The Restaurant, Sunday, RTÉ One
As The Restaurant gets set to open it’s doors for a new series on RTÉ One, we grill Maitre’D John Healy, and chefs Stephen McAllister and Louise Lennox about what to expect
This week The Restaurant returns to our screens with a new batch on wannabe chefs heating things up in the kitchen. As before on, each celebrity chef will create and cook a full dinner menu under the watchful eye of Maitre’D John Healy and chefs, Stephen McAllister, Louise Lennox and David Workowich.
The diners are real diners, and among them each week will be a table of the toughest critics these celebrities will ever meet, including resident foodies Tom Doorley and Paolo Tullio along with a guest critic. Their mission is to savour or scorn the culinary delights served to them and hand out star ratings from one to five.
To herald the beginning of a new series we decided to take John Healy, Louise Lennox and Stephen McAllister out of their pressurised kitchen and into a Willy Wonka-style world of macaroons, sweats and treats!
Louise Lennox
How would you compare the new series of The Restaurant to past ones?
"Well I would say that this has definitely been the most difficult one so far, and this is when the kitchen really heats up. As a team we’ve been working together for so many years, so there’s no politeness any more, we’re like a family – so as the family grows together, they begin to argue a bit more."
How would you rate the calibre of celebrity chefs you have this year?
"The chefs this year are fantastic – they really knew what they were doing. You could really tell the ones that wanted the five stars and they would nearly stop at nothing to get them – that’s why there was so much pressure in the kitchen, it was like working with a real head chef."
How do the celebrity chefs view the dessert round – easy or difficult?
"Most of them are terrified and would say that it’s their weakest point. It’s purely because desserts, even though people love them, they don’t give much time to it in the kitchen and with baking, more things can go wrong than right."
If you had to create one dessert that was going to be judged, what do you think would get you five stars?
"I would do either do a cake creation that included my top ten favourite desserts all in one, or I would ten individual desserts, just bite sized so you could have a taste of each, a lot of working so not something I would be doing all the time."
Would you say your life is surrounded by desserts?
"I would have something sweet every day, but I wouldn’t buy a bar of chocolate, if I’m going to have something it would be homemade. But I do go on dessert holidays! When I’m choosing a destination, I’ll look up what pastry chefs have won awards and I’ll go to it! I went to a place in New York that had won an award for their cheesecakes and I spent days trying to work out their recipe!"
Louise’s top 10 baking tips!
1. Baking is a science. Make sure every ingredient is carefully weighed out.
2. To check your weighing scales is accurate put 1 LB of butter on to it test.
3. If you've run out of baking parchment or greaseproof paper, a tin can be lined with cling film. It won’t melt in the oven.
4. If a recipe requires a lot of egg yolks. The left over egg whites can be frozen, once defrosted whip perfectly. Be sure to freeze them in a clean bowl, cover with plastic wrap write on top how many egg whites there are.
5. For extra-light pastry, add a little lemon juice to the water mix.
6. To test a cake is cooked if you don't have a skewer, a strand of uncooked spaghetti works equally well.
7. For better baking results always use eggs at room temperature.
8. When rolling out pastry, try not to add extra flour as this will toughen the pastry. Be careful not to stretch the pastry as this will cause it to shrink during baking. Rest the pastry in the fridge for 30 minutes before baking.
9. To slice a sponge cake into thin even layers before filling it, put it in the freezer for about 20 minutes.
10. For a quick but impressive decoration for a dessert make chocolate curls. Use a potato peeler, pare thin curls from the edge of a block of chocolate. The chocolate should be at room temperature, not straight from the fridge.
Stephen McAllister
What has been your most memorable moment from working The Restaurant?
"The one that stands out for me in Brendan O’Carroll, because he tried so hard and it just didn’t happen for him on the night. He was the most devastated out of everyone we’ve had on the show with the mark he got."
Do you ever agree with the judges scoring?
"No, not at all. I would love to know how they judge it because there’s some days when we’re sure we’re going to get a five and they come back with a three or visa versa. It all depends on what mood they’re in. It’s hard not to take it personally because we spend all day cooking the food with whoever the chef is. At the end of the day whether you’ve gotten on with the person or not, you feel for them and the effort they’ve put in."
You have your own restaurant, The Pig’s Ear, so how would you compare this to being in your kitchen?
"It’s a different kind of pressure. It’s a closer day at the start and a longer day because there’s a lot of preparation that goes into it. The hour or two before service is when things can be quite intense. It’s probably easier on the show than in a real restaurant because they have our support, if they were to come into my kitchen, they’ve find it a little bit different!"
What are you like as a head chef in your own environment?
"I’m quite calm actually. I’m not a shouter, I think a look can say a thousand words. I’ve good people working with my who are capable and just get on with it, but I don’t mind having the laugh as well because you spend a lot of time with your colleagues. Every now and then things will get heated but very rarely."
If you had to muster up three dishes to be judge on, what would you make?
"If I wanted to win five stars, I would start out foie gras terrain, then some style of beef for the main course, either a braised beef or pan-fried fillet, with buttered, truffle mash and for dessert if would do my up-side down cheesecake. Five stars all the way!"
