Ben Riddleston - Sous Chef

Introducing Ben Riddleston, a 23 year old Sous Chef at The Lindsey Rose, a gastro-pub found in the quaint village of Lindsey.  I sat down with Ben to talk about his passion for cooking, his involvement in a culinary youth project and what he’d cook to impress a girl…

“I never knew what I wanted to do when I was younger.  I started washing up in a kitchen when I was 14 to earn a bit of money while I was at school.  The chefs there used to pull me into the kitchen and show me little bits and pieces.  From there, I started doing prep jobs for them until one Saturday, one of the chefs called in sick.  I went into the kitchen to cover him and loved it!”

Salt and Pepper Squid

Scallops with a Roasted Cauliflower Purée

Despite his love for food, Ben didn’t study any culinary courses while in education.

“I studied ICT, Film and Media in college but two years went by and I got bored of sitting behind a computer.  I completely binned off that idea and started putting everything into cooking instead.”

Pigeon Breast with Pickled Red Onion

Smoked Pork Chop with Seasonal Vegetables

Ben and the other chefs at The Lindsey Rose are lucky to be involved in a government scheme run by City and Guilds which allows working chefs to gain culinary qualifications without having to leave their current role.

“We have an examiner that comes into work once a month.  He watches us go through the processes of making certain foods and we have paperwork to complete as well.

I learnt as I went along and that’s the great thing about catering – you can do as many courses in classrooms as you want but it isn’t until you actually get into a kitchen and pick things up from the other chefs around you that you really start to learn.”

Smoked Salmon Timbale
stuffed with Chive Cream Cheese

Honey-glazed Sweetbreads

As well as helping their chefs to constantly develop, The Lindsey Rose represents all that is good in sustainable farming and giving back to the community.  Complete with clucking chickens and bouncing lambs in the adjoining fields (don’t worry – Ben has assured me that the little lambs won’t end up on a plate as the staff grew to love them too much!), all the ingredients on the menu are locally sourced, including their Lindsey Honeycomb.

“We have a beekeeper living 3 doors down the road who makes his own honeycomb and a couple that live on the other side of the pub with an apricot tree.  We made an apricot and honey cheesecake from the ingredients and it sold really well!

We made a sponge cake for the couple as a thank you – it’s such a community driven area that doing little things like that really goes down well.”

Front: Apricot and Honey Cheesecake
Back: Apricot Sponge Cake

Ben has worked in The Lindsey Rose kitchen for 1.5 years but one day hopes to open something on his own.

“The plan is to open my own outside catering firm.  I have a horse box which is being converted into a food truck and the big plan is to take it to events and festivals, serving street food.  I already have a small music festival in the pipeline and a couple of weddings booked in, too.  Hopefully I can hit the ground running and build a reputation.”

The popularity of street food definitely rose in 2018, with many great chefs and restaurants making their mark on the industry but Ben wants to ensure his mark is unique.

“I don’t have a particular chef I aspire to.  I look into a lot of things that famous chefs do and it is really cool but I’d like to think I have my own style and personality that comes through in my food.  I wouldn’t like to be like another chef.”

Parma Ham and Blackberries with a Blackberry Sauce

Chicken and Chorizo Skewers with a
medley of Mediterranean Vegetables

I hope the hard work pays off!  Any chef will tell you that working in the culinary industry is not easy, with long and unsociable hours.  Ben can work up to 55 hours in any given week but is happy to see the rewards of being so dedicated.

“You don’t get a lot of time to see friends and family as you lose evenings and weekends but that’s part of the job.

For me, the best part is being able to get really creative and coming up with my own dishes.  One of the best feelings is when you have a play with things and come up with a great dish that sells!  You really get to go to town on using your own dishes in our specials and there’s input from all the chefs on our main menu, too.”

Trio of Sugar Beet:
Panna Cotta, Purée and Crisps

Smoked Salmon, Candied Beetroot,
Beetroot Purée and Horseradish Cream

Ben clearly loves what he does, so much so that he even cooks in his time off.

“I don’t mind cooking at home – I’ll do a family dinner or occasionally, I’ll have a group of mates over and do a steak night for them all.  But sometimes it is nice to sit down and eat what someone else has made.  People worry that as a chef you’re going to judge their cooking but in reality, we’re just grateful that someone else has cooked it!”

With all his experience, I wanted to know if Ben has a favourite dish he loves to make.

“I don’t have a favourite thing to cook and wouldn’t be able to nail it down to one thing.  I’m very biased on desserts but I love cooking as a whole.”

Rhubarb - ready to be cooked!

"Jaffa Cake"

Dark Chocolate and Mint Torte

Mocha Panna Cotta, Chocolate Crumb
and a Caramel-filled Chocolate Tube

In 2018, Ben was involved in the Porch Project, a youth group in Hadleigh, Suffolk.  The group was set-up to provide children with opportunities to take part in activities usually unavailable to them while learning about British history and receiving help with career planning.  Ben was able to share his passion for cooking with the young children in the area and teach them about the world of cooking.

“The project is trying to introduce kids to various industries and help them work out where they want to go.  You find that people aren’t growing up wanting to become chefs anymore and we wanted to show them that the TV shows like Hell’s Kitchen and MasterChef don’t reflect how being a chef really is at all. 

The kids came to us in November and it was class!  We did a talk, a demo and then planned a cooking workshop for them to complete, finishing with them essentially making their own dinner.  They made little chicken and vegetable puff pastry tarts - we had them sorting out their own ingredients, putting it all together and cooking it."

Porch Project, kids cooking:
Chicken and Vegetable Puff Pastry Tart

"If we can install a little bit of passion in any of them, then there’s always a chance that they could end up working with us.  The kids are 13-16 so there’s potential for a part-time job learning the trade if they want to.”

I have loved chatting with Ben and discovering all about his chef lifestyle!  But I know there’s one particular question that everyone wants to know the answer to… What would you cook if you were trying to impress a girl?

“It would depend on what she liked.  If I was out to impress, I’d say ‘you name what you want and I’ll make it’ and just hope I hadn’t bitten off more than I could chew!”

Here’s hoping!