Aaron Patterson
Aaron Patterson
Working in the kitchen at the Michelin-starred Hambleton Hall for over twenty-five years, Aaron Patterson has revamped his cooking style to the let the produce do the talking. With his sights set firmly on a second star, his dedication to sourcing amazing ingredients – particularly local game – and incredible technical skills means he's easily one of the most accomplished chefs in the UK.
Chefs have a tendency to flit between restaurants in a bid to experience all sorts of different styles of cooking, new ways of working and to give a boost to their CV. While Aaron Patterson has certainly had his fair share of stages, it’s quite incredible that he has been head chef at Hambleton Hall since 1992.
His mother worked front of house and his father was a chef, so Aaron grew up surrounded by the catering industry. ‘I was cheap labour at the age of thirteen!’ he laughs. ‘I could’ve been anything I wanted to be, and after working in a kitchen with my father – who made Marco Pierre White look like a pussycat – it should’ve put me off, but it didn’t.
‘I was first at Hambleton Hall when I was sixteen,’ he continues. ‘It was the best restaurant in the area and the head chef at the time Nick Gill (food critic A.A. Gill’s brother) took me on as an apprentice. There weren’t very many Michelin-starred restaurants back then but Hambleton Hall was one of them, and Nick’s background in Parisian kitchens meant everything was quite old fashioned – I had to do things like lay out all the chef whites every morning, which you don’t see anymore.’
After four years at Hambleton, during which Aaron worked on every section including pastry, it was time for a change. Aaron went on to work at Le Manoir, where he stayed for another four years, and was thrown in the deep end of two-star cooking. ‘It was very different from Hambleton,’ he says. ‘All the checks were called out in French, which I didn’t speak a word of, and instead of making one terrine you would make six or seven. Working hours were usually from half six in the morning to one o’clock at night, and I was introduced to a wealth of new technical skills. Luckily, I had a really good grounding from working with my father and my time at Hambleton, so while it was a big jump, I was in good stead to make the most of it.’
Whilst learning all manner of technical skills at Le Manoir, Aaron also worked various stages at places such as Au Crocodile in Strasbourg, La Tante Claire with Pierre Koffmann and Marco Pierre White’s Harveys, but he soon wanted to move up in the pecking order. After searching around for a sous chef position without finding what he was looking for, Aaron decided to ring Tim Hart – the owner of Hambleton Hotel – to ask him if he knew of any head chef roles available. As luck would have it, the position there soon became available, and Aaron was given the job – at just twenty-two years old.
‘There was a lot of interest around me when I first started – every sort of major food critic turned up in the first few months – because Hambleton had a Michelin star and four AA rosettes,’ says Aaron. ‘I retained everything and we’ve gone from strength to strength ever since. I wasn’t nervous when I started – I was more like a mad dog on a leash! I suppose it could’ve all gone terribly wrong and it turn out that I was just massively overconfident, but I knew what I was doing because I’d stayed at restaurants for long lengths of time which allowed me to soak everything up properly. If you flit from place to place you soon become the best spinach picker in the world, as moving restaurants means you have to start from square one every time. But because I stayed put and learnt lots of different things, I was in a better position to take on the head chef role.’
Aaron took a month to perfect his recipes at his father’s kitchen in Ireland before starting at Hambleton Hall, then introduced his completely new menu on his first day. More than two decades later and he’s still there – a conscious decision on his part. ‘I went to thirteen different schools as a kid and don’t want to do that to my children,’ he explains. ‘I’m also now a partner in the business, and want that work-life balance.’ Over the years, Aaron has formed close relationships with suppliers in Rutland, meaning he has access to the best produce that’s literally brought to his kitchen door. Game, in particular, has become a bit of a speciality at Hambleton, thanks to Aaron’s amazing ability to source the best in the country.
Working at the same restaurant for so many years means you have to keep things fresh. While Aaron’s food has always evolved and changed over the years, in 2015 he completely overhauled his menu and started introducing a new cooking style, focused on simplicity. ‘Just before Christmas 2015 I went to six or seven two-starred restaurants and tried to understand why they have two stars and I only have one,’ he explains. ‘I noticed that there wasn’t really anything on the plate that I didn’t know how to do, or any new flavours I hadn’t experienced before – but everything was a lot simpler than what I was doing. I think fashion has changed and people don’t like fussy food – what they want are flavours that elevate a main ingredient and clarity in the dish. I think I’ve basically been trying too hard to get two Michelin stars.
‘I always used to create dishes like an assiette of rabbit, and serve a braised shoulder in red wine, the loin, the kidney – it was like an autopsy on the plate,’ he continues. ‘I did it because I wanted to show off lots of different skills, which used to be all the rage. But now I don’t mess about with the food as much – for example, I’ll take a loin of fantastic venison and cook it simply with Sichuan pepper, celeriac and chocolate.’ Aaron would still gladly take that second star, but these changes are with one thing in mind – to keep things fresh and exciting for the guests at Hambleton Hall.
Three things you should know
Aaron has appeared on several television programmes, including Masterchef with Loyd Grossman, Channel 4's Here's One I Made Earlier and Wild About Food, a regional show that focused on game.
Both Gareth Ward and Adam Stokes credit Aaron with teaching them how to cook and appreciate ingredients during their stints under him at Hambleton Hall. Both have since gone on to win their own Michelin stars, at Ynyshir and Adam's respectively.
Aaron has such strong ties with his suppliers that many of them come to the kitchen personally to drop off ingredients such as pheasant, fresh watercress and pike.
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