Celebrity chef James Martin is a TV favourite on eponymous shows including James Martin’s Saturday Morning and James Martin’s Great British Adventure. He’s a familiar guest on countless daytime shows, and is much loved for his down-to-earth Yorkshire wit, charm and passions for intense authentic flavours in his cooking. He’s also recently been awarded Personality of the Year (at the Fortnum and Mason Food and Drink Awards).

From motivated student to dedicated teacher, TV chef James has never lost his passion for learning and for sharing wisdom about good food. Our Founder, cookery school assessor, and fellow Yorkshireman James Day, caught up with James Martin at his Kitchen Cookery School, during one of his cookery masterclass experiences, popular with our customers, to find out what drives him and inspires him to teach others. The cookery school is one of the ‘ICSA Accredited Cookery Collection’ Cookery Schools, located with the grounds of 5 Star Chewton Glen hotel in Hampshire. James also recently commented publicly on his cancer diagnosis and recurrences.

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‘Saturday Morning TV Is Going To Change…’

As James Martin chatted, he explained that hosting cookery masterclasses and performing live on stage is not a future that he could have foreseen. In fact, when asked what information about his future would surprise his 16-year-old self, he laughs, retorting, “Saturday morning TV is going to change for a while!”

There’s no exaggeration there; James’ Saturday Kitchen ran for 10 years on the BBC, attracting millions of hungry viewers every weekend, followed more recently by James Martin’s Saturday Morning, presented from his Hampshire home. He is certainly the face of Saturday cooking shows.

Thinking more deeply about the question, however, he reveals a commitment to the real-life working kitchen and a desire to achieve and succeed. He also emphasises the value of surrounding yourself with a good team.

He says, “I always had a strong work ethic, since working in kitchens as a young kid in Yorkshire and later in France. But I think looking back, it’s important to be aware of who you are working with, and who is around you for the right or the wrong reasons.” 

Hailing from a hard-working Yorkshire family farm, James had a grounding in graft from the beginning. Being dyslexic himself, James found his time at school a challenge, though, he says, the experience helped shape who is today.

“My dyslexia has always been a positive for me. Maybe less so at school back then – but as you learn to deal with it, it makes you more street smart and focused on the relevant things in life. In business, it helps make you understand your shortfalls and recognise the skills and strengths in others. Respecting the team, staff and those around your working life is like building a giant jigsaw puzzle, so the team make up the missing pieces in yourself. The key is that they too have to believe in you, so they stick by you when things get tough. You’ve got to lead from the front”

James regularly hosts his ‘Cookery Masterclasses’ at the ICSA (the Independent Cookery Schools Association) accredited Kitchen Cookery School, located within the grounds of the hotel. ICSA access the teaching standards and facilities, recently awarding the school an acclaimed ‘Centre of Excellence’ status.

James once described teaching as a ‘magical privilege’, and says the trick to being a good teacher is experience and knowledge, but more importantly being a good communicator.
He says, “When teaching you have to keep up to date with trends and methods, to pass on that knowledge in a non-condescending way. There is no space for bravado or ego when teaching – that is often there to cover up a lack of knowledge.” 

Having started working in a kitchen at a young age in his home country of Yorkshire, and finding academia a struggle, James applies many decades of experience both learning and teaching to his masterclasses. He says, “Many chefs are not academic, as we start in the kitchens young. For instance, I was already in kitchens as a young teenager with my father in Yorkshire, and spent many adolescent years in French kitchens learning the trade, tricks and tips from the masters. Many of which I apply in my cooking and classes today.”
James has learnt from some of the most inspirational chefs in the world, yet some of his most heart-felt memories are of a college lecturer who he says transformed him from ‘school failure’ to ‘catering success’.

Lost Friends and Colleagues

When asked about his time at Scarborough catering college, James refers fondly to his then head tutor, “Ken Allanson believed in me, and had a vision,” he remembers. “What Ken did was look at your skills, not your academic achievements. To this day I can spot a good cook in five minutes. Some of the key skills in a kitchen are being able to present yourself, good cleanliness, respect for the food and colleagues, and overall personal presentation. A pride in your work. This continues to my masterclasses within the Kitchen Cookery School at Chewton Glen” I thank him, and and miss him every day.

Ken sadly passed away earlier this year, however he praised James some years earlier when he said “James was head and shoulders above the rest on his course. He was totally focused on becoming the best chef he possibly could be. I was known for being a strict disciplinarian, but James never got on the wrong side of me because he was always conscientious and professional. As far as the fame thing is concerned, he’s not remotely conceited about that kind of thing – he’s just a natural country lad. In my working life, I can look back on a massive number of failures but I can also look back on a number of successes, and James is at the top of the list.”

Inspirational mentor

More well-known names that have made an impression on James include Keith Floyd, who inspired and encouraged James’s TV career. However, he says, Michel Roux Snr, who sadly passed away last year, was his greatest inspiration.

“We built up a mutual respect. I used to have the privilege to cook with Michel privately in our homes and we shared a respect for food and each other. He commanded and deserved a high level of respect from many chefs in the industry – he had an aura of calm and was a great communicator, I miss him greatly.”

“There is no better legacy for Michel than for the family to be transforming his house near the Waterside at Bray into a cookery school where many chefs, hopefully including myself, will be cooking.”

Loosing close friends and colleagues is a real wake up call. I have sadly lost some key compatriots and close family in recent, years, alongside my own health scares, so it really does make you think what is really important every day you wake up.

Sharing his passion

James never tires of sharing his expertise and loves teaching all levels of culinary skill at his masterclasses in the Kitchen Cookery School at Chewton Glen.

He says, “I love food, I love cooking. My masterclasses share my life-long passions for my style of food. Tips from the basics up, to help make what can be complicated cookery, simple. It’s about simplifying cooking, and breaking it down to easy-to-understand, memorable techniques. Then we play with a few exciting and amazing ingredients which can help add flavour to dishes.  I hope that comes across in my cookery masterclasses. If someone needs extra focus, as all classes are mixed skill, then that’s fine my dedicated kitchen team can help, headed up by resident Chef Tutor Gerard Molloy. Put simply, simple cooking is about applying the right heat, to quality ingredients. Good cookery is about practice and application. Hopefully my masterclasses inspire students of all levels to push their limits, and to try some of the simple skills at home, and you never know, maybe even inspire you to take it up as a career.”

James says the three important elements of a cookery school experience are: ‘to share knowledge; have fun; and inspire your students’.  The absolute essential tip, he says, is to ‘Taste. Taste. Taste!’

He explains, “Every cook or chef of repute will constantly taste what they are creating to ensure the dish remains balanced. The secret is, to know what to add or take away to maintain the flavour. That comes with knowledge and experience … 

“… and a few sessions at a cookery school helps!” 

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE ‘ICSA ACCREDITED’ KITCHEN COOKERY SCHOOL AT CHEWTON GLEN HERE