Rick Stein, the man who would be king(fish)

Back in the 1970s, Rick Stein was not a chef. He did not have 17 restaurants, including two on the NSW coast. He had not made 30 television shows. He hadn't published 26 cookbooks. He did not have Chalky, the snap-happy celebrity terrier. No, back then, Rick Stein was a student of English at Oxford who also co-owned a Cornish nightclub, where he also DJed. It's these B-sides and rarities of Stein's life that have all contributed to his fairly non prescriptive path to fame that has spanned over three decades.

Stein is a born traveller. His love affair with Australia started as a child, when his family would visit for holidays. Later in life, though, that obsession with this country grew from a place of deep sadness. When Stein was 18, his father, who had battled with bipolar disorder, threw himself off a cliff in Cornwall.

Not long after this, Stein made his first solo trip to Australia. "I think it was an attempt to try and prove I was grown-up. Before my dad's suicide, I lived in a very cozy middle class environment. I was reading a lot of Ernest Hemingway at the time, and I remember thinking, 'Well, I've gotta be a man'. But I wasn't, really."

Grief-stricken, he odd-jobbed his way across the country, working in abattoirs, dockyards and a stint on the original Ghan, running from Alice Springs to South Australia. It was four months of track maintenance, working in the bush and the desert. "It was rough," he says, "but not dangerous."

It was the trip that gave him his first taste for adventure. "I was a bit nervous and quite lonely at times because I travelled on my own, but there was a real sense of moving on. Leaving town, moving on to somewhere else."

Travelling alone at length can lead to some long dark nights of the soul – it certainly leaves a person with a lot of time to think and reflect. "There were some awful times, of course," he says. "But looking back on it, I just think it was probably the best thing, it was like a rite of passage, really."

I find the whole idea of being a nomad a lot more attractive than being somebody who stays home

Returning to the sleepy little seaside town of Padstow and getting back to his mother, who was completely broken by his father's death, was vital. It was also the time he decided to attend university.

And a few years later came the nightclub. "I think there's a phase in your life where the future doesn't matter too much to you. I was just enjoying myself, really."

Eventually, after dealing with one too many fishermen having one too many drunken brawls, Stein spun his final record.

"I was slightly traumatised by the failure of the nightclub – I was declared not fit to hold a liquor licence. But then the whole business of running a nightclub is a very specific thing. You need bouncers, and you need tough people to control it, and me and [my business partner] Johnny were just a couple of middle-class wets, really. We were crap at it. Just hopeless, and I was stung by it."

In its place came Stein's first serious foray into food, the Seafood Restaurant. He'd had some experience as a trainee chef, where he'd picked up the basics of working in restaurants, and he hired a couple of locals to help him.

"I wasn't trained enough. I just started employing chefs to work with me, and learnt from them. All I had – because I hadn't worked for any famous chefs – was the knowledge of my mother's cooking, and a basic understanding of the stuff I liked."

It was an appearance on Floyd On Fish, starring the late British television legend Keith Floyd in the 1980s, that thrust Stein into the limelight. When Stein was later offered his own show, it sparked a rivalry with Floyd that lasted a decade. The pair made their peace before Floyd died in 2009.

The television show has allowed Stein to take armchair travellers around the globe with him. He says a lot of his television success comes from discovering things along with the viewer. Showing and learning, not telling.

One series retraced his steps when he first travelled to Mexico in his 20s. "I remember we were driving through Guadalajara, with our fixer, Louis, who is Mexican. We went past this hi-fi shop, and there were two guys protecting the shop with shotguns. I said, 'Christ, what's going on there?' to Louis, and he said, 'That is why it's so safe'."

Another is spent following the Indian railways, learning to wrangle spices and make properly delicious curry. "I suppose I have a puritan streak in me that thinks I've got to go to some less comfortable parts of the world."

Hitting peak fame, Stein found himself cooking for royalty, celebrities and politicians, among them, Margaret Thatcher at a dinner at 10 Downing Street in 2002. Stein, however, doesn't let personal politics or bias get in the way.

"I think it does become just a job, because you're so aware that this is not about sitting down for a really good meal; it's about politics, it's about meeting people." He catered Queen Elizabeth's Golden Jubilee, too – Prince Philip, apparently, watches his shows.

As to how he feels now, having influenced a couple of generations of young chefs with his books and his TV shows? "Well, it's sort of weird. As far as I'm concerned, I just did what was obvious. The idea that foraging and buying locally was just what we did naturally in the '70s. If you wanted mussels in those days, you had to pick your own. So, but I've always tried to stay true to those origins."

It's usually about three weeks of being on the ground before Stein starts to get restless. "I always remember Bruce Chatwin's book Songlines, dividing human beings into pastoralists, who like staying at home, and nomads, who like wandering. I find the whole idea of being a nomad a lot more attractive than being somebody who stays home. There's people in Cornwall, would be the same here, that never go more than 100 kilometres from where they were. They regard people that do it as crazy."

Quickfire corner

Favourite fish bit? The loin.

What would I see if I looked in your fridge? Tomatoes, avocado, lettuce, salmon for sashimi, homemade mayo, two or three Mexican hot sauces, some cheese, some new potatoes and some fermented yellow bean paste.

The last book you read? Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian.

The last song you played? Cathy's Clown by the Everly Brothers. I love the Everly Brothers. I used to play them in the disco all the time. To me, in the '60s and '70s, American soul music was what it was all about. It was just sexier.

Could you ever be a vegetarian? Never.

Who's your greatest inspiration? It's probably the cookery writer Elizabeth David. Oh, to be alive when she was writing about going through the Mediterranean and France. Just to be in that time when she discovered this food so close to Britain.

Greatest living legend? Keith Richards.

Do you ever indulge in a late-night snack? Endlessly. I like terrible stuff. I always remember being in Oxford and having a gyros. Pissed, just by the bridge across the Thames. Eating one of these from a car, just thinking "This is the best f---ing food I've ever had in my life."

Join us for the second instalment of Rick Stein's exclusive 'Seafood Series' on Sunday, August 11. Good Food will host Rick Stein, his head chef Mitch Turner and special guest, Lennox Hastie of Sydney's Firedoor restaurant. The dinner will showcase The dinner will showcase a four-course menu that celebrates local ingredients in their most natural state and includes matching wines. Enjoy ocean-side overnight accommodation, the magnificent dinner, and breakfast the next morning. Rates start at $990 for two adults. For bookings or more info, phone (02) 4919 3800.

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