We recently caught up with Chef Tutor Gerard Molloy whilst teaching at The Kitchen Cookery School, Chewton Glen in Hampshire.
Gerard has been chef tutor at The Kitchen Cookery School at Chewton Glen in Hampshire for over a year, which is also home to James Martin’s Cookery Masterclasses. We recently also interviews James here.
Gerard’s passion for food teamed with anecdotes from life both in and out of the kitchen, have inspired many cooks on his courses, so it’s a surprise to find that his culinary ambitions were not there from childhood.
Below Gerard shares what has inspired his career to date.
Gerard is the resident chef tutor ably supported by Jan and Polly who are on hand to support all students.
Gerard’s passion for food teamed with anecdotes from life both in and out of the kitchen, have inspired many cooks on his courses, so it’s a surprise to find that his culinary ambitions were not there from childhood.
“My career wasn’t something that was planned,” confesses Gerard.
“After school, I had jobs in kitchens, cooking. They wanted to send me to college. I guess it just went from there. My interest grew, and I decided I wanted a bit of the big league! It wasn’t an overnight thing.”
Gerard’s description of his journey from school to chef tutor is an extremely modest one. Delving more deeply, it is evident that during his time at local college and jobs back home in southern Ireland, he clearly shone; it’s not every chef who goes on to achieve a first-class honours degree in culinary arts from a London university, and wins the Irish Young Chef Award!
He has gone on to spend 15 years working in top restaurants and cookery schools in Ireland and the UK, including Michelin-starred Belmond Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons, in Oxfordshire, and Waitrose Cookery Schools.
He is now at the helm of The Kitchen Cookery School is located within the grounds of 5 Star Chewton Glen Country House Hotel in New Forest, Hampshire, and has been for over a year. He relishes working with cooks on all levels, with themes as diverse as Italian Classics, Southeast Asian Street Food, Middle Eastern cuisine, and much more.
Despite his declaration that cheffing wasn’t always at the front of his mind, he acknowledges that food and flavours were an important part of growing up with family in Ireland.
A love of food was clearly fostered from a young age, where he says, every meal was home cooked from scratch.
“My mum would do a lot of baking. Most Saturdays she’d be baking. That’s kind of the first time I ever started to cook. We were brought up in a home where everything was home cooked. Getting a takeaway was unheard of; Friday was homemade fish and chip night, Sunday was always a roast. Then, you start to do that stuff yourself,” he says.
Gerard has a love of learning, and has picked up techniques, wisdom and anecdotes through his career.
A part-time Culinary Arts degree, which he passed with first class honours, offered new ideas, and also catapulted him away from his Irish roots. Gerard was working a Castle Leslie Estate in Monaghan, Ireland when he embarked on a his culinary arts degree in 2008.
“I went back to college to do my degree in culinary art. It was good to kind of see what other opportunities would be available later in life. I was on a part-time basis. Initially I could attend a franchise college in Ireland but when that ceased, I had to move to England to finish at Thames Valley University in London with three others.”
While there, he worked at the world-renowned two Michelin-starred Le Manoir, whose chef patron was the inimitable Raymond Blanc.
“I’d always heard of Le Manoir and liked the idea of the big country house. I was only going to work there during college but stayed for five years working in all areas including learning the ordering and management side of things as well as the cooking.”
“I learnt a lot. However, you get to a certain level, and there’s only so far you can go, and I started to look at other things.”
Gerard’s thoughts returned to cookery school teaching, something that had first come his way back in Ireland, again entirely by accident.
“I think everybody has the dream that they want to own their own restaurant or to be head chef. However, after five years in the kitchen, my thoughts and circumstances changed,” he explains.
“When I was working in Castle Leslie back in Ireland, we set up a cookery school in the basement. The chef tutor moved on to new opportunities, and as head chef, the manager asked me to sort out classes. I was told to sort out the cookery lessons which were already booked up.”
It turned out he enjoyed this and was a natural teacher. So, when the opportunity arose, he decided to return to standing at the front of a teaching kitchen. After working at cookery schools, including Waitrose, he feels he’s really found his niche at Chewton Glen.
His USP is a personal, bespoke experience where students learn stories and techniques about cooking and dishes.
“A good chef is not necessarily a good teacher and vice versa. I love to teach people from all kinds of backgrounds and abilities.
“I’ve been inspired by lots of different people over the years. I take bits and pieces from everywhere. But my teaching is all based on my own experiences and research. No one in particular.
“I can use anecdotes from outside of the kitchen to help people to understand skills and ideas. Some people laugh and some people don’t. I want people to understand using everyday things as metaphors.
“It’s important that everyone enjoys an immersive, hands-on experience. Everybody has access to recipes on YouTube and cookery books. All our courses offer amazing value, but I also want people to come and get that extra immersive experience that they wouldn’t get from a cookbook or video, and relax and enjoy themselves.
“People aren’t always sure what to expect. I’d like to think that everyone would come away thinking differently. It’s an educational but fun experience. There’s a lot of information, and it’s up to each individual what they take from it. Our job is to get people over the finishing line.
“My dishes have changed over the years. When I was doing restaurant recipes, I’d use wacky ingredients, and people would say, ‘but where do we get these things?’ Working at Waitrose, helped me to change my mind and strip things back. We’re not an academy.”
“I want to build people’s confidence, and help them to understand taste, flavours and layers. To help them to get what a dish is lacking through tasting it, so that they can go home and recreate recipes and build on their skills. In the past, I’ve taught courses in other places where we made seven dishes, and everyone was exhausted!”
“I don’t want that. I want people to come and understand the different processes, through metaphors, stories and some laughs.
“I want them to be able to go home and recreate dishes, and I want them to share the recipes and stories with friends.”
“Our ethos here at The Kitchen Cookery School at Chewton Glen is for hands on immersive learning experiences, working closely with James Martin who also hosts his Chef Masterclasses here, was recently underpinned by our Accreditation by ‘ICSA’, the Independent Cookery Schools Association for our consistent teaching standards and levels of equipment. I was delighted to achieve their coveted ‘Center of Excellence’ during this assessment, and is fine testament to the team. We are now categorised as one of the Greatest British Cookery Schools Collection.
It seems that Gerard’s accidental culinary journey has uncovered an even greater art for inspiring others on their own taste adventures.
Find out more on The Kitchen Cookery School, Gerard’s cookery classes, home of James Martin Masterclasses here
