The only secret to a really good Sunday Roast

Today we had the immense pleasure of enjoying that most British of pastimes with friends – a classic Sunday Rib Roast followed by a bracing walk in the park as the fingers of the trees reached up to a pomegranate red winter sunset.

The beef was Orkney Island Gold, a premium scotch grass fed beef which is hung, bone in, for a minimum of 10 days and can be traced from the farm of it’s birth to the nearby island abattoir. This name is a Protected Designation of origin, a status the islanders were wise to adopt when they stopped supplying supermarkets and targeted quality butchers direct in 1995.

The joint had plenty of fat and marbling, the texture of the meat had real grain, and a bite was enough to encourage the sort of primal salivation that reminds you why we are born carnivores.

It was washed down with a bottle of La Reserve de Leoville Barton 2004, the second wine of this classic leading left bank 2nd Growth St Julien Cru. The Cab Sauvignon aromas of rounded dark fruits lead well onto a palate of solid tannins and well integrated oak for a smooth and voluptuous finish that provides a perfect match for a decent slab of beef.

All of this underlines the only secret to a really good roast. It’s not the goose fat for the potatoes, the resting time for the meat, the preparation of a good gravy or the jugggling act of keeping everything warm, though these are all part of the puzzle. The secret instead lies with a cook with the savvy to choose the best ingredients and the skill to ensure that they are cooked simply.

Michelin Time Again

So its that time again each year when UK restauranteurs around the world hold their breath in anticipation of promotion, demotion or simply being passed over by the guide who's aim it is to steer you towards those establishments who will give you the most gustatory pleasure whilst morphing your shape into that of a Michelin man. Over a hundred years old and based on reviews by anonymous, professionally-trained staff, it is the Olympics and Oscars of the food world rolled into one.

But what is the Michelin guide? Well its certainly not a guide to restaurants in your area - if the inspectors do not find a restaurant worthy of their standards there is no listing. As a result, large swathes of many areas suffer from the map maker’s equivalent of “Here be dragons”.

Its standards are also a mystery. In 2004 Pascal Remy wrote a tell-all book in France about the anonymous and often dreary life of a Michelin inspector. Mr. Remy's book confirmed that everything is judged, from the welcome at the door to the presentation of the food, though he did cast doubt on how often restaurants were visited.

Since then the reclusive organization has expanded and become somewhat more open about its approach. In 2005 Michelin launched in New York, employing 5 inspectors to evaluate over 1200 restaurants for its inaugural edition. In 2009 the Hong Kong edition was released, countering criticisms of a bias towards French food and techniques. Their website now even includes an interview with an inspector.

It is fair to describe it as the foodies bible and for me, it was epitomized by a chance encounter I had in a back street in Bergerac some years ago. I still remember nearly colliding into the quintessential gourmet. Elegantly dressed, sporting a starched white shirt and jacket, gleaming brogues and corduroy trousers, he was fully as wide as he was tall and gripped a Michelin Guide in one hand whilst his intense look conveyed without words, the certain knowledge that he was late for an exceedingly good lunch. Here was a man both with and on a mission. A true bon vivant in full flow and in his element

In that spirit then I list the full results for this year below and am delighted to see Texture receive their first star. I feared the front of house body count was not high enough and the butter and cream use to low to for this establishment to join the hallowed ranks of starred restaurants but common sense has finally triumphed.

ONE STAR
LONDON
Chapter One, Farnborough Common, Kent
Hakkasan, Bloomsbury
Club Gascon, City of London
Rhodes Twenty Four, City of London
The Harwood Arms, Fulham (new)
River Cafe, Hammersmith
La Trompette, Chiswick
St John, Clerkenwell
Rasoi, Chelsea
Tom Aikens, Chelsea
Bingham Restaurant (at Bingham Hotel), Richmond-upon-Thames, Surrey (new)
The Glasshouse, Kew, Richmond-upon-Thames, Surrey
Chez Bruce, Wandsworth
Amaya, Belgravia
Apsleys (at The Lanesborough Hotel), Belgravia (new)
Nahm (at The Halkin Hotel), Belgravia
Zafferano, Belgravia
Benares, Mayfair
Galvin at Windows (at London Hilton Hotel), Mayfair (new)
The Greenhouse, Mayfair
Helene Darroze at The Connaught, Mayfair
Kai, Mayfair
Maze, Mayfair
Murano, Mayfair
Nobu (at The Metropolitan), Mayfair
Nobu Berkeley St, Mayfair
Semplice, Mayfair
Sketch (The Lecture Room and Library), Mayfair
Tamarind, Mayfair (new)
Umu, Mayfair
Wild Honey, Mayfair
L'Autre Pied, Marylebone
Locanda Locatelli, Marylebone
Rhodes W1(Restaurant) (at the Cumberland), Marylebone
Texture, Marylebone (new)
Arbutus, Soho
Yauatcha, Soho
Quilon, Victoria
Roussillon, Victoria

