His career has spanned stints in Switzerland, Sharrow Bay Hotel, Ullswater, The Connaught in Mayfair, London and Le Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons.

At the age of 29 he opened his eponymous restaurant in Longridge, Preston. Within two years he had been awarded his first Michelin and Egon Ronay stars along with The Good Food Guide’s ‘Restaurant of the Year’. Within a week of the restaurant’s second anniversary, he was nominated ‘Newcomer of the Year’ in the Catey Awards. In the same year Charles Heidsieck Champagne Guide voted Paul Heathcotes as ‘one of the best restaurants in the world’.

The 1994 Egon Ronay Guide awarded Paul ‘Chef of the Year’ and Michelin gave him a second star, an accolade bestowed on eight restaurants in the UK, Heathcotes still being the only one in the North West and a second Catey Award in 1997 for Independent Restaurateur of the Year.

Paul has 2 restaurants: his original Olive Press Preston serving Italian grills, pizza & pasta, and Heathcotes Brasserie cooking French & British cuisine.

Paul has been awarded three Honorary Fellowships from Liverpool John Moores University, Lancashire University & his home town Bolton University in recognition of his achievements in catering.

Paul has published two cookbooks, Rhubarb & Blackpudding and Heathcotes at Home, writes columns to a number of regional newspapers and magazines and also appears regularly on TV.

Paul chairs the North’s Academy of Culinary Arts, Adopt-a-School, encouraging the traditions of his profession and is also a fundraiser for Childline & the NSPCC, Fashion Kicks and Youth Zone.

In 2009 he was awarded an MBE for his contribution to the Hospitality Industry. In 2013 he launched Heathcote & Co, a new events and outside catering company that has so far catered for, amongst others, the prestigious Manchester International Festival and is the official caterer of Bolton Wanderers FC and Bolton Whites Hotel.

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Tips and tricks for the Kitchen – Day Five

by | May 17, 2013 | Paul's Blog

Poaching the perfect egg. Ask five different chefs and you’ll get five different answers. I think the golden rule is not to put salt into your water as it will break down the egg. Adding vinegar is certainly important. Then there are a number of different techniques. Personally, I like swirling the water into a whirlpool whilst it is boiling fiercely, and then dropping the egg into the centre. Cracking the egg onto cling film and twisting the cling film to make a pouch works as well and can certainly work if you want to do five or six at the same time. I suppose it’s quite strange unwrapping the film to find a perfectly formed egg – but it does work. But one thing’s for sure, you will never get a perfectly formed egg without it being fresh – that’s the most important part. Here’s the complete menu for the wine event and Fiona’s matching wines: Canapés Radish with sour cream & savoury soil, Rice Krispie fish finger sandwiches, whipped goats cheese eclairs *** Burrata, beetroot, horseradish & rapeseed oil Orballo Albarino, Rias Baixas, Spain *** Scallops ‘just cooked’, lime & caviar Turckheim Riesling Vieilles Vignes Alsace *** Flat iron steak, nettle risotto, beef reduction 1489 Chianti Riserva Baroncini *** Blacksticks Blue, dolcelatte, roquefort Maury Chateau St. Roch Agly Valley 2009 *** Apple & blackberry charlotte, Normandy cream Somerset Pomona If you want further tips on wine pairing, I would suggest you join us on June 5th and ask more of one of the UK’s finest...

Tips and tricks for the Kitchen – Day Four

by | May 16, 2013 | Paul's Blog

Do you often cook some meat, fish or potato in a pan and it sticks? You then spend the next five minutes chiselling it away, only to end up with scraps not fit for the dog. The answer is really simple. If you find the food sticking, lift the pan away from the heat, leave for 3 or 4 minutes, don’t touch it, have faith, come back and try to remove it gently. It usually works more often than not – I promise. And finally, here is the fourth course for our June 5th wine evening featuring Fiona Beckett: Blacksticks Blue, dolcelatte, roquefort Tomorrow, another tip and the full menu with the wines Fiona has picked to go alongside. – Paul...

Tips and tricks for the Kitchen – Day Three

by | May 15, 2013 | Paul's Blog

Cooking for a large numbers often sends many into a panic; pans of vegetables boiling away, broccoli heads dissolving, greens going brown, potatoes overcooked. This would be natural in any good professional kitchen as well, so we don’t cook every vegetable when somebody orders it. A professional kitchen would prepare and trim what is required, drop it all into pots of salted, boiling water and when almost cooked, take it out and drop it into large bowls of iced water and allow it to cool before storing it in the refrigerator. Therefore the vegetables remain green, slightly firm and just undercooked, ready to be reheated for just a minute or so when an order is taken. You can do exactly the same in your own house to avoid getting into a spin! Extra tip: What I do at home is cook all my vegetables as above first, place them in the fridge and concentrate on the main course – the one that takes the majority of time, without any pressure. And finally, here is the third course for our June 5th wine evening featuring Fiona Beckett: Flat iron steak, nettle risotto, beef reduction Tomorrow, another tip and another course, and I will let you know what Fiona matches with this at the end of the week. – Paul...