The Three Chimneys’ chef patron Shirley Spear has given celebrity chef Nick Nairn full access to her kitchen’s secrets in his bid to lead Scotland to glory in the ultimate festive food lovers’ challenge for BBC2’s The Great British Christmas Menu.
Nick, a long time fan of Skye’s world famous award-winning restaurant with rooms and, like Shirley, a champion of Scotland’s fresh local produce, has chosen to cook Shirley’s legendary Hot Marmalade Pudding as the climax for his Christmas day menu on Thursday, 14th December.
The Great British Christmas Menu is a special festive challenge for some of TV’s favourite celebrity chefs - Richard Corrigan, Bryn Williams, Nick Nairn and Marcus Wareing - who have been given the task of creating the ultimate British Christmas dinner. In the programme celebrity chefs will compete with each other at each course of the menu to have their dish chosen as the finest by the judges. All the winning dishes will then be brought together to create a final definitive 2006 Great British Christmas Menu.
Nick Nairn is confident that his choice of dessert is right, especially for this season. He says; “It may be a Great British Christmas menu but this is a 100% Scottish dish. Shirley’s recipe takes Dundee’s marmalade tradition and creates a light, flavoursome steamed pudding, a dessert all Scots can be proud of, especially at this time of year when we yearn for home, family, and a generous helping of delicious hot pudding with custard.”
Such is the popularity of The Famous Hot Marmalade Pudding, first created by Shirley and served on the opening day of The Three Chimneys over 21 years ago, that it has featured continually on The Three Chimneys menu ever since and now even has its own loyalty club together with seasonal newsletter and commemorative tea towel. The recipe for the dessert features in The Three Chimneys: Reflections and Recipes cookery book.
Shirley says; “After 22 years I think my Famous Hot Marmalade Pudding has been enjoyed by enough people visiting The Three Chimneys for me not to be too precious about sharing the recipe with a national TV audience, especially as it’s with an old pal like Nick Nairn. From day one I’ve always taken great delight in seeing my customers’ reaction to the pudding in the restaurant, so I’m really looking forward to seeing how the celebrity judges react when Nick serves it up on national television.”
Nick travelled to Colbost by Loch Dunvegan on the north west coast of Skye to film part of the programme on location at The Three Chimneys and is now looking forward to the competition in the studio. He says: “It’s not often one chef champions another’s signature dish and learns the secrets of their recipe whilst also invading their busy restaurant kitchen with a film crew for the day. But I almost feel I’m performing a public service by revealing the gorgeous simplicity of The Three Chimneys’ Famous Hot Marmalade Pudding to the nation.”
For more information on accommodation, cuisine and winter breaks at The Three Chimneys, check out www.threechimneys.co.uk
