3 Courses with... Aaron Patterson

STARTER: CAN YOU TELL A STORY FROM YOUR EARLY YEARS THAT HELPED SHAPE YOU?

There are two main influences that stand out in my memory from my early years of training as a chef. The first was working for my father, who was a chef and made Marco Pierre White look like a pussycat! He was a feisty Scotsman who instilled discipline in me. I worked in his kitchen as a 13-year-old weekend helper at his place in Leicester. Essentially, I was cheap labour! My father was a large man, and I recall how he always dressed up as Father Christmas on Christmas Day to give gifts to the customers. I must have done something bad that day as I remember receiving an almighty roasting from my dad dressed up as Father Christmas! At that stage in my life, I was not sure what career path I would follow but that experience certainly gave me a lot of insight.

I really fell in love with cooking when I worked for Nick Gill at Hambleton Hall. Nick was the food critic AA Gill‘s brother and was an incredibly creative and brilliant chef. I learnt technical skills from Nick and had a lot of fun at work. That’s when I realised I had a talent for cooking and a creative mind for the job. I also realise during this period that as a youngster the constant reprimands from my father had made me nervous and made me make more mistakes. But under Nick’s tutelage, the role became about artistry. This shone a new light on the career path for me.

After working for Nick at Hambleton Hall I worked for Raymond Blanc at Le Manoir Aux Quat’Saisons. Raymond was the creative chef and under him was his head chef called Clive Fretwell who played a sergeant major role in the kitchen. I could recognise the dual roles of the two types of chefs to run a successful kitchen at this point. This really helped to shape me, as I discovered how I wanted to behave as a boss. Although I didn’t have all of the answers and probably made lots of mistakes along the way, I knew what type of chef I wanted to be.

MAIN COURSE: CAN YOU SHARE A MOMENT IN YOUR LIFE YOU ARE MOST PROUD OF?

I have a couple of stories that explain the moments in my life that I am most proud of. The first one was when I was asked to present a cooking show on Channel 4 which was so successful it ran for 55 episodes. It was called “Here’s one I made earlier” with Mark Wogan, the son of Terry Wogan and Paul Heathcote. The proudest moment of all was when I had the opportunity to invite my father - who although I described him a stern earlier was also my best friend - to co-present with me on the show for one episode. It was such a brilliant opportunity, and I still have the evidence to show my children. This was a really proud moment for me. More recently, in 2019, I was very proud to receive the Extra Mile Award at the Hotel Cateys, which is the hospitality industry’s equivalent of the Oscars. The award was voted for by my peers in the industry was an unexpected surprise. There were thousands of people dressed in black-tie in the ballroom of Grosvenor House in London and I had to go up on stage and make an acceptance speech. The award takes pride of place in my office now.

DESSERT: WHAT IS THE SWEETEST STORY YOU CAN SHARE?

A sweet story I can share was when I was working for Raymond Blanc and he said to me “I’ve been invited to cook for the HRH The Queen Mother and you’re going to come with me”. Imagine the honour for me as a young chef at that time. We drove together in Raymond’s car and set off late as was quite usual. As we got onto the motorway and noticed all the traffic, Raymond checked with me whether I thought he could get away with driving along the hard shoulder to save time. I jokingly said, “yes of course you’ll probably get a police escort because we will be cooking for the Queen Mother”. Instead, he was stopped and charged by the police! The event went really well and a year later when Raymond was due to cook for the Queen Mother once again, he had the confidence to send me without him to create the meals. At this second event, the Queen Mother came into the kitchen to thank all the team and came over to me and remembered me by name from the year before, which is a very special memory I will carry with me forever.

Coincidentally, I was cooking at a private home near to Hambleton Hall for the Hanbury family recently and HRH Prince William was a guest at the house. After lunch William came to thank the team and after we exchanged some fun, friendly banter about my football team (Leicester City) and his (Aston Villa). I had the opportunity to let him know that I had cooked for his great grandmother a few years back.