Sydney Catholic schools is proud to present so you want to be a chef today with us in the studio we have one of Australia's most experienced and well-known chefs known for his non-nonsense attitude in the kitchen his take on no food philosophy turned a modest Pub dining room into a highly coveted dining destination working in a two Mion Star restaurant in London at the tender age of 19 with a massive 14-hour day he's been taught by some of the world's best chefs a household name is a judge on Channel 7's my kitchen rule Our Guest today not only now has his own show but has also published his own cookbook titled four kitchens it was recently announced that he will be joining The Better Homes and Gardens as a food presenter today he is set to spice up Studio as we turn up the temperature and welcome him to the hot [Music] seat [Music] please welcome to the studio Colin Fage I'm Tony Farley executive director of Sydney Catholic schools and with me today is our student co-host and aspiring Chef Ashton from aquinus Catholic College meni Colin thanks for joining us pleasure pleasure to be here so let's hop straight into it can you explain explain to us nose to tail uh nose to tail philosophy is if I put it in Easy context if you buy a whole animal you use the nose to tail you use everything inside like obviously there's bits you don't use but it's um like if it's if it's a pig you used from the snout to the tail that all came from my my background of growing up cuz my parents would use a lot of aul a lot of stews a lot of Cheaper cuts of meat because back in Ireland back then it was it was a bit harder living and obviously the weather dictated a lot of what you would eat so you use nose to tail and I've carried on the philosophy and it is a it's a great way to live great way to run a business if you're clever because you buy a whole animal you you you cut out the middleman of the butcher or the whatever and you do all the work yourself but you reap all the rewards so it's a lot it's a lot cheaper and it's a lot more you know you put your brain into gear and and work out how to use all all the parts of the animal how do you educate the customers in terms of cuts that are not familiar to them or might look like um they're a bit icky I've been educating customers for 25 years when I started the four in hand one of our dishes was a pig a snitel so it's a pig a which we brazed in a beautiful Port uh stock with ginger and then we we pressed it we crumbed it and it was a perfect triangle when you eat it it's it's tastes like a pork and when I started a forign hand the uh the ladies of the day of Paddington hello Paddington uh would say we're not eating that we give that to our dog and then I think over time as the media went on and I got one hatut then two hats they were buying Pigg knittles and an $800 bottle of red so I think a lot of it's just about you just got to keep pounding away and um be persistent and I I think obviously with the fame of the restaurant that sort of changed people's you know inter ation the pig ear schnitty schnitty that's great now if you look at a get the chance to see what's going on in a kitchen uh in a big restaurant it looks incredibly complex and chaotic at the surface level what does the executive chef do and how do they do it given the complexity of that kitchen if well if you go into a big kitchen and it's chaotic there's something wrong because it's not chaotic it's basically like a car and every little moving part has some thing to do and if one little moving par is not pulling his weight it sort of brings down the rest of the team because everything's done on times uh staggered bookings and and and when you get a Ducket in it if you I've worked in kitchen with 40 shifts and it was now dramas because if there was you knew about it put it that way it was old school Raymond blonc kitchen so everybody's got their part to play it doesn't matter if it goes down to the kitchen hand you know what I mean kitchen hands people sort of Overlook I think it's all about the executive chef but it if your kitchen hand goes missing you're in a world of pain for the night because someone's got to do the washing up so someone's got to get off a section someone's got so it interrupts the whole balance of the kitchen and the executive Chef's there obviously to to control the kitchen quality control and just make sure every head of every section is doing their part so let's go back way way back not that far back to the age of 13 and you were famed for making a rabbit comfy now can you explain to us what that is and how it came to be that the 13-year-old Colin was doing it well 13-year-old Colin wanted to he wanted to be a chef a zookeeper or Rockstar so that was the three jobs I wanted to do you've managed all three sort of yeah um but more chef and uh I I was what I used to watch cookery shows like back in the day deia Smith and you whatever whatever whatever and Kei Floyd and you wouldn't you wouldn't know any of these and he had that glass of wine in his hand didn't yeah yeah so comy is cook h a piece of meat in in a fat or or an oil at a certain degree and it will slowly break it down it's like brazing so I seen a rabbit and I said why not try a rabbit so I confed the rabbit but I didn't comy enough so obviously if you're only half comfy it