It's an absolute culinary titan on our latest episode of Grilling, as Marco Pierre White joins Simon to discuss his career - and prepare seared lamb chops and salmon a la plancha with ketchup vinaigrette in real life! Lucky Simon ... Arguably the finest chef the UK has ever produced, Marco walks us through his career in intoxicating style, from his humble beginnings in Leeds to spearheading the restaurant revolution on these shores in the late 80s and beyond. He stepped away from the kitchen...

Who better to invite to prepare a dish on a Weber Genesis barbecue than John Torode? The loveable Aussie joins Simon to discuss his culinary upbringing in his homeland, his disastrous first restaurant, why he made the move to the UK, working for the visionary entrepreneur Terence Conran, and, of course, the joys of Masterchef. We then send him into the garden to grill a whole wild sea bass with seaweed and lemon butter and potatoes, which you can watch in full HERE See acast.com/privacy for...

It's a welcome return to the podcast for Andi Oliver, who not only joined Simon in a beautiful West London home for a chat - but also to cook her delicious bush tea brined tamarind molasses barbecue chicken on a Weber Genesis Barbecue. For that's what we're asking our guests to do in this latest season of Grilling - and you can watch the video HERE, as well as the one with our previous guest, Yotam Ottolenghi.   Among the subjects up for discussion with Andi are her culinary heritage,...

Welcome to the brand new season of Grilling in association with Weber Barbecues - the podcast in which Simon Rimmer speaks to the world's best chefs about their passion for food, cooking, and the hospitality business. And, in an exciting change from our previous series, we're not getting our guests to talk about what they'd make on a Weber Grill - but actually do it. First up is Yotam Ottolenghi. Born in Israel, Yotam is often credited with popularising Middle Easter cuisine, though he's far...

Born in Samoa, raised in New Zealand, and now firmly established as one of our most highly regarded chefs, Monica Galetti is supremely humble, but clearly fantastically gifted in the kitchen. Here she tells Simon about Desert Island Discs, barbecues on Polynesian beaches, representing Oceania in cookery competitions all over the world, getting her first job in the UK with Michel Roux Jr, and juggling the considerable challenges motherhood with the pressures of running of her first restaurant....

When one considers global Australian icons, many spring to mind - think Kylie Minogue, Guy Pearce, Peter Carey, Shane Warne, Elle Macpherson and, of course, Bouncer - but chef Bill Granger certainly belongs on any such list. A self-taught cook, like Simon, Bill now has a restaurant empire that spans globe, and is also a hugely popular face on our television screens. Here he reveals all about his culinary journey, which is spookily similar to our Simon's. It's a lovely sharing of yarns from...

Our latest guest on Grilling is one of the most charismatic chefs in the business. Richard Corrigan has led quite the life - and has plenty of amazing stories to show for it. Here he tells Simon about selling fags to his pals as a schoolboy, the sneaky way he guaranteed a great review from formidable food critic Fay Maschler, his love of George Orwell and nightly scuffles with drug dealers outside his first restaurant. Richard is great value - though ready yourself for some colourful...

Our latest guest on Grilling is a larger than life Italian, who has been a key player in bringing his native cuisine to British shores over recent decades. Born and raised on the Amalfi coast, Gennaro Contaldo started helping out in restaurants as a young boy, before moving to the UK in the late 60s. Initially, he worked in a fish and chip shop and then various London restaurants - including Antonio Carluccio’s restaurant on Neal Street. It was there he met Jamie Oliver, his protege, famously...

Having spoken to plenty of long-established types from the British culinary scene, Simon welcomes some young blood to Grilling this week in the shape of Tom Brown. Born and raised in Redruth, Tom cut his teeth under local luminaries Paul Ripley and Nathan Outlaw in his native Cornwall, before opening his own restaurant, Cornerstone, in Hackney Wick. Named by Harden’s as London’s best seafood restaurant, Cornerstone now has a Michelin star, cementing Tom’s reputation as one of our finest young...

We are in the company of cooking royalty on the latest episode of Grilling, as Michel Roux Jr joins Simon to discuss his illustrious career. Michel is the son of Albert and nephew of Michel - the brothers who revolutionised the restaurant business in the UK when they opened Le Gavroche in 1967. It famously became the first establishment in this country to gain one, two and then three Michelin stars, and is still going strong under Michel’s expert supervision. As we discover, he has literally...

Ever wondered about James Martin's remarkable collection of cars? Well, wonder no more, as the man himself gives Simon a VIP guided tour of his home garage in the latest episode of Grilling. We also discover what got one of Britain's best-loved chefs into the business, which came first, his supercar or his mortgage, and where all food winds up, Michelin starred or otherwise. You can imagine ... A truly joyous chat with, as Simon notes, the fellow who basically owns food TV in the UK.   See...

Our latest guest on Grilling is a truly inspirational woman, who spent 20 years as a barrister in child protection before following her dream and opening a restaurant. Nisha Katona launched Mowgli Street Food in 2014 and has not looked back since, opening numerous outlets up and down the country. Here she tells Simon about the racist abuse she experienced growing up in Skelmersdale, her mum’s curried crispy pancakes, dating the school rebel, loving the law and the secrets of Mowgli’s success....