REST OF ENGLAND
Drakes on the Pond, Abinger Hammer, Surrey
The Samling, Ambleside, Cumbria (new)
Michael Wignall at The Latymer, Bagshot, Surrey
Fischer's at Baslow Hall, Baslow, Derbyshire
The Park (at Lucknam Park Hotel), Colerne, Wiltshire
The Terrace (at Montagu Arms), Beaulieu, Hampshire
The Pipe & Glass Inn, South Dalton, East Yorkshire (new)
The West House, Biddenden, Kent
Fraiche, Birkenhead, Merseyside
Purnell's, Birmingham, West Midlands
Simpsons, Birmingham, West Midlands
Turners, Birmingham, West Midlands
Northcote, Langho, Lancashire
Morston Hall, Morston, Norfolk
The Burlington (at The Devonshire Arms Country House), Bolton Abbey, North Yorkshire
Lords of the Manor, Upper Slaughter, Gloucestershire
The Royal Oak, Bray-on-Thames, Berkshire (new)
Casamia, Bristol
The Goose, Britwell Salome, Oxfordshire (new)
Manor House Hotel and Golf Club, Castle Combe, Wiltshire
Atlantic, Jersey
Bohemia (at The Club Hotel and Spa), Jersey
Simon Radley at The Chester Grosvenor, Chester, Cheshire
West Stoke House, West Stoke, West Sussex
Apicius, Cranbrook, Kent
Ockenden Manor, Cuckfield, West Sussex
The New Angel, Dartmouth, Devon
Sienna, Dorchester, Dorset (new)
36 on the Quay, Emsworth, Hampshire
Read's, Faversham, Kent
L'Enclume, Cartmel, Cumbria
Harry's Place, Great Gonerby, Lincolnshire
The Star Inn, Harome, North Yorkshire
The Neptune, Hunstanton, Norfolk
Box Tree, Ilkley, West Yorkshire
The Stagg Inn, Titley, Herefordshire
La Becasse, Ludlow, Shropshire
Mr Underhill's at Dinham Weir, Ludlow, Shropshire
The Harrow at Little Bedwyn, Little Bedwyn, Wiltshire
The Hand and Flowers, Marlow, Buckinghamshire
The Nut Tree, Murcott, Oxfordshire
Restaurant Sat Bains, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire
Hambleton Hall, Hambleton, Rutland
The Yorke Arms, Ramsgill-in-Nidderdale, North Yorkshire
JSW, Petersfield, Hampshire
L'Ortolan, Shinfield, Berkshire
Drakes, Ripley, Surrey
Mallory Court, Royal Leamington Spa, Warwickshire
Old Vicarage, Sheffield, South Yorkshire
The Masons Arms, Knowstone, Devon
The Olive Branch and Beech House, Clipsham, Rutland
The Room in the Elephant, Torquay, Devon
Sharrow Bay Country House, Ullswater, Cumbria
Auberge du Lac, Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire
The Sportsman, Seasalter, Kent
The Hambrough, Isle of Wight
5 North St, Winchcombe, Gloucestershire
Holbeck Ghyll, Windermere, Cumbria

SCOTLAND

Summer Isles, Achitibuie, Highland
Braidwoods, Dalry, North Ayrshire

Number One (at The Balmoral Hotel), Edinburgh
21212, Edinburgh (new)
The Kitchin, Edinburgh
Martin Wishart, Edinburgh
Plumed Horse, Edinburgh
Sangster's, Elie, Fife
Inverlochy Castle, Fort William, Highland
Champany Inn, Linlithgow, West Lothian
The Albannach, Lochinver, Highland
Boath House, Nairn, Highland
The Peat Inn, Peat Inn, Fife (new)
Knockinaam Lodge, Portpatrick, Dumfries and Galloway
Kinloch Lodge, Isle of Skye (new)

WALES
The Walnut Tree, Abergavenny, Monmouthshire (new)
Tyddyn Llan, Llandrillo, Denbighshire (new)
Ynyshir Hall, Machynlleth, Powys (new)
The Crown at Whitebrook, Whitebrook, Monmouthshire

NORTHERN IRELAND
Deanes, Belfast, Antrim

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND
The House (at Cliff House Hotel), Ardmore, Waterford (new)
Chapter One, Dublin
L'Ecrivain, Dublin
Thornton's (at The Fitzwilliam), Dublin
Bon Appetit, Malahide, Dublin

