FOOD + DRINK
THE ART OF Food cont.
PATRICK HILL OF THACKERAY’ S www. thackerays-restaurant. co. uk
Born and bred in Kent, Patrick started his career like most budding chefs by washing pots at the local pub at the age of 15. At 18, Patrick went on to study at Westminster Catering College while working at Thackeray’ s at the same time, not only honing his technical ability but also gaining invaluable vocational experience.
Patrick joined Thackeray’ s as a commis back in January 2010 at 18 years of age under the guidance of head chef Chris Bower, quickly working his way up the ranks, and after one year at Thackeray’ s he went to sister restaurant The Hengist as senior chef de partie. After six months he was promoted to chef de tornant of the group roaming around all four sites at the time.
Patrick returned back to Thackeray’ s full time in September 2011 when he was soon made sous chef in spring of 2012 at the age of 21, and was part of the team who won the Michelin star in the autumn. He worked under Daniel Hatton for another two years as sous chef, then departed in the summer of 2014 to further his experience. He landed his first head chef role later that year and honed his skills, to then return back to his old stomping ground at Thackeray’ s in Jan 2017 to head up the kitchen.
Where do you get your artistic inspiration when it comes to the visual presentation of your dishes?
My inspiration comes from the food itself – for example, every tomato will be a different shape, every leaf of wild garlic will be a different size. So when plating you have to be fluid with each dish, sometimes take a step back and reevaluate the design and sometimes tweak it. It’ s also like painting a picture, some colours and shapes go together, and some do not. You don ' t want your plate to look like a rainbow, it’ s nice to have a‘ palette’ of colours in mind, with perhaps one additional blast.
Are there certain foods you find easier to work with, and other you find more difficult, when it comes to artistic presentations?
Of course. Prettier things are far easier to plate due to their nature – for example a baby carrot is more refined than a donkey carrot and needs no labour in presentation.
In the spring I find the plating easier due to the burst of greens which always brightens up the dish, along with the vegetables and herbs that grow at this time of year. So when plating wild garlic flowers with their emerald stalks and brilliant white petals, or the new season jersey royals that are simply beautiful with their skins on, life is made much easier.
On the flip side in the autumn / winter where all the vegetables grow underground and don ' t see any sun, they therefore don ' t contain chlorophyll, which in turn means that these vegetables are dull in colour and quite often ugly. This means as a chef I need to put more thought into the presentation as these vegetables don ' t naturally lend themselves to a pretty plate of food. Whether it be having to turn vegetables or having to cut them into a neat dice this is the type of route we have to go down during these months.
What are your top three artistic tips for home chefs who want to wow their guests?
Don ' t try too hard! Less is more.
Always put the tallest element at the back. When your guests are sitting at the dining table they want to see the whole plate in its entirety. This is made possible by plating from front to back, shortest to tallest.
Don’ t over sauce the plate. A nice spoon over the meat to get the temperature up is ample for presentation. Remember, you can always serve more sauce on the side.
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