This month's Featured Chef"¦

Ray Lorimer

Classically trained as a chef and caterer in the Army Catering Corp over a 25 year period.

Ray is responsible for all Culinary Development, which includes: new products, both in UK and Europe, sales force training, hygiene and HACCP training, food photography and general industry interface and support. Ray was classically trained as a chef and caterer in the Army Catering Corp, over a 25 year period, starting with a two and a half year chef apprenticeship in 1967. Ray was head hunted by Caterplan/Bestfoods in 1992 on leaving the Army, and set up the original Unilever Food solutions Culinary Services team. Seven years later Ray was head hunted back to the Army, as a Supply Logistician to set up a new Logistic Food and General Supply Operation for the United Nations Peace Keeping Force in Cyprus. Ray keeps himself fit by regular running which has included four London Marathons, one Great Northern Half marathon, five Three Peaks 24 hour challenge, seven other mountain marathons, and a 26 mile charity marathon, across Hadrian's Wall. Ray has recently completed an International Culinary Arts degree at Thames Valley University, where he was awarded a first-class honour. Ray, first and foremost thank you very much for taking the time to talk to us today. "Delighted." It's fantastic to be here. I don't really know what I was expecting, but what I have seen today has just been unbelievable. Fantastic facilities. State-of-the art kitchens. As I said when we were walking around, I know a number of chefs who would love your working environment. So maybe we can start by you telling us a little bit about your role here. "OK, I am Executive Chef of Unilever Food solutions. I also have another title, which I don't use externally, as it's more for internal purposes. I am the Culinary Controller, which means I control culinary services, which is slightly larger than my actual team. I have a team of 5 chefs and those chefs have varying backgrounds, ages and experience. Also there is a sales force of about 50-60 guys, mainly chefs with chef backgrounds, and 5 chef-coaches who have more than just a sales role - they have good chef backgrounds so I can ask them, on occasions to give me support if I need it." OK, and obviously, Unilever is a worldwide company and has some famous brands underneath it, such as Knorr"¦ "Yes, other brands include Hellmann's (mayonnaise), Marmite, Bovril, Colman's "¦ Pot Noodles (laughter), Pepperoni, PG tips and Lipton tea. They say that in the UK, a product from Unilever has a footprint in 98% of all houses. That's from our foods, our retail part of the business "¦ Persil, Ice Cream - Ben & Jerry's. The list goes on "¦ it's a huge multi-national company." Yeap. "A great company to work for, I must say." Yeap. Now a lot of our members will know brands such as Knorr through its association with the Chef of the Year competition. Our regular contributors to The Staff Canteen include previous Chef of the Year winners, such as Simon Hulstone and Steve Love. You do a lot with your Chef competitions and your brands are very prominent in that sort of arena, aren't they? "Yes, it's been deliberate. Historically, I've been with the business for 17 years. I joined when I left the Army and in my second year I met a young student chef called Simon Hulstone, who was with the Chefs and Cooks Circle going to Canada"¦" Yeap. ""¦ with the British Team and they came back with a Silver. I remember meeting them at Heathrow Airport on their return at 4 o'clock in the morning, because we were the supporting sponsors, and I wanted to say "?Well done'. It's great to see that after 12/13 years Simon is still at it and he is now a recognised Chef of the Year with a Michelin-starred restaurant. We have a strong tradition from the days of CPC (Cater Plan, Best Foods) where we've always tried to nurture the youth of catering, because that's where it all starts." Yes, of course it is. You mentioned the Army. Now, obviously, your career started in the Army. "Yeap." And you started off as a Chef, and I would imagine that that is a very traditional, classical base? "Yes." I believe that if you can do the classics, you can then move on to anything. "Yes, one thing we touched on earlier was that we do Business Development. We have a team of chefs - my background is catering - but we use our skills and knowledge to develop ideas and concepts. Rather than just selling a box of soup we consider: "how can I sell it as part of a package to a customer?" So what we have is a training concept, which we call "?Classic meets Contemporary' and "?Classic' is