Feedback with Alex Jackson

Alex Jackson is head chef at Noble Rot in Soho.

He was first inspired to cook from reading his mum’s cookery books when he was about 10, and she taught him the basics of cooking. It was only when he went to university armed with a copy of Nigel Slater’s Real Fast Food that he really began to teach himself. His latest book Frontières is a culinary journey around the countries bordering France exploring the similarities on both sides.

Here he tells us why egg and chips remind him of his childhood, and why he always has anchovies in his fridge.

What food always reminds you of your childhood?
My grandma used to cook egg and chips, and basically her house used to smell of chip fat all the time which when you're a kid it's quite nice and comforting, she smelled of toffees and cigarettes! She was the head chef in a hotel in mid Wales, and she was a baker she also did catering and lots of other jobs. She used to make chips at home, none of this triple cooked rubbish they were double fried. No thermometer. Fried eggs, sometimes some cold ham and always loads of vinegar.

Do you have a current favourite restaurant or type of restaurant?
The food I like to eat when I am out is simple food rather than fancy fine-dining. Not that I have anything against it! There are a few restaurants I like to go to where the cooking is sort of simple and quite rustic in spirit. Bouchon Racine is great, the food is just right, no pretension, no showing off and that is the thing that I like the most, and what makes me happiest. I’ve been talking quite a lot recently about what makes a good plate of food in a restaurant, and I think lots of chefs think about all the other stuff, technique and presentation but forget about satisfaction and it’s such a shame. When I go out I want something satisfying that you can get stuck into, I like to eat good, hearty food. 40 Maltby Street is an amazing restaurant the chef there, Stephen Williams, is a genius. The restaurant is in a railway arch, it’s quite idiosyncratic, quite hip; British but at the same time it’s quite French. I also like St John.

What food or ingredient could you not do without?
This is going to sound really ‘cheffy’ but it would have to be butter, sometimes it shocks me in the restaurant how much butter we go through, but even when I cook at home I use a lot. I think people are a bit shy of it but you do need the fat, and people shouldn’t worry about it - as long as it’s in moderation it’s not going to kill you.

What was the most memorable meal you can remember eating?
There are quite a few special meals I have had in France but the one I keep coming back to is a restaurant in Provence called Le Bistro du Paradou. It’s so simple and unpretentious and I had a really great time. They do a different menu every day of the week, everybody has the same thing and in the restaurant is the mayor, the fireman and families.  It’s very casual and relaxed and they have a set menu they serve each day. We went on a Friday which is aioli day and the food just arrives; a salad to start, then the aioli came out with steamed salt cod, snails, egg and vegetables. The aioli is very peppery with garlic and made with local oil it was delicious. When they serve the wine they just put a full bottle down and charge you at the end by what you’ve had to drink.

Is there something particular you always keep in the fridge?
Salted anchovies, they’re quite versatile. It’s snack on toast with butter, it’s a snack straight out of the jar, it’s a meal with pasta. If you have anchovies in the fridge you’re guaranteed to have a nice meal. I’m not that fussy about which make, but I try not to get the cheapest ones, anything Italian is usually pretty good. Ortiz anchovies are really special.

How did you first learn to cook?
With my mum. I would cook at home with her, she’s a great cook. She would do all the dinner party stuff and I used to read all her cook books like The River Cafes and Quaglinos - all the 90’s glitz, so she taught me. My brother is a cook too and if we are all in the kitchen together she begins to question her ability, which she needn’t she’s a fantastic cook. She taught me the basics, Sunday roasts, curries, pasta dishes, stir fries. I was given Nigel Slater’s Real Fast Food book when I went to university and I was in self catering halls and that’s when I really taught myself. I would cook with my friends Max Jones who is now smoking fish at the Woodcock Smokery in west Cork and food writer Rebecca May Johnson.

Is there anything you don’t like to eat?
There aren’t many things, but I don’t like almond extract flavour so I’m not fond of marzipan. I quite like tripe buy I’m not fond of andouillettes they’re pretty hard core. But really I eat most things, I’m not fussy all.

What would be your last supper if literally anything was available to you, where would you eat it and who would you be with?
If it’s the last one then I just want everybody that I love in the world - all of them.  It would be a huge feast, I’d be cooking but there’d be someone to help me. I’d just do the glory bits. We’d be in the south of France in an enormous villa that I somehow own overlooking the sea. It’s a late summer evening, the light is really nice and the wine is chilling, we’d have some kind of incredible fish feast. I’d want it to be a very long meal 25 course I want to be so full I can’t move, and lots of incredible, fresh seafood that was caught just down the road. All my family and friends would be there sitting on a really long table in an orchard. To finish I’d have some young goats cheeses. Then a thin glazed tart made with whatever fruits are in season with creme fraiche. The wines would be all the finest of humanity, and all the best vintages.

Alex Jackson’s latest book Frontières published by HarperCollins is out now. RRP £30