1 week Ago
The Farm To Feast winner has been loving all the culinary opportunities that have bubbled up, writes Áine Toner Ricky Robinson In the 20 months since he won the second series of Farm To Feast: Best Menu Wins , Ricky Robinson has undertaken things he had “never dreamed of”. “It’s all kind of happened organically. One thing leads to the next thing.
I’ve done things that I never dreamed I’d be doing — my own night in a restaurant, doing the pop-ups. “That was a real surreal moment. It went really well and I’ve enjoyed all of it: doing food demos at food fairs and the online library classes.
It’s all just been really fun and exciting.” Ricky was crowned the Farm To Feast winner in March 2023, one of seven competing amateur cooks. Telling this newspaper that he was “petrified” while filming, he found his feet once cooking and his confidence has continued to grow.
“It’s day and night,” he says. “I still have to push myself and it still doesn’t come naturally, the cooking does, but not the standing up in front of people. “I’m definitely a better cook, as well.
Writing my own recipes has really been a game-changer. Before, I would have followed a lot of recipes and cookbooks, but now I’m doing more of my own thing.” “It’s something I’m actually really enjoying,” he says of recipe writing.
“I have a food blog now where I do one recipe a week and people can subscribe to it and they get an email every Tuesday. People would send me messages or photographs of their food and it’s great to help.” Ricky Robinson Since the show, he’s had nothing but positive experiences when interacting with fans, laughing: “There was a while there that I was being stopped all the time by old women in supermarkets, because that’s my fanbase.
” The show, says Ricky, prepares contestants for life outside the kitchen and helps when it comes to meeting people who have been following their on-screen journey. “[The show] was very supportive, and afterwards as well, checking in with us during the time of it going out. “We still have our group chat and every now and again you’ll get a message come through.
“Everyone’s also in contact with each other and everyone’s kind of sharing each other’s stories and what they’ve been doing. We’ve met up a few times. “The show was something that I really never thought I would do.
“I struggled at the start of the filming. I just really pushed myself. It does give you confidence, but I still think I’m winging it half the time.
” Ricky still calls himself a home cook at heart and has nothing but praise for professional chefs. “It’s very different just cooking in a professional kitchen than at home,” he says. “You think completely differently about the dish and how long it’s going to take and the portion size.
“I take my hat off to professional chefs, it’s a hard gig,” he says, adding that a cookbook is the ultimate dream. “I have an idea about a hosting book that would go through the year from January to December and the seasons. “It’d be about cooking at home, with tips and tricks as well, ways of cheating and things like that.
” Last Christmas, he conducted four cook alongs in which he praises the interaction. “The demos are really nerve-wracking still, but I’ve definitely got better at it,” he says. “They’re about 40 minutes and it’s a long time to stand there and talk about an onion and not burn something.
There’s a camera on you and there’s a TV screen so you literally can’t go wrong, and you’re using a cooker that’s not your own.” It’s different to the day job of managing an animal rescue centre, something he still enjoys since being involved in the show. “That’s the common question I always get asked: am I going to leave? Or what are my plans? I love my day job.
“I’ve worked with animals since I was 15. I love it. I don’t know if I would enjoy being in a professional kitchen every day.
It’s very different for me going into a restaurant, I’m coming in, I’m there for the night and then I go home, it’s not every day. It is really hard. “And the prepping as well.
Then it has to be good [as] people are paying for this and [for] the experience.” Ricky will be hosting cookalongs this month and next in Mountfield Community Centre, An Creagan and The Patrician, Carrickmore. “I don’t do as many dinner parties now,” he laughs.
“Because I’m quite busy...
my friends are always giving out to me now. I’m not getting as many dinner party invites.” For more information on the cookalongs and to enjoy Ricky’s recipes, see tantrumsandsaucepans.
com. Follow Ricky on Instagram @tantrumsandsaucepans.
