Full name: Rosemary Shrager
Role: Chef, author, TV personality
DOB: 21 January 1951
Birthplace: Cobham, Surrey
Twitter Handle: @rosemaryshrager
Website: www.rosemaryshrager.com
Fun Fact: Despite a mighty career as a chef, Rosemary originally trained to be an interior designer and had always wanted to be an actress.
You once said “I have spent the last 30 years learning how to cook” What have you learnt, in a sentence?
I have learned that you never stop learning! Patience, determination, persistence – never giving up, these are all invaluable qualities for a chef.
You originally intended to be an interior designer, but your heart wasn’t in it, right? When did the transition to a career in food begin in earnest?
It’s true, interior design wasn’t a passion in the way that cooking has always been. When I first started out in interior design, I was working for architects in the city, preparing the layouts for the Miller Howe Hotel in Windemere, but all I wanted to do was meet the Chef owner, John Tovey.
My heart wasn’t in it. I cooked all the time in my spare time – cooking was my life, I used to put on lavish dinner parties and just cook, cook, cook.
I was fearless and I wasn’t afraid to make mistakes – in those days I used to call Claridge’s and speak to the Head Chef if wasn’t sure what I was doing or if I had gone wrong!
You worked for free when you were earning your stripes, right? Where did you work and what did you learn?
My culinary education has been both paid and unpaid. I worked in La Tante Clare where I learned all about patisserie and breads. At the Connaught I learned how to make croissants. I spent time working with Jean Christophe Novelli at Nansidwell Hotel in Cornwall – he had just left the Chewton Glen Hotel at the time. I worked at Amhuinnsuidhe Castle, where I stayed for five years.
I worked in Gastro pubs – I worked anywhere I could learn. If I wanted to learn how to make sausages, I would go to a butchers and learn how to do it there. Because I was late coming to cooking, I wasted no time, I was voracious in my desire to learn everything that I could.
It was an unconventional way of doing things, but it worked for me! I put in the hard work and the determination.
You were brought up in Buckinghamshire, right? How did that shape the woman and the cook that you have become today? I heard you were winning baking contests at a young age, so obviously there was some talent there! Did you ever think at that point that a career in food was an option for you?
Never! It was a hobby, cooking was always a hobby – it was in my blood, I have the cooking gene – it’s a passion. Growing up in Buckhamshire was wonderful and gave me a really solid growing and my first understanding of good food. We grew all our own vegetables, we had a cherry orchard, chickens, we foraged for wild mushrooms – so everything was home grown and fresh and seasonal.
I learnt from a very early age what a new potato should taste like!
You’ve also had a really amazing TV career, how did that all get started?
I started years ago doing Granada Lifetime – Susannah Constantine is a relation by marriage – we share the same aunt and uncle and she told them all about me. The first time I appeared on television I made Yorkshire pudding and it was spectacular, but then the second week was an unparalleled disaster and everything that could have gone wrong, did.
At that moment, I decided that I wasn’t going to do any more television. But then some time later, a researcher from the BBC Food & Drink programme read an article in the Daily Mail called Turbot with Rosemary and they asked me to do the Food & Drink Show where I became the Trouble-Shooting Chef.
I would go off and get people out of culinary difficulty, if they had taken on too much of a challenge – together we would save the day.
What’s the most and least fun you’ve had on TV? You’ve done some acting as well…?
The most fun I have ever had on TV is a programme called All At Sea. Getting Bradley Walsh to eat raw mackerel in the middle of the ocean!
The first night of I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here was horrendous – Limal and myself were held in this hut for eight hours, it was full of rats, cockroaches, and spiders – so awful!
As for acting, I love my panto and try and do it every year. This year I’m in Horsham playing the Fairy Godmother in Cinderella – I cannot wait!
Could you tell us about how your teaching career and cookery school in Royal Tunbridge Wells came about?
I first started teaching 17 years ago, at Amhuinnsuidhe Castle when we created a Guest Kitchen next to the Professional Kitchen. It was something I always wanted to do. Because I learned the hard way, on the hoof, all I wanted to do was teach people what I had learned – it was my way of giving back. I loved it – I’m a natural extrovert and bossy person – so it came easy to me!
The Rosemary Shrager Cookery School began to happen while I was teaching at Swinton Park, where I taught for ten years. One day I got a call from Christopher Nevill, The Marquess of Abergavenney to say he was purchasing The Corn Exchange in Tunbridge Wells and he asked me if I would like to create a cookery school there. He knew I had always wanted to have my own cookery school because up until then I had been working for other people.
Naturally, I jumped at the chance! It was the right time in my career too because I felt I had done enough television and I had published four books by then. The moment was right.
I went down to see it and of course fell in love. The interior space at that time was made up of offices, but all I saw was the potential and how beautiful it could be. It was a bigger job than I had imagined, and it has been enormously challenging, but I have a great team around me and Tunbridge Wells is the perfect place for a cookery school, so it’s all been worth it.
