I have always wanted to be a chef, a chef that can rustle up a lobster bisque that could make any mouth water. So I decided that for my 12th birthday present I wanted to go to a fine-dining restaurant. We are lucky here in Hove, we have a fine dining restaurant called etch. right on our doorstep. If you were to look them up on their website, it would say: “Previously a bank, etch. has a modern look with views of an open kitchen where the chefs create and serve food”.
The 2013 Masterchef Professionals champion Steven Edwards owns and runs etch. I had a sensational seven course tasting menu and if that wasn’t enough, I got to hold that Masterchef trophy! See below for some pictures of Steven’s fabulous food and his iconic marmite bread.
I dream of stepping into Steven Edwards apron and chef’s hat one day and holding my own Masterchef trophy. What better way than finding out how to achieve that, than interviewing the man himself?
And here is what Steven had to say…
Lola: Could you please describe to me the journey you took to become a professional chef?
Steven: I always enjoyed cooking at home with my parents, cooking with family members. I never really saw into the career of being a chef, not until I got to the age of 15-16. I had work experience with my parents in a hotel which I really enjoyed. From there I took up a modern apprenticeship which helped me to learn while getting paid, which I really loved. Then I worked my way around a few different restaurants in Sussex and Wiltshire and Berkshire before settling down at South Lodge (a hotel in Horsham).
Lola: When you won professional Masterchef, how did it impact your career?
Steven: I think a lot of people would think that you just get bombarded with offers, money and all these different things, which you kind of do, but you also need to make it work for yourselves. I then decided that I wanted to set up my own business and restaurant called etch. and so it was about getting investments and shareholders and I wouldn’t have been able to do that without winning Masterchef or doing well on Masterchef. I think for anyone that wants to invest money into a business, they need to know stability or the performance behind the person who they invested in. Masterchef is a great platform to showcase yourself.
Lola: How do you create and come up with recipes? What inspires you?
Steven: Number 1 is that I love eating. That is what got me into cooking in the first place. I do love eating and eating in different restaurants. The great thing now about inspiration is that it doesn’t only come from the first time you walk into a restaurant, you can go along with inspiration from social-media in terms of looking at whatever chefs are doing on Instagram or Facebook and TikTok and things. But also I love creating new recipes, it’s part of what I do and so for an example last week we created a jerusalem artichoke ice cream which sounds really unusual but was inspired by another chef called Michael O’ Hare, I saw he did that, we wanted to do our version of it. The process was starting with what recipe we wanted to create, looking at similar recipes and then doing our version which could take several trials or it could work first time. It is quite rare to just come up with a recipe with no ground work done, so we are not just saying a little bit of this and a little bit of that so we are always using a template to start with and then the trial and error process will just be removing one ingredient or increasing an amount of the recipe until we are happy with it so it is able to be served in a restaurant.
Lola: What advice would you give me, if I was to become a professional chef? If there was any advice you would have wished you had when you were 12 years old, what would it have been?
Steven: I think that putting yourself out of your comfort zone is a big thing, The more you see how different restaurants work and operate the more you realise what you like to do work wise but also you are learning by working in different restaurants and doing things outside your comfort zone.
These are some images of me in his restaurant holding the real Masterchef trophy, his signature marmite bread dish and one of his dishes: a monkfish and pumpkin dish.
