Bucks &amp; Oxon


<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1000" height="666" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/02/Chef-Chris-Wheeler-1000x666.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-142565" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/02/Chef-Chris-Wheeler-1000x666.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/02/Chef-Chris-Wheeler-800x533.jpg 800w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/02/Chef-Chris-Wheeler-400x266.jpg 400w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/02/Chef-Chris-Wheeler-788x525.jpg 788w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/02/Chef-Chris-Wheeler.jpg 1500w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-your-first-job-in-a-kitchen">Your first job in a kitchen?</h2>



<p>Doing the veg at The Grand Hotel in Swanage, aged 14. At that point it was just a job, I didn&#8217;t think I wanted to be a chef &#8211; I actually wanted to be a zookeeper! But I properly fell in love with food when I got picked to work in a Michelin-starred restaurant in France when I was 17. I worked in a one Michelin-star restaurant six days a week, then on my day off I&#8217;d go next door and work at Michel Guérard, which had three Michelin stars. </p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Career highlight?&nbsp;</h2>



<p>Getting the Michelin star at Novelli&#8217;s when we&#8217;d only been open three months, getting three rosettes at Humphreys, and winning Chef of the Year when I was at Hotel Cateys. </p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Sum up your cooking style?&nbsp;</h2>



<p>I like to cook what customers want to eat. I like modern British with a bit of a twist, but mainly I just want to cook what people enjoy. I don&#8217;t see the point of cooking outrageous food that people don&#8217;t want to eat. </p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Most memorable moment at work?&nbsp;</h2>



<p>Meeting my wife at The Four Seasons in Park Lane! I was the sous chef in the restaurant, and she came over for two weeks to learn English while she was waitressing &#8211; 26 years later she&#8217;s still here, luckily. </p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Ever cooked for anyone famous?&nbsp;</h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1500" height="1000" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/02/3629099666_daniel-craig-stoke-park-layer-cake.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-142570" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/02/3629099666_daniel-craig-stoke-park-layer-cake.jpg 1500w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/02/3629099666_daniel-craig-stoke-park-layer-cake-800x533.jpg 800w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/02/3629099666_daniel-craig-stoke-park-layer-cake-1000x667.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/02/3629099666_daniel-craig-stoke-park-layer-cake-400x267.jpg 400w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/02/3629099666_daniel-craig-stoke-park-layer-cake-788x525.jpg 788w" sizes="(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px" /></figure>



<p>I used to regularly cook for Daniel Craig, as Pinewood is down the road from Stoke Park and he used to pop into the kitchen to tell us what he wanted. Who else? The Spice Girls, Brad and Angelina, Prince Phillip&#8230; oh, I&#8217;ve cooked for three prime ministers, back to back. I cooked for David Cameron, Theresa May and Boris Johnson &#8211; I have a signed bottle of Champagne under my stairs from each of them. </p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Your biggest mistake at work?&nbsp;</h2>



<p>Trusting people who are not ready to be trusted. Once during the Boodles Challenge at Stoke Park I left my sous chef in charge of cooking the chicken, and he didn&#8217;t shut the oven door. I had to go on stage and talk for fifteen minutes about everything and anything because the chicken wasn&#8217;t cooked at all and I had to stall. </p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">You’re tired, starving and impatient: what do you cook for dinner?&nbsp;</h2>



<p>Marmite on toast and Cadbury’s Flake ice cream. It&#8217;s the perfect combination. </p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">What would you cook to impress a date?&nbsp;</h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1500" height="1499" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/02/Chris-Wheeler-lamb.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-142567" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/02/Chris-Wheeler-lamb.jpg 1500w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/02/Chris-Wheeler-lamb-800x800.jpg 800w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/02/Chris-Wheeler-lamb-1000x1000.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/02/Chris-Wheeler-lamb-400x400.jpg 400w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/02/Chris-Wheeler-lamb-525x525.jpg 525w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/02/Chris-Wheeler-lamb-500x500.jpg 500w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/02/Chris-Wheeler-lamb-1100x1100.jpg 1100w" sizes="(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px" /></figure>



<p>I would make one of my signature dishes, which is a take on a shepherd&#8217;s pie made with a roast loin of lamb. For dessert, it would be my whole baked apple crumble &#8211; the crumble is served inside the apple. It&#8217;s so easy but it&#8217;s a massive crowd pleaser. </p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Favourite chef?&nbsp;</h2>



<p>When I was working for Jean Christophe Novelli and we won a Michelin star at the Gordleton Mill, he took us to eat at Marco Pierre White&#8217;s Harveys restaurant in Wandsworth. I was 18, and Marco asked me to sit at the hot plate rather than at the table, so I got to eat my tasting menu there with all the chefs. It was the best meal I&#8217;ve ever eaten in my life &#8211; I think he was the most talented chef around in his heyday. </p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Favourite cookbook?&nbsp;</h2>