it's rock hard it's like a table and um didn't smell too good and I said to my father of comfy the rabbit and he proceeded to tell me how bad it was but anyway that was it was a lesson learned like I think in cooking is all about you never get things right first off it's everything you've done wrong you don't do again and that's how you you make it in this business what initially attracted you to hospitality uh well I think cooking was in the DNA in in my family my mother's my sort of biggest inspiration as in and my dad's good inspiration for cooking as well because back then I said I wanted to be a chef it it was the worst job in the world and now TV's brought it into the Forefront and everyone wants to be a chef but they still don't get how hard of a job it is but in my house everything was about cooking so everything revolved around the kitchen table so I I resonate food to be uh something about love uh talk family it wasn't just the fuel so cooking had a big place in my heart so I said I want to continue this on and be I'd love to do that as a job and my parents were great supporters of her even when it was um seen as um you know job you want to do so from that's that's where it sort of kicked in that's why I wanted to be a chef so all those years back and then you move forward here and um there's there's the work you've got to do the work continue to do the work but you've also got a degree of celebrity and fame that's flowed from that what's it like to find yourself in the situation you are now it's quite good actually um no but that all came after like I was you got to you got to look at cheffing and hospitality is one of those jobs if you don't have a passion for it it will drag you down and it will drag you down in many bad ways as well so you really got to love what you do and I loved what I did even be forget about TV so when I had four in hand like we work 16 hours a day obviously times have changed but that was to make my name and I was I was building a brand and I had a passion about that my wife ran the front of house and even when we had our kids they they stayed in the restaurant it was that was me that was my happy place was in the and it wasn't easy but that was me building a brand and then because I was good at that I got off of the job in TV and then I did the first few EPS of TV and I wasn't very good at it because it's a different skill alog together to learn so I thought i' just walk in and do it but it's a totally different job different skill set different everything and um you're a chef you're not trained to be on TV and then once I I failed a few times of that I sort of I'm the sort of person if you fail at it I want to master it so I became good at it just to prove other people wrong and and now now it's second nature to me but it's another skill set alog together you can't just rock in and do TV and a lot of people don't get that but the perks from it are good as well I would be sitting here if I wasn't good would I well this is one of the perks for sure isn't it yeah uh so like in school did you do any Hospitality or anything any like subjects related to cooking no and I think it's one of the biggest failings of of the system when I was growing up because to do cooking it was it was frowned upon it was looked down upon as and I'll say this up it was seen as a girls it was something girls did and I was like well I I want to cook and I like that's my passion and we were just pushed away we were sent to do mechanical drawing instead of cooking like so I'm not a person who does mechanical drawing cuz my mechanical drawing was all over the place uh whereas I was more into art and cooking so I think later on when I I went to uh College C Street uh dit in Dublin and when I went into college after school and I went to a cookery College which it did it did um it taught us economics it taught us different languages it wasn't just cooking cooking was only part of the whole thing it was how to run a business and I was like this is what it's about and if I had that as a kid I think I would have had a much better time at school so what about an aspiring Chef today what sort of advice would you give them in terms of getting a start in the industry uh they not finished school yet but uh what could they do to to get them into the the game well I would go to your local cafe I would get a job even even if you start like we all did washing pots and pans that's you see every you see the nuts and bolts from the bottom up and that's a great way to see how a kitchen works and then work the floor CU you need to know how the hospitality how the front of house Works cuz it's being a sh Chef is not all about being a chef you need to know how the fun of house works and then and then I would work in a kitchen and I'd work in a good kitchen and then once I've mastered that one I try another kitchen so you can do that on the weekends you can even go and stand in one of the best kitchens in in the country and work for free and just see what's going on because that that's the way you do it you see what other people do so entry point wherever you can yeah the and cuz the top end of cooking is not for everybody like some people like the lower end but and that's fine my whole thing is you got to go to work in the morning and be happy to go to that job