Simple, Well-Cooked Food Will Never Go Wrong: Marcus Appleton on Waste, Sustainability, and What the Judges Are Really Looking At

Simple, Well-Cooked Food Will Never Go Wrong: Marcus Appleton on Waste, Sustainability, and What the Judges Are Really Looking AtMost judges are watching the plate. Marcus Appleton is watching the bin. As waste management and sustainability judge for the NACC Care Chef of the Year — and a man who spent 37 years in the armed forces before becoming Deputy CEO of a 280-room hotel for veterans — Marcus brings a perspective on competition cookery that no one else in the building shares. In this episode he talks bins, budgets, seasonality, and why simple well-cooked food will beat a saffron-laced showstopper every time.SHOW NOTESMarcus Appleton joined the armed forces at school intending to stay a couple of years. Thirty-seven years later he left — having trained as a chef, moved into procurement and performance management, and eventually run the Union Jack Club in London, a 280-room hotel for veterans and serving members. He turned sixty around the time COVID arrived, stepped back from the role, and turned his attention to the Worshipful Company of Cooks, one of the City of London's oldest livery companies, whose roots go back to 1482 and whose mission — supporting the craft, developing the next generation, looking after those who fall on hard times — maps almost exactly onto what drives Marcus personally. He's now their smallest livery company, 75 members strong, and quietly one of the most active forces for good in the UK culinary world, funding everything from student raised beds in North London colleges to chef's jackets for the crew of HMS Duncan.In this episode, host Rob Spence asks Marcus about his role as the sustainability and waste judge for the Care Chef of the Year — and what emerges is a masterclass in thinking about food differently.Marcus doesn't watch the plate. He lifts the bin lid.He's looking for whether a chef understands the basics well enough to use everything: the fish skin and bones for stock, the vegetable peelings that could be roasted off, the excess that shouldn't exist if the menu was planned properly. He's clear that you can serve a maximum of four portions and plate your best three — anything more is wasteful, and anything hidden under a kitchen roll has been found before. But the stories he tells about competitors who came back a second year and met him with "you can check the bins anytime you want, boss" say everything about what the competition is actually for.On seasonality, budget and sustainability, Marcus is equally direct. Saffron in every dish blows your budget and tells him you haven't thought. Out-of-season produce costs more, arrives suboptimal, and shows a lack of imagination. Venison is sustainable and underused. Rabbit is everywhere and nobody buys it. Coffee grounds grow mushrooms at Blenheim Palace. Two care homes last year brought their own home-grown vegetables and herbs to the competition. Things are moving, slowly, in the right direction.His advice to anyone entering: play to your strengths, keep it simple, practice until things go wrong so you know how to fix them, and always build in fudge time. "Simple, well-cooked food will never go wrong," he says. "You can put a little bit of panache on it — but don't put yourself in jeopardy."Subscribe wherever you listen — and maybe have a look in your own bin before you do.To learn about The National Association of Care Catering, please visit: https://www.thenacc.co.uk/A massive thank you to the Sponsors of the Care Chef of the Year:Unilever Food SolutionsLockhart Catering EquipmentRationalProcurement for CareThe Worshipful Company of CooksPowered by Paragon Creative Studios Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.