James MacKenzie
Dave Lee talks to James MacKenzie from the acclaimed Pipe & Glass, South Dalton
Along with wife Kate, James MacKenzie opened the Pipe & Glass in 2006.
The former gatehouse to the Dalton estate, the pub has now held a Michelin star for a decade and has won National Dining Pub of the Year as well as several Gastropub Awards. James was born in
Filey and trained at Scarborough Technical College before taking positions in various prestigious kitchens around the country. It was working under his good friend Andrew Pern at the Star at Harome that convinced him to take the leap to chef/owner and it’s the Pipe & Glass that has been his consuming passion ever since. The menu is designed around local produce and often incorporates herbs, vegetables and even flowers grown in the pub garden. James has also written a cookbook and to support young chefs entering the industry, he created and hosts the annual Golden Apron Award.
Can you remember the first dish you ever cooked – and was it a success? Yorkshire puddings were probably one of the first things I can remember making when I was about six. I remember cracking the eggs and whisking like mad with my mum saying ‘carry on, they need more air’ – but I think that this might have just been a ploy to keep me occupied. I can’t remember how this batch turned out, but the Yorkshire puds that I serve these days definitely have something of a fan base. I once made them for the presenter Kirstie Allsopp on her Channel 4 show, and she said that they were the best she’d ever tasted. I’d call that a success.
Who is your inspiration in the kitchen and why? Not a who, so much as a what. My cooking is hugely inspired by seasonality. The change that comes with the seasons is hard to ignore when you’re fortunate enough to be surrounded by the Yorkshire countryside, as we are. Each season brings its own exciting ingredients, starting in spring with the pink sticks of Yorkshire forced rhubarb, the wild garlic that grows in abundance in the woodland behind the Pipe and Glass, and delicious Yorkshire asparagus. Through to the great summer produce – strawberries, herbs and edible flowers and fabulous fish from the North Sea, like Filey sea trout. In the autumn and winter the moors and dales provide glorious, versatile game.
What was the first recipe book you ever owned? It may not have been my first recipe book, but Great British Chefs (written by the hospitality great Kit Chapman in 1989), would have been one of them. It was certainly the cookbook that has had the greatest impact on my career. As a young trainee chef at Scarborough Technical College, I took huge inspiration from this collection of over 140 recipes from the greatest chefs of the time.
If you organised a dinner party, which three people would you invite & why? Keith Floyd would be in charge of wine; I was lucky enough to meet him a few times during my time at Scarborough Tech – he was a great character. DJ Pete Tong would be in charge of music. I’ve always loved a bit of dance music and I have seen him perform, and Marco Pierre White could be in charge of the menu; he was a real inspiration to me as a young chef.