because I can't think of that worse than going to a job you hate and that's you're stuck at it um you know you're no stranger to pressure but we're just about to have the lightning round you've got one minute to answer some pretty tough questions and so I'm hand handing over to Ashton so we'll start it off then what did you want to be in Primary School a drummer Drummer so obviously you're still doing that then yeah I've got a drum kit I was in a band but so was everyone El in Dublin so that didn't really help and uh what was your first job uh first job was a barback so you loaded up the bars in a huge uh like convention center and I did that so I could get a job in the kitchen so I'd carry like the coca-colas or whatever and fill the bar and clean it and uh what's the one thing you can't start your morning without coffee same here you're too young uh last thing you Googled uh what did I Google how to spell halumi properly because I was doing something with halumi and I spelled it wrong and that was yesterday halumi uh what's your favorite book uh my favorite book is a book by Fergus Henderson it's a nose to tail ah St John's it's called it's a great book on how to break down Hollow animals and what to do with it how many pages Lots just two books but and it's h it's like a little bible for chefs oh yeah uh what's your favorite meal uh depends I'm eating a lot more vegetables now I do like pork uh and last night I did a halumi with um tomatoes and pine nuts that was quite it was really good actually so I eat a lot more it changes it changes with the seasons at the minute like you've still got tomatoes are in and fennels in and your herbs are in and then as winter comes I'll get a bit more stewy oh yeah I've never been a fan of stew to be honest but yeah you haven't had moist stew that's that's bad on your mother's stew she's going to nail you later on and describe yourself in three words uh hardworking annoying and funny Dogo cat person dog if you could have a superpow what would it be fly it's a good one yeah what would you do if you know you couldn't fail I think that's a stupid question because I think the only only reason I've done well is cuz I failed and I would fail again because everything I've learned is from failing it's good piece of advice because if you don't fail you don't you don't there's nothing to push you I think if you just get it too easy there there's no point yeah nothing nothing that's good is ever earned easily yeah well we failed to do that in 1 minute it was much longer but it was much better so there it is proof again that failing works Colin when did you know you absolutely wanted to be a chef 12 I reckon 12 yeah a year before the rabbit comy yeah yeah oh well cuz I worked for um a hospitality company it was hu we used to have this thing called the hor show was huge this event in Ireland and I worked for this hospitality company and I I started like just pale and vegetables I bought my own uniform and I'd go in and just see this kitchen of 40 chefs and go that like it was just like a whirlwind I'm like I want to be part of that did you have any role models that you were you mentioned some of the ones on television back in the day but who are your role models I think every kitchen I worked in I worked I worked in some good kitchens but even before the famous guys I worked in some really good kitchens and I had head chefs who seen you were good and had a passion and sort of took you under your wing every kitchen I worked in had someone who was a role model I think that's what you got to do you got to go to somewhere that someone cares about the people under them to show them enough that you're not just there for a job that it's their they're passing on the knowledge and I think that's that's what you should learn go to places where they pass on the knowledge it's good advice because most role models are not famous are they no and you always remember the guy who who taught you the first how to how to bone out a piece of beef or took the time to show you how to do it and I think that's that's what's missing in the hospitality industry at the minute because everything's become so fast food um hours you can only do 38 hours a week so that's a service but how how do you learn to break down fish pigs beef you know what I mean how do you learn The Butchery side when you you don't have time uh so I know we touched on this a bit already but where do you think is like the best place to start in the hospitality industry I think you find somewhere local somewhere small and with a good head chef who's going to give you time obviously you got to do the work but then we'll also invest back in the staff so then the the thing is someone invests back in the staff they learn then they're more valuable to the business and that that's you got to find somewhere small like that rather than just going into a big place where you're just a number but inside that you know if you ever look at McDonald's as as bad as it is and whatever you look at the kids in there they they work to a Time everything's on a time and a clock and that's the way a kitchen works it's just another version of a kitchen but sometimes like I have gone to McDonald's and I've been to really B and I watch these kids on times cuz everything's on and I'm like it's basically just the