Chef Revelations – Andrew Turner

Andrew Turner, head chef at Wiltons restaurant in London, talks about selling fruit, Red Stripe beer, Gordon Ramsay, and his fantasy TV programme...

What were your best subjects at school?
English and English literature

What was your first job?
Saturday market fruit seller

What was your first catering job?
Cooking the staff food on a Saturday in Safeways

What do you normally have for breakfast?
Cereal and as many Actimels as the wife will let me

What do you do to relax?
Anything to do with sport

What is your favourite restaurant?
Midsummer House

What is your favourite hotel?
Browns hotel

What do you always carry with you?
My heart on my sleeve

What is your favourite drink?
Beer - I'm partial to Red Stripe

What is your favourite food/cuisine?
Indian and Thai

Which ingredient do you hate the most?
Aubergine

What flavour combinations do you detest?
Chocolate and tobacco, lavender and anything, famous chefs putting things together that they should not and the press for supporting them and the customers for believing the hype - "The emperor's new clothes"

How would you describe your desk?
An organised mess

Which person in catering have you most admired?
Gordon Ramsay

What is your favourite prepared product?
Pickled vegetables and houmous

Which person gave you the greatest inspiration?
Rory Kennedy

Cast away on a desert island, what luxury would you take?
My wife

What daily newspaper/website do you read?
I don't read the papers much or follow the news too often - I tend to catch up on my days off, when I read The Times and The Daily Telegraph

If you had not gone into catering, where do you think you would be now?
I would be at home or on the golf course as it's past 5pm! I would have loved to be in design and anything that is creative

Describe your ultimate nightmare
Getting snowed in

When and where was your last holiday?
I spent a week at home with the family and chilled out gardening and doing DIY around the house.

Tell us a secret...
I have two really famous sisters!

What irritates you most about the industry?
Not enough sharing and everyone out for themselves. The industry should be more accommodating and the hours should be more reasonable.

When did you last eat a hamburger?
I had a homemade hamburger with all the trimmings for lunch.

What's your favourite film?
Schindler's List

What's your favourite book?
The Onion Eaters

What is your favourite prepared product?
Pickled vegetables and houmous

Who would be in your fantasy brigade?
Head chef - me! Tom Atkins on the amuse bouche; Marco Pierre White on the sauce; El bouli - commis sauce; Gordon Ramsay on the fish; Antony Worral Thompson - commis fish; Pierre Koffman in the bakery; David Adams – assistant baker (Wiltons); Tony Joseph (Amsterdam) in the larder; Joël Robuchon - commis larder; Claire Clarke – pastry; Cherish Finden - pastry sous; Billy Smalls – sous chef and task master; William Best – tournant chef

If you had more time, what you do?
I would love to fish and cook around the world. This would involve a BBC TV programme and series and getting paid the big bucks for something I love - Around the world in 80 months with ANDREW Turner and not uncle Brian.