Euan Peach, Development Chef at Create Food & Party Design, gained his chef grounding at Restaurant Sat Bains as a Commis Chef.
Euan then moved to The Hinds Head where he worked for Heston Blumental. Here he learned his pastry skill and this led to stints at both Maze, under Jason Atherton, and also The Ledbury, with Bret Graham. Euan worked as a pastry chef at both one and two Michelin star standard before returning to Restaurant Sat Bains to work as a development Chef and run both the development and test kitchens for private dinners.
In his role as Development Chef at Euan will bring the creativity, passion and vision to our chef team and provide further inspiration for clients’ bespoke events. We caught up with him at the kitchens to find out a bit more.
How did you first get into being a chef?
At the age of 14 I started as a pot wash for a small Italian restaurant and loved the smells, atmosphere and aggression levels in the kitchen! Then, when I was 15 I had a week of work experience at a local vegetarian café, which I loved. I got a job through it at the restaurant, as a trainee chef, but the role only lasted three months – I think trying to find a leg of salmon in the freezer was what finished me off there! I then decided to go to college. I spent two years training but I didn’t feel as though it was giving me what I needed so just before my 16th birthday I started working full time.
What inspired your cooking?
As a very young child I grew up on a farm where the farmer butchered his own live stock to sell in his shop and my mum is a gardener so I was always around fresh ingredients and always was eating everything that grew in the garden, edible or not!
What are you currently using to develop dishes at Create?
Liquid nitrogen! It’s my favourite stuff in the world! At -195.8oc it’s fresh, and it enables you to manipulate foods in a fun way, allowing you to do things you never could with any other cooking methods. It’s like being a child again!
What’s your favourite thing to cook?
I love desserts and I really enjoy working with cheap, more interesting cuts of meat and aromatics.
Can you share any cooking tips with us?
1. Maple syrup. I swear by it! It’s sweet yet bitter, with a slight saltiness, I use this to adjust lots of savoury foods like stews, sauces, soups, and roasted vegetables.
2. Knorr chicken stock – probably not what you expected but I used this first at Restaurant Sat Bains (which has two Michelin stars) and was shown how and why to use it. It adds body and a greater mouth feel to things like ragouts, broths, and roasted meats and is high in umami.
3. Sherry vinegar, because acidity in food is incredibly important to keep a customer interested in what they are eating. Acidity causes salivation – people often forget this when cooking but it’s so important. Sherry vinegar has a delicious dried fruit, malty acidity that works with sweet and savoury dishes. Mix it with maple for a fantastic dressing and if you mix all three together… that’s when the magic happens!
What’s the strangest request you’ve received?
The weirdest was from a woman who wouldn’t eat anything that started with the letter ‘c’ or that was red.
What would you pick as your last meal?
Roasted foie gras with sourdough and sweet pickle, a side of sashimi and a bottle of Ruster Ausbruch.
And finally, where is your favourite place to eat in London?
I could never choose just one place! I’ve got around 50 favourites – Borough Market on hot Saturday afternoons for oysters, or Roka, Chotto Matte or Kurabuta for Japanese, Club Gascon for foie gras or Burger Bear for delicious dirty burgers.
Look out for plenty of exciting new dishes from Euan and the team!