kitchen yeah on steroids yeah well I've done my time at mackas so I'm sure most kids have yeah but I mean it's it learns you it teaches you speed it teaches you hygiene you know and it teaches your customer service well ma is is refound from their teaching and especially their hygienic practices as well yeah and uh what was the most memorable experience you had while working in the industry good a bad uh well let's take both yeah I worked I worked in a kitchen with 40 chefs and we work 16 hours a day and uh I remember it was quite annoying at the time but it's stuff I'll never see again so like it was 11:00 at night we've just finished we're cleaning down and then the boxes would come in from France like big poistar in boxes full of Truffles and it was £99,000 worth of pounds not dollars pounds of truffles that would just come from France and then all the chefs would have to line up with a toothbrush and clean these truffles cuz they're an expensive ingredients and we were there till 2: in the morning doing this and I was like there's more to life than this cuz I got to be back at 7:00 and um but it was great to see like and this product come in or we get the luses in which I like live prawns from Scotland and they're all alive in boxes and we'd have to break them down at 11:00 at night by the time we finish and make we'd have to make the biscuit which is the soup from the shelves it'll be half two in the morning but it was it was great to see something as as just come out of the ocean and we had to get it done that night which was it was very annoying at the time but um I'm bad bad what have I seen bad I've seen people abused in a 40 chef kitchen where physical abuse mental abuse and that was just seen as um how our kitchen works and gladly today that whole culture has changed it's gone but that was seen as the norm what is the best advice you've ever received if it's not right do it again don't save your mistakes and taste your food which is a lot sometimes shifts forget to do that sometimes it's all about dots and plates and it's a nice square but it doesn't taste very good and a final question what is the best piece of advice you could give to Young Chefs anywhere buy a book you buy a blank notebook I've got I've got 20 of them and every kitchen you work in you write down every recipe and then you might write your own version of that recipe but you've got that recipe so in 10 years time you go to write your own menus and you go oh that was a great sauce or a great how did he do it but you've got it in your book and it's in your handwriting so you'll know what it is and then you eventually make your own version of that it's about acquiring knowledge and writing it down and draw a picture of the dish as well I've you do that too yeah yeah yeah yeah so you sort of brings you back to that point in time um cooking's a craft but there's it's it's an art as well isn't it it it's it's party a personality like if you do if you get to a certain level in a kitchen you've brought sort of your your bring your upbringing into your cooking or what made cooking for you so like I I grew up in Europe and Ireland so i s to bring that in and obviously I've lived in Australia for 25 years so that's sort of changed it's mellowed it's become its own thing but I think if we all did the same thing it' be a very boring world so that's why certain chefs do well because they've sort of put their personality on the plate but then you've also got to remember it's also a business if you're not paying the bills your personality on a pl's not going to last very long you got to pay the bills just finishing up earlier on you talked about being at home growing up and sitting around that table and you mentioned the word love uh in terms of that experience of family and home how does food enhance and create an environment uh where love of not just of the cooking of the food but in fact of the people around the table for each other how does that add to it I'll give you a very I I just did um two dinners in a in a Vineyard in Adela on the weekend and one of the courses was this Rose beef so on the bone ribber beef and uh i t there was a big bit of fat on top but it was like caramelized it was beautiful so I broke a bit off and I ate it and within eating that bit of roast beef it that brought me back to 12 on a Sunday morning where my dad cooked the roast beef every Sunday and for a piece of foods to bring it to a memory like all those years back 40 years back cuz I'm 50 now and I I went back to tasting my dad's roast beef on a Sunday morning and that's what food is to me food's not just a fuel it's a memory of you know everything I can tell you something like off I had that in Paris or eat this cheese I had that there it's it's a vehicle to travel you around the world in your mind within seconds and for something to do that that's that's pretty rare that's a beautiful way to end uh this talk Colin uh thanks so much for joining us pleasure thanks for having me make sure to visit Sydney Catholic school's social media channels where we'll be giving you a sneak peek of what's in store for next time to find more about the opportunity Sydney cathic schools provides in hospitality and food technology visit our website www.ed Catholic schools.new South wales. u. Au God [Music] [Applause] bless