Cook House Issue 8

cookhouse Soho House Food Magazine

CLEAVE IT! spring 2012 WORKING the best knives EATING pizza competitions PLAYING San Francisco food tour

a taste...

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DIGEST THIS

Spring 2012 2 Welcome to the spring 201 oho issue of Cookhouse, the S hefs House food magazine for c t and people who love to ea

Rising star chefs from around the world, throwing parties for celebs, making gingerbread houses and all the Soho House news

WHAT I KNOW

Gilbert Holmes on being inspired by his mum

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STAYIN’ SHARP The best knives and how to keep them in top condition

Tuck in!

This magazine celebrates the food philosophy of all the Soho House Group restaurants worldwide: Soho House New York, Babington House in Somerset, Soho House West Hollywood, Soho Beach House Miami, Soho House Berlin and Cecconi’s in LA, as well as all the London sites: Pizza East Shoreditch, Pizza East Portobello, Cecconi’s, Dean Street Town House, Shoreditch House, The Electric, Cafe Boheme, BKB, High Road House in Chiswick, Hoxton Grill and Soho House. If you’re interested in joining one of our kitchens email cookhouse@sohohouse.com In this issue we’re examining those crucial tools: knives - where to get them and how to care for them; exploring the food of San Francisco and cooking with Jamie Oliver Foundation students. Plus all the news from the Soho House Group worldwide.

Editor Rebecca Seal Art etc. Dominic Salmon Publisher Dan Flower

, Caroline Boucher, thanks to Kat Hartigan, Dylan Murray Strawson, Shelley Armistead, e b e o h P , s e n o J Thomas Lennard, Gareth tonella Bonetti, Jon Pollard, Matthew Armistead, Ronnie Bonetti, An Andrea Cavaliere, Dave Green, , i Nicholas Fitzgerald, Maurilio Molten tista, Jacki Spillane t a B j a l i L , t n Eliot Sandiford, Ashley Le

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FOOD PORN!

Check out the gorgeous food SHG chefs have been creating

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STUFFED IN SAN FRANCISCO The LA kitchen team hit almost every restaurant in San Fran

JAMIE OLIVER FOUNDATION

A visit to Pizza East and some competitive cooking

GET FRESH!

Grey Goose vodka teams up with Sergio Sigala from Cecconi’s

GONE FISHIN’ A member’s recipe for aromatic fish curry

The Gong Show! Aussie rules Golden Globes Soho House Group chefs have been helping throw all the coolest parties recently! In Los Angeles, executive chef Andrea Cavaliere provided fantastic nibbles to Golden Globes nominees at the pre-party thrown at Cecconi’s and then had just a few days to prep for another Globes celebration at Soho House West Hollywood.

Grammys Next up the LA teams hosted a pre-Grammys brunch, with Rihanna and Katy Perry in attendance.

Brits In London the chefs were also feeding music legends with Ronnie Bonetti from Babington House serving up warming English dishes on the night itself - cheese and ham toasties, beef and Yorkshires, sausages rolls and plaice gougons plus a pie station with chicken pies, shepherd pies and mac ‘n’ cheese.

Hmm. Our invite must have got lost in the post...

Soho House New York came over all pizza obsessed when Aussie celebrity chef Peter Evans stopped by to spend Australia Day 2012 in the kitchen.

Adding an Aussie touch to classic pizzas, and introducing some fab modern flavours, Pete’s demonstration was definitely a winner.

For tips and tricks for achieving a flawless pizza, and advice on doughs, sauces and toppings check out “Pizza” – Peter’s latest cookbook.

Art Basel Continuing Soho House’s relationship with Art Basel, Soho Beach House also hosted several of the parties for the recent festival. Andrea, Sergio Sigala and team knocked out some impressive food for the artsy crowd.

Left: grand-scale cooking in LA

NIBBLES

food news from around the world

rare grooves C O O K H O U S E 4

LA House Festival Any stateside members who’ve seen pics of the London House Festivals over the years need feel jealous no longer – you’re getting your very own.

The first LA House Festival takes place in early June and you should prepare for a feast! Check out www.houseseven.com for tickets and line-up.

Jon Pollard at Identità Kudos to Jon Pollard, head chef at Pizza East Shoreditch.

After his successful turn at Le Fooding in Milan the team at Identità Jon Pollard: Golose, ‘Wot no tomatoes?’ one of the biggest and most important food conferences in Italy, invited him to appear at the 2012 event alongside chefs like Rene Redzepi and Alex Atala. There was a whole day dedicated to pizzas and pizzaiola and Jon intrigued the crowd with his veal meatball, cream and sage version and his talk entitled, “Without tomato – a sacrilege?”

Pop pop Look out for some top chefs guesting around SHG’s London venues. Chef Adam Byatt is popping up at High Road House in Chiswick on April 17th and Mark Hix will be at the stoves on March 28th. Head over to www.houseseven.com for more details.

Rare Butchers started out in 2000 and are now one of London’s most in-demand meat suppliers, dry-ageing up to 800 loins and 600 ribs of beef at any time. Cookhouse chefs made a visit to their main facility and got to see the master butchers at work.

