{"id":32,"date":"2016-11-14T11:38:51","date_gmt":"2016-11-14T11:38:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nationalcookeryschoolguide.com\/?p=32"},"modified":"2016-11-15T14:55:16","modified_gmt":"2016-11-15T14:55:16","slug":"an_interview_with_raymond_blanc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationalcookeryschoolguide.com\/an_interview_with_raymond_blanc\/","title":{"rendered":"An interview with Raymond Blanc"},"content":{"rendered":"[vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ width=”1\/1″ tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default”][vc_column_text]\n

Why did you want to open a cookery school in addition to having a restaurant? \u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n

We are proudly the first Michelin starred kitchen in the UK to have its own cookery school and it remains the best centre of culinary knowledge.\u00a0 Some 35 chefs have been trained here at Belmond Le Manoir and gone on to achieve Michelin stars of their own.\u00a0 They are our greatest successes – they trained, honed their skill and passion and have followed their dreams.\u00a0 For me, I was self-taught.\u00a0 Many of my guests want to nurture their love of food, not to become a professional chef, but to grow their own repertoire\u00a0and translate this love into beautiful and imaginative cuisine.<\/em><\/p>\n

Who was your best teacher and did you take inspiration from them when you opened your own school?<\/h3>\n

My parents and particularly Maman Blanc.\u00a0 My childhood was probably a clich\u00e9 of French rural life. It established the foundation and the structure of my approach as much to cuisine as to people.\u00a0 From\u00a0the age of seven, my father took me to the garden, made me take a handful of earth, look at it, smell it, taste it!\u00a0 And of course, I was very much involved in all the toiling in the garden, whilst my friends were playing football.\u00a0 Then the veg would be picked, topped and tailed and cooked by my mother and often bottled for the winter.\u00a0 I was also a hunter-gatherer across the woods of Franche-Comte where there are fields growing numerous types of wonderful produce \u2013 mushrooms, chanterelles, wild asparagus, wild berries and flowers.\u00a0\u00a0 All that we picked would be handed to my mum to create a simple creative act of cooking and the rest I sold on the side of the street. This gave me a good understanding of the cycles \u2013 and also made me a rich young man by the age of ten! \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Your cookery school is held in extremely high regard. What sets Le Manoir apart from so many schools?<\/h3>\n

I have created a school right in the heart of my kitchen at Belmond Le Manoir, where students can feel the thrill service in a Michelin starred restaurant whilst cooking in a practical and supportive learning environment. \u00a0\u00a0The Raymond Blanc Cookery School is not to be confused with the cooking of Michelin starred cuisine.\u00a0The aim is to teach home cooking and to hel<\/em>p students to understand some of the thought processes and techniques that will help to give them knowledge and confidence in their own kitchen at home. \u00a0Whether you are an experienced cook or a complete novice, you will have a fantastic time, developing your culinary skills and food knowledge and learning the techniques that support my own cuisine and inspire my food philosophy.\u00a0 Most of all the courses are about fun and\u00a0I hope that every student will leave sharing my passion for fresh, seasonal ingredients and understanding the joy of sharing a meal with friends or family.<\/em><\/p>\n

Seasonality and sourcing locally are real buzzwords in the food industry today. Can you explain what it is that is most important about these ideas when it comes to cooking?<\/h3>\n

Each aspect of The Raymond Blanc Cookery School is driven by ethical, environmental and seasonal values. For me,\u00a0the entire process of provenance\u00a0is crucial; where it came from, how it was grown, how it was reared, how it was collected, how it was caught or slaughtered. We choose our suppliers carefully and visit producers whenever possible. This means we are satisfied that acceptable standards of stocking densities, medication and feed are met.\u00a0Every place in the world will have world-beating ingredients because they are suited to growing in that place, often having developed and adapted over many generations to suit the particular soil and weather conditions of the area. For us, the gardens at Belmond Le Manoir are certified organic and supply the cookery school and restaurant with over 90 types of fresh salads and vegetables during late spring, summer and autumn.\u00a0The vast patchwork of herbs is particularly strong on micro-herbs. These are harvested still young and tender to obtain optimum flavour. Both the familiar and the exotic are used.\u00a0My chefs and the expert team of gardeners work hand in hand to find the very best flavours for the plate \u2013 on-going trials take place to discover the best varieties for each part of a dish.<\/em><\/p>\n

What is your favourite dish or meal to cook at this time of year \u2013 autumn?<\/h3>\n

