Mark vs Marco, question one: how has the industry changed since he started? "When I was a young boy every chef dreamt of winning just one star not two or three, that didn't feature. I was from tough streets in Leeds but look at, say, the pub world now, people from the middle class and upper class are coming into an industry that was always working class."
Describe some of the places you worked: "Gavroche was a powerhouse. Started 6.30 in the morning and worked til late at night. Everything was dealt with in French. It was magical, like stepping out onto the turf at Old Trafford."
Was it scary? "You're programmed to be the a certain way. Even if I was at my most tired, I was programmed to turn food out in a certain way."
"Nico (Ladenis) was very supportive. A great friend of mine. It wasn't the real world, he'd spend an hour making a sauce, but he had a great palette and knew what he was doing."
"Koffmann was Koffmann. He didn't speak to you, you didn't know if he liked you, but every day you got to watch the great master cook. I knew when he accepted me when - I used to have a cup of tea before and after service - he told the kitchen porter to get me a tea after one service and I knew he had accepted me into his kitchen."
I learnt in a golden age of cooking. It was like the golden age of boxing was in the '70s. I look at people like the Rouxs, Koffmann, Nico, Raymond and they were the heavyweights of our time. Their hands didn't touch the food but their eyes did, their palette did. I don't mind paying £300 for Michelin star food but I want the chef to be behind the stove. If I bought Elton John tickets and his right hand man turned up to play I wouldn't be too impressed."
Describe your time at Harveys: " I got it when I was 24 years old. I had no management skills. Out in Wandsworth 20 years ago it was a bit of a dessert. Egon Ronay came and reviewed me and was fascinated by my name - before that in Leeds I'd been Marco White. He did a write up about a boy called MPW, since then that's been my name."
Marco once described joining Harveys as like joining the SAS? "I always lead from the front. It was very tough, very raw, very hard. I won't say my methods were conventional but they got results, and that's what counted."
Winning three stars: "I was a product of a generation. Those individuals - Pierre, Albert, Nico, Raymond. I was a product of them. But nobody can tell you how to cook - you teach that to yourself. What you can teach people is the discipline of a three star kitchen. It's about determination, how much you really want something and being honest with yourself. I won the first star and asked if I thought I could get two, believed it and pushed for it. When I got to two stars I thought I'd be stuck there as there wasn't the infrastructure to provide three star food. But I looked at La Tainte Claire, saw what they did on meat, on fish - across the board - and tried to beat them on each section. That was how we got three stars."
His walking away from the stove: "At 38 I chose not to work for five years. By the time I left the kitchens I was very stunted as a person. Fuelled by my insecurities, I chased things I didn't really want. Out in the rivers and the countryside I found myself as a person, and was good to myself as a person. For 22 years I hadn't been."
His stint on Hell's Kitchen: "My mission was to cook for people who had been brought from miles around with people who hadn't necessarily cooked before. If it had gone wrong they'd have blamed me not the television. I wanted to see if I could still inspire people and I wanted to give a little back to the industry."
The industry now: "Too many people try too hard without being to back it up. I like honesty. I think people try to make things too fancy and I was guilty of it once. Look at the great cooks; they cook simply and let Mother Nature do the work. Personality is very important as well. Look at Mark Hix - his cooking is an extension of his personality, same with Fergus Henderson and with Philip Howard."
Does he have a dish he'd like as a culinary legacy? "I don't believe in reinventing the wheel. I believe in concepts, we refine things." His greatest refinement then? "I don't think like that. It's all been done before; you can just put your take on it."
His advice to students? "Keep your head down, be honest, put your career in the hands of a great chef and respect him. Choose what career you want to go down, I chose Michelin starred but lots of good friends of mine went down the pub route."
One final question, lobbed from the floor by Arthur Potts Dawson, who freely admits his latest restaurant Water House has had something of a kicking in the press; what does he think of restaurant critics? "It's one man's opinion. They're employed for their skill as a writer as much as for their knowledge of food. I know more than them. It's like Michelin inspectors. They give out the stars but I know more than them. The day I realised that was the day I lost some belief in the Michelin system."
And he's done - a powerhouse of an interviewee. In fact, he's not even waiting around. The microphone's unbuttoned and he's strolled off, like Elvis ditching the mike on the last note of Suspicious Minds What a pro.
Comments (1)
I've watched marco on tv many times. Even when i hated the many cookin programmes that almost spilled over the tv screen the main ingredient in them being speed. Fine, if yr cookin for customers in a restaurant but to rush a chef of such stature? Such amazing talent that he's actually willing to share for others to watch? Was a crime.
Posted by Maxine | August 28, 2008 6:14 PM
Posted on August 28, 2008 18:14