Q&A with top chef Tom Aikens - CLOSED

[PatrickMumsnet]

There is an increasing interest in creating restaurant quality dishes at home. However, if you want to create dishes that really impress, it helps to learn the tricks of the trade first. There are few people better placed to share such tips than Tom Aikens, a master of his profession.

This week we are inviting you to send in your questions to Tom about all things food. Whether you have a question about preparing fish, turning vegetables or cooking a dinner party to impress your friends, now is your opportunity to pose them to a Michelin starred chef of exceptional calibre. Send your question to Tom by Monday 2 July at 9am and we'll link to his answers on Thursday 5 July.

Also, on 10 July there is a rare opportunity to meet the man himself at a Cookery Masterclass at L'Atelier des Chefs in central London. Click here to book your place.

Hello Tom, when you have people over for dinner, what do you cook? Do you show off, or do you shove a lasagne in the oven and open another bottle of wine?

Can you recommend any simple dishes with wow-factor that can be prepared and cooked in under 45 minutes?

What's your best Old Mother Hubbard/store cupboard/last day before the weekly shop & the fridge is bare meal?

I have a couple of friends that are coming round in July for dinner. One is a vegetarian and the other is allergic to eggs and cheese. What on earth do I do for them? Ideally it needs to be 3 courses...Thanks

I like to think I have good taste but have been known to crave tinned spaghetti-o's occasionally. Do you have any guilty food secrets?

Hi Tom, is there a general rule to follow with starters and main courses, for example, if you are serving a meat main course should the starter be vegetarian or fish, or can it be meat? Or if you are serving fish, what should the starter be? I find it difficult to do last minute cooking for a starter, main and pudding so I like to have something ready to just plate up for starter when everyone has had a couple of aperitifs. Any good prepare ahead starters would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Hello Tom, what profession would you choose if you were not a chef? Also which other chef do you admire the most?

Thank you.

No questions but just had to say how much I love your restaurant Tom! We went there for our wedding dinner and we go every year on our anniversary. It is my most favourite place in the world and when I die, heaven will be your dining room. Also, when you did the pop up Cloudy Bay stand in Parsons Green I thought I had actually shuffled off my mortal coil as Cloudy Bay is my favourite wine and your food is my favourite.. well, food.

Hello Tom, could you tell me how to prevent potatoes from discolouring when grating them for a rosti?
Thanks.

Hi Tom,

Is there anything that is your personal cooking Nemesis i.e. something that you find difficult / impossible to get right every time? And what would your last supper be?

Thanks

Hello Tom, in your own kitchen (as opposed to your professional one) what single piece of equipment/utensil could you not manage without, excluding knives and the oven/hob obvs

Another fan of your restaurant here too, and rather handy that it's a hop, skip and jump over the bridge for me.

Thank you.

Hi Tom. What do you think is the most overrated ingredient or cooking technique used at the moment? What do you think is a load of flim-flam? Thanks.

hi tom,
the dc (and I) love sauces.
do you have a tip to make a nice simple gravy that actually has colour? I make quite a tasty onion gravy, but it is a bit pale. and it needs to be simple :o

Hi Tom,

Over the winter we always end up with a lot of pheasant in the freezer (usually skinned rather than plucked) and the odd partridge. Nice problem to have but... Can you suggest some really good pheasant recipes that are not too elaborate to make?

Thank you!

What's you best vegan dish?!

We are about to move into a house where the kitchen needs completely modernising. What would be your must haves to ensure a really functional kitchen... Bey

If you have one, what is your favourite cook book?

What are your top tips for making food really special (a vague question, I know I'm just wondering how I could improve!)

What would you rustle up if you had to do teas for a cricket match: must feed 26ish, be easily and quickly consumed by hungry sportsmen (eg no faffing around with forks), prepared in a fairly basic kitchen, and cost about £30 all in...

Thanks!

I second LimburgseVlaai

I still have loads of pheasant - some unskinned, too.

Would love new recipe ideas...

Hi Tom, I have a deaf/blind teen with ambitions to be a pastry chef (thank god, pastry is less knife consuming and he is a worry with knives :))

My question would be what are the best basic skills that he should master before he moves on to more complex baking/pastries? He is currently doing a little bit of everything.

Thanks.

Hi Tom,

I recently went to a very try-hard dinner party where there was a lot of masterchef style "plating up" and smears of stuff on plates going on. It was painful but the hosts don't cook much so I think this was their idea of what home conviviality should be like.

Do you think people should actually be aiming to recreate a restaurant experience at home? And do you think TV programmes like masterchef are helpful to actually get people cooking?

Another vote for

"what's your best vegan dish"

Another equipment question - what things should we splurge on (perhaps, decent knives? Oh, how I wish my PIL had sharp knives in their house instead of blunt things that struggle to cut butter) and what things are fine if you buy the Tesco Value (other supermarkets are available) version?

The Q&A is now closed and we're going to be sending questions over to Tom. We'll link to his answers on Thursday 5 July.