At this time of year we have a huge variety of mushrooms to enjoy.\u00a0 I am lucky to have an ancient wood close to my home in Oxford. The forest floor is thick with mosses and lichens, and wild mushrooms are abundant (of course, our shops offer a wide variety – look out for bay boletus, the beefsteak fungus, the cauliflower fungas, the pied bleu, and the winter chanterelle.\u00a0 A simple fricassee of wild mushrooms is ideal with some good French bread to mop up the juices.<\/em><\/p>\n

Do you have a favourite ingredient or ingredients<\/em>\u00a0to cook with?<\/h3>\n

I am a Frenchman so of course I will say garlic.\u00a0I do have my favorite\u00a0varieties of course for the season ahead: for the best apple tarts \u2013 Chivers Delight.\u00a0The unsung hero of the kitchen \u2013 the onion; choose Rose de Roscoff and grow your own, as it\u2019s sometimes hard to find in the shops. My favourite kale varieties are<\/em>\u00a0‘Black Russian’, ‘Westland Winter’ and Red Curled<\/em>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Which specific courses would you recommend to a.) someone who can\u2019t cook at all and b.) someone who knows their stuff but wants to cook food at a higher level?<\/h3>\n

We have over 40 different courses to choose from \u2013\u00a0my team of experts chefs are here to guide you so you can work at your own level.\u00a0For someone new to cooking, I would suggest the season dinner party one day course where you will discover how to create the perfect menu completely stress-free. \u00a0For a more accomplished cook, the residential courses cover a range of skills and you will progress from course one up to course three as your skills improve.\u00a0 The advanced bread courses are very popular as well as the Garden to Plate course, where you will harvest fresh varieties from the gardens and create imaginative dishes.<\/em><\/p>\n

Other than French cuisine, what is your favourite type of food to cook and to eat? \u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n

I have spent a lot of time in south-east Asia – the culture does not just influence my cuisine, but has enticed me to design some of the suites at Belmond Le Manoir with opulent, exotic Asian themes.\u00a0 There are hints of Asian influences\u00a0through my cuisine.\u00a0 My dishes\u00a0include vegetable indigenous to south-east Asia to achieve distinct, exotic flavours. In the gardens we now grow some of my favourites: lemongrass, galangals, Vietnamese coriander for the menu.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Which cookery school, apart from your own, would you recommend in the UK?<\/h3>\n

Leith\u2019s School of Food and Wine is an institution\u00a0that offers many of the skills you will need to help you become a competent\u00a0cook.<\/em>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you could give only piece of advice to any cook from your own personal and professional experience \u2013 what would it be?<\/h3>\n

Preparation is key.\u00a0Read though your recipe and have all your ingredients ready and measured before you start.\u00a0Work with the seasons, and get to know your butcher\/fishmonger to get the best cuts.<\/em><\/p>\n

Who would be your dream dinner party guests?<\/h3>\n

I am fortunate enough to have met many of my heroes.\u00a0I had the pleasure of cooking for the Queen Mother here at Belmond Le Manoir \u2013\u00a0I would loved to have heard her stories.\u00a0But I am a Frenchman, so Napoleon would be at the top of the table!\u00a0And those that are still with us: I would love to share the table with David Attenborough, Stella McCartney, Charles Aznavour and or course my dear Maman Blanc, who celebrated her 94 birthday this autumn and my boys, Olivier and Sebastien \u2013 always the best company!<\/em>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Raymond Blanc gives an insight into his cookery school – the first Michelin starred kitchen in the UK to have its own school.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3159,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false},"categories":[38],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nAn interview with Raymond Blanc - National Cookery School Guide<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nationalcookeryschoolguide.com\/an_interview_with_raymond_blanc\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"An interview with Raymond Blanc - National Cookery School Guide\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Raymond Blanc gives an insight into his cookery school - the first Michelin starred kitchen in the UK to have its own school.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nationalcookeryschoolguide.com\/an_interview_with_raymond_blanc\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"National Cookery School Guide\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-11-14T11:38:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-11-15T14:55:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/nationalcookeryschoolguide.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/ray_interview.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1100\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"NCSG\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalcookeryschoolguide.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationalcookeryschoolguide.com\/\",\"name\":\"National Cookery School Guide\",\"description\":\"A collection of the UKs most prestigious cookery schools\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/nationalcookeryschoolguide.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalcookeryschoolguide.com\/an_interview_with_raymond_blanc\/#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationalcookeryschoolguide.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/ray_interview.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/nationalcookeryschoolguide.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/ray_interview.jpg\",\"width\":1100,\"height\":640},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalcookeryschoolguide.com\/an_interview_with_raymond_blanc\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationalcookeryschoolguide.com\/an_interview_with_raymond_blanc\/\",\"name\":\"An interview with Raymond Blanc - 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