Rick Stein’s Head Chef from Marlborough cooks up a storm with Swindon College students

Kevin Chandler visited Swindon College Catering Students 28 March, to give a guest lecture on how to prepare a dish from the current menu at Rick Stein’s restaurant in Marlborough.  The dish selected was stir fried squid with chorizo, red pepper and potato. Kevin demonstrated how to clean and prepare the squid, and how to cook and put the dish together.  Watching over the students as they prepared their own, he gave them plenty of advice as they progressed. The students all set to work, preparing the squid and the other ingredients – new potatoes, red pepper which had to be roasted and chorizo plus herbs and seasoning, producing finished dishes that reflected what they had been shown.

The second demonstration was how to shuck oysters. The students then had the chance to sample the oysters and two or three had a practice at opening oysters themselves. Kevin said that it is a skill which he has acquired over the years and he can shuck oysters very quickly in comparison to some of his staff. Kevin held a Q&A session with the students, who asked him about his kitchen in Marlborough and his staffing. Kevin said that he tries to have a good balance of staff with a good mix of strengths and development requirements, so that his team can bring on staff up to the level required. He said in the industry that is well known for staff working long hours, there are pioneers who are trying to improve the working life of their staff so that they are more satisfied and therefore work better, staying in the role longer.  Kevin said Rick Stein’s ethos and attitude very much reflects this and wants staff who really want to work to very high standards. Tutor Paul Kelly said: “Kevin coming into the college reinforces what I am teaching, and the students just need to choose carefully where they place themselves, to keep working at high standards and to keep knocking on the doors for those great opportunities. We are running a new qualification this year which is a VTCT NVQ2. "It is a lot more in-depth and very skill-based so the students come away with better technical skills.”