Paul Jackson
Jill Turton talks to Paul Jackson, chef/patron of the Hare at Scawton.
Paul Jackson was born in Halifax but the family moved to York when he was very young. In 2009, after working in chain restaurants, Paul and his wife Liz took on the Crown Inn at Great Ouseburn. They ran it for three years before buying the Hare Inn at Scawton, an ancient pub in a quiet spot between Helmsley and Thirsk.
The couple’s ambition was for a high end, contemporary, destination restaurant with just one tasting menu and a wine flight, quite an aspiration for a self-taught chef with no formal training. Hopeful walkers and cyclists stopping for refreshment in this beautiful but remote spot near Rievaulx Abbey looking for a pie and a pint were turned away, but diners loved it and over the following eight years, the Hare Inn has evolved into a much garlanded restaurant with entries in Michelin, the Good Food Guide and TripAdvisor which, even with consistently rave reviews, Paul claims to check at least 10 times a day.
In normal times, the restaurant would be open Wednesday to Saturday with Paul and Liz’s downtime spent restoring and renovating their 12th century inn. Over the last five years they’ve all but rebuilt it, reroofing, repointing, underpinning and landscaping. They’ve created two new bedrooms which they were due to open just before the lock down was imposed. Now with the business on hold they are, they say, staying positive, looking for the silver lining and trying to be grateful for what they have; outdoor space, a garden and the chance to enjoy more time together.
What’s the first dish you ever cooked? Probably bacon sandwiches when I was about eight years old. Later I would experiment at home with Liz. I remember a nice asparagus dish with a Dolcelatte cheese sauce. I made a disastrous casserole when I forgot to cook the flour off and it all welded to the bottom of the pan. We had to throw the pan away. Liz still teases me about it. That was 18 years ago. I’ve got better since then.
Who is your culinary inspiration? Probably Michael Wignall. I’ve never met him but he’s a twostar Michelin chef whose style is unique. I couldn’t get to Gidleigh Park in Devon, but now he’s in Yorkshire we’ve eaten at the Angel at Hetton and it was excellent.
What was your first cookery book? The first book I ever cooked from was Darina Allen’s Ballymaloe Cookery Course. I have a massive library of cookery books which I use for inspiration. I might take an element from one of them but would never reproduce a whole recipe.
Who would you invite to your dream dinner party? Michael Wignall, Sir Alex Ferguson and my mum. She’s no longer with us, but she did a lot of baking. She was a very good cook.
What’s your guilty pleasure?
I have a sweet tooth. I love chocolate. It doesn’t have to be fancy: Cadbury’s Dairy Milk will do and who doesn’t like a Creme Egg? We sometimes go to Thirsk midweek for a Chinese takeaway or a pizza.
What ingredient could you not manage without? That’s difficult, but I’d probably say sugar. I like the precision of making desserts.