What’s in your kitchen?

I inherited this big Viking cooker, which I probably would never have bought myself, but that’s partly what convinced me to buy the house. It’s a big, eight grand cooker, which is very nice, but not as efficient as you might think, because it’s quite an old one. It looks the part and has two ovens.

I’ve got all sorts of gadgets. I’m not really a gadget man, but I get sent a lot of products to try in many ways because of my column. I’ve got Kitchen Aid, which is one of my favourite electrical items, which is a chopper, blender all-in-one machine. I’ve also got my old faithful Waring blender, which I really like. It’s an American product and has a lovely ridged glass container. I believe they were originally designed for producing cocktails behind bars.

I also have a faithful vacuum machine which I bought from South Africa and I use that to vacuum my salmon for Selfridges.

Expert View

And the loos, man! Saints alive, at prices like this you can’t give punters an old pub lavvy

Giles Coren

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Mark Hix: local hero

Popular chef Mark HIx cooks red gurnard with steamed cockles, roast partridge, and cider and blackberry jelly

• Red gurnard with steamed cockles and brown shrimps

• Roast partridge with parsnip crisps

• Apple or Cider and Blackberry Jelly

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When I opened the Chop House, I decided I wanted to smoke salmon for the restaurant, which is my contribution, so I bought this Bradley smoker, which is about the size of a domestic fridge and it has a smoke box. Now I’m smoking salmon for here, Selfridges and Richard Corrigan has just started buying my smoked salmon.

We’ve also got a lovely, old, wooden kitchen table. I bought it from Alfie’s Antique Market off Edgware Road but it wouldn’t fit through so we had to knock one of the walls down! It’s an unusual arts and crafts style table, which we’ve plonked in the middle of the kitchen. It must have been an old dressmaker or architect’s table as it’s got lots of cuts.

I quite like copper saucepans – I used to use them years ago, when I worked in hotels, although they’re a nightmare to clean. But I’m getting back into them now.

How would you sum up your food philosophy?

I’m all about sourcing British food and I’m always on the lookout for new producers. That keeps the menu alive and the chefs interested.

How has British food and our attitudes to it changed in your lifetime?

The general public are much more educated now about food. Partly because of people like myself who write and clearly list where ingredients come from. With farmers' markets and TV and magazines, everyone’s talking about British food and I think that has made a big difference to the way people eat and shop, but I think there’s still a long way to go.

There are still a lot of people buying cheap, badly produced food from the supermarkets, who can’t afford to buy decently reared chicken, for example. I think there has to be a happy medium where there is cheaper food available that’s also better quality, which I think that supermarkets aim to do. But sometimes the cheap produce is really bad, if not in flavour then often in the way it’s been reared.

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