Callum Graham’s career has taken him from London to Paris and Geneva. He joins The Wild Rabbit team from the Michelin-starred restaurant Bohemia in Jersey.
He discusses what brought him to The Wild Rabbit, the meals he loves to cook at home, culinary heroes, what’s in his store cupboard and where he loves to eat out.
I was inspired by my dad at an early age – he always cooked fresh meals. I grew up at a time when being a chef had become ‘cool’; every TV channel had a big-name chef on a cookery show most nights of the week. Cooking was also the one subject at school for which I was getting fantastic grades, so I thought, this might be worth pursuing. I haven’t looked back.
There is an incredible story to be told through the plate, using the amazing array of ingredients in Daylesford’s market garden, from the farm’s artisan producers and the heritage-breed livestock. It’s a chef’s dream to have this fantastic produce at your fingertips and I consider myself very fortunate that I get to work it all to shape the menu of The Wild Rabbit.
I think it has to be the custard tart as it has no frills. It’s all about letting the ingredients speak for themselves: beautifully thin, crispy buttery pastry; a soft, rich custard filling with a wobble; served with a fresh seasonal sorbet. It takes real courage to believe in a dish that looks simple on the plate as there is nowhere to hide.
I enjoy cooking Thai or Vietnamese food, and simple comfort food like a good steak or a roast chicken and seasonal veg.
Easy one: a spicy marg, all day long.
Pork is my favourite meat, but I think that as kids we’re often given a dry pork chop that is tough and not that great. If you cook pork properly with crispy skin, a good sear, and season it well, keeping the meat slightly pink, it’s delicious. I’m hungry now! It’s also affordable, so great for families.
Pho is a dish that I often crave. I recently visited Vietnam and had it for breakfast, lunch and dinner one day as I wanted to experience the real deal as much as possible. It’s a humble dish, but the flavours are fantastic!
Ferran Adrià. He’s the chef that would make me a fan boy if he walked into the restaurant. He is a special individual who has transformed how many chefs cook with what he achieved at elBulli. What would be considered groundbreaking culinary techniques, styles and tools 20 years ago, have now become the norm, and that’s for the better in my opinion.
I’d have struggled to whittle it down to a single one, until my wife and I went to L’Enclume by Simon Rogan in Cartmel – it was the perfect day and evening. The food and wine were fantastic, but I hadn’t experienced a front of house team that was that exceptional; they knew exactly what they were meant to do at the precise moment they needed to. It’s the closest I’ve seen to perfection from a restaurant.
Salt, Marmite (yes, you do either love it or hate it and I’m a firm lover!) and sriracha.
Few ingredients capture the essence of spring more distinctly than Jersey Royal potatoes – a fleeting harvest that arrives as the season begins to hit its stride and the warmer days have set in.
The sight of the first asparagus spears poking their heads up from the ground marks the start of a fleeting season.
