Weekly Grill: Nathan Outlaw on baking ‘dead fly biscuits’ as a child and falling in love with mackerel
WHO ARE YOU?
I’m Nathan Outlaw, dad, chef, restaurateur, writer of cookbooks and aspiring Jedi! Mostly, I cook seafood. I have a restaurant in Dubai and three in the UK including Outlaw’s at The Capital in London. I also write cook books. And I post lots of pictures on Instagram.
WHAT'S NEW?
Exciting things are happening at my restaurant in Knightsbridge – our bar has just reopened after a refurb and I’ve also just announced my upcoming Shipping Fourcast events where Mitch Tonks, Richard Turner and Tim Barnes join me in the kitchen throughout October.
WHAT'S YOUR EARLIEST FOOD MEMORY?
At about the age of three, adding sultanas to scraps of pastry my mum had finished with, rolling it out and baking it to end up with ‘dead fly biscuits’! Sometimes the pastry ended up on the floor. I also learnt my first knife skills cutting the wings for butterfly cakes. It was tricky.
TELL US ABOUT THE BEST MEAL YOU EVER HAD?
It was in Henne Kirkeby Kro, an inn in the village of Henne Kirkeby in Varde, Denmark. The chef there is a Brit, Paul Cunningham, and he’s created an amazing restaurant – relaxed and welcoming, serving the freshest, most wonderful and innovative dishes.
WHAT'S YOUR FAVOURITE DISH?
Freshly caught mackerel, out of the sea, gutted and straight onto the barbecue. It has to be cooked over coals, not gas, or you don’t get that lovely smoky edge to the flavour. All you need with it is a big chunk of sourdough and some crispy salad. After that I’d have good old-fashioned trifle for pud. Nothing better.
WHAT'S THE BEST THING ABOUT THE LONDON FOOD SCENE?
The diversity – you can travel around the entire world just eating in amazing restaurant after amazing restaurant.
AND THE WORST THING?
Too many restaurants. There are so many good ones to choose from that you’ll never get to all of them, which makes it even harder to decide where to eat next and difficult to return to one because there are others you want to visit too. Life’s not fair!
WHAT'S YOUR FAVOURITE FOOD-RELATED ANECDOTE?
A few years ago, one of my chefs put some oysters into the fridge and overnight the salty juices from them leaked out and ended up all over some mackerel on a lower shelf. The next day, I saw the mackerel swimming in this liquid. I tasted it to see if we could salvage any and to my surprise and delight, the salty oyster juices had cured the mackerel. To this day, we use this method for one of our dishes and it’s popular on the menu. Many a cloud has a silver lining, so they say!
• Outlaw’s at The Capital, 22-24 Basil Street, Knightsbridge, SW3 1AT; capitalhotel.co.uk/dining