The team visit Rare Butchers

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bites...

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C O O K H O U S E 5

NIBBLES

ginger nuts!

Jake Rigby-Wilson has just been promoted to Group pastry chef – congrats! Here, he explains how he made Dean Street Townhouse’s annual winter gingerbread house. “It took a day to make but most of the work was in the planning over the month before. We made a wooden frame so we could put the lights inside without them softening the walls. The walls and roof were from sheets of gingerbread that just fitted in the oven and were held together with All royal icing. We used about 6kg of Dolly Mixtures and ” Sorts and spelt Townhouse in jelly beans on the roof!

Jake and his team’s handiwork

e m o s u o y g n i p p i Sl roofies

e new rooftop In celebration of Ocho, th at Soho Beach taqueria and tequila bar a tasty Mexican House Miami, members took Ocho’s chef Mario cooking class there, with er ceviche. “You Manzano. Check out his sup h fillets, tomato, need: very fresh white fis onion and lemon cilantro (coriander), white all dice, then juice. Cut the fish into sm d put in the cover with lemon juice an nimum. Chop all fridge for three hours mi x with the fish the other ingredients, mi and a little and add salt, ground pepper eat!” to y bit of olive oil. It’s read Ocho’s chef Mario Manzano

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star dust...

Clemente Osorio, nominated by Andrea Cavalier e, Cecconi’s West Hollywood “Clemente came from Chiapas, Mexico to join our team at Cecconi’s West Hollywood just a few months after our 2009 opening.

During the week, he mans the grill and wood oven stations with fear less finesse. On weekends, he scrambles and poaches eggs in the Gard en for Soho House West Hollywood’s Sunday Brunch Feast. He is the egg specialist – no one cooks eggs like him. Clemente works fast and is a true rising star.”

Therese Noren, nominated by Dave Green, Dean Street Townhouse, London “Therese is CDP on pastry at Dean Street Townhouse.

She has recently moved up to CDP and number two on pastry and has handled the extra workload and responsibility in a calm and organised manner. She’s taken this big step-up in her stride.”

Gavin Davis and Phil Licciardo nominated by Ronnie Bonetti, Babington House, Somerset “Gavin and Phil are both dedicated and hard-working chefs now promoted into junior sous chef positions. They are key in keeping the standards high and motivating the rest of the team . Cook on!!”

Tim Foster, nominated by Marcin Malinski, Café Boheme, London “Tim is really fast and very well organised.”

Aaron “Aaron months around

Tucker, nominated by Matthew Hickey, BKB, Lond on Tucker is my senior chef de partie. He has been here for six and has shown dedication to food and to leading other chefs him.”

Jamie Smith, nominated by Gilbert Holmes, Elec tric Brasserie, London “Jamie Smith is a CDP and is a major asset to the Elect ric. He clearly has a passion for the industry and the food he cooks . He is very reliable, runs his section in style, he is always on top of the situation and definitely someone for the future of Soho Hous e.”

Alex Rebeiz-Nielsen, nominated by Tim Full er, Pizza East Portobello, London “Alex is a very passionate and positive young chef who always does his best and is very keen to learn.”

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C O O K H O U S E 7

starters

what i know Gilbert Holmes, 28, head chef, The Electric

ready have “I’m 28 years old and al s under my on iti two head chef pos about my ed cit ex belt so I am very company” e th in future ectric Gilbert Holmes at the El

This is a very cliched thing to say but I get myand inspiration from my mum. She bought up me and my brother

started a coffee shop 18 years ago, which we pretty much grew up in. She worked really hard to give us a good home and send us to good schools. She’s always done what she can to give us a great life – she didn’t even have a car until she was 40.

My father had a restaurant when I was really little and my worked there as well.

They used to put my cot in a corner of the kitchen and the chefs used to bring me slices of pizza or little bits of steak to try. It’s no surprise that I love kitchens now.

The first hotel I cooked in was a boutique hotel in Johannesburg. It was all the rage and I was cooking for the rich and famous, using lots of new-age Asian and fusion ingredients. But for me the ethos of Soho House works much better, where it’s about simple food cooked with great ingredients, nothing too fancy.

My favourite piece of equipment is the mandoline, definitely. It makes life a lot easier for the prep chefs and salad chefs and allows for a much more consistent product.

Who would have thought that when I came over here from South Africa as a young chef that I would end up head chef at the Electric? On my first day in London four years ago I got thrown into a brunch shift here as they were down a chef for the day. Now I am head chef in the same kitchen and I am very proud of that. I’m 28 years old and already have two head chef positions under my belt so I am very excited about my future in the company.

The best meal I have ever cooked was a private dinner party for 10 people. The setting was incredible, with a full-length fish tank across the dining room and views of Clifton beach and the Twelve Apostles in Cape town. Amazing! The menu was very simple but I think it was my most memorable cooking experience. I cooked smoked haddock risotto, wilted spinach, buerre blanc and poached egg starter, beef fillet, roasted root veg topped with sauteed girolles and then petit fours and biscotti as a dessert.

