Nathan Rich, executive chef, Twin Farms

Nathan Rich is the executive chef at Twin Farms, a boutique hotel nestled in the pine-clad hills of Vermont. 

Originally from New Hampshire, the chef worked at Lake Placid Lodge in the state of New York before joining the Relais & Châteaux hotel. 

We spoke to Nathan about the bespoke, curated menus he creates for each of his guests using local ingredients and modern techniques. 

What characterises the food scene in Vermont and what's special about it? 

At Twin Farms, we're a Relais and Chateaux boutique hotel that's in Vermont with twenty rooms. We're a farm focused property, we have all of our own gardens and greenhouses, we have a lot of local farms that produce amazing animals for us - pigs, beef, ducks, chickens, that all come from the area - we're really fortunate to in such an amazing area. 

What should people expect when they visit the hotel restaurant, in terms of the food that they would eat? 

When you visit Twin Farms, you have a tasting menu every evening for dinner that's six courses and the fun part about Twin Farms is that there's no menu so when you stay with us, the whole dinner is a surprise. We base the menu around people's personal dietary preferences - so it's a little bit unique and a little bit different. 

What local - may that be American or more regional - ingredients and techniques do you like to use? 

In terms of local ingredients - we have some foragers will go out and provide us with local mushrooms - and as far as techniques, just like any kitchen we're pretty up to par on techniques and sous-vide, we make some beautiful plate presentations to fit within the hotel. 

How do you define your style as a chef? 

We're definitely focused on vegetables and the freshness of the food - we pull a lot of ingredients out of the garden and we try to keep the courses not too heavy, not too rich - we add a lot of freshness and variety in the different courses. 

What dish that you've served recently would you say best showcases your style? 

One of the dishes that everybody loves is this beautiful, handmade, agnolotti pasta that we do that's stuffed with ricotta - Vermont is known for its cheese so we have a tremendous amount of cheese that we use locally but we have an aged four-year clothbound cheddar that we make into a recipe and we aerate and serve it with lobster from the coast of Maine with pickled beets and everybody loves it. The cheese and the pasta is an amazing combination. 

What desserts to you serve at Twin Farms?

We have an awesome pastry chef whose name is Chris Wilson that works with us - he takes care of the pastry side of things - he's a very talented chocolatier, he makes all of our chocolate and petits fours in house, they're stunning. He has a strong point in a lot of his chocolate desserts.