You are listening to Chef Life by Cottage Foods.
Hi guys, welcome to Cottage Foods Chef Life podcast number one.
We're here with Josh from Goldsborough Hall.
Welcome mate.
Hello mate, how are you?
Yeah, good, cheers buddy.
Good.
So yeah, just here today to do some filming with Josh.
I'll look some of his dishes and what he's doing in terms of the culinary scene here at
Goldsborough Hall.
He's been here a long time mate.
Just come up for 18 months now.
18 months, awesome.
We really turned the place around as well.
Yeah, it's just going well I think.
Yeah, yeah.
It's because you got what, the A rated, was it?
Well, three rosettes, we've gone in with three.
Yeah.
And then we've just, we've got put in a Michelin guide as well so.
Awesome.
Yeah.
I think it's, what I really like about this place is really unique concept with your own
garden.
You've sort of focused quite a lot in terms of fresh produce and stuff.
Yeah, so we work quite closely with the gardener and we try and plan our menus around the seasons
and what it is.
Yeah.
We can use and what time of year and how we're going to play it in the space that we've got.
Awesome.
It's quite unique, especially given the orchestra, I feel more chefs would be doing that.
Whereas I mean we've met the guys at Pine and they do a great job at local produce within
the surface of the city.
But again, I think you're really pioneering around here in terms of the guys we deal with.
Yeah.
That kind of focus, I think it's really awesome.
So yeah, so just, just want to know a bit more about your buddy, where you started, how
you got to hearing stuff and.
Yeah.
So I think before I was in London, a Chappelle, with the garden brothers, sort of four years
down there, quite a busy place and the London, the London life, it's good.
It was nice, but it's also nice to sort of step away and come to a bit of a slower place
and.
Really make your mark here type thing.
Yeah.
Going from hundreds of covers to 30 covers a night, you've got a bit more time.
Plus you won't get that garden in the centre.
No, no, I mean.
So I mean we've got a bit of time to forage and the first hour of our morning, you know,
it's from spring and summer, it's effectively gardening and digging things up, which is
fantastic.
I mean it's quite nice.
Yeah.
So you have to change like how you approach cooking with that or?
Well, a little bit.
So we sit down and we plan everything out with the garden and, you know, try and map
out when things are going to be ready and try and put it over later.
And obviously we get heat wave and everything is ready for at the same time.
So, so yeah, mother nature doesn't really work.
Yeah.
How you expect it to.
So it's a bit of a panic and it's like, what are we going to do with all this produce?
So yeah, we've definitely done a lot of interesting like ferments and preserves and, you know,
chutneys and ketchup and jam.
It's being quite, yeah, it was quite challenging in summer because everything was ready.
And it was an abundance.
You've got to agree now.
Yeah.
And do you think from this sort of this experience versus London, do you think that's me, you're
keeping your cooking going forward?
You'll try and work with that things growing?
Yeah.
You can get some lovely suppliers down there and, you know, things that you can buy and
get hold of, but it's never going to be as good as picking it yourself or, you know,
growing something to a certain size and, you know, that you wouldn't normally get from
a supplier or, you know, you want something specific doing.
You know, if you want to use the flowers of that, so you let it go to flower or you want
to use it as a little adolescent vegetable or whatever.
So you've got a lot more control over how you use it.
Yeah.
You're solving the visage and how to do it.
But it is a bit of a learning experience.
Organic farming is definitely got its challenges.
Yeah.
Like you expect something to be a certain size like you get from a supermarket and you
realise that you haven't popped it full of chemicals.
Half a size, but it tastes, you know, obviously a lot different.
And yeah, a lot of it's tasted a lot better because I think that's sort of water content
to me.
Yeah.
So do you think that's the way quite a lot of the sort of higher end chefs are going
to start growing in terms of growing their own and that?
I think you can do it 100% do it even if it's just like a few micros or a few herbs or, you
know, you don't need much space to grow some tomatoes or cucumbers or something.
Yeah.
We're fortunate because we've got quite a bit of space in the gardener, but, you know,
I would definitely say just do something.
They're crazy.
Yeah.
And how do you see your menu progressing without you trying to grow sort of things like wasabi?
Is that an example?
An example.
I would agree some wasabi crust this year.
Yeah.
Obviously we use quite a lot of micros and things that we grow that's nice and easy,
but, you know, just different cultivars really.
We accrue so many peppers this year and different types of peppers and trying to find what works
for us.
Yeah.
You know, you think it's going to go one way, but it goes another.
And, you know, it's all part of the fun, isn't it?
So you've got to be quite versatile and adapt to what it is.
I suppose your menu will lend itself to being able to adapt quite frequently, won't it?
Yeah.
It's good.
It's quite easy to change dishes then because, you know, you've got something that's going
to be ready or weakened and, you know, in two weeks time, something else is going to
be ready and you're going to be gone through your darts.
It's quite, it keeps it fresh, so you've got to constantly keep.
Yeah.
And what would you say, since moving here, what's in your head, what you've sort of
changed in terms of your approach or anything new that you've sort of been playing with,
which I haven't worked with before?
I suppose just really the preserves, really, of, you know, playing around with certain
vinegars, we're quite like our ferments and, you know, making our own vinegars from scratch.
Yeah.
So we've done some interesting ones with, you know, trying to do a seasonal vinegar with
anything that's in the garden.
So everything, like, you know, like a local tewa, effectively.
Lovely.
So what's growing in the garden in spring on, you know, and we put it all into this
big mass vinegar and we see what comes out in the summer one, you know, we did an early
summer one and a late summer one.
Yeah.
And then we use them and implement that in our pickling observant and dressings and sources.
Yeah.
