Phil Vickery: ‘I served custard powder and got a Michelin star’

Sign up to IndyEat's free newsletter for weekly recipes, foodie features and cookbook releases Get our food and drink newsletter for free Get our food and drink newsletter for free SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. “I had a frozen baby cockerel, because I couldn’t afford to throw them away – I froze and defrosted them – and the head of Michelin had that cockerel as well.” open image in gallery Working as a chef during the recession made Vickery ‘view things in a different way’ The chef, who’s been a mainstay on ITV’s This Morning for 23 years, first started using canned and frozen ingredients in the early Nineties when he took over as head chef of a hotel in financial difficulty. “That food critic said, ‘Oh my goodness, that’s the nicest butterbean soup I’ve ever had – can I have another bowl?’ So I thought, ‘Hang on a minute, if it’s good enough for him, it’s good enough for my customers’.” What was originally conceived out of financial necessity made him “view things in a different way”, and he’s been cooking this way for years at home. Waitrose, he says, does canned squid in black squid ink sauce – “That can will flavour two portions of rice, and that black ink sauce, honestly it’s fabulous,” he says. Vickery turned 60 last year, and while he does consider what he eats, he definitely isn’t about to give up his favourite chilli-flavoured Doritos, and enjoys a pint of beer every single night, saying: “Life’s too short – you’ve got to have some sort of enjoyment!” ‘The Canny Cook’ by Phil Vickery, available now