'People treat Michelin like a chain restaurant': Top chef shares frustration in Cheap Eats
Every Thursday, our Money blog team interviews chefs from around the UK, hearing about their cheap food hacks and more. This week, we chat to George Livesey from the Michelin-starred Bulrush in Bristol.
My go-to cheap eat at home... is legumes - they're seriously overlooked when it comes to cheap, delicious and simple food.
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Sometimes I just add some olive oil and chopped red onions to butter beans for a quick snack, but a great recipe if you want to take it further is a mock cassoulet.
Start by frying off diced onions and celery with minced garlic in a heavy pan and then add some sliced rashers of smoked bacon, along with some chorizo sausage and confit duck leg (if you want to be more authentic though you can easily substitute the duck leg for chicken);
Once everything's nice and golden, add some salt, pepper, paprika and a drained tin of haricot beans and stock to cover;
Bake it in the oven for 45 minutes at 170C and add some toasted bread crumbs and flat leaf parsley to finish. This is by no means a traditional cassoulet, though it's a great mid-week option, especially if you have multiple people to feed.
One restaurant that's worth blowing out for... is Jordnær in Copenhagen. One of my most memorable dining experiences. Fantastic food, hospitality and ingredients. Probably the most consistent restaurant I've been to. Despite the high price I consider it to be strangely one of the best value for money dining experiences I've had.
Many of our guests have pre-conceived notions of what they expect a Michelin-starred restaurant to be... almost as if the guide is an international chain. We want to be able to offer a cosy atmosphere where people can feel comfortable to chat, enjoy their evening and enjoy their food at a leisurely pace. Yet many of those who have had the good fortune to have been able to dine at some of the more expensive restaurants in London expect the exact same experience in our quiet neighbourhood restaurant. Each restaurant is unique, and in much the same way that you would expect the experience of one theatre show to be different from an entirely different production, I wish people would be willing to trust the process a bit more.
We have managed to cut costs by... paying attention to typically overlooked ingredients and cuts of meat. An easy example would be our slow-cooked lamb belly, which we serve as one of the first courses.
My favourite cheap substitute is... pork jowl instead of roasted pork loin. It's incredibly versatile, you can roast it, cure it in salt to make a ham or make a homemade guanciale for a perfect carbonara.
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My hero is... Albert Roux. I was fortunate enough to have him as my sponsoring chef at The Academy of Culinary Arts' specialised chef course. The Roux family changed gastronomy in the UK forever and ended up training some of the best chefs we have in the UK today, from Marco Pierre White to Gordon Ramsay and Marcus Waring.
My one piece of advice for an aspiring chef is… take the time to pick the right restaurant, and it's crucial to stay there over a long period of time so that you can absorb as much information as you can and see first hand how a successful restaurant runs.
My favourite cookbook... or the one I have found most influential and find myself referencing the most would be Noma: Time and Place. When I first received this book I read it cover to cover that day. I just found it fascinating as I had no reference point at that stage for Nordic cuisine. Many of the ingredients used and foraged in the book are also ones you can find in the UK. It gave me the first motivation to forage my own ingredients and created the core foundation of the food philosophy at Bulrush.
My favourite ingredient is... shio koji. Seasonal ingredients can be combined with it to add amazing character while fermenting. It's great for tenderising meats, and making glazes with a splash of yuzu juice.
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