Nestled in the heart of the Angus countryside, The Drovers Inn has an abundance of fresh, local produce on its doorstep. Chef Richard Young tells Gayle Ritchie he has a duty to make the most of his rich bounty
It was probably his mum’s delicious biscuits that set Richard Young on the path to becoming a chef and led him on to the kitchen of the Drovers Inn at Memus, near Forfar.
He beams as he explains: “She makes the best oatmeal and syrup cookies ever and even as an octogenarian, she bakes them when I go home.”
Brought up in the north east of England on a diet of casseroles and “wholesome comfort food”, those biscuits were the highlight of young Richard’s week.
“I did a lot of baking with mum and when I came in from school, I’d often finish off what she’d started baking or cooking earlier in the day,” he says.
“We never had pie and chips or fish fingers for dinner – it was always good food, freshly sourced where possible.”
A passion for cooking ran in the family, and Richard’s older brother Steven went on to become a chef in Switzerland.
“It wasn’t rock ‘n’ roll like it is now; self-taught chefs were almost nonexistent,” recalls Richard.
“It was more like a steady job with a long apprenticeship and flair wasn’t encouraged.
“There’s far more scope for budding chefs now, which they should exploit if they have the passion and staying power.”
Richard, 52, has spent more than half of his life in Scotland, training and working at the Turnberry in Ayrshire and Gleddoch Hotel in Renfrewshire.
He ran his own restaurant, Richard’s, in Glasgow for eight years and before taking up the job of head chef at the Drovers in May last year, he worked at Peter’s Seafood Restaurant in East Kilbride.
“I’ve mainly stuck to the west of Scotland but when I was approached by the Drovers, it was too good an opportunity to miss,” he says.
“As part of the Glenogil Estate, I have the advantage that most of my beef, game and game birds come directly from our own fields, which is provenance of the highest order.
“It’s a pleasure to work with such quality produce and we have a duty to use it to its best effect.”
Good food doesn’t have to be complicated, says Richard, who would much rather “keep it simple”.
“My training was classical but that’s the root of most good food. We add new touches to proper food marriages and because we change our set menu every month and our specials usually every couple of days, we always have scope to go in another direction if a dish hasn’t worked quite the way we wanted it to.
“As well as the meat, I’ve come across Blue Flag Seafoods in Aberdeen who provide the freshest and most consistent fish ever, so we can give
our customers the fare they deserve.
“It’s about improving and tweaking what we do and to turn the produce into what we put on a plate, we have a cross section of kitchen staff.
“It’s always good to have younger members as they are the future of our industry and they bring a new perspective to us older chefs.”
The Drovers offers a diverse selection of food, from venison burgers made from the inn’s own deer to lamb’s liver, and lavish fish dishes.
From February 10-14 – Valentine’s Day – the team plan to offer a special menu with dishes including roast cod with cardamom puree, caper, lemon and coriander butter; sweet potato gratin with roast chilli and broccoli; and a mouth watering lemon and mulled wine jelly cheesecake.
“The Drovers is a beautiful restaurant and bar combo and it was mentioned in the Michelin pub guide for a few years as well as getting one AA rosette,” says Richard.
“These are good achievements but we are trying to encourage good quality fresh food for a wide range of customers and make them aware we are not just a special occasion venue. Happy, returning customers are the yardstick for a successful business.”
Richard recently mentored Forfar schoolgirl Lauren Milne in a regional cooking competition for the charity Springboard UK.
“She did really well and it gave me a great deal of pleasure to get involved,” he says.
“The enthusiasm of all the youngsters was eye-opening and gives a great deal of hope that eating establishments of the future are in safe hands.”
Richard is the first to remind budding foodies that to be a dedicated and talented chef, you need to put in long hours but he wouldn’t have it any other way.
“Fifty to sixty hour weeks are commonplace, often more so in multiple rosette and award-winning places,” he says.
“But it’s a fantastic job and there’s nothing more satisfying than being able to produce fresh, good quality food in fantastic surroundings, just as we’re doing here at the Drovers.”
