Q&A with Chef Ryan
Ryan has joined the TOUT’S team as Head of Food Service and will be key to setting up our new pub/café venture at Cleeve.
Ryan will also be developing our product range, with a particular focus on our ‘grab and go’ range in our Tout’s Budgens stores. Here’s a Q&A with our new Head of Food Service:
Full name? Ryan Brokenbrow
Where are you from? Wrington
Where have you worked previously? The Glass Boat, The Pony and Trap, The Bird in Hand, The Redan and most recently The Litton.
How long have you been a chef for? 14 Years
What’s your favourite thing to cook? Tricky question but anything that is in season, tasty and local.
Which chefs are your biggest influence? Nathan Outlaw, Paul Ainsworth, Adam Byatt and lots of other chefs that are championing the great British produce we have all around us.
What are your favourite local ingredients? There are so many to choose from, Warren’s Fruit Farm strawberries are in my opinion the best in the world, Homewood Farm Halloumi, Lye Cross Cheese and Butter, Thatcher’s Cider, Aldwick and lots more.
You have 15 minutes to make a meal for two, go look in your fridge and tell us what you would make? Chicken Cesar Salad. Sometimes the classics are the best! Using some left over roast chicken, parmesan and homemade sourdough croutons.
How about a dessert for two in 10 minutes? Pain Perdu which is a fancy name for French toast, dusted in cinnamon sugar a ball of vanilla ice cream and a splash of maple syrup.
What would your personal motto be? Well I quite like ‘make it happen’ or ‘go to bed with dreams, wake up with purpose’
What would you be if you were not a chef? A food photographer, I have a food obsession! Or growing up I wanted to be an airplane pilot which I still like the thought of.
If you were to travel somewhere, where and why? I would drive around Sardinia. Purely because it looks amazing in pictures I’ve seen and I haven’t been there before.
What would your last supper be? Crab and asparagus to start followed by fancy surf and turf medium rare ribeye with scallops. (it is my last supper after all!) finished off with a chocolate fondant with salted caramel ice cream.
If you went to the bar and ordered a drink what would you order? Often just a larger or ale, although I am a big fan of whisky and the occasional cocktail. A drink I’ve got into recently with all the hot weather is gin and ginger beer with a twist of lime.
What is your favourite thing to do when you’re not working? Relax and go for long walks and city breaks with my partner. But surprise surprise I cook a lot at home and enjoy cooking for friends and family.
Thanks Ryan, welcome on board!