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Eating out is so much fun – whether it’s expensive or not. I haven’t been to many fancy places here, although I’ve been to Hawksmoor [a London steak restaurant] twice now. I really like searching out little coffee shops to try.

My favourite thing in the whole world is to make myself spaghetti bolognese and finish a bottle of red wine.

t k? n a w coo to

to find out more about how you could become part of the Soho House Group team contact cookhouse@sohohouse.com www.sohohouse.com/cookhouse

e v o l i e is r p r u s o “ It’s n kitchens now” oline Indispensable: the mand

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C O O K H O U S E 0 9

steel yourself

C O O K H O U S E 1 0

For all chefs, a defining tool of the trade is the humble knife. Choosing the right knife for the work you do and the way you do it is a deeply personal thing.

Here, we ask top Soho House Group chefs to tell us about their favourite knives and we take advice from two experts: Jay Patel of the Japanese Knife Shop in London and Fred Rogers of Perfect Edge Knife Sharpening in Los Angeles.

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C O O K H O U S E 1 1

I would recommend to any chef to get one, as it makes you really want to use it and keep it sharp. There are drawbacks though: they are very expensive initially, but you have to think about offsetting the cost over its lifetime. Mine will last about four years, which is related to how much I use and sharpen it. The other is that you will become very protective over it and get very pissed off if something happens to it.

Dion Scott, head chef, Electric Club

Nicholas Fitzgerald, senior sous, Pizza East Shoreditch

I went to New York during the summer and I got my knife, sheath and sharpening stone (pictured left) in a very impressive Japanese shop called Korin.

This is where many chefs get their knives in New York and a lot of people travel specially to this shop get them as well. It is supposed to be one of the best knife shops in the world outside Japan. (korin.com) It feels like you aren’t in New York any more when you walk in. They have an incredible selection of Japanese tableware, beautiful tea ceremony sets and cutlery. The back of the shop is dedicated to knives, all shapes, sizes and prices.

There are always two men dressed in traditional Japanese clothing including special slipper-flip flops; one of them helps people to select knives.

The other sits cross-legged in front of a deep bath full of water, with 10 different sharpening stones; his job is to sharpen knives for customers and to finish them when one is purchased.

C O O K H O U S E 1 2

The knife I bought is a Misono UX10, righthanded, very sharp, relatively light and is a Gyuto style knife (this refers to the shape of the blade). It has one edge and not two which most western-made knives have. The metal is Swedish stain-resistant steel.

My favorite Brand of knife is MAC, which is Japanese. I received my first one from my head chef when I was at the Riverside Brasserie for doing an extra shift and I still have it to this day – it’s a 6½ inch vegetable cleaver. Since that day I have spent over £1000 on different MAC knives. I find Japanese knives lighter than their German competitors and easier to keep sharp. My first knife set was a Victorinox starter set which served me well at the start of my career and I still use a Victorinox pastry carving knife to this day.

Maurilio Molteni, head chef Shoreditch House

Being an Italian chef from Como I must say that my favourite knives are Sanelli, which is a small factory making knives since 1880 near my lake.They have got a very resistant blade and the handle (which is green, so quite funky as well) gives a fantastic grip. They are light and well balanced, not very expensive and they last a long time. I also like the German Wusthof, which are quite strong but just a bit too heavy; some Japanese (not Global) have a fantastic blade – sharp and resistant – and are very good for filleting.

Andrea Cavaliere, executive chef Soho Houses America

In 2000 I asked a friend of mine to buy me a knife in Japan. He bought me the best – a Gyuto style knife – and it wasn’t cheap! (At that time the only Japanese knives available in the UK were Global.)

I often sharpen it myself with a sharpening stone – it is the best way and is gratifying, relaxing and therapeutic. Once, I saw my future wife open a bottle with it…and yes, I married her anyway!

Japanese-style knives are thinner than European and this makes for a sharper knife. When I tried this Japanese knife I began to understand the value of light and sharp. When you have a sharp knife you do more and better work; you become a better chef.

“You WILL become very protective over it and get very pissed off if something happens to it.”

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Andrea Cavaliere: “When you have a sharp knife you do more and better work; you become a better chef”

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steel yourselfsenior chef de partie, Dean Street Townhouse Sebe Somogyi, This small knife is mine. I have had it since I started cooking, over 15 years ago. I still use it all the time despite the fact it has almost worn away!

, e m o t l u f i t u a e b ’s t I “ a n e k a t ’s t i h g u o h t al t I . g n i r e t t a b a f o bit ur o y g n i h t e m o s e k i l s look .” e s u d l u o w r e h t o m d n gra have all disappeared. People accidentally take other people’s knives at the end of the night all the time. You spend half your time counting them.

I like Victorinox knives – they’re easy to maintain and keep sharp. The blades are quite soft so they’re easy to sharpen.

There’s nothing worse than a blunt knife and not being able to sharpen it.

Victorinox are good when you’re starting out – you can kit yourself out for £100 or so, although that is still a lot to find at the beginning of your career.

