke around the twin kitchens - supplied by Hobart and set up for the ten celebrities to do battle under the guidance of Marco Pierre White - for a My New Kitchen-style (or in this case My Temporary Kitchen) feature due to appear in 13 September issue of Caterer. As expected, there were a few chefs there prepping ingredients ready for the start of the run but someone I hadn’t planned on running into was MPW himself yet there he was centre stage, several turbot at the mercy of his knife as he effortlessly filleted them at amazing speed – “The cheeks are the best part,” he informed me.
How refreshing, I thought. You’d kind of expect the star of the show to waltz in just before the cameras start rolling, not be on set days before to get everything ready. His trusted aides were also present – Tim Payne will head up the blue kitchen, Matt Brown the red kitchen, and Roger Pizy will oversee pastry for both. I stole a look at the menu – the turbot will be à l’orange with coriander and a braised pig’s trotter will come with morilles and pomme mousseline. And there are plenty of fine ingredients that the celebs will no doubt be familiar with, such as foie gras and truffles, although probably never before had to prepare themselves – at least not for 74 people.
So, service is certainly going to be busy. How will you divide your time between the two kitchens, I asked MPW. “I’ll fucking run,” came the answer.
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