Perfection at a Premium

On two successive evenings at the G8 Conference this July at Gleneagles, Perthshire's very own Michelin-starred chef, Andrew Fairlie, served the planet's most powerful politicians, with the whole world looking on. On the menu was Glenearn Lamb - produced by Andrew's brother Jim who is shepherd on the Glenearn Estate Home Farm near Bridge of Earn.

So, as a bit of a foodie myself I wanted to meet both Jim and Andrew for the magazine. Finding the location was easy. The new chef at the Acanthus Restaurant and the No1 Bank Bistro at the Parklands Hotel, Perth, is Graham Pallaster who trained under Andrew. 

What better arrangement than having a master catered for by a protégé!

As we settled down to study the menu, I put my first question and the rapport between the brothers was instantly evident. Two brothers, one producing high quality lamb, the other a Michelin-starred chef - and interesting link, but careers apart. How did that happen?

Andrew We were very fortunate that at a young age we discovered what we genuinely enjoyed doing. We lived in Perth. I was 15 when I got my first pocket-money job washing dishes at the Station Hotel. Up till then I hadn't thought about what I wanted to do but looking around saw all the excitement and satisfaction that went into food preparation and was fascinated.

Dad was a teacher, Mum worked, and they didn't usher us down any particular path. Eventually they moved to Crieff…

Jim …and didn't leave a forwarding address! From as young as I can remember I was animal daft. Dogs, cats, hamsters, mice…I had to be dragged away from pet shop windows.

Andrew He used to keep bloody hedgehogs under the bed!

At this point we ordered our starters. Andrew chose the Parma ham with tête de moine and pickled walnuts. Jim asked for the wild mushroom soup with home-baked breads. I fancied the potato rösti, fried aubergine, parmesan and chilli jam with a poached egg, and my scribe chose the seared red mullet with chorizo, pomegranate and citrus salad.

Our wines, chosen from the superb wine list - were a Neil Ellis Groenekloof 2004 South Africa sauvignon blanc and Wakefields Promised Land South Australian shiraz

Jim Coming up to leaving school I didn't know what I wanted to be but I knew it had to be with animals. I wrote to goodness knows how many people involved with animals - vets, farmers, zoos. Then just after my Highers I got a call from George Sinclair at Glendevon Farm to come and see them. Someone there had been intrigued by my name - they'd employed a Jim Fairlie there before. Turned out to be our great Uncle Jim. I was offered a job working with the sheep. It wasn't breeding stock but for the butcher. I was there for three years had a spell with a cleaning company for two years, went to Australia for a year, then self employed for five years before coming to Glenearn.

Knowing about the tough times farming is going through I asked what drives Jim to concentrate on such a high quality end product.

Jim I am absolutely passionate about what I do, and extremely proud of my country and what farming has done to make it look as it does. It is the management of the land by farmers that attracts people from all over the world to Scotland, and I get a real kick out of knowing what I do for a living contributes to that.

So what about the effect of cheap imports?

Jim We can't compete with them. It helps when we can export but that's not always the case. The domestic market has suffered through the loss of so many butchers, between 1992 and 2002 over 4700 went out of business in the UK. The supermarkets have their place and you can't knock them for their marketing skills. But they buy only to certain specifications. The majority of people today want convenience food. Most just eat for sustenance at the expense of taste. What we try to produce is something people want to come back for. Something they look out for at the Farmers' Markets.

The starter plates were cleared. The fact there wasn't a scrap left on any of them tells its own story of just how very good they'd all been. A short time later our main courses arrived. Andrew had chosen honey and cinnamon slow roast pork belly, boudin noir and baked apple. Jim's choice was the blanquette of lamb, kidney sausage, Guinness onions and roast butternut squash. Mine was baked herb crust cod, roast garlic Rooster potatoes and red wine fennel, while my scribe had the corn-fed chicken pie, goat cheese dauphine potatoes with tarragon.

I next asked Andrew about his Michelin star. Gaining such an accolade takes a huge amount of time, work and extreme dedication. He is the only Michelin star chef in Perthshire and there are very few in Scotland.

Andrew Seven only. In the UK people hear the term "Michelin star" but mostly don't understand that it doesn't apply just to good cooking but to the whole restaurant - the food, the service, the presentation, the ambience. I got the star at 1 Devonshire Gardens in Glasgow and thought at the time I'd like to set up a bistro but decided to push myself as far as I could go at this very high level. To have the confidence to push on for the second star I need a team as passionate and committed as I am. Leaving Devonshire Gardens meant leaving the star behind when I went to Gleneagles. But I had it back the next year at Andrew Fairlie At Gleneagles and now am aiming at the second star. When Gordon Ramsay went after his third star he really drove himself. I know I don't have the drive and energy to go for three. Getting it to two I'm comfortable with.

What's looked for is the highest possible standard 365 days a year. With Michelin there has to be complete consistency. There just cannot be a single "off" night.

Our conversation was punctuated by comments on the food before us. "Full of flavour!" "Great texture - just right." "This sauce is, mmmm - delicious!" It seemed the right moment to ask Andrew if he was still actively training people.

Andrew Yes. We have a number of young chefs coming through the kitchen but we don't have a big staff turnover. I have four sous-chefs working with me. If you are passionate about this level of food preparation then it's difficult to leave. Anyone applying for a vacancy is asked to come and work for a day round all the sections. I speak to them, try to find our in our conversations how they'd fit into the team. It's only when you see what someone can do and see if they can be part of a team that decisions are made. And the others in the kitchen are consulted. If we make a wrong choice it becomes quickly clear. We work in very high-pressure conditions - team work is absolutely essential.

I was lucky with my own training. I benefited from the old apprenticeship scheme with day release at College. The first four years of training are very important. In my industry you're cleaning stoves when your mates are out on a Saturday night. But I had a great chef at the Station Hotel. He was constantly encouraging me, and when he moved to London he asked me to come and work with him at a gentlemen's club in St. James's. Then I won a Roux Scholarship to work with Michel Guérard in France.

That was a huge turning point in my career. I'd had a good grounding in this country but it was in France that I really began to understand what I was doing. I remember thinking "My God - I'm into something fantastic!" The scholarship also had a lot of responsibility with it to make the most of it.