Dave Green, head chef Dean Street Townhouse

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I have a 15-inch Wusthof cook’s knife. I bought it 15 years ago and didn’t realise how big it was as I ordered it from a catalogue. I was shocked when it arrived but it felt so good to hold that I kept it and it is great for butchery, doubling as a cleaver as well and for jobs where lots of chopping is required. All my knives are Wusthof except for a Victorinox pastry knife (there is no point buying expensive serrated knives as they all wear out sooner or later) and if you look after them they will last over ten years of heavy daily use.

Phil Licciardo, chef Babington House

I bought my knife at Bondi market in Australia four or five years ago. I haggled the guy down

from $10 to $5. I don’t think he knew what he was selling though – it’s an old antique Sabatier knife and probably dates from before the War. It’s French, wooden-handled and it’s beautiful to me, although it’s taken a bit of a battering. It looks like something your grandmother would use.

I sharpen it myself. It’s quite soft. It’s showing some signs of use – I guess it’s dying really but it will last a good few more years. It’s got a chip in the handle but it’s never given me a blister. It’s never cut me either.

Ronnie Bonetti, head chef, Babington House

Knives are key. I have one knife that I’ve had since I started cheffing back in 1994. It’s an old Victorinox chef’s knife, with a wooden handle which is so worn in that it really fits my hand and it’s got a nice big chip out of the back of it. It’s my favourite knife of all time and the only one that’s survived the whole cooking roadshow – the other eight from the set

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Obviously there are lots of different knives in my knife roll. Boning knives get better with age – mine is ground down to a toothpick which is fantastic for getting into nooks and crannies in lamb. I’ve got my favourite fish knife too which has just the right amount of flex. When it comes to a serrated knife, you can’t sharpen them, so you do want to invest a bit – I use an F.DICK bread knife.

Little tomato knives are the most versatile. At eight inches max they’re the most handy knife – great for peeling garlic and slicing things. I’ve got a big, old-fashioned butchers knife, since we do so much butchering here, and that’s a Wenger. The most useless knife in the knife roll is a 50cm thing which I was given as a present. There’s never the kitchen space to stand far enough back to

Friends of Cookhouse Adam Byatt

London Chef Adam Byatt from Trinity in Clapham is a friend of Cookhouse and is doing a pop up at High Road House on 17th April Some are old, some are shiny and new, and they’re all like old friends. Like most chefs I know my knives are treasured and dear to me. I started out as an apprentice some 23 years ago with a set of Victorinox wooden-handled knives which I had engraved with my initials to stop them being stolen. A few still remain after all these years.

Nowadays I mainly use MAC knives and if I’m travelling around I tend to use just three knives which cover most of the jobs I find myself doing: a large cook’s knife, a sharp MAC paring knife and a thin-bladed filleting knife - plus, of course, my trusty steel which has been with me for the last 23 years!

Peter Evans

Australian chef Peter Evans is a Cookhouse favourite and often does events at Soho House’s American venues My favourite knife is a Messermeister. I have one that has been in my tool kit for 12 years and is my go-to knife for most things in my home kitchen. I’m currently designing my own set of kitchen knives and I’m basing a lot of the design concepts on my trusty old Messermeister. I can’t remember where I got it – I think it was from a fellow chef.

Mark Hix

use it.

Mark Hix is well known for his commitment to British seasonal food and is doing a Soho House pop up on t20th March

I buy my own knives. I want a new serrated knife at the moment and it’s a matter of the finding the right one.

I’m thinking about getting something ceramic...

I have collected loads of knives over the years and I tend to swap and change between Swiss German and Japanese. The Japanese blades are great but a bit of an investment – however, good knives should stay with you for life.

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Fred Rogers’ guide to knife care 1. W ash and sanitise them before and after you use them and make sure they are clean and dry. Stainless steel means stains less not stainless!

2. N ever wash them in a dishwasher. It ruins the handles especially if they are wood and will dull your knife when they bang against other knives.

3. A lways cut on a cutting board and don’t use the blade side to scrape what you cut, use the back side of the blade.

4. W hen cutting, as much as possible keep the tip of the blade on the cutting board.

5. P ut your knives away when you are not using them!

6. A lways have your honing steel out as you will need it to straighten the sharpening edge.

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7. S ome culinarians use a pan with a towel in it to keep their knives in one spot so they do not get left on the counter.

8. D id I mention to put your knives away when you are not using them?!

steel yourself

The experts with the edge Fred Rogers

Soho House West Hollywood’s brilliant knife sharpener on how to get the best from your knife (www.perfectsharpening.com) I’ve been in the food industry for 44 years but after deciding that dealing with large corporations was more than I could stand I met Mike Solaegui of Perfect Edge Knife Sharpening in San Mateo, California. He trained me on the best equipment in the world and in 2009 I was named Best Knife Sharpener by Los Angeles Magazine. I make regular trips to see the master in San Mateo to make sure I keep getting better. I’ve been to Japan for the annual Knife Festival, made a Japanese knife and seen every step from forging and shaping, to handle making and engraving.

