Marcus Wareing’s Tales from a Kitchen Garden episode 2: Embarking on a mission to introduce new livestock and diversify the array of vegetables in his kitchen garden, Marcus finds himself drawn back to a familiar place from his past, Gravetye Manor. It’s there he delves deep into their majestic kitchen garden, absorbing the beauty and richness it offers. He doesn’t just stop at exploration; he eagerly seeks insider knowledge on vegetable cultivation that he can implement on his own land.
Upon his return to his quaint smallholding, Marcus collaborates with local farmer Stuart, diving into the intricate process of hay baling. The beauty of farming is in its daily intricacies, and as Marcus navigates through them, gardener Anatoli steps in to teach him the delicate art of plaiting garlic. It’s not just about growing produce for Marcus; it’s about elevating it. Thus, he makes his way to a nearby artisan, keen on infusing his garlic with a smoky aroma.
The culmination of Marcus’s hard work and new learning experiences is a breathtaking summer feast. A dish that’s not just a testament to his farming and culinary skills, but also a vivid celebration of the summer season in all its glory.
Marcus Wareing’s Tales from a Kitchen Garden episode 2
Marcus Wareing (born 29 June 1970) is an English celebrity chef who is currently Chef-Owner of the one-Michelin-starred restaurant Marcus (formerly Marcus Wareing at the Berkeley) in Knightsbridge. Since 2014, Wareing has been a judge on MasterChef: The Professionals, following the departure of Michel Roux Jr. from the programme.
Wareing first worked at the Savoy Hotel under chef Anton Edelmann in 1988 at the age of 18 where he was employed as a commis chef, before leaving in 1993 to join Albert Roux at Michelin starred Le Gavroche where he first met Gordon Ramsay. Stints at other restaurants in New York City, Amsterdam and at Gravetye Manor in Sussex followed. Wareing joined Gordon Ramsay’s Aubergine when it opened in 1993, where he became Sous Chef behind Head Chef Ramsay and would go on to work with him over the course of the following 15 years, which led to Wareing being called Ramsay’s protégé. While he was at Aubergine in 1995, Wareing was awarded the title of Young Chef of the Year by the Restaurant Association.
He would later credit Ramsay with teaching him to cook, describing it as “the most important time in my life”. He left Aubergine for a year in 1995 to work with Daniel Boulud in America, and Guy Savoy in France. His return to the UK was also to be his first head chef role, of new restaurant L’Oranger, which was owned by A-Z Restaurants, which had also owned Aubergine, with stakes held by both Wareing and Ramsay. At the age of 25 he earned his first Michelin star as head chef whilst at L’Oranger. He gave Angela Hartnett her first job in a restaurant.
Kitchen garden
The traditional kitchen garden, vegetable garden, also known as a potager (from the French jardin potager) or in Scotland a kailyaird, is a space separate from the rest of the residential garden – the ornamental plants and lawn areas. It is used for growing plants for eating, flavouring food, and often some medicinal plants, especially historically. The plants are grown for use by the owner and their household, though some seasonal surpluses are given away or sold; a commercial operation growing a variety of vegetables is a market garden (or a farm). The kitchen garden is different not only in its history, but also its functional design. It differs from an allotment in that a kitchen garden is on private land attached or very close to the dwelling. It is regarded as essential that the kitchen garden could be quickly accessed by the cook.
Historically, most small country gardens were probably mainly or entirely used as kitchen gardens, but in large country houses the kitchen garden was a segregated area, normally rectangular and enclosed by a wall or hedge, walls being useful for training fruit trees as well as offering shelter from wind. Such large examples very often included greenhouses and furnace-heated hothouses for more tender delicacies, and also flowers for display in the house; an orangery was the ultimate type.
In large houses, the kitchen garden was typically placed diagonally to the rear and side of the house, not impeding the views from the front and rear facades, but still quick to access. In some cases, hardy flowers for cutting were grown outside there, rather than in the flower garden. A large country house hardly expected to buy any vegetables, herbs or fruit, and the surplus was often distributed as presents; the walled example at Croome Court in England covers seven acres, and the gardens have a large “Temple Greenhouse”, an orangery in the form of a Roman Temple.