<p>Funnily enough, <em>White Heat </em>by Marco Pierre White. I love looking through books for ideas &#8211; I used to have shelves and shelves of them, but when I had kids I had to lose a few! </p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Favourite type of cuisine?&nbsp;</h2>



<p>Italian &#8211; not just because of my wife. I&#8217;m not talking pizza and pasta, I mean proper Italian food. It&#8217;s simple cooking but they use really fresh ingredients. Even the supermarkets are different &#8211; my kids love veal, and when you go to the shops in Milan there are shelves and shelves of it. In the UK you get one tiny packet. </p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Favourite kitchen gadget?&nbsp;</h2>



<p>I can&#8217;t live without my mandolin &#8211; it&#8217;s just a simple Japanese&nbsp;one but it&#8217;s so useful when you have to slice loads of things finely. Touch wood I&#8217;ve never had any finger-slicing incidents yet. </p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Favourite local café? </h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1080" height="1280" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/02/Seasons-Amersham.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-142569" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/02/Seasons-Amersham.jpg 1080w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/02/Seasons-Amersham-675x800.jpg 675w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/02/Seasons-Amersham-844x1000.jpg 844w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/02/Seasons-Amersham-338x400.jpg 338w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/02/Seasons-Amersham-443x525.jpg 443w" sizes="(max-width: 1080px) 100vw, 1080px" /></figure>



<p>Seasons Cafe in Amersham. They do the best cappuccino and freshly-baked croissants in the morning. </p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Favourite things to eat when you’re on holiday?&nbsp;</h2>



<p>Tapas in the sun with a glass of wine. I worked in Forte Village in Sardinia on an exchange a few years in a row, and&nbsp;their seafood was out of this world. I loved sitting right on the beach eating fresh calamari and scallops. </p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Favourite ingredient and why?&nbsp;</h2>



<p>Rose harissa. It&#8217;s so versatile, and it&#8217;s spicy, not over spicy. Add a spoon over sauté potatoes, you get these amazing reddish oily potatoes that taste really flavourful, and if you add it to mayonnaise you get an incredible dressing for salad or calamari. </p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Most overrated ingredient?&nbsp;</h2>



<p>I cannot stand Brussels sprouts, they&#8217;re always overcooked and they smell awful. We serve them up at Christmas al dente with loads of bacon &#8211; you have to add a lot of stuff to them to get any kind of good flavour out of them.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">What mistake do inexperienced cooks tend to make?&nbsp;</h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1000" height="1000" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/02/Chris-Wheeler-scallops-1000x1000.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-142568" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/02/Chris-Wheeler-scallops-1000x1000.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/02/Chris-Wheeler-scallops-800x800.jpg 800w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/02/Chris-Wheeler-scallops-400x400.jpg 400w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/02/Chris-Wheeler-scallops-525x525.jpg 525w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/02/Chris-Wheeler-scallops-500x500.jpg 500w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/02/Chris-Wheeler-scallops-1100x1100.jpg 1100w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/02/Chris-Wheeler-scallops.jpg 1500w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /></figure>



<p>Overcooking food! People worry they&#8217;re not cooking things for long enough, especially fish, and they end up overcooking. Scallops are the number one&nbsp;culprit. If you have the pan searing hot they only need one minute a side, and people end up cooking them for twenty minutes. </p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">The dish you’re most proud of creating?&nbsp;</h2>



<p>I created a dish called Bananarama that was inspired by a holiday in the Dominican Republic, when I was sat in the sun eating bananas and drinking rum. It&#8217;s four mini desserts: a banana tarte tatin, a banoffee pie, a banana and toffee creme brûlée and rum and raisin ice cream. We serve it on a long banana-shaped plate and people go wild for it. </p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Tell us your best ever cooking tip?&nbsp;</h2>



<p>When you make mash, add hot to hot. Take your potatoes out of the pan, add the cream or milk to the pan and heat it, and then add the potato back in. You&#8217;ll never get lumpy mash if you make it this way. </p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Three dishes every home cook should master?&nbsp;</h2>



<p>Omelette, because it&#8217;s a classic. Soufflé &#8211; people are scared of them but they’re actually really easy to do &#8211; and a roast dinner. It has to be beef and for me it&#8217;s a sirloin, not rib eye. It&#8217;s easier to serve in a busy kitchen and I prefer the flavour. </p>



<p><em>You can find Chris Wheeler at the newly-opened <a href="https://www.crown-inn.co.uk" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Chris Wheeler at The Crown Inn</a> in Farnham Common, Bucks. </em></p>


What’s cooking? Chris Wheeler at The Crown Inn, Farnham Common

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