From Blackpool to Bondi

As it is Father's Day this weekend, it seemed only fitting to tell you all about my Dad and his evolution from a meat-and-two-veg northerner, to a card-carrying connoisseur of international cuisine.  In fact, such was the fervour of his development that he even managed to bring my Grandma and Grandpa along with him.  Grandma's eating out treat is always Chinese (or Thai - she's not quite that discerning!) and Grandpa moved on leaps and bounds from the days where he turned his nose up at Camel steaks.

The stages of my father's progression can be measured by reference to how he has liked his steak cooked.  When I was really young he would only eat a steak if it was a dreary well-done.  He has since learned that this is a sure way to waste a good piece of meat.  Mum worked hard on him at the beginning and got him down to medium-well and he himself made the last few steps to medium-rare.  He's not quite on the same page as the rest of the family, who prefer our steaks mooing, but he is not shy of carpaccio or steak tartare, indicating that medium-rare is an informed choice and not something he has been bull-ied into (Ha ha!! A pun!).

Mum has told me some classic stories from the early years.  Like the time he tried to woo her with corned beef hash made from gelatinous tinned corned beef, baked beans and an onion.  Luckily for me and my brother, mum forgave him this inexperienced attempt to impress.

Dad also naively fell for a colleague's 'magic' cheese on toast recipe.  The principle was that you grilled one side of the bread, flipped it over, put the tomato on the bread, followed by cheese, then turned the grill off.  This 'magically' gave you the perfect cheese and tomato on toast, with slow cooked tomatoes and perfectly melted cheese.

Of course, experience tells us that a turned-off grill is never going to melt cheese.  What his colleague actually did was sneak back into the kitchen and turn the grill on again to finish the toast off.  So when Dad, not having been let in on the joke, tried to make 'magic' cheese on toast for some friends, he presented them with half cooked bread, cold tomatoes and sweaty cheese.

Things started to change when we moved to Spain, where an appreciation of good food vanquished his traditional British sensitivities.  At first, he was reluctant to order fish for fear it would be served with its head still on and he was horrified by chipirones (a tangle of tiny baby squid legs).  But, within no time, he was ordering whole fish baked in salt and tearing heads off prawns.  Now his favourite dinner is sushi and together Dad and I have tried kangeroo in Australia, king crab in Malaysia, oysters in Scotland and, unfortunately, grits in America.


As well as exploring food around the world, Dad is a keen cook.  So much so that he has actually become quite possessive of the kitchen!  We have traced this enthusiasm back to a book Dad had bought called Dinner with Juliet.  Of course, the beautiful, blonde Juliet Lawrence Wilson on the front cover will have had nothing to do with it!  Instead it was the impressive duck and beef recipes from Juliet's Stockbridge Restaurant in Edinburgh that sparked his interest.

Dad's signature dishes include pork in a whisky cream sauce, tilapia baked with a  herb crust and, of course, our traditional kedgeree breakfast on Christmas morning.  He is also fond of trios (or triages as he calls them - though they rarely are!)  For example, a trio of salmon will often include smoked salmon, salmon tartare with a mango and tomato salsa, and salmon poached in orange juice with an orange mayonnaise.

And anyone who has come over for dinner will tell you that Dad makes a killer cocktail.  From Martinis to Cosmopolitans, and Brandy Alexanders to Egg Nog at Christmas, Dad makes them all!  Most recently he introduced me to a sake, ponzu and chopped spring onion cocktail with a prawn garnish.  An odd combination, but really delicious!

As inevitably happens 3 times a year, I am stuck with the question of what to get for a man who has everything for Father's Day.  But this year, in recognition of his culinary progress, I've picked a cookery book for him: the Pitt Cue Co Cookbook.  Living in America, Dad is experiencing BBQ big time - I even sent him to the BBQ festival in Atlanta for his birthday last year.  This book is full of British-style BBQ recipes and cocktails to match.  The Pitt Cue Co restaurant itself seems to be very mysterious - they are too small to take reservations; serve BBQ, Bourbon and Beer in Soho; and facebook tells me that they try harder every day.  But there are rave reviews for the food and cocktails at the restaurant and also for the book itself.  Seems like a winner!!  Happy Father's Day Dad!