I love what I do and it is important. When I receive a knife from anyone who has entrusted it to my care it’s imperative that it’s perfect when I give it back to them. Hence the name of our company: Perfect Edge Knife Sharpening.

also Yanagiba (the sushi knife for slicing), the Nakiri (which means ‘cut vegetables’) and the Deba or strong knife that is for boning meat and fish. The Gyuto looks like what the Japanese call a Western-style knife, but has a single edge with a blade usually cut at an 80° angle on one side and 20° on the other side. Which side the longer, single bevel cut is made determines whether it is a right-handed or left-handed knife.

The next option is a paring knife, 3-4 inches long, for cutting small fruit, or a Japanese petty knife which is usually 5-6 inches long and acts as a larger paring and small utility knife. A serrated knife can vary from a 7-inch narrow-blade chef’s knife – for cutting tomatoes and fruit – to a bread knife and sandwich knife which have offset blades so you do not overuse the tip. A serrated knife can be re-serrated.

You also need a knife bag which can hold from six to 20 knives and knife guards, so you can protect your new bag from sharp blades that will cut the canvas.

What you should buy when you can afford to is pretty open ended. You can get an inexpensive Japanese-Western chef’s knife for as little as $100, or they can get very expensive depending on how much you are willing to set aside for your set.

How to choose a knife It all starts with how much can you afford and then it’s a matter of choosing a knife that feels good and fits your hand.

I have people ask me all the time which knife I’d recommend and I usually start with Japanese knives because they are thinner, harder and have a great selection of handles. German knives are great but are usually thicker, heavier and nowhere near as hard a steel as Japanese knives – but some people love a heavy knife.

I have found that in Japan they are best at making a very hard knife that holds up and needs less maintenance as well as the edge lasting longer because it is so hard. (They have thousands of years of experience with metallurgy and the making of Samurai swords.) Rockwell hardness (a scale of hardness) on German knives is typically 51 to 56 but Japanese knives are 58 to as high as 68.

For example, take a large carrot and cut it with a Japanese knife. Because it has a very thin blade it will cut all the way through to the board smoothly, cleanly and effortlessly. Then take a thicker, bolstered knife and cut the same carrot. Because of the thickness of the blade it will begin to cut but then you may hear a crack because it begins to split the carrot when it reaches the thicker part of the blade.

The sharpening steel is a little confusing because it doesn’t actually sharpen the blade. Rather it hones or straightens the edge – the sharpening part is my job. When you are cutting on a board two things occur: first you are wearing metal away, and second the blade will roll (how much depends on how soft it is) and will need to be straightened with a maintenance steel.

Basic knives The first knife that almost every cook starts with is a chef’s knife which comes in a variety of sizes – eight and ten inch knives are the most common. The longer the blade the less work, but a twelve inch knife takes some getting used to. The popular Santoku knife is usually around 7.5 inches long. There are

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Jay Patel spent nearly a decade learning about knives in Japan and now has four branches of his Japanese Knife Shop in London. He trains chefs (including Soho House Group’s) in caring for their knives.

Jay Patel

There is a difference between hardness and toughness. Something hard, including a knife, will chip if you whack against something hard. To stop a knife breaking you need to make it tough as well. The best way to do that is to laminate the steel which is done by sandwiching hard steel between two layers of soft steel. That way it’s very hard in the middle and stays sharper longer, but because of the softer steel on the outside it’s easy to resharpen as well. It’s always better for a chef to use laminated steel.

When choosing a knife think about what you’ll use it for. If you’re going to cut raw or cooked flesh with it then the general principle is that you want a thin, narrow blade rather than a wide flat one. Fat sticks to the blade so you want to present less surface area to the meat. For vegetables you want to have a wide side so that you can use it to scoop them up and a straight edge all the way along rather than a curve.

When it comes to sharpening you need to apply an angle which is suitable for your particular knife – you should be guided when purchasing. You need the right steel as well – we sell 22 different steels and 60 sharpening stones. Ideally, get a high-grade diamond steel or a blue ceramic steel. Be kind to your a knife – don’t bang it on the steel; the process should be completely silent. We teach everyone who buys until on practise to blade a get knife from us how to sharpen it if they want. It’s a free service – you you need to sharpen the knife you’ve bought. Then come in and show us how you’re doing it and we can correct you if necessary. Mail order customers can send a video of them sharpening. It’s a simple skill and we’re happy to teach it.

Find out more and see videos of Jay Patel’s techniques at www.japaneseknifecompany.com

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food porn

Soho House Group! om fr ys wa al e ar es The sauciest sauc liere.

Pics by Andrea Cava

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on tour!

GO MAD IN SAN FRANCISCO

Shelley Armistead, general manager of Soho House West Hollywood, took a research trip to San Francisco with her team of chefs: head chef Matthew Armistead, executive chef Andrea Cavaliere from SHWH and Cecconi’s, and Allessio Biangini, German Lucarelli, Nicky Pickup and Nano Crespo. Here are her favourites from their formidable eat-a-thon.

