Taste of NZ: Rhodes in town

Gary Rhodes says the emphasis now for British food trends is very much on simplicity. Photo / Supplied

The headline international guest at Taste is British star chef Gary Rhodes.

With entire channels dedicated to food and professional chefs filling prime time slots, it's hard to imagine a time when cooking programmes didn't dominate television schedules. But when Gary Rhodes made his TV début on Glyn Christian's Hot Chefs in 1997 at the tender age of 27, they were few and far between. With his trademark spiky hair, the 51-year-old was a forerunner for the youthful likes of Jamie Oliver, whose 2010 book 30 Minute Meals has sold over a million copies in Britain alone, making it the fastest-selling British non-fiction publication.

"You're going back quite a long way as I first hit the TV screens in the late 80s and I've always felt very proud of that," says Rhodes, who presented Rhodes Around Britain and Gary's Perfect Christmas before graduating to Masterchef, Hell's Kitchen and Saturday Cooks.

"Things were going very well for me with all the series I've had before Jamie came on the scene but he's done very well with a whole different style. That's the beauty of it. With each chef who features on television, they've all got their own personality within their own field and their own style about it. There's something for everyone, which is the great thing about it. There's so much variety."

With Jamie having hosted his own three-day foodie festival on Clapham Common this past British summer and Rhodes appearing on reality shows such as Strictly Come Dancing, celebrity chefs have acquired pop star status in Britain.

However, Rhodes would rather be judged on his abilities in the kitchen. "I've never been overly keen on those kinds of titles," he says. "But let's not get away from it, it's something that has been great and I believe that we can help influence things. You just have to look at what's happened if you go into a supermarket today.

"Compared to my years growing up in the 70s, there are ingredients on the shelves today that you wouldn't have even thought about or recognised. It's great to see what TV has done. It's opened up the culinary palates of so many people."

Rhodes rejects criticism that television chefs have had a detrimental affect on the national diet. "It's said that people don't want to cook at home as they'd rather watch it being done on TV and then either buy it frozen or go out to eat in restaurants, but I don't agree with that," he says. "You only have to look in the supermarkets now with all the different kinds of ingredients which, if they weren't selling, they wouldn't be featuring. If people say they're going to cook a different style of food that they see on TV once a month, that's only 12 days a year out of 365 but at least we're encouraging them to experiment and to try different things."

Born in south London, Rhodes trained at Thanet Catering College before gaining his first post at Amsterdam's Hilton Hotel. He returned to England to work as sous chef at Pall Mall's Reform Club before being appointed Head Chef at the Castle Hotel in Taunton Somerset, where he gained his first Michelin star at 26, in 1986. Along with three London establishments, he owns several restaurants in Grenada and Dubai and is expanding into Abu Dhabi in early 2012.

"It's just one continuous process and I find myself on the move all the time," he says. "I love the variety of cuisine when you venture overseas. You get different audiences around the world and that's something that I've loved for years."

Rather than the radical reinvention of molecular gastronomic experts such as Heston Blumenthal, Rhodes has garnered a reputation for promoting traditional British fare, for example faggots and fishcakes when he was head chef at Mayfair's prestigious Greenhouse restaurant in 1990. Such classic dishes have become increasingly popular in London with leading establishments such as the Gilbert Scott and Heston Blumenthal's Dinner putting a contemporary spin on historic recipes.

"It's now become very fashionable," laughs Rhodes. "I look at it all with a little smile on my face as I've been doing that kind of thing since the early to mid-80s, which is when it all began for me, and I've continued in that vein ever since.

"Obviously, I'm not forgetting some great Continental and French influences as well but predominantly I've always wanted to support and develop British cuisine. I want to show it off and make a statement with it. I recently travelled to China for a month, cooking and showing everyone what British food is all about, while at the same time discovering what Chinese food is all about. It's very much the same in India, the Caribbean and Italy and I will continue showing off what I think are some of the finest ingredients we have in Britain by turning them into some great British classics."

According to Rhodes, the current emphasis is very much on simplicity. "If you go back 20-30 years ago when I was quite new and fresh in the industry, food in Britain certainly didn't have any kind of formal reputation about it," he recalls.

"We were being over-influenced by nouveau cuisine without really understanding its true concept and consequently we were more about creating fancy pictures on plates than combinations of great flavours and textures.

"The past 20 years in this country have been one long education and we can now stand up against any country with the quality of our food, which is why I've also been keen to show off some great British dishes. People often say that there's no such thing as cuisine in Britain but of course there is. It's about taking those dishes of old on to another level."

Rhodes will be doing just that when he appears in Auckland for the Taste of New Zealand festival, demonstrating how to make an exceptional version of old family favourite bread and butter pudding "It's just sensational with the textures and the strength of the flavours," he says. "There are techniques to how you can allow all that wonderful custard to be absorbed by the bread, which creates this moist sponge-like mixture. It's so soft and gentle through the centre with this lovely crispy topping of caramelised sugar. It's got such great contrast and a depth of flavour about it."

On the savoury side, Rhodes will be presenting an Asian-influenced take on sea bass. "It's got a little bit of difference about it," he says. "I was shown this dish in Hong Kong while I was doing my trip around China. It's so simple to make and yet it has such strength in its flavours, which are enhanced by a little bit of ginger. I make soy vinaigrette and set some spring onion on top of the raw fish and pour some olive oil over it.

"I steam the fish, which softens the spring onion and all the juices drizzle down. We then take a little bit of the oil that has taken on those flavours and add it to the vinaigrette.I like to serve it with soft new potatoes that have been lightly crushed with a touch of creme fraiche and again a touch of spring onion on top, which adds a slight Englishness to it."

I tell Rhodes that I grew up in Auckland with English parents, and my mother would regularly cook many of the hearty British staples Rhodes specialises in, such as braised oxtail stew. "You were so lucky as my mum would never have ventured into that kind of thing," says Rhodes with a smile. "She would do bread and butter pudding but not oxtail, which is a dish that could almost have been forgotten 20 or 30 years ago when I first started cooking it. The last five years has seen a revival in that very simple cut of meat and that long slow cooking method where the meat almost falls off the bone and it becomes like this rich, melting experience. I like to serve it with the softest and creamiest of mashed potatoes, which is just a dream."

Rhodes is a fan of his old friend and fellow Taste of New Zealand British guest Rick Stein, who is most famous for his seafood. "He's obviously known for much more than that but he's predominantly known for his fish," Rhodes says. "He's been so consistent over the years with his quality and he's opened everybody's eyes to different kinds of food from around the world, especially shellfish."

Rhodes has never visited New Zealand before and is looking forward to meeting local stars such as Annabel Langbein and Josh Emett.

"You're often hearing about Kiwi chefs and of course there are many who work in London," he says. "I've met Peter Gordon a few times and he's been really dedicated over the years to making a big statement with his food. If you take New Zealand and Australia together, the whole culinary world has changed over the past 10 years. There's an awful lot going on and I can't wait to discover some of it."