And I think the summer ones have got like 25 different things that have all grown in a
garden.
And it's all, well, yeah, it gets quite complex and the flavors, it's, yeah, you know, it's
really interesting and, you know, of what it is we've got growing as such a, it's only
12 acres here.
So you've got a lot going on.
Yeah.
It's auto managers in there really.
Yeah.
It's, you know, you guys, you seem quite integral to that management.
You sort of, sort of drive in what the guy's planting and how it's growing.
Yeah.
So we sit down at the start of the year.
So yeah, now is, we've already started to sit down and we basically sit there with a
website and we click all the seeds and things that we want, put it in the basket and then
try and organize it of when we can, you know, you know, we'll put something in early and
one bed and then we can get through that by somewhere and then, you know, then it starts
going into the winter crops.
We can get that in.
Oh, well, that's really cool.
So yeah, it is quite a cool.
And then obviously there's things that were obviously in place here before and like got
a hundred kilo of Jerusalem artichokes.
I mean, so it's just a side of the year.
We're putting out our ideas, what they do with a Jerusalem artichoke.
So I think I have these things out there though.
I feel like just from a consumer's perspective, like I feel like certain beds get really in
for a period of time.
We've got nuts for like Jerusalem artichokes and then you know, I don't care about it.
But when I first started, I was like, oh, that's really cool.
How many Jerusalem artichokes do you get?
He's like, I reckon about 80 to 100 kilos or like, right.
That's a lot.
Like a mushroom crate is like three kilos.
And I'm like, yeah.
You've got to fire that out and find out.
Do you use a artichoke or something?
Yeah.
Because because it's stored so like so well in the ground and stuff.
So it's, it holds quite well through the frost as that was, gives us a bit of a.
Yeah.
And are you tailoring sort of the meat dishes towards you sort of veg led first then into
the summer?
Definitely because of just how much we've got in abundance here.
Yeah.
You know, yeah, it's definitely we did quite a lot of Saudi bits this year.
So it was quite nice tidying.
We just got some nice woodland pork and just tied it in nicely.
We've got those.
Yeah.
It goes quite a veg heavy in the summer because obviously we just got an abundance of full
swing.
I think it must be really interesting like versus some of the guys we work with.
I mean, I'm constantly amazed at how innovative everyone is.
But here being led by that garden, I think must be really cool.
Yeah.
It's definitely, yeah.
It's got us challenges and it is, it does dictate the menu effectively, you know.
And then obviously we've got quite a bit of, you know, mushrooms growing around wild and
you know, these are all quite challenging things to try and utilize when you've got
a heap of these mushrooms that need to be.
Yeah.
Utilized.
Yeah.
So we just try and drive it in or, you know, turn things into garums or, you know, you
stocks and sources and there's no shortage of anything here.
No.
The mushroom thing, I think it's really interesting.
Like we, that mushroom soil we do, like that's the flow.
You were kind of the first guy to start taking that from us and I just got great guns.
But yeah, we, we try and you've kind of influenced bizarrely like how we're looking at some Japanese
products, we're trying to look at things which are more sort of FEDGE focused in terms of
whether they'll marry that product.
Yeah.
Excuse me.
Because I feel the, the chefs we work with are going more that way.
They don't have the level of abundance in terms of garden you've got, but it's definitely
something that we've seen.
I feel like people in general are going a bit more, you know, less protein and more FEDGE
really.
Yeah.
I think, I think partly because the cost of things really, you know, I mean, it's just
gone through the roof.
That's crazy.
It's just a man of people who just, you know, want to try and eat a bit more healthier,
don't you?
And it's definitely in the last couple of years, I'd say food has definitely changed.
It's definitely gone less butter, less cream, less, it's gone less heavy and people are
going for like, you know, stock stashes.
Yeah.
Easy.
I mean, in terms of our range where we're going next, like that's that stock, that's trying
to find unique stocks, just as all that sort of gear, the base, that's really where
we're going.
Because that's where we think, you know, you guys want a good base and you'll build from
there.
Yeah, but it's a lot of favors, isn't it?
Absolutely.
Yeah.
The Japanese range is really sort of push us with that.
I mean, the next thing we're kind of looking at is the like Ethiopian type of herbs and
spices, which I think might tie into it.
But again, that's very veg heavy diet and the herbs and spices are married to that.
But yeah, meat, it's been an unusual journey for us because we were looking at organic
local farmer to start stocking their gear.
But yeah, I just don't think the market's there.
Like it was, giants.
Yeah.
And I think that things are complimented first and then to meet them already later.
Yeah.
But so what are the plans for this year, dude?
Do you know anything crazy?
Just now.
Keep doing your thing.
Just doing it.
Yeah.
Yeah, just see how it goes, I guess.
And yeah, you know, dining room's really taken off, which is nice.
And, you know, obviously we've been here for a year now, so we sort of know what to expect
with the gardenish.
So I feel like we're probably a bit more organized on it.
Yeah.
And we've been able to go all over the place as it's just a little bit of what's going
to happen.
Yeah.
And, you know, it's all part of the fun, isn't it?
Awesome.
Well, listen, we love working with you, dude.
And thanks for your time today.
And you know, Rianne's got some good filming to do with him.
She's got a cat and new friend there.
But yeah, but like, yeah, excited to keep on seeing your journey, mate.
And so people can get you on Instagram.
Yeah, Instagram mostly.
Yeah.
Yeah, pretty much.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Just that's it.
Awesome.
Come try Josh's food.
It's awesome.
And yeah, thanks for your time.
Thanks, mate.
Cheers.
Thanks for joining us today on this episode of Chef Life by Cottage Foods.
My name's Alastair.
I've been your host, but we found entertaining.
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