What’s a ‘day in your life’ like? Could you give us an insight into the life of Rosemary?
Every day is very different, it’s one of the things I love about my job. However, regardless of what I’m doing, I always start my day with a cup of freshly brewed coffee and some homemade museli – I make my own. Then I will go into my study and check emails and look at my dairy for the day.
Then the work starts. If I have a television appearance, I will prepare for that, if I’m teaching at the school, I’ll head over in plenty of time to ensure that everything is in place. At the end of the day, I’ll come home to my cottage and if it’s summer, I’ll see what’s going on in the garden – this year I had a herb garden planted – or perhaps have some supper with friends. If I’m really tired, there’s nothing I enjoy more than watching a good movie.
I’m always thinking ahead to the next day though – so before I go to bed, if there’s something I absolutely must remember to take with me the next day, I leave myself a note and fix it to the back of my front door. My life is very busy, so I have to keep on top of things.
What’s your greatest/most memorable professional moment been, so far?
Teaching the girls from Ladettes to Ladies was certainly very memorable!! To actually teach them how to prepare a four course meal in two days and pull it off was the most challenging thing I’ve ever done.
Most memorable though, has to be opening my cookery school. On the opening day I felt that we weren’t going to be ready on time. We had a group of people coming from Australia so we had to be open, there could be no delay – we had all been working round the clock, but I will never forget that first course we ran – we didn’t even have time to have a dummy run, but it was amazing, it was everything that I wanted it to be.
Where do you get your ideas?
From everywhere – talking to people, sometimes I encounter a wonderful ingredient, for example I have just come back from Grenada – nutmeg is the spice of the island and I have learned so much about what you can do with it. Travel, new flavours, new horizons, they alter the way you look at things.
Equally, you can take a fresh look at familiar ingredients, which has happened to me recently with California Prunes. They are great as an ingredient in baking and also many savoury dishes. I even like to have some in the car to snack on.
What’s your culinary philosophy, summed up in a sentence?
Keep it simple.
What advice would you give to aspiring professional chefs who’d want the kind of results that you’ve had?
I would say become an apprentice! It’s a wonderful way to learn because you won’t get into debt while you learn – you will work systematically toward your NVQ, you will be given work placements and perhaps more important than everything, you will have a mentor to help you – someone who has ultimate responsibility for your learning.
This builds confidence, because if you make mistakes, there is someone to show you where you went wrong.
Launching our apprentices programme in our Professional Kitchen, has been one of most rewarding aspects of my cookery school. It’s completely unlike our Gallery Kitchen, which is much more homely!
If you could go back to the beginning and start over, what would you change or do differently?
I would have like to have gone to catering college or done an apprenticeship – probably an apprenticeship would have been better for me. The way I learned was very much ‘on the hoof’ with different chefs and different jobs.
I took responsibility for my own learning, I wrote things in books, I was unstoppable, but it was hard because you don’t have a mentor, you don’t have anyone to turn to, or anyone who has responsibility for teaching you everything you need to know, and as a result your confidence can suffer.
If you could cook for anyone, who would you choose?
My family.
Your most and least favourite dishes to cook?
Favourite: I love making pies and the Spanish national dish of paella – I like making dishes that you can share and turn into a centrepiece.. My family’s favourite is my chicken and potato pie – it’s beautiful and substantial and everyone loves it – it tastes of home.
Least: Probably making jam – I do make it but it’s not something I particularly enjoy. I make a very good pear and ginger jam however!
Did you ever have a point where you knew it was working, or that you’d ‘made it’? Do you remember that point?
I don’t see it like that. The way I see it is that I now have confidence, I’m happy with myself and confident in what I do. My approach to things is very simple because of my knowledge – I know what works and what doesn’t. For me, it’s being able to make the best out of your flavours. But you never stop learning and I wouldn’t want to.
Who’s the person who’s most inspired you in your work – food industry or otherwise. Is there anyone that you draw inspiration or strength from? Do you have any specific culinary influences?
Pierre Koffmann – he is a brilliant chef, but he is also a kind and generous man. He gave me a lot of confidence and it was Pierre who taught me the value of simplicity.
What’s your favourite regional cuisine?
There are two – I love Japanese cuisine and Italian
And we always ask three customary ridiculous questions…
If you got a job as head chef on the Death Star, and had to prepare a meal for Lord Vader, what would you cook him?
I would make a toasted marmite sandwich – I loathe marmite!
If you had to have any character from Roman mythology come and work with you, who would you employ?
Neptune – the King of the Sea – because I would always have an ample supply of fresh fish.
If you had to become some kind of vegetable related superhero, which would you become?
I would like to be a butternut squash – it’s so versatile and immensely appetising and good for you.
Rosemary Shrager is passionate about good quality ingredients and continues to work with the California Prune Board to develop delicious recipes which demonstrate the versatility and quality of prunes from California. Her latest recipe and many others can be found on www.californiaprunes.co.uk