What’s your favourite butter?
Lurpak (£2.80, ocado.com) is a really great product. When I was a practising chef, it was the best butter for making puff pastry. It’s stable, creamy, waxy, has a low moisture content, and I got the best results with it.
Which restaurant do you want to return to?
I go as often as I can to Fox Bros Bar-B-Q in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s a proper Southern barbecue run by two brothers in an old garage, and it’s just the business. I’ll have a big slice of brisket and a few ribs.
TV chef Phil Vickery, 65
Boujiest item in your fridge?
Cru champagne and, ingredients-wise, grade-nine Wagyu ribeye, which I buy from my friend Simon Boddy of The Best Butchers of Milton Keynes (thebestbutchers.co.uk). It’s ridiculously expensive but very nice as a treat. It has a muscular fat that just melts as you cook it and, honestly, it’s the finest flavour.
Best fish and chips in the UK?
The Bay in Stonehaven, just outside Aberdeen, run by Calum Richardson. I made a film with him ten years ago and his attention to detail is fabulous, from the timings of his batters to the way he cleans his oils. He only buys sustainable haddock (£12 with a small chips). He’s a real pioneer.
Toast topping of choice?
Baked beans with dried chilli flakes, a teaspoon of honey and about five tablespoons of chopped fresh coriander. It’s the most satisfying toast topping in the world.
Top spot for drinks with a view?
I remember having a glass of champagne in Ravello in Italy, looking out across the Amalfi Coast, and that was beautiful.
One ingredient that brings a salad alive?
Maille Dijon mustard. I always make a light dressing with three-parts oil, one-part vinegar and one or two teaspoons of Dijon. It’ll emulsify and just coat your leaves.
Phil loved drinking champagne in Ravello, Italy
Guilty-pleasure supermarket chocolate?
Aldi’s own brand of chocolate orange (£2.29, selected stores) is wonderful.
Best Sunday roast?
The Bank Tavern in Bristol. They don’t try to pump it up too much. It is what it is: proper roast beef, proper Yorkshire puddings, and gravy all over the place.
Most useful kitchen gadget or utensil?
A hand whisk. My old head chef used to say, ‘that boy will get you out of the s**t’. If you look when I’m cooking on This Morning, there’s always a whisk available. It just incorporates everything really quickly.
You can only eat one kind of potato for the rest of your life – what is it?
Marfona: they make beautiful mash. But for chips, I use white King Edward potatoes.
Cheese of choice?
I love a really creamy, light, young gorgonzola. Waitrose does a good young piccante gorgonzola.
The Bank in Bristol does a roast to toast
Favourite UK restaurant?
Pompette in Summertown, Oxford. It’s a proper French brasserie. The chef Pascal is a top bloke and his food is just straight to the point. I had pot-au-feu last time I went, with beautifully cooked potatoes and a tiny piece of sausage. He does the best fish soup as well – it’s top quality and excellent value for money.
Secret ingredient?
Chicken and beef Oxo stock cubes. My mum always used them when we were kids, and now so do I. They’re granular, so you can use them like a seasoning, and they’re not too overpowering, salty or peppery.
Destination you’d travel to just for the food?
My friend has a boutique hotel called Calabash Cove in St Lucia. He goes down to the market every day with his chef to buy fish for the restaurant, Windsong. I recently had a piece of tuna there that was so fresh, it was almost like eating Wagyu steak. It just blew me away.
Follow Phil on Instagram @chefphilvickery and at vickery.tv
