What is your current role and what does it involve?
I’m the Group Executive Chef at Elle R Leisure, a family-run hospitality group in the North West. My role covers everything kitchen-related across all our hotels and restaurants — menus, training, food safety, financials, stock, wages, the lot. My main focus right now is our latest venue, Longridge House — a boutique hotel, restaurant and wedding venue in the heart of the Ribble Valley, just 30 minutes from Preston. It’s a new venture and I’ve been involved from the ground up, which has been brilliant.
How long have you been a chef?
31 years. I started when I was 15.
How did you first get into cooking?
By accident. I took home economics at school because not enough people had signed up for my first choice. Turns out I had a bit of a knack for it — I entered a competition to design a dish for Little Chef restaurants and ended up going down to London to cook for Lloyd Grossman. Won some money for the school, and my teacher pulled me aside afterwards and said, “you’re good at this, do you want to try and find a job?” I said yes — and she helped me find my first job in the kitchen.
Where did you learn your craft?
On the job, mostly. I started working evenings and days off while I was still at college, just made myself dependable and worked my way up. I was sous chef by 19. The real education came later when I worked at a place in Edinburgh where we used every cheap cut imaginable, nothing wasted. Lamb heart, faggots, the lot. When you can make those taste good, you’ve actually learned how to cook.
![]()
This month’s Meet the Chef, James Scott (Image: Supplied)
What was your first job in hospitality?
The Channing Hotel — a small boutique hotel in Edinburgh, five minutes from my school. I started on the veg section, which was very much the bottom rung. Old school restaurants used to serve sides of vegetables with your main, so someone had to be in charge of that. That someone was me.
What is your signature dish?
Right now, everything I’m doing with fire. When we were planning Longridge, the idea of cooking over wood and fire really grabbed me — I bought books, did research, visited restaurants doing it properly. The flavour you get from cooking over different woods is something you genuinely can’t replicate any other way. We use a Namibian hardwood that gives off a lovely sweet aroma.
We also do a lot of brining — our 24-hour brined chicken goes into a 5% salt brine overnight with garlic, thyme and lemon, then we dry it in the fridge so the skin crisps up beautifully on the barbecue. It’s the kind of cooking that looks simple but has a lot of thought behind it. We have a bespoke-built barbecue at Longridge that we designed ourselves — it does rotisserie, direct grilling and plank cooking all in one.
The team who built it weren’t sure they could pull it off, but what they delivered is genuinely beautiful. I’m looking forward to our Fire Feast Night at Longridge House on June 20th, an outdoor dining experience where our head chef and I will cook over open flames in the gardens, serving a feast of fire-cooked dishes.
![]()
Longridge House (Image: Supplied)
What’s been your worst cooking disaster?
I nearly got sacked in my first job. The chef asked me to seal 40 fillet steaks ready for the oven. I sealed them off, put them in… and completely forgot about them. By the time he asked for them, every single one was overcooked and had shrunk to nothing.
An awful lot of money, just gone. He could have fired me on the spot — he was within his rights. Instead he just looked at me and said, “when I say seal it, I mean seal it.” I worked for that man for nine and a half years after that. I should say it’s not just professional kitchens where things go wrong. I once put a disposable barbecue on my mum’s garden table — she’d just had the whole garden paved and I didn’t want to mark it. Came back out five minutes later to find the table completely in flames.
What are your culinary ambitions?
Honestly, I achieved most of mine earlier than I expected — head chef at 22, a Michelin Bib, top 100 restaurants. After that I made a decision to just say yes to opportunities and see where they led. That’s worked out pretty well so far.
What do you like to eat?
Scallops, without question — my favourite ingredient. And pastel de nata from Portugal, which is possibly the best thing you can eat. I love the Chinese barbecue restaurants in Manchester’s Chinatown. Great produce, simple cooking, honest flavour. Not a million miles from what we’re doing at Longridge, just with different wood.
How do you achieve a work/life balance?
I’m probably not the best person to ask. But what I can say is that the people you work with in this industry become your friends — your social life and your work life overlap in a way that doesn’t happen in many jobs. And when I am at home, I’m properly present. That matters more to me now than it used to.
The Dining Room Restaurant,
Longridge House,
Chipping Lane,
Thornley,
Chipping,
Preston PR3 2TB
Tel: 01772 233142 www.longridgehouse.com
![]()
The interior of The Dining Room at Longridge House (Image: Supplied)
Restaurant opening times: Wednesday – Friday 12 noon – 9.00pm. Saturday and Sunday 8am to 10am noon to 9pm. Closed Monday and Tuesday.
Longridge House, on the edge of the Forest of Bowland, is surrounded by beautiful Lancashire countryside, offering staying guests the chance to unwind in stylish boutique rooms and all visitors, the opportunity to sample great seasonal food and the warmest hospitality. For their latest events and offers go to www.longridgehouse.com
Longridge House is a Visit Lancashire Partner. Visit Lancashire, through their Taste Lancashire campaigns and activities, showcase Lancashire’s leading food and drink providers and producers, locally, nationally and internationally. For more information go to www.visitlancashire.com/Taste
RECIPE
Longridge House – Wood roasted tomatoes & whipped feta Bruschetta with honey and sumac
This is the make-at-home version; it serves 2.
Tea smoked tomatoes
- 120g cherry vine tomatoes
- 10g loose leaf tea – use your favourite black tea, Darjeeling, Assam or Lapsang Souchong would work
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Maldon salt.
![]()
James’ Wood roasted tomatoes & whipped feta Bruschetta with honey and sumac (Image: Supplied)
Wash the tomatoes but keep them intact on the vine. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and season with Maldon salt. In a pan add the tea to the base. Place a doubled over layer of tin foil for the tomatoes to sit on without touching the tea. Cover tightly with tin foil. Turn up the heat until the tea starts to smoke. Turn off the heat and let it sit for 10 mins Roast or grill the tomatoes in a high heat until the skin blisters and the tomatoes start to cook.
Whipped feta (makes 340g, save some for later)
- 220g feta
- 100g cream cheese
- 1/4 lemon juice and zest
- 25ml extra virgin olive oil
- Maldon salt to taste.
Place all the ingredients in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Check the seasoning.
To put the dish together
- 2 thick slices of good sourdough
- 1 garlic clove
- 10ml extra virgin olive oil
- 120g tea smoked tomatoes
- 100g whipped feta
- Pinch sumac
- 10g of good quality honey
- A few basil leaves.
Rub the sourdough with the extra virgin olive oil and garlic. Toast on both sides, put on a plate. Top with the whipped feta covering the bread. Sprinkle over the sumac and drizzle with the honey. Top with the warm tomatoes and rip some basil leaves over the top
You must be logged in to post a comment Login