I knew that this video was in the works, but I didn’t know when it would be posted.  (Thanks to Rachel and Andy for the heads up!)   Thankfully the wait is now over.

Writer Tim Hayward was fortunate to spend the day with Mr. Henderson cooking a whole hog’s head at St. John and recording the whole thing on tape.  The video is six minutes long, full of fantastic shots of the kitchen of St. John and all of the wonderful food being prepared.  

While I would have loved for a longer video with more instructions from Mr. Henderson, Mr. Hayward explains why that wasn’t possible.

I feel your pain, but let me explain. We were incredibly lucky to get time with Fergus in his own kitchen but you have to imagine a space about 6m x 3m with the regular crew of four guys in it prepping for a regular, sold-out lunch service.

It’s a testament to their professionalism that they let two blokes the size of Fergus and I get in there to cook at all without stabbing us with large knives.

Oh, and I should also mention Sarah, our camera person who was pirouetting through all that boiling fat, hot metal and sharp stuff with her eye clamped to a the viewfinder.

There isn’t a whole bunch of time for any of that ‘here’s one I prepared earlier’ stuff .

I hope the advantage of working the way we do – enthusiastically and with a tiny, agile team – is that we can catch more of the spirit of what’s going on than perhaps something studio-based and more forensic would.

The recipe is all there in text above or on pages 36-37 of the magisterial ‘Beyond Nose to Tail’. It’s simple and I really urge anyone to try it.

All in all, this is a very bright point in my week.  Thank you very much Mr. Hayward for sharing your time with Mr. Henderson with the rest of us.