In this first film in our series with Jeremy Lee we followed him down to Appledore in Kent to meet with his old friend and supplier Frances Smith.
From his early days with Alistair Little and throughout his life as a chef Jeremy has always felt that is it part of his job to go and see and meet producers where they live and work. At Appledore everything grows naturally, ‘without any fuss or fanfare’ and 451 accompanied Jeremy and Frances on their journey of discovery - uncovering, picking, tasting and gathering herbs to experiment in the kitchen.
Frances pioneered the salad, as we know it today, and supplied most of London’s Michelin starred chefs. The ubiquitous British soft green lettuce may be delicious but as Jeremy says, 'it does not translate into restaurant food'. It was a privilege to listen in to this conversation between chef and supplier and to talk to Jeremy about flavours and herb lore and the extraordinary role Frances played in educating chefs.