going back to my early days as a young trainee chef when I was taught all those classic skills from Escoffier to the Contemporary skills. Now the "?Contemporary' skills are what you see today on the TV, it's the pretty plates. But when I joined the Army I was 15 years old. I was an apprentice, I completed a 2 ½ year apprenticeship; learned to be a soldier; learned to keep fit; became educated (because I was a little s**t at school). I actually didn't join to be a chef, I joined to be a mechanical engineer." Very similar!! (laughter) Chef: Mechanical engineer! "Yes, well I was good at all the technical bits at school. You know - metalwork all those things. So they said "?Well you can join but there is a three-month waiting list before you can join to be an engineer, but you can go in at this point into another branch and do your training, and then three months later you'll be an engineer.' So, I asked who I would join in those first three months and they said "?Oh, the Army Catering Corps', and I said, "?What do they do?' (laughter). I didn't have a clue, Christ, my mother, she was not a cook, and I think all I ever had was porridge and once I even had a packet of crisps in two slices of bread! So there was no catering background in our family - my father was a miner. So I did my three months basic training expecting to become an engineer and move on to a place called Arborfield, but 25 years later I was still in the Army Catering Corps, or the Army Catering Services as it was. A mistake to start with, but a really good mistake as it turned out." Absolutely. "And a great, great education as well." I guess we would all love to be 15 or 16 again, but if you could turn back time would you still look to do an apprenticeship? "I am going to be controversial, I believe that guys of 15 years old should go and start work. I don't believe that they should stay on at school for that period of time. I think that if a youngster is not academically minded "¦" You aren't going to learn it then. ""¦ No, you're not and apprenticeships give them the opportunity to go out and learn something. I would love to see proper apprenticeships come back." Yes. "I did 2 ½ years, as I said earlier I was a little s**t at school. Clever enough but I just didn't develop. I was a late developer. But I developed then in that 2 ½ years. Perhaps if the Government put money in other directions and if I could maybe turn the clock back and "¦" Yes, I think, sadly the Colleges aren't what they were. I think there are some good apprenticeships out there now, some of the bigger, more established places are doing good apprenticeships, but it is a bit hit and miss. "Yes, Birmingham, Westminster, Thames Valley, to name a few"¦ (apologies for those that I have forgotten). I can't speak for colleges in general, but I just miss the real apprenticeships - 2 ½ years - which I had as I think I benefited so much from them." Yes, and I guess the Army gives you great discipline and personal discipline as well. Does that help in the role you do now? "Personal discipline, I remember at 15 years of age I got fined 10 shillings for under-age drinking. (Laughter) I actually never got caught but the Sergeant Major said I had been. So I just said "?Yes, Sir' and then after a couple of years I was a cook in Ireland. Nothing changes - there is always trouble in the world. But yes, personal discipline - you learn how to cope with a crisis, you know if you bugger-up the potatoes then plan X comes into play!" Yes. OK, Ray, so how did you get from the Army to the role you are in now? "Good question. Over 25 years in the Army one thing I wanted to do was to keep one foot in civi street because I always knew I would come back out." Yeap, and often, a bit of a generalisation but people from the forces often struggle to adapt back in industry. "Yes, that's true." Not all but some. "Yes, you can't generalise but it's true. I sort of worried about that when I left. I was forty when I left, so 15 to 40 is a long time especially if you get to know people. I also entered into competitions. My speciality, if I am being honest, was sugar. I saw that someone in the Army had just done this lovely sugar work and I thought I needed to try and do it myself. So I became pretty proficient in cakes, royal icing and sugar. But also I was a lecturer in the Army, and I taught for three years. I taught basic cooking, all under the City & Guilds banner, so 706/1 and 2 as well as Pastry Advanced." OK. "I prided myself at the time - I was one of the youngest instructors to teach Advanced Pastry work. But I did it for just three years because I was very