SAVOUR & SIP
GOING FOR GOLD
Plant-led performance Getting ready to represent the UK in the grand finale of the San Pellegrino Young Chef Academy Competition, we pull up a chair with Cambridge-based chef Marcus Clayton
WORDS BY PHOEBE HARPER
ALL IMAGES © CHARLOTTE GRIFFITHS
F or Marcus Clayton, being selected as a finalist to compete for a title that would position him as one of the best young chefs in the world was a real pinch-me moment. “It’s mad – I never expected to get this far. It’s extremely humbling and I’m excited to cook my dish again,” he shares. Currently working as senior sous chef at Mill Road restaurant Vanderlyle, Marcus wowed jurors at the San Pellegrino Young Chef Academy Competition’s regional final earlier this year with his signature dish, which he has simply titled ‘celeriac, apple and mushroom’. The dish encapsulates Marcus’ passion for working with vegetables and other fresh produce, an ethos that has been instilled in him throughout his culinary career. Having worked in AA Rosette and Michelin star kitchens including Hythe’s Hide and Fox as well as The Mermaid Inn in Rye, this philosophy became particularly ingrained during his time at the well-reputed farm- to-table restaurant The Small Holding in Kilndown, Kent.
“It was only after entering the competition that I decided I wanted to focus on vegetable-led cookery,” he notes. Following a late entry that left him three days to refine and submit his recipe (as opposed to the recommended three- month application period), Marcus settled on a dish he identifies as inadvertently inspired by a recipe from Tom Kerridge’s Proper Pub Food – celeriac and apple soup. “It wasn’t a conscious choice, but I guess it was a flavour combination that stuck with me. From
“We’d grow our own vegetables and rear our own animals as much as possible, but there was still a big focus on meat,” he recalls. “I’m trying to show that vegetables can be just as good as a piece of beef.” It was during a meal at Vanderlyle – a restaurant that particularly stands out for ingredient-led menus built on sustainable produce – that a friend introduced Marcus to resident chef Alex Rushmer, which led to the next step in his career. At the time of speaking, he highlights the pickled
It’s a flavour combination that stuck with me
there, I decided to add mushrooms to give it my own twist.” Marcus’ mentor for the competition, Michelin-starred chef Lisa Goodwin-Allen,
and charred peach served with ricotta from the current menu as a firm seasonal favourite, crediting it with an ‘unexpectedly lamb-y’ flavour.
will continue to offer guidance in refining and perfecting the dish before he flies to Milan for the grand finale, due to take place from 4 to 5 October. Up against 15 other young chefs from across the globe, it’s a surreal prospect. And if he should win? “Well, I’ll probably just have to pinch myself all over again.”
Marcus’ appetite for creating fresh, tasty food with minimal waste, and his overall ambition to ‘get as much out of a vegetable as possible’, rose to the fore after he came across an advert for the San Pellegrino Young Chef Academy Competition and decided to give it a go.
RISING STAR Marcus Clayton came first in the San Pellegrino Young Chef Academy’s UK regional final
CAMBSEDITION.CO.UK OCTOBER 2023 43
Powered by FlippingBook