‘I’m quite happy with baked potato and beans’

THIS WEEK’S COLUMNIST Chef and TV presenter Rosemary Shrager

I learnt some very important lessons early on in my journey to becoming a cook – one of them being to taste everything. When I was working at Amhuinnsuidhe Castle on the Isle of Harris, I was overseeing people making a delicious soupe de poisson, but instead of putting paprika in, they used a lot of chilli instead. And someone else used salt instead of sugar in the glaze for an apple tart! It was from that moment on that I never let anything leave the kitchen without it going through the taste test.

Of course, there are always situations that happen behind the scenes when you’re cooking. It’s par for the course. Luckily, during service, 99% of the time we get it right, and if anything does go slightly awry, it’s away from the eyes of the customers. Saying that, early on in my career I was catering outdoors when, to my surprise, I spotted my physiotherapist. I was so shocked I dropped the vegetables on the floor. I was very apologetic to the party hosts. They said, ‘Don’t worry, we’ll brush it off. We can still eat it.’ Mortified, I took the vegetables back to the kitchen and washed them off.

The kitchen is a tough place and you can’t take things personally. I am a very patient person. I love teaching other people. When they understand something and achieve great results, the disbelief on their faces and pride in themselves is quite special. It’s so nice seeing people gain confidence and watching their journey. Students who have trained with me at the cookery school have gone on to work with the likes of Raymond Blanc. I get a tremendous satisfaction out of seeing people achieve.

I love dinner parties too, especially those where you help yourself. At the end of the day the food is important – and I love to produce great food – but it’s all about the people. Giving spontaneous parties where a few of us get together and have a big lunch is great fun. I’m not one for going too formal these days, I’m too tired.

I am sure some people worry about cooking for me, but my real friends know I’m quite happy with baked potatoes and beans. I did go to a friend’s dinner party once, though, and my husband at the time insisted we have dinner before we went as my friend couldn’t cook a thing. When we got there, my friend asked me to cook for her, so we ended up having two meals.

I always tell people they can cook, even if they think they can’t. The key is to keep it simple – just bake or grill something. Some people are good at knitting or creating fantastic woodwork.

I can’t do either. What we can’t do is everything, but we can all do something.

‘At the end of the day, it’s all about the people’