If Mark Hix looks as if he'd rather not be having his photograph taken it's
probably because he should be somewhere else. The GQ Chef of the Year, owner
of restaurants in London and Dorset, weekly recipe columnist and author of
the just-published British Seasonal Food, has a cupboard's worth of plates
to keep spinning. He's running very behind today. At 45 Hix - not a
famous-face celebrity chef - is finding that his time has come. And he seems
less able than ever to sit still.
This afternoon he is late finishing a lunch to promote the RSPCA's Freedom
Food label at Brown's Hotel in Mayfair, where he is consultant chef. The
menu he devised for the occasion included salmon that he'd smoked at home in
North London. This delectable salmon is one of the draws at the Hix Oyster &
Chop House in Smithfield Market, East London, which opened earlier this
year. As if that wasn't enough to keep him busy, this summer Hix opened the
Hix Oyster & Fish House in Lyme Regis, Dorset, near where he grew up.
This inveterate fidget, who would rather be doing than posing, is less
well-known than he might be had he courted the camera. Nevertheless, his
stargazy rabbit and crayfish pie and perry jelly with elderflower ice-cream
stole the show on Great British Menu, BBC Two, last year. As well they
should. Hix was championing British food long before most of his
in-thrall-to-French-cuisine contemporaries took it up. British Seasonal Food
is a gorgeous month-by-month collection of recipes of inspired, original and
uncontrived ways to serve all that's best from within our shores.
“Isn't British food full of unhealthy saturated fat, time-consuming to cook
and unsuitable for modern lives?” I ask. Maybe if you stick too closely to
the traditional hotpots and pies, but not his way, he claims. “My recipes
are based on my favourite ingredients for each month. There might be plum,
rhubarb, squash, potatoes. You can have a simple plate of beetroot and
goat's cheese,” he says. Or there's the breast of lamb, cooked slowly to
make the meat less fatty. “It's about using cheap cuts in a way that doesn't
end up as a fatty lump of meat,” he says.
“Hix learnt to fish and forage as a child”
Though Hix had a conventional training, from catering college to the
traditional, almost boot- camp kitchens of grand London hotels, his approach
to cooking is homelier than most professional chefs. It started with a
childhood spent by the sea. At his grammar school pupils studied rural
science: gardening; killing and plucking a chicken; and collecting eggs. And
he has stayed true to his roots, spending weekends by the sea with old
schoolfriends who fish and forage for a living.
Brought up by loving grandparents, his influences hark back to an earlier,
thriftier generation. After his parents divorced when he was 6, his mother
moved away with his younger brother. Now nostalgia for the food he was
raised on marks his cooking. “My grandmother made wedding cakes and was a
good simple cook. We'd go fishing and bring home a carrier bag of mackerel.
She would cook some for supper and souse the rest,” he recalls. “My
grand-father was a keen gardener and grew amazing tomatoes. I remember them
with Sarson's vinegar, salt and brown bread.”
Hix's upbringing taught him where food comes from and how to source it and
gave him the determination to pass knowledge on to the next generation. His
first cookbook - written with Body&Soul columnist Suzi Godson - Eat Up:
Food for Children of all Ages came out in 2000 and is still in print. His
twin daughters were then 6 and in his attempt to make them adventurous
eaters he was introducing them to everything from tripe to Indian food.
“I remember taking them to their first curry. They hated it and I had to eat
it; they loved the poppadoms though,” he says. His daughters came round to
curry, but by the time the book came out his working hours had taken a toll
on the marriage. His daughters - now teenagers - live with their mother near
Manchester and Hix feels the frustration of a part-time father that they
aren't picking up the food habits he would d like them to develop. “They
don't appreciate the simple pleasures,” he laments. “It's difficult not
being around and I don't have the everyday battles, but I don't think
children should have too much choice otherwise they eat pizza and pasta
every day. Their default food is junk.” While he says he doesn't expect them
to eat the fare he grew up on but “I'd like them to be exploratory, to push
the boundaries. And it's important that children know the difference between
a parsnip, swede and turnip”.
While chefs are a tribe known for their incredible stamina, even by his peers'
standards Hix seems tireless. He's constantly on the move, nipping around
London on a scooter, taking calls or tapping on his BlackBerry. He likes to
have new menus at both restaurants twice a day. “It's a bit lazy changing
the menu once a week, especially when you're overlooking the harbour.”
Despite being so busy he is generous with his time and advice. “I find it
difficult to say no.”
I should admit that I'm partisan. I used to work with Hix and was in awe of
his output. He might start the day photographing recipes by 7am, before
heading off to his restaurants; at the time he was the chef director of the
group of celebrity hang-out restaurants such as The Ivy, Le Caprice and
Scott's. “It was like theatre every night and I got to know a lot of
people,” he says. They were all famous for serving simple but blissful
dishes such as shepherd's pie or deep-fried sprats. Three years ago
ownership of the group changed and more expansion was planned. Then earlier
this year, Hix started up on his own with the ex-finance director as his
business partner.
Then, as now, he also organised the catering for glitzy events to raise funds
for charities and supported causes he cared about, such as Freedom Food, and
still managed to hang out with an eclectic bunch of mates, including the
British artist Tracey Emin whose work he collects. He eats late and locally.
“I hate fancy restaurants. I like going to local Vietnamese and Turkish.”
He spends weekends at food festivals, demonstrating his easy-to-follow dishes,
rattles off columns on his laptop, and hares off around the country visiting
producers and suppliers or foraging for mushrooms and wild plants. “I always
like experimental things. It's so satisfying eating something you haven't
paid for.” In between he finds time to grow herbs and salad in his garden.
He has to fit in the salmon-smoking in London - where he lives with his
girlfriend Clare Lattin, who works for his publisher - and weekends in
Dorset as well.
“I'd always rather be doing something,” he says. “If I go on holiday I can't
lie on the beach, I will go fishing, or off to the market, then start
cooking while everyone else relaxes.” After a brisk half-hour spent firing
off questions, I have to finish the interview by jumping into the taxi that
is taking him to a business meeting. Does he feel healthy? “It's all fine,
everything's flowing through nicely,” he laughs. Is he careful what he eats?
“Plenty of red wine and salad seems to be quite good for you.”
Does he exercise? “No.” As a teenager he had a serious golf habit and almost
turned professional. Now he's lucky to play twice a year but gets plenty of
fresh sea air on weekly fishing trips in Dorset. “There's something calming
about being on the water.” That's as close as this restless chef comes to
relaxing - and, as ever, he's in pursuit of great British food.
British Seasonal Food, by Mark Hix (Quadrille, £25), is available from Times
Books First at £22.50, incl p&p. Phone 0870 1608080 or
visit timesonline.co.uk/booksfirst
