It’s fair to say Paul Foster and his restaurant Salt, have had a good year. Salt picked up three Rosettes in the AA Restaurant Guide 2019 and it was awarded a star in the Michelin Guide UK 2019. So why not top it all off by releasing a book? Paul has done exactly that, and it’s also called Salt!
He spoke to The Staff Canteen Editor, Cara Houchen, about why he wanted to do it, what he hopes people will take from it and why he wanted it to be a personal insight into his life not just a cookbook.
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“Bookings have gone crazy!” laughed Paul when I asked him what the restaurant has been like since receiving his Michelin star. “It all feels like a bit of a blur now, especially as I didn’t expect it. I’d written Michelin off as I’d had inspections every year since 2010 and it hadn’t happened, so I put it to bed!”
A star is a tick in the box for most chefs and so is publishing a book, Paul has done both. Salt wasn’t intended ‘to be like any other cookbook’ and at times it allows a very personal view of Paul’s journey not just as a chef but as a father and a husband.
Paul and his wife Rhiain andtheir children
Esmé and Ethan
“I didn’t want it to be faceless,” explained Paul. “I wanted it to be honest, I wanted to show the times in my career where I have struggled, and things haven’t gone well. It’s a tough industry so let’s just be honest about it! I wanted it to be a true representation of everything so the food has not been dumbed down, although a lot of it is achievable at home, it is exactly how we produce it at the restaurant.”
He added: “And Family is important to me and I wanted it to be all encompassing.”
Paul opened Salt restaurant, in Stratford upon Avon, using funding from a Kickstarter in 2016. He raised over £100,000 and one of his pledges was ‘Paul's first cookbook signed and delivered to your door’. So, when asked why he had decided to write a book now, that was the primary reason.
He said: “The opportunity was there, and I thought why not? It’s something I wanted to do since I was 13 and I got my first cookbook, but it was one of those things I thought was unattainable.
“There are three things I’ve wanted to achieve - when I was ten I wanted my own restaurant, when I was 13 I wanted my own cookery book and when I was 16 and I’d heard about Michelin for the first time, I wanted a Michelin star. I’m not sure what I will do next now!”
The book features stunning photography by Andy Richardson alongside 40 hand-picked recipes and it also features some of the artisan producers which Paul uses as he says he ‘couldn’t do it without them’.
Holding the first copy of Salt ‘was amazing’ and Paul said: “I was nervous, and I remember thinking, ‘am I going to like it?’. But I’m over the moon, it’s striking and everything I wanted.”
Paul Foster
As a chef who has always bought other chefs’ books, he can now add his own to his collection but is it strange to think Salt will now be on the shelves of so many others in the industry?
“Yeah it is. Especially as there are parts of the book where I wear my heart on my sleeve.”
The book, although challenging at times, was completed in six months. As well as Paul’s biography there are ten recipes for each season although Paul says it was difficult to choose which ones made it in. But one of my favourite additions is the chef stories. Paul approached friends within the industry and asked them to write about their best dining experiences.
Roast, raw and dived scallop, braised seaweed, apple, radish
“There’s loads of people I could have asked,” he said. “But it’s a mixture of friends and people I admire in the industry. I knew they would add something interesting to the book and it’s a mix of different styles of chef.
“I was inspired by Sat Bains and his book – I was trying to strip the ego away; a book ultimately is a vanity project and I didn’t want it to just be about me and my food. I wanted to get across to diners or people who maybe don’t eat out much that a great meal is not just about great food.”
He laughed: “I’m just annoyed none of the chefs picked Salt for their favourite meal!”
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