Q What inspired you to be a chef?
I’ve always enjoyed cooking from a young age. At school I chose cooking as an option and was the only boy in a class with twelve girls. My dad once said to me if you make a success of this you’ll always have a job, someone always needs feeding.

Q What did you find the hardest skill to learn?
Sweets and pastries were the things I found most difficult, it’s a very precise process in which you need to be very exact. For me, when cooking, a lot is done by taste and by eye and I find you can be more creative this way.

Q What ingredient(s) couldn’t you live without?
Personally I love bacon, it’s delicious, but in terms of ingredients onions, garlic, chillies and ginger.

Q Is there any food you won’t cook and why?
I won’t cook endangered food, anything that is struggling to become plentiful or anything that is intensively farmed i.e. chickens. At the college we’ve tried to stop using cod, plaice and haddock as they are becoming in short supply so we use alternatives. It’s up to chefs to find something different and educate customers about alternatives. People are often unsure and frightened of trying new things so if chefs demonstrate alternatives people will follow.

It’s important to use seasonal produce and educate people about seasonal food. Food grown in season is at its best and has more flavour. Buying out of season means you pay premium prices for products which are not at their best. Produce is flown thousands of miles and as well as the environmental impact of this, it is picked before it’s ripe because of the time it takes from being picked to reaching its destination.

Steve Heaton

Q Who cooks at home?
My wife and I both cook, depending who is home first. My wife trained in the hospitality industry and is a good cook.

Q Is there any food you won’t eat and why?
The only food I won’t eat is the food on “I’m a celebrity” ... eyeballs, testicles, grubs and bugs - no chance!

Q Favourite school dinner?
At primary school, we had an excellent school cook, Mrs Onions, who prepared all our meals from scratch with fresh ingredients. My favourite was liver and onions.

Q Who would you most like to cook a meal for?
I love cooking. It doesn’t matter who it’s for, I simply enjoy cooking all the time. I’d like to cook a dinner party with the table made up of people who have inspired and entertained me; this would be hypothetical because some are deceased. The table would consist of Ronnie Barker (comedian), Rick Stein (chef), Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall (small holder/chef), Bob Paisley (Liverpool FC manager), Ray Mears (explorer), Michael Palin (comedian/journalist), Muhammad Ali (boxer), and Michael Hughes (friend/chef lecturer at Stafford College).

Q If you weren’t a chef, what would you have been?
I’ve never considered anything else. I’ve always wanted to cook. In the future I want to be a small holder and become self sufficient.

Q What do you enjoy about your role as chef lecturer?
It’s great to see students progressing. To look at students on the Level 3 programme and see how they have progressed since they were 16 and all the things they have achieved is very rewarding. Working as a teacher you’ve got to be passionate about your role, and patience is essential. When you’re working with professional chefs they already have an understanding of what you’re talking about but with students you need to guide them through each stage and explain techniques, ensuring they develop and learn new skills.

To book at table at Aspire, Tel: 0161 952 4678 or email aspire@stcoll.ac.uk

Steve’s recipe:
Guinness braise shin of beef.

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