Mircel McSween

I decided to become a chef 10 years ago and I have never looked back. Making a decision about working with food was easy, I watched cooking shows and always wondered what it would be like to cook in a professional kitchen. As a child I used to spend endless hours in my mum's kitchen, learning how to chop vegetables, prepare meat and fish and mostly, how to handle food with love. My mum taught me how to pay attention to food, how to treat each ingredient with care, how (and at what point during the cooking process) to add one to another so they are cooked perfectly and become a coherent dish. My mum's asian roots (being from the Philippines) played a big role in drawing me in too. The ingredients were exotic and fragrant, everything seemed so magical and I just couldn't resist. Cooking turned out to be more of a mystery, a strategic process with a lot of thought and preparation put into it, rather than a thoughtless throwing things together and heating them up. I wanted in, I wanted to know everything there is to know about the magic of cooking! As a natural progression I entered a catering college and spent the next 3 years training in classical French cooking techniques. I entered a professional kitchen whilst still in college and progressed from there. Throughout the years I have experienced being a part of various kitchen teams around London, climbed the professional ladder to lead my own teams but never stopped learning, getting amazed by how creative cooking can be and being curious about the amazing way of marrying various cuisines together. We don't all have to have an incredible passion for food, but the bottom line is, we all need to eat to stay alive and there is no reason why cooking should be a torture (tired of those 100 ingredient recipes? You are not alone !) Most people find food preparation rather difficult and (if cooking at home at all) end up preparing the same boring meals over and over again… Am i right? Yes, you can order a take away every now and then and yes, you can go out to break the mould, but at the end of the day you are going to have to face that kitchen again! SO LET ME HELP YOU COOK! Let me teach you a few simple rules that will make your food better and the cooking process more enjoyable. Yes - believe me - it can be fun!