FLAVOURS People
Tuck into marvellous morsels from Yorkshire
CHEF’S TABLE
Tom grew up in Church Fenton and developed a passion for sustainability working in Michelin kitchens in the UK and America. He put all that knowledge into his first head chef position at The Rattle Owl in York. In June 2023, the 31-year-old opened Pignut with partner Laurissa Cook. The restaurant has achieved two AA Rosettes, featured in the Good Food Guide and is recommended in the Michelin Guide. Tom creates sustainable and high-quality dishes. Here he shares his food loves. restaurantpignut.co.uk
A LITTLE ABOUT PIGNUT
Sustainability is integral to Tom and his ethos flows through all aspects of the restaurant. All the ingredients are sourced locally. He personally collects ingredients from the local organic farm shop which is stocked with incredible produce straight from the ground. The pair also forage and Laurissa has been known to find foraging spots while out on her horse.
It’s not just the dishes, Pignut uses sustainable wine solutions, which pick up empty glass bottles and refill them. They use ReFood for their food waste, which recycle the waste into bioenergy, and they recycle all plastic and cardboard. The tables in the 14seater restaurant are made from old pub tables, which have been upcycled, and they donate to Helmsley Walled Garden, which is run by volunteers with the focus of using gardening to improve mental health and wellbeing.
As supporters of the charity, Tom and Laurissa utilise the kitchen garden, allowing them to showcase local ingredients on their menu, which have been grown and nurtured by the local community.
A childhood food memory?
We used to pick damsons and blackberries down the road from where we lived. We used to bring them back and make blackberry and damson pies – but I didn’t like eating them! I still don’t. I don’t like hot, fruit desserts apart from apple crumble. I never really thought about why I didn’t like them until now… maybe it’s because I was made to eat them.
Most memorable meal?
It was at Dan Barber’s Blue Hill At Stone Barns in New York. It turned everything I knew about food on its head. I realised food isn’t one dimensional, butter isn’t just butter it depends on the process, the process is everything when it comes to food. And the better the produce the better the flavour.
Who inspires you?
Again, Dan Barber. But in the UK, it would be Jordan Bailey – I like his style of food, it’s really interesting. They only had a small team at Aimsir, normally two-star kitchens have 15 chefs and 15 front of house. They only had five or six in the kitchen, it was a husband-andwife team and when we visited it made us think we could do something like that.
Describe your cooking style
It’s simplistic.
