Beauty of barbecue is lack of rules, says Tom Kerridge
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Few industries have suffered more during the pandemic than hospitality, writes Katie Wright. Thousands of restaurants and pubs up and down the country have been forced to shut their doors for good, following months of lockdown restrictions.
While none of Tom Kerridge’s eateries have suffered the same fate, it’s clear the chef has a huge amount of sympathy for his fellow restauranteurs.
“It’s very sad. There’s bound to be more [closures] as the furlough scheme ends and that support system goes away,” he says. “There isn’t much we could do about it, apart from take the huge amount of losses and come through the other side.”
For Kerridge – who owns a handful of restaurants and pubs – and his staff, working from home just wasn’t an option.
“There’s so many other industries where people can have conversations online and that’s fine and their business has been able to work. You get into hospitality and it’s a vocational job, it’s something that’s a way of life, it’s not something you can do on a Zoom call.”
But now he’s launching his next book, perfectly timed for the arrival of summer. Outdoor Cooking: The Ultimate Modern Barbecue Bible is Kerridge’s ode to al-fresco cooking, which he particularly loves because it allows him to socialise at the same time as serving up delicious food.
“You’ve got your friends and family around, there’s people hanging out… for me it’s a great space to be. You’re immersed in it, you’re not just stuck in the back.”
Not that he’s one to hog the barbecue tongs, however: “I’m quite happy to let other people have a go. Although I do thoroughly enjoy when you’re outdoors, that social bit of cooking.”
Plus, he loves the variety of an international melting-pot menu. “You can travel the world with a barbecue. You can have Korean-style kimchi as a side garnish, and then you can have American-style barbecue stuff, you can have fantastic Indian cookery… The beautiful thing about it is there’s no real rules.”
Outdoor Cooking: The Ultimate Modern Barbecue Bible by Tom Kerridge, photography by Cristian Barnett, is published by Bloomsbury Absolute, priced £22.
