So many people ask me why I became a Chef; it’s the same questions for all Chefs I suppose…. Why would you want to work those unsociable hours? Why not get a 9-5 job?! Do you cook at home? I get asked these questions time and time again. The truth is, yes I do cook at home, I like the hours, and I most certainly would not want to work 9-5 as it would drive me insane!

Cooking is my passion, it runs in the family. I always remember this one morning when I was a young teenager, my mum was rushing around, cleaning and preparing for the arrival of my brother who had been living and working as a chef in London. Everything had to be perfect for his visit. My brother is 9 years older than me and someone who I have always looked up to.  Well on this particular day I will never forget him pulling up outside my parents’ house in an XR2i, in white with black rims; at that moment he was a success, in my eyes at least. You see we grew up on an estate; times were hard, so if you had a car like that then you were doing well! So from that moment my mind was made up, I was going to be a Chef; I was going to be just like my brother and drive the car of my dreams, I knew I wanted some of that! Now I’m not saying that I drive around in anything special, let alone a Ferrari, but what I do have is the job of my dreams. So I suppose when people ask why I became a Chef I could say I wanted to have a good car, but the real reason deep down was the idea of success, enjoyment and fulfilment. My brother once said to me “Paul, there is an excuse for someone being better than you, but there is no excuse for them trying harder than you”. I live off this quote and I am satisfied that I am the best I can be.

Moving on I suppose I should tell you a bit about myself, I am Paul Prescott, Head Chef at The Pheasant Inn. I am a lover of food, family, and cars as you might have guessed! I have a loving daughter Ellie, aged 8. Not only is cooking my life, so is Ellie. I am proud of many things, but a few in particular are my daughter, my food and my team here at the Inn. Ellie is a budding cook, she has her own chef whites and of course her own personal chef to teach her! I spend most of my spare time with Ellie; we bake biscuits, batch after batch of biscuits. At times I think ‘oh goodness more biscuits’, but then I remember I am absolutely no good at hair, trampolining, dancing and all other girly things, so I teach her to cook, a passion of mine that I can pass on to her.  I feel I can do something wonderful by teaching her to cook and she loves that I teach her.

People often ask me “Why would you cook at home?” My response is that I enjoy cooking at home, especially for Ellie. I enjoy teaching her, showing her new ingredients and testing those taste buds! In my opinion all Chefs have an inner desire to please, food gives me that vehicle to please and express myself. If you love what you do you never have to do another days work in your life, I don’t come to work, I come to live out my passion. I get paid twice to be a cook, firstly financially and secondly I get paid with freedom and allowance. I have the Nelson’s to thank for that, they allow freedom to work with seasonality, fresh produce and they don’t tell me what to do, they let me experiment. This is something I will tell you more about in my next blog. In the meantime, if you have any questions or anything you would like me to talk about in future blogs, then tweet me or drop me an email.

Cheers for now,

Paul

Tweet me: @paul_prescott
Email me: kitchen@thepheasantinn.co.uk

https://thepheasantinn.co.uk/author/

Lorem ipsum doloramet, consetetur sadipscing sed diam nonumy eirmod tempor invidunt.

Leave Comment