Flash-grilled: Lasse Petersen
What was your first industry job?
I got my first job as a commis chef in a small restaurant in Parsons Green. It had a small but experimental menu that changed every week which meant I was quickly exposed to lots of different techniques and ingredients.
If you weren’t in kitchens, what would you do?
Well, cheffing is already my second career as I was a musician before starting in kitchens. So I’d probably revert to my music industry days.
What industry figure do you most admire, and why?
From a cheffing perspective, it's Matt Orlando, owner of the (now sadly closed) Copenhagen restaurant Amass, where I was lucky enough to do a short stint. His ethos and all-encompassing drive to make a waste-less restaurant while always keeping deliciousness at the forefront of what they did, is something to strive for. I think a lot of chefs who do fine dining forget that first and foremost food needs to be delicious.
What’s your pet hate in the kitchen?
Indifference.
What’s the oddest thing a customer has said to you?
Someone said they weren't able to eat a fish because it had a head and looked like a fish.
Sum up your cooking style in a single sentence…
Delicious delicious.
What advice would you give someone starting out in the industry?
Find a job in a small restaurant that changes their menu as much as possible and which uses ingredients that closely follow the seasons. That way you get to cook lots of different types of food and progress more quickly. Read all the cookbooks you can get hold of, all the old ones and all the new ones too. It’s just as important to know what you don’t want to cook as it is to know what you do want to cook. Learn the palate of the head chef, how much salt, acid, fat, bitterness do they like? Start writing your own menu at the place you work; it will probably be terrible at first and you will cringe at your notes later on, but practice makes perfect. Also, don’t work 90 hours a week, I’ve tried it before and it's never worth it.
Which single item of kitchen equipment could you not live without?
A sharp knife.
What would you choose to eat for your last meal?
Probably a simple bowl of pasta pomodoro with my wife and kids.
À la carte or tasting menu?
Family style. Best of both.
What’s the best meal you’ve ever had in a restaurant?
I went to a Greek restaurant in a small harbour town with my parents when I was about eight years old. It was buffet table and probably nothing special, but I still think about the Greek potatoes from time to time, cooked down with loads of golden onions and completely saturated with olive oil.
What’s your favourite fast food joint?
Bagdad Kebab in Berlin.
MasterChef or Great British Menu?
My World Kitchen. It follows kids cooking food from their home country.
What’s the most overrated food?
Sunday roasts.
Who would your dream dinner party guests be?
Everyone I work with. Because of shift patterns it’s hard to ever go out all together for a meal.
What’s your earliest food memory?
My sister pouring her tomato soup in our cactus plants behind my parents' back.
Twitter or Instagram?
I never use Twitter, so it would have to be Instagram.
What’s the closest you’ve ever come to death?
Hitting an oil puddle on a German motorway and doing a 180 in the back of a transit van.
Where do you go when you want to let your hair down?
Glastonbury Festival.
What’s your tipple of choice?
Negroni.
What’s your favourite food and drink pairing?
Shot of vodka and a pickle.
What do you consider to be your signature dish?
Still looking for it. Hopefully I never find it. How boring would that be...