TWO STARS

LONDON
Pied a Terre, Camden, Bloomsbury
The Ledbury, Kensington (new)
Marcus Wareing at The Berkeley, Belgravia
Le Gavroche, Mayfair
Hibiscus, Mayfair
The Square, Mayfair
L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon, Covent Garden

REST OF ENGLAND
Midsummer House, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire
Gidleigh Park, Chagford, Devon
Le Champignon Sauvage, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire
Whatley Manor, Malmesbury, Wiltshire
Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons, Great Milton, Oxfordshire

SCOTLAND
Andrew Fairlie at Gleneagles, Auchterarder, Perth and Kinross

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND
Patrick Guilbaud, Dublin

THREE STARS

LONDON
Gordon Ramsay, Chelsea
Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester, Mayfair (new)

REST OF ENGLAND
Fat Duck, Bray-on-Thames, Berkshire
The Waterside Inn, Bray-on-Thames, Berkshire

Texture

First lunch out of the New Year and we chose Texture home to Agnar Sverrinson, recent recipient of a Michelin star. Agnar, an Icelandic chef ex of Petrus and Le Manoir au Quatre Saisons avoids butter, cream and sugar wherever possible and out cooks the annoying and meaningless description "Modern European" attached to his venture.

Highlights included quail, sweetcorn and bacon popcorn, this last ingredient an unlikely but successful match to the perfectly cooked bird. New season lamb, rich with mint was served with a broth on the side that had spent so ling simmering it practically moo'd. A chocolate grenache, milk ice cream and parsnip looked great, ate well but left me unconvinced that roots should share a plate with chocolate even if the natural bitterness of both offers some flavour matching. Service was friendly and the right side of formal, food is light, well presented and does indeed offer a mixture of textures and inventiveness that largely hit the mark.

A pleasant sommelier guided us to a Nebbiolo with firm tannins, good acidity and plenty of cherry fruit that matched our meal well.

The prompt for this trip was the FT lunch offer, one of the more enlightened annual restaurant deals. It halves the food bill and charges you a fiver for whoever you eat with as a result of which the patron doesn't make a loss and is more disposed to treat you as a real customer rather than a freeloader.

Years after the event I still have memories of a meal offer in a well regarded restaurant for which we received a "special menu" that was as free of protein as the staff were of charm when they sighted our voucher. The risotto we were served was so stodgy, I stomped home in a fit of disgust, pausing only to consult a cookbook in a local shop en route so I could teach myself how to cook one properly (17 minutes, Pernod, don't hurry the process and give it a two minute rest at the end with some Parmesan and butter).

January then is a quiet time of year for restauranters as we all look to our waistline and current accounts so it was a real pleasure to obtain a fair discount for lunch. I may not have learnt how to cook a new dish as a result of eating there but we enjoyed ourselves immensely and are booked to return at the end of the month.

The Rules of Cooking

Visiting family over Christmas it was my pleasure to hear that one of my nieces would like to learn how to cook and as the only member of the family who has braved the wrath of perfectly starched French chefs at the Cordon Bleu school I have been chosen to help. I envy her the chance to learn so young and want to give her the best advice I can but where do I start and can the rules of cooking be boiled down to (no pun intended) one simple list?

Here's my top 10

The really important stuff...

1.Use the best ingredients you can afford - with these, almost anyone can make a great dish. The reverse is not true
2.Season properly. Salt, Pepper and Herbs on the windowsill are natures way of allowing you to improve any meal for free.
3.Taste as you go - if you don't know how it tastes you don't know if you can serve it or not.
4.Cook with the seasons. It's cheaper, the food is fresher and you'll bring variety to your dinner table.

The practical advice...

5.Keep your knives sharp and clean and your kitchen organised. This is how the pro's do it and why it looks so effortless.
6.Never catch a falling knife, in fact, never try to catch anything. I have learn't this from painful personal experience.
7.Use the right tools. You don't need much to create a good meal but nor should you out cook your kitchen. No chef would try to serve a Michelin Starred meal from a domestic kitchen. Sometimes simpler is better.

What they never tell you

8.In the kitchen, mistakes always happen. One of the secrets of a good cooking is knowing how to fix it.
9.Cooking at home is creative, relaxing and rewarding. If you find it stressful, relax and take a fresh approach, you are trying too hard.

And lastly, but most important of all...

10.Breakfast Lunch and Dinner are three daily opportunities to be happy. Our bodies are designed to take pleasure from food so make the most of it. Cooking can be your way of ensuring you can always eat well.

Right - I'm off to plan lesson no.1