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Wales has always been rich in ingredients but the same can't be said for great chefs. But
now the land of salt marsh lamb and Black Mountain beef is producing a new generation of stellar cooks.
At the forefront is Matt Tebbutt, chef proprietor of The Foxhunter in Nantyderry near Abergavenny. His job as presenter on UKTV's Market Kitchen has made him something of a local celebrity. But it's the outstanding cooking at his village restaurant that brings in the crowds.
The simplicity of the food is beguiling. We eat a fresh courgette salad with a lemony dressing then a dish of lamb with borlotti beans podded by Tebbutt's three-year-old son, Henry. There's no reliance on heavy sauces, nor does he fall into the trap of undercooking the meat to add colour to the plate. "Rare lamb is flabby. It should be medium or maybe medium rare, but no less."
Tebbutt trained in the RAF but soon gained a reputation among his friends as a great cook. Inspired by the energy of Marco Pierre White's book White Heat, he gave up the air force to train at Leith's School of Food and Wine, later working under White at The Oak Room and with Bruce Poole at Chez Bruce, before moving to chef Alastair Little's Soho restaurant.
"Alastair was a revelation. Calm, intelligent and thoughtful, so unlike the chefs who just shout at you," Tebbutt says. He is adamant that bullying behaviour in the kitchen towards young, impressionable chefs is as damaging in its way as violence at home. "Chefs shouting just breeds a new generation of chefs who shout."
Six years ago, he and his wife, Lisa - "a real Welsh Valleys girl" -
moved back to Wales. They set up their restaurant
in the old stationmaster's house in Nantyderry, near Abergavenny, where the hugely successful food festival runs every September.
Despite filming schedules, Tebbutt is behind the stove...