In 1994, Michael Caines’s stock was high. Having worked under Raymond Blanc at Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons and in 3 Michelin starred kitchens in France, he landed the job of head chef at Gidleigh Park in Devon. Then he lost his right arm in a car accident that not only threatened his career but also his life. Here he shares his remarkable story with Simon, from his culinary education before the crash to his memories of that fateful day and his remarkable rehabilitation.    See...

One of Gordon Ramsay’s self-appointed Magnificent Seven - alongside previous Grilling guests Marcus Wareing and Angela Hartnett - Jason Atherton is a chef who’s made it to the very top of his profession through a combination of grit, bloody-mindedness and supreme talent. Here he talks to Simon about pole vaulting for England, running away to London with no money and no job, kipping in Angela's loft and not being able to find the kitchen, sleeping on a Spanish beach before blagging a gig...

The undisputed king of Indian cuisine in the UK, Atul Kochhar was the first chef from his homeland to receive a Michelin star. In this delightful interview, he tells Simon the secret to the perfect biryani, how to sauté your onions when preparing a curry, the subtleties of oils and spices in the regions of India, and the joys of cooking over open flames.   See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The grime artist turned chef Big Zuu is in fine fettle as he joins us to talk about rapping and cooking. He tells Simon about his unlikely journey - which has seen him get into the music business via social work, and latterly making Dorito Fried Chicken for Jimmy Carr! Variety is the spice, as they say. We hear about his love of West African and Middle Eastern cuisine - and macaroni cheese out of a can! Zuu also has a couple of neat tricks for making burgers, and a pair of excellent...

Top chef, style icon, entrepreneur, bon vivant, domestic goddess, renegade, influencer, and / or, er, did we mention top chef? Gizzi Erskine has worn many hats, not always of her own choosing. But one thing is without doubt: she knows her food, and she knows how to cook it darn well. Here she talks to Simon about raising her little sister, piercing bodies in Camden, learning how to 'take care' of meat at one of London's best restaurants, pop-ups, organic pizza, the delights of offal and the...

We have a proper legend for you on our latest episode of Grilling, as one of the godfathers of cookery writing - and, indeed, cooking full stop - joins Simon to reflect upon his extraordinary career. Ken Hom effectively invented fusion cuisine, introduced the wok to nearly every household in Britain, taught a nation how to use oriental ingredients - and still found time to run a chef's school in Hong Kong, develop a menu for Cathay Pacific, teach Italian cuisine in California, and barbecue...

Grilling is back! And what better way to kick off Season 2 than with one of Britain's top chefs, Angela Hartnett? She and Simon cover all kinds of ground, including her love of Arsenal, making fresh pasta with her grandmother, her rebellious streak as a young girl when she'd sneak out on school nights to go to gigs, how she came to work with Gordon Ramsay, and the significant challenges of running restaurants in the current climate. She also takes part in our first ever BBQ&A and gets...

The clue is in the title, as Simon revisits some of his favourite moments from the first season of the podcast. He talks butchering sheep with Nadiya Hussain, lobotomies with the Hairy Bikers and Swedish feasts with Rachel Khoo. It's a Caribbean Christmas for Andi Oliver, and Marcus Wareing recalls his first meeting with Gordon Ramsay. Gok Wan describes one of his dinner parties, Tom Kerridge remembers getting his first Michelin star, and Paul Ainsworth reveals what he likes to eat after a...

Don't yuck my yum! So says the hugely charismatic food aficionado Adam Richman in conversation with Simon from New York. Adam is best known for the show Man V Food, in which he’d take on outlandish eating challenges in far flung-corners of the States. A self-educated food fanatic and trained sushi chef, he has kept a journal of every restaurant he’s eaten in since 1995. His passion for cooking in all its forms (not to mention football) shines as they discuss the very best (and worst) of...

Our latest guest on Grilling is a true titan of the industry - at the vanguard of lending quality and credibility to the British food and restaurant industry. Rick Stein has become synonymous with laid-back cooking, seafood and, of course, Padstow. He opened his first restaurant in the Cornish fishing port in 1975, having initially failed as a nightclub impresario. He’s been a regular on our screens since the 80s, has broadened his restaurant horizons and written numerous best selling books....

It's a Boxing Day bonus episode of Grilling for you, as Simon is joined by the inimitable Andi Oliver. Andi has led an extraordinarily colourful life. A chef, restaurateur, musician and TV presenter, she grew up on RAF bases in Suffolk and Cyprus before moving to London at 17. It was there she met Neneh Cherry, with whom she took the stage in the band Rip Rig + Panic. She subsequently presented non-cooking shows like Badaas TV with none other than Ice-T - but has never lost her affinity for...

How do you come to run the first pub in the world ever to have been awarded two Michelin stars? Well, it's certainly been quite the ride for Tom Kerridge. He and Simon discuss Tom the actor, hedonist, businessman, TV presenter, drinker, teetotaler, campaigner and plenty more besides - not least his extraordinary rise as a chef through a string of top kitchens. They also reflect upon the influence of the great Marco Pierre White upon both Tom and the British culinary landscape, and consider...