“WHAT AN INCREDIBLE 36 HOURS! AFTER A 4.45AM START TO THE DAY I SAID ‘I AM STARVING’ FOR THE LAST TIME IN SEVERAL DAYS, AS WE TOUCHED DOWN IN A DRIZZLY SAN FRANCISCO. TARTINE

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After we dropped off our bags we headed straight to Tartine where the line out the door at 8.30am was an indication of just how great this place is. A feast of every pastry imaginable to man. The service is like something out of the TV show Portlandia – the multi-tasking barista was applying Chanel red lipstick in her mirror while giving strict instructions on brewing time for our tea (with biodegradable bags). We feasted on morning buns with cinnamon and orange; the best croissant that any of us has ever tasted; a choux pastry bun with sharp cheese and black pepper; currant scones and a banana cream pie with chocolate. The chefs pressed their faces up against the windows of the building next door to try and get a peek through the flour sacks acting as curtains into the baking secrets of Tartine – if ever there was a ‘paparazzi moment’ this was it – balancing on each other to get the odd shot.

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The team on a San Francisco tram

BI RITE We ambled up the block into the legend that is Bi Rite Supermarket. An Armistead Maupin dream come true, right there. A local supermarket where the staff was taking their break on apple crates outside the store tucking into their family meal of the day – delicious looking stew – we were tempted to ask them for a bite! In addition to the gorgeous fruit, vegetables and flowers, it’s packed to the gills with local Californian produce: dried Heirloom beans, grains, superfresh fish and the prettiest chocolates. Local beers and wine take fridge space next to their homemade ice creams – so good they’ve resulted in a Bi Rite Ice Cream shop, plus a community food centre called 18 Reasons, for cooking and gardening lessons.

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TADICH GRILL We walked the half mile to Tadich Grill where at 11.40am the line was out the door again. Tadich is a seafood-heavy, brasseriestyle restaurant and, having opened in 1849, is the oldest restaurant in California. We stopped here for a drink and to take in the atmosphere. The what seemed like a mile long bar was covered in diners enjoying a selection from the 132-dish menu with a further 25 daily specials. This – to the amazement of our team – with only four chefs in the kitchen!

Tadich is open 11-9pm and serves 750 guests in that time frame.

COTOGNA A short car journey brought us to Jackson Square and the much anticipated Cotogna. Cotogna was prepared to accommodate us family style and our table was right in front of a wood grill complete with pork loin roasting on a rotisserie above.

Imagine the smiles when we find out that pork loin was part of our lunch! We started with bowls of still-bubbling warm ricotta from the wood oven topped with wild mushrooms which we spread on grilled crostini. Artichoke sformato with parmesan fonduta was as brilliantly 80s as it was flavourful. The primi course was two pastas: a tortelloni with pumpkin and hazelnuts and gnocchi with Calabrian sausage and broccoli. Our main course of spit-roasted pork with roasted carrots, rutabagas and Brussels with gremolata was served with spiedini of scallops, pancetta and shelling beans.

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on tour!

“WHAT A FIND!” FLOUR AND WATER Having been up so early – and by now full – we would rather have gone to bed, but made our way to Flour and Water anyway with promises of just getting one pizza to share to see what all the fuss is about. What a find! The pizza and pastas were fantastic, the desserts great and the service welcoming. Off to bed with an early start the next day.

“ONLY IN CALIFORNIA!”

Travelling between meals

BOULETTES LARDER Early morning found us at Boulettes Larder. The only table in the teeny restaurant is a table for eight and as we had a reservation and were seven hungry people, the prospect of being able to sit in the kitchen was a very exciting one. The domestic-style kitchen is a dream for any chef and all were keen to watch the action.

Sadly that was not to be the case as we were ushered to a table in a drafty corridor outside the restrooms. This, we discovered, was because the chef Amaryll Schwertner did not want to look at a large party in front of her as she cooked. No photos were allowed legend has it that she snatched a camera out of Martha Stewart’s hands as she tried to take a pic. Thankfully she wasn’t as mean to Andrea and Amaryll’s food exceeded our expectations.

BAR JULES

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We spent a lovely afternoon in Bar Jules poring over kitchen plans for Soho House Mumbai and discussing menus. The owner Jessica Boncutter fed us almond tart that took us back to our days at the River Café.

With Jules, a 15-year-old basset hound, at our feet looking for crumbs it was our most homely and family feel yet! As we were leaving Nano got involved in the staff tasting of the evening menu and we had to pry him away to walk the mile to our final destination.

The Bi Rite book and some of the many dishes consumed on the SF trip

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STATE BIRD PROVISIONS

It was becoming hard to distinguish our favourites but our winner was little-known State Bird Provisions.

We had no idea what to expect and honestly by that stage all we wanted to do was fly home – we were full, tired and happy. State Bird Provisions is a cart and tray service restaurant. We had to split our party into two tables as they don’t accommodate large groups. This proved so interesting – the cart or tray brings out 6–8 dishes at a time and weaves between the tables offering small plates to the first diners who will take them. The cart is then restocked with different dishes and so it continues. So we were not necessarily eating the same food but the consensus was that every dish was delicious!

We feasted on duck-neck dumplings and sour jus; beef tongue and pickled vegetables; wild mushrooms and crunchy hazelnuts on parsnip puree; halibut and quinoa tartare; curried cauliflower and jammy greens; salt and pepper bread with oxtail and artichoke puree and beef cheeks with radishes and bone marrow. The jewel in the crown is the State Bird, which in California is quail. It was breaded and fried – so juicy, the stuff dreams are made of!

