Chef Revelations – Andrew Pern, chef proprietor, the Star Inn, Harome
What was your first job?
On my dad's farm, helping to feed the pheasant chicks and delivering lambs
What was your first job in catering? Working at the Milburn Arms in Rosedale in the North Yorkshire Moors, where I remained for six years, progressing to head chef
What's your favourite restaurant?
The Kitchin, Edinburgh
What's your favourite hotel?
Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons, or Gleneagles if with the children
What is your favourite drink?
These days probably Yorkshire tea; in the old days it would have been anything with alcohol in it!
What is your favourite cuisine?
British/Yorkshire
Describe your ultimate nightmare
Being told I'd have to become a vegetarian and/or losing my sense of humour (the first would probably result in the second)
What flavour combinations do you detest?
Things like strawberries with savoury is ridiculous. I don't get on with tripe or kidneys either.
Which person in catering have you most admired?
Michel Roux
Which person gave you the greatest inspiration?
Paul Heathcote
Which ingredient do you hate the most?
Okra
If not yourself, who would you rather have been?
Hugh Hefner
If you had not gone into catering, where do you think you'd be now? In the army
Tell us a secret…
I've got a third nipple
What irritates you most about the industry?
False people who fool themselves that they are good at what they do and actually believe their own PR, from commis to head chefs
When did you last eat a hamburger?
Black ‘n' Blue at Frankie & Benny's
What is your favourite prepared product?
Salad cream… pourable sunshine
What's your favourite film?
The Shawshank Redemption
What do you always carry with you?
Blood pressure tablets and a sense of humour
What's your favourite book?
The Mountain and the Chef by Catherine De Montalembert, Emmanuel Renaut and Isabelle Hintzy
Who would be in your fantasy brigade?
Marc Veyrat, ex Ferme de Mon Père, Megève, France; Emmanuel Renaut, Les Floçons de Sel, Megève, France; Paul Heathcote; Steven Doherty, Windermere First Floor Cafe, Lakeland; Magnus Nilsson, Fäviken, Jarpen, Sweden; Michel Roux, the Waterside Inn
