An Interview with Rick Stein

Action Against Hunger caught up with seafood luminary Rick Stein, as he prepares to dish up grilled langoustines at the Putney Popup’s ninth event. An idea inspired by restaurant owner, Rebecca Mascarenhas, the Putney Popup showcases some of the UK’s top chefs at the Phoenix Bar & Grill, all in aid of Action Against Hunger's life-saving programmes in Haiti. (Cont'd below)

The Putney Pop up has been praised as a fantastically innovative idea. How did your involvement come about?

Well, really, through Sam [Harrison, owns Sam's Brasserie & Bar, of which Rick has invested in] and Rebecca, who owns the Phoenix.  They were chatting in the aftermath of the disaster in Haiti and wondering what to do, then it transpired that Rebecca was closing her restaurant for a massive refurbishment, so she said, well I have got this empty restaurant…what about a pop up? ‘Pop up’ is very trendy now, I have certainly been to a few pop up restaurants, notably the one at Selfridges towards the end of last year, and I was really struck with Pierre Koffman doing it. The atmosphere was just fab.

So, it was really Sam and Rebecca who said, let’s ring up a few chums like Rowley Leigh, Philip Howard and myself, and I jumped at the idea. It was a very nice thing for me, and the crew to do. Sam has very generously given us his waiting staff so well over 90% of everything we raise is going direct to Haiti. This the great thing about doing charity events, a) you raise lots of money, but it is also a chance to meet up with chums, do a bit of cooking, have a few drinks….

The Putney Popup is in support of Action Against Hunger’s Haiti appeal. Why did you choose to support that cause in particular?

Well, obviously, these kinds of events take time to get organised, but it was soon after the earthquake that we all felt we had to do something and Action Against Hunger is a charity that I have been involved with in the past, so it seemed an obvious thing to do really. I think it is very important for the food industry to come together in moments of humanitarian crisis, and it is a natural thing to do if you are involved in the food business to act generously when people are deprived of nourishment.

What are you cooking for everyone tonight? 

Well, tonight we have some lovely langoustines, which are alive as I speak, so we are going to dispatch them just before cooking them. That will be done with a Perono and olive oil dressing, which is actually French, and then, we have French fish soup. We also have dish of brill with truffle and slithers of potato. This actually has pigs trotter in it, but very finely brunoised, which gives the sauce a very lovely viciousness. I am very, very fond of the dish.

We are finishing with a chocolate fondant-like steam pudding with a very runny chocolate centre, vanilla ice cream, and twills. So it should be alright!

It sounds amazing to us…considering you arrived in a new restaurant half an hour ago, how is all the preparation going?

Preparation is going well actually, although we do have 103 customers tonight. One of the great things about working here is the great kitchen. We had a banquet last weekend for a local rugby event and half the equipment packed up, so had to wing it, but luckily we managed to pull through….

Your career has taken you all over the world. Most recently we saw you in Far Eastern Odyssey, any notable differences or similarities in the attitude to food?

It is interesting that the last two series I have done have been in East Asia, and the Mediterranean. One of the things I was constantly aware of in East Asia was this good balance – plenty of carbohydrate with rice, a small amount of protein, as that is the expensive element of the meal, and then lots of vegetables. You never see overweight people in South East Asia. Why? Because the diet just doesn’t lend itself to it. Most of those countries do not have a concept of ‘puddings’, they do like sweet things, but rarely as a third course. It is healthy food really. 

Finally, any exciting up and coming projects you can share with us?

We have just opened up another fish and chip restaurant in Falmouth, which is the biggest town in Cornwall, that opened that last Friday which is very exciting. Filming wise we are starting a series in Spain and filming starts on Monday.