It was a dash to the airport where we crawled past a yoga lounge (only in California!) into the Farm Market (ditto!) for whole Mary’s Farm chickens on a rotisserie, thin crusted local salami pizzas, homemade kombucha, a local wine counter…the perfect way to wait for your plane. Even airport food has become farm-to-table in San Francisco.”

to t n a w rk and wo vel? tra

to find out more about how you could become part of the Soho House Group team contact cookhouse@sohohouse.com

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pizza the action Pizza East chefs get busy in the kitchens with Jamie Oliver Foundation students

Then the class split into smaller groups to learn about the particular ingredients that Pizza East staff make and use and about the doughs the chefs use every day.

Senior sous Nicholas Fitzgerald was on hand to explain the different cheeses and cured meats as the students tasted them – they tried bresaola, speck and cured hams, some of which the Pizza East crew had salt-cured or air-dried themselves. There was also wobbly burrata cheese to try and a powerful viniola – a sheep’s milk pecorino soaked in red grape must – as well as mozzarellas and parmesans.

The main event, though, had to be the pizza-making competition. After learning about how the dough is made and proved, the chefs demonstrated how to create a perfectly flat and even base. Then the students were free to use whatever they wanted to create their favourite pizza, ready to be judged by the chefs, Kelly, Kat and Cookhouse editor Rebecca Seal. (Rebecca also got roped into competing but her pizza was nowhere near as good as the students’!) It was a tough choice between the top four – all of which had simple and effective combinations of toppings and just-right crunchy crusts. But the winner was Jasmin Bushell, who now has the chance to try out the kitchens at Babington. Everyone was a winner though really, as afterwards everyone got to eat their hand-made, delicious and hard-earned pizza.

This year’s Jamie Oliver Foundation cooking school students visit Pizza East Shoreditch C O O K H O U S E 2 4

This year’s undergraduates got to spend a day with the kitchen team at Pizza East where they competed for a chance to win a day working in the kitchens at Babington House in Somerset and an overnight stay for two there. The day started with a short intro to Cookhouse from head chef Jon Pollard, general manager Kelly Taylor and Kat Hartigan, who runs the Cookhouse programme. They explained Pizza East’s farm-to-fork philosophy and that Cookhouse is all about finding and keeping the best chefs and encouraged them to apply for jobs with Soho House when they graduate. www.sohohouse.com/cookhouse

“Cookhouse is all about finding and keeping the best chefs”

The pizza-making competition Photos by Dai Williams

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goose-y gander

Fish tales Continuing Cookhouse’s partnership with Grey Goose Vodka, we took over the private dining room at Cecconi’s Mayfair. There, Grey Goose brand ambassador Joe McCanta met Simone Serafini, head chef, and the two created some delicious nibbles and drinks to match. Watch our exclusive video of the day at sohohouse.com/cookhouse “I started cooking with my grandma when I was about 12,” explained Simone.

“And my favourite dish was her Tuscan crostini. The recipe originated among poor people and is made with very tough old bread – they never threw away bread. They just soaked it in chicken stock to soften it. Today, though, we’re cooking more luxurious Venetian cuisine. Venetians are more into raw foods, like carpaccio.” One of Cecconi’s signature dishes is salmon tartare, which Simone explained how to make.

“It’s made with raw salmon and we use the best organic Scottish salmon.

We mix it with chopped caper berries and sweet chillis, fresh lemons and Italian rocket.” Simone started with the caper berries, although not too many, so as not to overwhelm the fish. Next he followed it with some fresh sweet chilli, very finely chopped. The fish was seasoned with a little lemon, a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil, sea salt, white pepper - “It’s better to use white pepper for fish – black is better for meat,” said Simone and Joe agreed. “Black pepper can be kind of abrasive can’t it?” Simone then tumbled it all together with the rocket, ready to serve it straight away.

“It’s such a simple recipe, but the ingredients are such high quality that it really works,” said Joe. “That’s the secret,” said Simone. “Sometimes, the simpler the ingredients the better it tastes.” Both agreed it was perfect - “You can taste each ingredient separately and they fit brilliantly together,” said Joe.

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To match the dish, Joe designed the Grey Goose Mediterranean Winter, a cocktail using blood orange, grapefruit (“To play on the bitterness of the rocket,”) Italian bitters, Campari and Grey Goose L’Orange. “The orange will hold all of this together and the beautiful blood oranges in season now are just great.” He blended the blood orange juice with Grey Goose L’Orange, a touch of fresh pink grapefruit, building the drink in the glass with good quality ice added at the end.

Both agreed that the citrus notes in the cocktail worked brilliantly with the salmon. “Fantastic, beautiful!” said Simone.

Cheers!

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Joe McCanta and Simone Serafini at Cecconi’s Mayfair

but , e p i c e r e l p m i s a h c “ It’s su igh h h c u s e r a s t n e i d e r the ing rks” o w y l l a e r t i t a h t y qualit

Grey Goose Mediterranean Winter 35ml Grey Goose L’Orange vodka 125ml blood orange juice 20ml pink grapefruit 10ml campari dash of orange bitters Build all over ice in a highball.

