Marco Pierre White delivers a masterclass for Greene King apprentices

Forget the image of a wild-eyed chef storming around the kitchen with steam coming from his ears, because when it comes to encouraging young people into the industry he loves, Marco Pierre White is anything but a hell-raiser.

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In helping Greene King launch its Discovery Apprenticeship programme, Marco held a master class at the brewery’s head quarters for nine apprentices who had travelled from across the UK for the privilege.

Once an apprentice himself, Marco was pleased to share his own story with the young chefs as well as insights into his cooking techniques. On the menu a sea bass papilotte, cooked with spring onion and ginger and a lesson in being the best.

Marco’s own journey in the kitchen started at the age of 16.

“When I was a young boy I used to polish the clients’ shoes and one day when I went to polish the shoes in the afternoon and I found a little book called the Egon Ronay Guide to Hotels and Restaurants in Great Britain. I flicked through it for 15 minutes and what I realised was that restaurants had stars and then I realized that the best restaurant in Britain was 15 miles down the road. I went back to the kitchen and I started to think about stars and special places and I thought to myself if I am going to be a cook then lets work in the best place. And one day I plucked up the courage to knock on the door and ask for a job. I was given that job, and so it’s amazing what a small moment can do to a young person’s life.”

His father, also a chef, gave him his 50p bus fare to get to that hotel in Harrogate, the Hotel St George. He also gave him two pieces of advice: do not ask about how many hours you are expected to work and don’t ask what you will be paid.

“Well, when you think if you don’t care about getting paid or how many hours, then you are half way to getting to the top aren’t you?” smiles Marco, who at 33 was the then youngest chef to ever be awarded three Michelin stars. “And let’s not forget the road to success is uphill, it’s not downhill.

“I have apprentices, I encourage it and have just taken another boy this week from Windsor Boys, who is 16 years old and leaving school, his heart is in the kitchen, and there’s a young boy with a very special future.

“He has special hands and that internal drive. He never asked how much he was going to get paid or how many how many hours and that’s very important.”

Marco’s support for the Greene King apprenticeship scheme comes from a belief that you will learn more from going in at the deep end and on the job experience than from a classroom.

“What I would recommend to any young man or lady stepping into my industry, is, firstly they find the right establishment which is close to where they live. Secondly, I recommend they go into full time employment and not to catering college, if they want qualifications then go on day release, but not full time because by the time they finish the course, which may be three years later, they are not prepared for the real world.

“If you get the opportunity to work in a great establishment, take it rather than go to college, don’t deny yourself the opportunity. If you can’t get a job then go to college and get your qualifications. Having the information (from college) doesn’t mean you can do the job and it’s a simple as that. College doesn’t expose you to the real world, so you get to a restaurant at 19 and it’s like starting all over again so the success rate is limited.

“A lot of my greatest cooks were individuals who struggled at school, and when they presented themselves to me and sat down in the interview they were very honest with me and I could relate to their story. They were like ducks to water because they found a world where they could express themselves, that’s important.

“That knowledge you obtain when you are a young person is with you for life and that is your passport to every corner of the world and the right jobs, secondly it will put you in a position where you can put a roof over your family’s heads, food on the table and shoes on your children’s feet and that is also very important.”

In giving up his time to support the initiative, Marco says he hoped to inspire the young chefs around him.

“I believe that if you’ve been given then you have a moral duty to give back; many years ago when I was a young boy of 16 people invested in me, they invested their time and shared their knowledge and created an opportunity for me. It is amazing when you are a young man or a young woman and you meet a certain person even for just 20 or 30 minutes like today it might ignite something in them that may make them dream.”

And does his still think cooking is a good career choice?

“I think it is an extraordinary career, when you think you get instant gratification so your confidence grows, your self esteem grows, your knowledge grows, you become part of a team and it’s one of the very few industries in this world that doesn’t ask too many questions – it’s like the French Foreign Legion as long as you are respectful and hard working you have a very bright future.

“Respect is the most important thing. From day one you are taught to say one thing and that’s ‘yes chef’ whatever the statement. Second never forget that service is service and the diner is the most important and you have a duty to deliver food to certain standards and within a time frame.”

But what about all that shouting we see on television programmes aimed to give an insight into commercial kitchens?

“I’m very simple when I go on TV, I do my job. I put on my chef’s whites and I become an ambassador to my industry. On Hell’s Kitchen you will never hear me swear, you will never see me belittle. I shout out the orders and that’s where it ends and I feed everybody within that time frame and to the best of my abilities with the team I have been given.

“You have a duty to feed people and what’s important to me is to give a true insight into how a kitchen is run. I’m not in the business of belittling; I am not in the business of swearing. Having said that, yes I have sworn in the kitchen like most chefs, but I am very conscious that when I do TV not to swear because my little girl likes to watch her father on TV and how can I swear knowing full well that my little girl I watching? I can’t do it.”