Stuff that has inspired me.

The pictures above are some of the books that have influenced and inspired me ovee the course of my career. All of thest books had something to offer and opened my imagintion to what is possible in terms of food and cooking. The one thing I never was to follow recipes to the letter as for me that was tedious and not interesting. They were only ever use as points of reference for creating my own possiblities.
The book by Wolfgang Puck was a real eye opener, as it was my first insight into the possiblities of Fusion, East/West, Pacific Rim (call it what you will) cuisine.

THe first person to real generate any interst in cooking for me was my Grandmother (OK, so that is such a cliche but it is very true)! I was never into sports in anyway and as I was growing up, that is all that was on TV on Saturday afternoon ans so I would end up in the kitchen with my Grandmother doing the baking. Things like Apple Pie, Rubarb Crumble and Baked Egg Custard. All things that hold fond memories for me.

Two other people from that time who inspired me to cook were Graham Kerr ( Tha Galloping Gourmet) and here is a clip of him that I found on Youtube.........The Galloping Gourmet

The other person who inspired me to cook was the late Robert Carrier and here is a clip of him 9also from Youtube).........Robert Carrier

In terms of todays Chefs and the possibiliteis that are offered in terms of ingridients, techniques and equipment, these two guys are dinosaurs but in their day they were real pioneers who showed people a wholw world of new ideas in food.

These days I am much more inspoired by the wealth of products and suppliers that are around and when I look at some of what I see, my mind goes into overdrive just thinking about the possible creations that could be developed.

The following are some links to suppliers that I would be using given the opportunity!!!

Infusions For Chefs....Ingredients

Cream Supplies....Gourmet Food Products

MSK Specailist Ingredients

Infusions4Chefs.....Aparatus!!!

And one final link to a guy by the name of Eddie Shepherd who is doing some awesome stuff with vegetarian food, (almost makes me want to turn veggie)........The Veggie Chef (Eddie Shepherd)!!!!!

Oh and Chek out this video of Mr.Shepherd inaction......Eddie Shepherd video!!!!!

So, yeah, over the years a wide variety of things have influenced and inspired me and thos inflences and inspirations are in a constant state of flux and evolution. I suppose foos is the same as I have recentle been looking back over some old menus from the 1990s and thinking about some of the dishes from back then and how they could be done so much differently with todays methods.

Well, that's all for now. Off to work on another idea that I have just had. more coming soon!!!!