A regular on BBC’s Saturday Kitchen and Food Network UK shows, Mark Sargeant is a familiar face on our television screens, listen to him chat about his career to date in the video above. When not cooking in the studio, he runs several restaurants in his home county of Kent as well as acting as a consultant chef for several other catering businesses.
While Mark refers to himself as more of a restaurateur than a chef these days, it was his time working in Gordon Ramsay’s kitchens that helped establish his reputation. Mark started working with the Scottish chef at Aubergine in 1997. Over the next thirteen years, Mark cheffed at a number of Ramsay’s ventures including Restaurant Gordon Ramsay; Gordon Ramsay at Claridges and Foxtrot Oscar.
Mark was also responsible for all of Ramsay’s media activities. He co-authored twelve of his books; wrote regular columns for the Times Magazine, Olive and BBC Good Food magazines, as well as assisting with the production of Ramsay’s television work both in the UK and abroad.
While Mark insists that he doesn’t miss the punishing, day-to-day slog of life as a working chef, he still knows what to do with a sharp knife and a portion of top quality fish. Recently, Mark was in Edinburgh to work with R.R. Spink and Sons, the Scottish producers of smoked and cured fish.
Using trout and salmon from Loch Etive, R.R. Spink and Sons have created a wide range of smoked fish – some of which feature delicious, if unconventional flavourings, such as Edinburgh Gin or Sheep Dip whisky. We blogged about their products last year.
Mark makes trout salad
In this video, Mark shows us how to make his fennel and red onion smoked trout salad.