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 Alex Henderson, head chef at Newhall Mains in the Highlands.
My go-to cheap eat at home is… classic mince and tatties. Here’s the recipe:
One restaurant that’s worth blowing out for is… Solstice by Kenny Atkinson in Newcastle. I had an incredible meal there at the start of January. The guys there do some amazing cooking with quality ingredients.
My chef hero is… Gordon Ramsay. What he has achieved over his career is incredible.
My one piece of advice for an aspiring chef is… to question everything, read plenty of chef cookbooks and dine out as much as possible.
A tip for a non-chef would be… not to compromise on quality. The better the quality of an ingredient, the better the end result will be.
A cheap place in my town is… a little cafe called Highland Farm Cafe. It’s not far from my house, and they serve great quality breakfast and coffee. I normally have the full Scottish breakfast, or the eggs benedict with waffles. Yum!
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My favourite cookbook has to be… The French Laundry Cookbook. It’s a book that was so ahead of its time and I still use it for reference today.
My pet hate in a restaurant is… overly sweet desserts. I like a nice balanced dessert.
My favourite substitute is… a local cold pressed rapeseed oil called Cullisse. It has an amazing nutty flavour and I use it on a daily basis.
A chef tip for preventing waste would be… to pickle any raw leftovers. My pickle recipe is: 200g sugar, 200g white wine vinegar, 200g of water.