Garnish with a Grey Goose stirrer and a wheel of blood orange. www.sohohouse.com/cookhouse

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Floured up

kitchen capers

“ I never thought I’d be cooking Madonna a takeaway risotto!”

Cookhouse has made another friend for life... meet Marcus Miller, a fourth generation baker who has recently developed the perfect burger bun for Soho House’s UK sites.

Here are his wise words

Andrea de Benedictus, i sous chef, Cecconi’s Miam

Tour rules The Cookhouse tour allows chefs from within Soho House Group who have proved themselves to be passionate and dedicated to spend up to six months in kitchens abroad. Andrea de Benedictus started off in Cecconi’s London, and is now in Miami having spent six months in Los Angeles:

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“I started with Soho House Group in 2008 and after I’d been working at Cecconi’s in Mayfair for about three and a half years, Chef asked if I wanted to go and spend six months in LA and then Miami. Of course I said yes, and for me it’s been such a pleasure and a great experience.

I love Miami and I love where I work. The chefs are amazing and there is so much to be learned from our head chef Sergio Sigala. I’m young and I want to learn as much as I can.

I made a lot of friends while I was in LA as well. When you’re in a kitchen with 25 other chefs there are a lot of people you can be friends with.

My favourite section is pasta. In LA they make pasta differently than we did in London and then Miami is different again.

I want to learn all the sections of course, but in LA the head chef Matt Armistead said I was good at pasta in particular. Now I’m sous chef on pasta and I love making it and cooking it.

When you do this it means you don’t just see one place and one way of doing things.

Of course it’s the same company but you learn so much from all the different chefs. And it’s not just being in the kitchen either – executive chef Andrea Cavaliere has taken me to events as well, like the Toronto Film Festival. That was an amazing week – I never thought I’d be cooking Madonna a takeaway risotto!”

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“I trained in the family bakery business in Cambridgeshire, then I moved to London and became bakery manager at Selfridges – back when they still had a bakery.

Then I worked abroad a lot, in places like Hong Kong, Israel, Russia and Mexico doing consultancy for the Mandarin and Hyatt. When my wife and I were done with travelling we came back to the UK and set up this business, Miller Bakery, 14 years ago. I did the baking and she did the sales.

We produce 400 different high-end lines for all sorts of restaurants – we supply Gordon Ramsay, Mark Hix and Caprice Holding among others – and we work with between 20 and 25 tonnes of flour per week. A few years ago we moved to a custom-built 20,000 square foot factory.

We are quite well known for our burger buns. We’d been supplying a few Soho House Group properties when Dylan Murray (food and beverage director) asked if we could develop a burger bun for him. We did blind tastings to get to the right one – a brioche bun. It’s a softer bun than before, which was ciabatta. In that way it’s similar to New York, where I’d say probably 75% of the buns are brioche.

I love it, but baking is seen as unglamorous with unsociable hours which is so bad for the industry. In 14 years I’ve never had a school leaver knock on the door and ask for an apprenticeship, which is something I’d be more than happy to do.

www.millersbakery.co.uk

“We work with between 20-25 tonnes of flour per week” Wanth!? doug

To find out more about jobs with Soho House Group, email cookhouse@sohohouse.com www.sohohouse.com/cookhouse

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member’s recipe

BEST FISHES....

Thai or Indian,” says “I’m not sure if this would count as either years I’ve blended up London member Charlotte Shanklin. “Over the that’s probably quite ingredients from both traditions in a way tes really nice!” sacrilegous to both food cultures. But it tas

SERVES 2 250g fish fillets (I try to go for sustainable options, like Alaskan wild salmon) a handful of fresh or frozen small shelled cold-water prawns 1 small onion, peeled 4 cloves of garlic, peeled 1 inch / 3cm of fresh ginger, peeled 1 stem of lemongrass, tough outer leaf removed 1 whole chilli, de-seeded 1 tsp mustard seeds

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Skin the fish fillets and chop into large chunks. In a food processor or blender blitz the small onion, garlic, ginger, lemongrass and chilli. In a wok or deep frying pan, fry the mustard seeds in a little vegetable oil until they start to pop, then add the turmeric, cumin and salt. Fry for one minute. Add the contents of the blender and fry gently, moving the paste often so it doesn’t stick, for two or three minutes, until it’s softened and

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1 tsp turmeric 1 tsp dried coriander 1 tsp cumin ½ tsp salt 1 can coconut milk a handful of peas or sugarsnaps finely diced carrot finely sliced red pepper 1 large bunch of coriander, stems removed and finely chopped aromatic. Turn the heat right down and add a can of coconut milk. Allow it to heat through slowly or it will split. Add the vegetables and allow to simmer very gently for four minutes. Taste and adjust the seasoning and spice levels. Next, add the fish and prawns.

Make sure everything is submerged and cook for five minutes or until the fish is cooked through. Serve in bowls, scattered with lots of coriander, with flatbread or rice.

COOKHOUSE@SOHOHOUSE.COM www.sohohouse.com/cookhouse