SIMPLE dishes done well is the essence of Phil Vickery's cookery.
The ITV This Morning favourite says: "I'm not a fan of food fads and detest the over use of spumes, foams and cooking roast beef in a plastic bag.
"Yes they all have their place and time, but it's all vastly over used. I look more to simple dishes cooked correctly and to the best of your ability."
The celebrity chef, who shot to fame after appearing on Ready , Steady, Cook in the 1990s, will be demonstrating a delicious array of dishes at the Festival of Food and Drink at Clumber Park in north Notts next weekend.
His tasty offerings include crispy pork salad with maple syrup scratchings and his version of the Vietnamese noodle soup pho.
Phil, who worked his way up through the kitchen ranks to earn four rosettes, Michelin stars and is hailed one of the top 20 chefs in Britain, almost turned down the offer to appear on Ready, Steady Cook.
"I said no, I'm a real chef!" They came back a few months later and I happened to be in London, auditioned and, hey presto, the rest is history."
His career path might have taken a different turn had he followed his desire to go to art school.
"I decided to be a chef, thinking it was an easier path," he laughs.
"I was fascinated watching Graham Kerr and my good friend Ken Hom create their recipes"
At one stage he wanted to be a professional cake baker and decorator and won Dessert Chef of the Year.
"I won it with egg custard, now quite trendy, but in the '90s it was unheard of. So ever since then I was always associated with that dish. In the end I added nutmeg ice cream to it, again a bit new for the time."
When television began turning chefs into stars, it was Keith Floyd who caught Phil's attention.
"Keith Floyd really was the man. Even now I model myself on him when making films for This Morning," says Phil, who is married to TV presenter Fern Britton.
An author of 14 books, his latest is Game: A modern approach to preparing, cooking and curing. He has also created a series on gluten free cooking and was appointed a food ambassador for Coeliac UK.
"The gluten free interest happened quite by chance. We had a Christmas pudding company and could not afford flour at a silly price, so used rice flour making them gluten free. I then contacted Coeliac UK and helped them in all sorts of ways," he says.
"The books now sell in many countries and in 12 languages, so it's been amazingly successful. In fact I'm about to start writing the next one so that's all good."
Phil will be appearing at the food festival on Saturday September 20.
Fellow This Morning chef Marcus Bean will be there on Sunday September 21. The self-taught chef, who runs a pub and a cookery school with his wife Jenny, will be cooking up a storm and signing copies of his new book Chicken: The New Classics.
He says: "I properly started cooking when we started our own pub, after employing a head chef for six months and having numerous problems, we made the decision that myself or my wife had to start cooking.
"Jenny didn't want to, so I said 'ok I'll do it, I'll teach myself to cook' and that's how it started. My first signature dish was our fish and chips, which turned out to be one of our best sellers at the pub. It took me about a month to get them exactly as I wanted and it was well worth it. The customers loved it."
Other guests are Great British Bake Off's first winner Edd corrKimber, who will be demonstrating his French pastry skills on Saturday, and on Sunday MasterChef finalist Jackie Kearney and Cathryn Dresser from the 2012 GBBO will appear in the live cookery theatre.
During the weekend there will be a delicious platter of flavours to try at stalls selling artisan produce, plus a chance to get hands-on at masterclasses and competitions.
Home bakers have a chance to impress the celebrity guests who will be judging a competition to find the best cake, loaf, tarts and biscuits and there's a cupcake decorating contest for youngsters.
Experts from Notts School of Artisan Food will be running classes on chocolate making and a sourdough starter making class.
Adults can learn butchery, from improving BBQ skills and curing and smoking meat to poultry and how to make the perfect sausage. The 30-minute sessions, costing £5, must be booked in advance at www.schoolofartisanfood.org
* Advance tickets for the show are £6 for adults, with children under eight admitted free. To book go to www.festivaloffoodanddrink.co.uk
