Revelations: Shaun Rankin, Grantley Hall, Ripon

What was your best subject at school?

 

History. If I hadn’t become a chef, I think I would have liked to be a historian

 

What was your first job?

 

A paper round, when I was about eight years old

 

What was your first job in catering?

 

In a hotel in the Lake District

 

What do you normally have for breakfast?

 

It’s often brown toast and a banana or good old boiled eggs

 

What do you do to relax?

 

I go fishing. I’ve always loved it, and if you can’t find me in the kitchen, that’s probably what I’ll be doing!

 

Which is your favourite restaurant?

 

The French Laundry, Thomas Keller’s restaurant in California

 

What’s your favourite hotel?

 

The Dolder Grand in Switzerland

 

What is your favourite drink?

 

A glass of good wine

 

Which ingredient do you hate the most?

 

Tinned anchovies

 

What flavour combinations do you detest?

 

Ham and pineapple. A disgrace

 

What do you always carry with you?

 

My glasses and a notebook

 

Which person in catering have you most admired?

 

Ferran Adrià of El Bulli

 

Cast away on a desert island, what luxury would you take?

 

Vintage Macallan whisky and a box of Davidoff cigars

 

If not yourself, who would you rather have been?

 

Sean Connery

 

If you had not gone into catering, where do you think you would be now?

 

A marine biologist – or a historian

 

Describe your ultimate nightmare?

 

Having to go to work... I am lucky I have a hard hobby!

 

When and where was your last holiday?

 

With my two boys Harry and Ethan in Mexico, five years ago

 

Tell us a secret...

 

I love a McDonald’s breakfast

 

What irritates you most about the industry?

 

People who are rude

 

What’s your favourite film?

 

The Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover – a classic