The Caterer Blog

Here I am just a few weeks into my new job as the web editor of Caterersearch.com and how do I find myself spending the morning? Watching and filming one of the country’s most (in?)famous chefs, Marco Pierre White (MPW), preparing Lobster in a sauce vierge at Luciano’s in central London for a Caterer and Hotelkeeper Masterclass (6 September edition) - ain’t life grand?

If I were to watch Tiger Woods playing golf or Michael Schumacher take a Ferrari for a spin round the block I don’t think I could have witnessed a man more in his natural element. There was a tension in the air from the moment he strode into the kitchen took one look at the lobster and declared it too big and too Canadian.

This was more than enough to put back the schedule as MPW had George, his restaurant manager, send out for a new one that met his specifications.

This gave us time to interview him on camera, a feature that will soon be gracing the Caterersearch site, and get his take on some of the many issues that face the industry, his own motivations his new role in Hell’s Kitchen and his relationship with Gordon Ramsay (MPW will be Caterer's guest editor next month).

I would have been satisfied with that as a good’s day’s work but then we followed MPW and his newly arrived replacement lobster into the kitchen.

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.

Exclusive: Marco Pierre White on why he's back behind the stove for TV's Hell's Kitchen>>

Marco, sharp implements and a Candian lobster>>

It seems that there's never a dull moment in the life of a celebrity chef... and never a day that they're out of the news...

Marco Pierre White spoke in Monday's Times about cruising, sandals and democracy whilst Tuesday's Mirror reported that (in between filming his latest TV series in the US) the "explosive chef and the highly-volatile Nancy Dell'Olio are now an item." Well, with Sven Goran Eriksson now off to to manage the Mexico national team, the coast is clear for MPW. Just imagine the rows over shampoo though.

Meanwhile Gordon Ramsay got a dose of his own medicine as Liam Gallagher had a few F-Words for the ubiquitious chef, and finds himself in more competition with his wife Tana, who, not content with outselling her husband's last cookbook with her own Family Kitchen, decided it's now time to take on her fiery-husband on-screen, declaring herself ready to do a cooking show with Gordon according to Tuesday's Daily Record.

Several papers also reported on Monday on how Gordon gets his kids to eat greens... a model for parents everywhere.

Jamie Oliver had a busy Monday as the debut single from his protégé Tim Kay (on which Jamie plays drums) was released on the same day he opened his new Italian restaurant in Oxford.

The delightful Marco Pierre White has been at it again, lashing out at chef campaigners Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Jamie Oliver ahead of his new TV show, Marco's Great British Feast.

White claimed Fearnley-Whittingstall's campaign against intensively farmed chickens was merely an attempt to "get a few column inches".

"I really object when I see certain individuals protesting against certain types of farming to get a few column inches," he said. "Certain people should get a life."