Category — chefs

The TV chef John Burton Race has declared himself bankrupt. You may remember him from the documentary a few years back following his progress at the New Angel restaurant in Dartmouth. Mr Burton Race was also a contestant in a series of I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here. Burton Race is still head chef at the New Angel as his friend Clive Jacobs bought the restaurant.

Jamie Oliver is expected to have overtaken Gordon Ramsay on the Sunday Time Rich List. The Telegraph suggests that Oliver will rank at position 1,348 with an estimated fortune of £40m. Ramsey is out of the top 2000 after last year ranking at position 1,446.

Of course, both of these on-TV chefs make a significant proportion of their income from TV shows and by selling stacks of cookery books. Ramsey has been in the news over the last few months as reports surface suggesting his global restaurant business is being affected by the credit crunch.

The Telegraph has reported that celebrity chef Anthony Worrall Thompson has been forced to close four of his six restaurants because of the credit crunch.

Apparently he visited each venue to tell the staff that the company had been put into administration. It is believed that the 57 year old chef had used £250,000 of his savings to buy back the two remaining restaurants.

The Fat Duck is the restaurant belonging to celebrated chef Heston Blumenthal – a chef known for his, shall we say, unusual culinary experiments. To compliment his other cookery books Mr Blumenthal has published the weighty Big Fat Duck Cookbook (available and discounted at amazon). It’s a monster of a book, weighing in at some 12lb and coming in it’s own duck feather embossed box.

The book gives you the chance to try out his unusual dishes for yourself. Dishes like:

• smoked bacon and egg ice cream
• snail porridge
• salmon poached with liquorice
• hot and iced tea

It’d be great to hear from you if you try out some of his recipes!

I last mentioned Marco Pierre White when he was on TV with his Great British Feast

Well Marco is back with one of his latest ventures – he’s endorsing 96 Degrees Coffee and more specifically the 96 Degrees Tin (pictured).

Whilst the official 96 Degrees Coffee website currently doesn’t tell you much, you can see that the company is promoting 96c as the precise temperature for the perfect cup of Espresso Italiano.

I think it’s a very catchy brand name and from the images available the tins look very classy and premium brand. It’s a registered design too apparently. The Telegraph reports that the 96 Degrees Tin is available exclusively in Selfridges.

Just the reason to visit kitchkof.com for a shiny new bean to cup coffee machine. And maybe pay Whittards a visit too to view their own range of coffee beans.

Have you tried 96 Degrees Coffee? What do you think- let us know in a comment!

The renowned chef Marco Pierre White returns to our screens on ITV this week with his brand new show: Marco Pierre White’s Great British Feast.

We last watched Marco in Hells Kitchen were he took over from former pupil and fellow bad boy of cooking, Gordon Ramsey. Expectations were high that Mr White would not be able to contain his legendary temper but having watched some of the show personally I thought he came across very well.

In this latest TV programme Marco Pierre White shows how to find and catch the best food, from mushrooms to salmon, and then what to do with those ingredients to make truly stunning food without spending hours preparing it.

As always with celebrity chefs there’s a new book to promote the programme (or does the programme promote the new book?), containing over 100 recipes, many of which I expect will be shown in the TV show. If you fancy a copy of the book then treat yourself to a (discounted) copy of it from amazon.

Sam Stern is a teenager from York who started cooking at the age of 3 and wrote his first best selling cookery book for other children at just 14. He’s got his own website and blog and presumably is making a fair few quid out of his endeavours. As a certain Mr Oliver hit our television screens at an early age it’s easy to make comparisons – though remember that Jamie Oliver earned his spurs as a chef at The River Cafe I think it was.

Has anyone read any of Sam’s books – if so, what are they like?

How’s about this for a chef related gift experience day. A truly unique chance to spend the day with a renowned TV chef and prolific writer! The one and only Keith Floyd has travelled extensively around the world in order to fulfill his love of cooking local dishes and he will share his unique insight with you on this one day course.

Cooking with Keith Floyd at the Novelli Academy is priced at £300.00 and you can order online here.

UPDATE: This gift experience is no longer available sorry (02-May)