Adam Byatt was pretty much born with a toque on his head. With a chef mother and army cook grandfather, he quickly found that being in a kitchen came naturally to him, alongside bringing him much delight. “I enjoyed the freedom, expression and creativity long before I did it professionally. As a teenager, I would go to the shop for the ingredients and then lose myself in a recipe, making elaborate dishes like pies and stews,” he says.

Just before his 16th birthday, Byatt applied for an apprentice chef placement at Claridge’s through the Savoy Educational Trust, after it visited his school on a careers open day. “On the trial day, they made me make cream spinach all day long,” he vividly recalls, despite it being nearly four decades ago. “I still love cream spinach – now, I blend foie gras into it.” Byatt was successful and thrived while part of the scheme, with the senior staff recognising the natural talent that he’d quietly honed at home.

“I left school with mostly nothing, and so to all of a sudden have people tell me I was quite good at something for the first time was an amazing thing that gave me confidence,” he shares. “It dawned on me very quickly that this could be my opportunity to shine, so I worked hard, took it seriously and put everything into it.”

He had to grow up quickly, working alongside around 100 chefs, who were paying mortgages and “weren’t playing around”. “I was working with luxury ingredients, cooking for the rich and famous of the world, and was part of an ecosystem in which you can learn your craft. I probably missed out on some teenage experiences, but that was good because I needed a bit of structure in my life as I was going a bit wayward, just being a typical young boy,” he says.

What has followed is an incredible career, from being a sous chef at the acclaimed, fine-dining London restaurant, The Square, to opening his own restaurant, Trinity in Clapham in 2006, which has a Michelin star that it has retained for nine years. “We’re serving around 5,500 customers every week, and I’m never complacent of that and its meaningful impact on the wider ecosystem of suppliers.

“When your restaurant works, people make a living from it and you see customers having an amazing time, it is the best feeling in the world,” Byatt says with a smile.

The busy chef, who is sitting in his apron while talking to us from another of his restaurants, Rosina, also chairs the Royal Academy of Culinary Arts and oversees the food at Mayfair hotel Brown’s.
Rather than gatekeep his skills, Byatt is passionate about educating people about how to cook in their own homes. “Embracing cooking is a valuable life-skill that ultimately keeps us alive, but it is also fun. I still cook just for joy,” says the 52-year-old, who makes food for his own family once or twice a week, when he’s not at his restaurants.

“I want to see less ready meals, and instead people taking food seriously, buying better and getting into cooking more at home. We’re so cautious not to put dodgy fuel in our car, yet we’re so willing to put it inside our own bodies.”

Using his 38 years of experience, here he shares his 11 tips to help anyone become a home chef.

Rest meat

“Resting meat is incredibly important – it will turn your cooking from good to great. If you cut it in half before doing this process, you see all that steam running out of it, which is some of the flavour leaving it. If you let it cool down, then it relaxes, and all the blood’s going to go back into keeping the meat juicy, and the muscle proteins nicely relaxed. It will be much more tender, flavoursome and better to eat. Most dry food is to do with people not resting meat properly.

“As a general rule of thumb, rest meat for as long as you cook it. So, if you cook it for 45 minutes, rest it afterwards for 45 minutes before you carve and serve it.”

Season food from the start

“When making a nice soup, stew, curry or braise, it is really worth seasoning from the beginning, rather than adding at the end. Cooking it and then going, ‘Well, it’s a bit bland’ so then adding salt is a no. That’s not going to season something, it is just going to add salt. Adding seasoning into all the ingredients from the beginning makes a big difference, as it allows them to be absorbed by all the ingredients as they cook.

“I also believe in using good-quality seasonings. For instance, I don’t use cheap table salt because that’s basically sodium that has been produced in a factory. I use genuine proper sea salt, which has a more natural flavour and will bring out the best in the dish.”

Buy a whole chicken

“Purchase a whole chicken rather than buying a packet of legs, a packet of breasts, then a packet of drumsticks. Take time to learn how to cut it up once and you will have a skill that you’re going to use repeatedly. You can take out the parts as you need and then freeze the rest for future meals. The bones can be used to make stock. You are going to get more for your money.”

Do a weekly grocery shop

“So many people go into supermarkets and buy one meal at a time, which is such an expensive and inefficient way of food shopping. If you were to take 45 minutes out of your life on a Sunday afternoon and plan the next six meals, you can make one meal blend into the other and create a shopping list.

“I could make a batch of mince ragu, and then have lasagne on Monday and tagliatelle with bolognese on Thursday, then buy a whole chicken, use half of it for a roast on Sunday, and then the other half for a curry on Friday, and use the stock to make a soup on Saturday. Shopping sensibly is the best way to save money. It will also get people eating much healthier, and to generally have a happier cooking life.”

Cook with good wine

“You don’t want to spend a fortune on the wine that you cook with, but you don’t want to skimp on it either. I like to say it’s a wine that you’d want to have a glass of on a Wednesday, but not so good you’d want to serve it to your friends on a weekend.

“I’ve worked in places where they have used boxed wine that is incredibly cheap and put salt in it, so it’s not drinkable. You can really taste the difference when you make a simple beautiful white wine sauce or glaze when it has a nice quality wine in it.”

Keep a supply of essentials

“Learning a few basic recipes, good fridge and freezer management of your goods, and to really respect what we buy is important. I have a staples list that I always have at home, and I top that up with things from the grocery shop to make meals. My store cupboard essentials include great anchovies, parmesan, capers, tomatoes, good quality butter, pasta and rice, as well as really nice olive oil. Buy the best quality ingredients you can afford, then you can cook with fewer ingredients, and the better they are, the less work you have to do.

“I know I’ve always got the high -quality basics there as a base, so I could make a simple, nice pasta dish or if I brought home some minced veal or turkey, I could throw together a lovely little ragu. It is just a nice way of living your life.”

Tempering meat

“If you’re cooking meat, it is important that you take it out of the fridge around 30 minutes before it goes into the pan or oven. This allows the internal temperature to rise, so the meat cooks more evenly from edge to centre. If you cook meat straight from the fridge, the outside can overcook before the middle has had time to warm through.”

Don’t get distracted by gadgets

“People trying to sell gadgets that are going to change your cooking is something I’m not into. All you need are a really good chopping board, a sharp set of knives and a pan. I also have a simple blender and a microplane to grate cheese nicely. That’s all you need!”

Don’t cook in a bad mood

“One of the greatest things I’ve ever learned is to never cook when you’re angry or upset, as you can taste it. The more relaxed you are, the more you’re enjoying yourself, the better that food is going to be. You can’t always control that because sometimes you do need to cook when you’re not in the best mood. I would recommend taking five minutes, drinking a cup of tea and having a moment before getting started.”

Fail to prepare, prepare to fail

“I’ve had loads of hiccups over the course of 38 years. You make lots of mistakes and I have learnt more from them than I had from the successes. Ultimately, what my experience has taught me is good planning and knowing what your outcome needs to be will lead to a better result on the plate. Remember that you’re going to have to eat at least two to three times per day, so thinking about that when you wake up, then preparing for it is half the battle for most people.”

Don’t overlook vegetables

“Vegetable cookery is often not taken as seriously as it should be. They require more time and love than some people are willing to focus on them. You could make a beautiful ratatouille, grill some wonderful marmot onions, or roast a mix of fennel, carrots and parsnips. Getting vegetables to become a delicious thing on the plate is a beautiful thing, it’s what they deserve.”

Trinity: The Cookbook, by Adam Byatt (Quadrille, £55) is out now. Follow him at instagram.com/adambyatt and youtube.com/@ChefAdamByatt