Chef Michel Roux Jr has had rave ratings for Michelin-starred London restaurant Le Gavroche – but he has now revealed, in an exclusive interview with Express.co.uk, that his cooking hasn’t always gone to plan behind the scenes. The 63-year-old opened up on one disastrous family Christmas which was unexpectedly derailed by the dog, leaving him with nothing to eat but the trimmings.
“We were enjoying a pre-lunch drink and we looked out of the window and what we saw was the Labrador on the lawn with the cooked turkey, enjoying feasting on that,” the chef extraordinaire groaned. “The Labrador had climbed up onto the kitchen table and nicked the turkey that I think was resting out of the oven, so we ended up having just the trimmings – the sausages, roast potatoes and the stuffing.
“It was very good, delicious, but we didn’t have turkey that day.” The nightmare incident had taken place several years ago, when Michel Jr was at his father’s home – and he still has vivid memories of their bare dining room table to this day.
The former MasterChef judge is now on a mission for fans of his cooking to think outside the box and consider an unconventional Christmas feast this year, foregoing the turkey in favour of a less traditional dish such as suckling pig. Revealing that it’s his daughter’s favourite and that she “hates” turkey, he admitted he’s expecting her to put in a request for a repeat of an earlier Christmas when they enjoyed the dish together.
“The best [Christmas dinner ever] is probably that suckling pig we had,” he mused. “Not to say that we shouldn’t eat turkey, especially if it’s British and there’s lots of good British turkey out there, but no, absolutely think out of the box!”
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“We cooked it Chinese style, barbecued with a spicy sauce, and it was amazing. We also did some gluttonous rice in lotus leaf to go with it, and some pak choy with black bean and garlic.”
Meanwhile, Michel has an alternative suggestion for anyone who has an aversion to Christmas pudding, too.
“Lovely poached pears are in season and a lovely chocolate sauce. Who doesn’t like chocolate sauce?” he exclaimed.
That was one of the dessert dishes Michel shared with visitors to the Good Food Winter Show, which was held at Birmingham’s NEC this year, as he unveiled a demonstration of how to prepare the pears with cinnamon and vanilla.
Thanks to his French roots, it’s probably little surprise that Michel also has a passion for cooking goose, which is considered a traditional Christmas dinner across the Channel.
“I love slow-cooked goose, stuffed with rice. It cooks for about six hours in a slow-cook oven, and the fat of the goose just permeates into the rice, and it’s just so delicious,” he enthused.
Sadly, Le Gavroche is set to close next month after 57 successful years, as Michel is minded to spend more quality time with his family, but he promises it won’t be the last fans will see of his distinctive cooking.
“Le Gavroche will be going on the road, as it were, so there will be residencies and we’re going to look at doing pop-ups… I signed up to do events with Cunard [on] the soon to be launched new ship the Queen Anne, so I’ll be on board and cooking lots of delicious things on there!”