Table Talks with Tom Kerridge
We sat down with Tom, the beloved captain of our Pub in the Park ship and found out what inspired his menu for Pub in the Park this year, the cookbook that changed his life and most importantly… how he feels about the pub!
What tends to be your ethos when putting together a menu for Pub in the Park?
We always try to make sure the dishes are ones we would like to eat. We like that kind of street food vibe. We love big strong flavours, getting your fingers dirty, things that get messy as you eat, where paper napkins are in plenty of supply! We take inspiration from around the world and try to build those sorts of flavours into our recipe design.
What’s in your chef's classic dish for Pub in the Park?
It’s a mixture between a classic deep fried hot dog, layered with lovely curry flavours. The hot dog is cooked with a little bit of chilli, a little bit of mint and served in a bun, served in a Matson curry sauce which we’ve turned into a ketchup with some bombay mix sprinkled on the top, just beautiful flavours.
Pub in the Park Marlow
And why is it a nostalgic dish?
It reminds me of growing up in Gloucester and having sausage, chips and curry sauce from the local chippy. Matson is the estate where I grew up and the chippy was somewhere I went a fair bit. So, we’ve developed a dish that uses those classic chip shop curry flavours, but with a chef's twist.
What do you love about the institution of the pub?
The pub is something that’s fundamentally only found in Great Britain. In other countries, you have different connecting places, where people meet as a community, but the pub is so uniquely British. It’s called a pub, short for public house, because it’s about members of the public being able to come in and enjoy themselves. And your social or economic background doesn’t matter, great pubs embrace everybody.
The pub scene has changed massively over the last couple of decades, they’re not just drinking dens anymore. They’re places that are integral and interwoven into the fabric of society, whether it’s based on an estate, like where I grew up or a place like The Hand & Flowers. Pubs are intertwined into society, and the local community where they live, which is what makes them so amazing.
Who were your cooking inspirations growing up?
To be honest, there weren’t really any. I went into a kitchen at 18 for the simple reason that I needed money. And I just started washing up, but around the same time that I started cooking, Marco Pierre White released his cookbook, ‘White Heat’. My mum bought it for me and it was just one of those incredible moments, where a book changed everything. So, I would say Marco Pierre White is probably the most influential chef of my generation.
What do you love about being a chef?
There’s a number of great things about being a chef. First and foremost, it’s about food. But I think a lot of it is about adrenaline, mixing with like-minded people from all sorts of different backgrounds. It’s the most wonderful industry to be in, the most eclectic mix of culturally diverse people and it embraces all types, the waifs and strays of society…! It’s like a pirate ship, a community of people that come together and are all driven by the same thing, cooking great food, having fun, enjoying the energy and buzzing off the atmosphere of a kitchen.
Check out the interview from the horse's mouth on our YouTube channel.