Ali Bilton Cooks!
What a job we have here chatting to Yorkshire foodie people that we admire, it’s got to be the best, but it does make us very hungry! Speaking to professional chef, Ali Bilton about her foodie journey has certainly tested us before lunch! But we’re tough Yorkshire folk, so time to share Ali’s Yorkshire Story. We wanted to find how she got to write her very own cookery book, and set up her own business and premises producing restaurant quality, fine frozen food shared all over East and North Yorkshire, and all during a pandemic. But to find out how she got there we needed to go right back!
Ali was brought up a Yorkshire farmer’s daughter, and along with her two sisters, they all were inspired to relish good food by their mother’s love of food and providing three good meals a day, all seasonal and from scratch. Ali’s mother was self-taught and learnt the hard way! But Ali’s journey was very different. She studied Catering after leaving school, and also attended the prestigious Leiths School of Food and Wine. Fast forward a few years and she was living in Gibraltar – spending half a dozen years there running her own food business there and across the border in Spain. A time to work hard, play hard!
Living the high life there was a great way for Ali to experience new food cultures, learn the language, and rub shoulders with celebrities catering on film sets and in cooking for F1 teams! More on that later! But her travels didn’t stop there, Ali later found herself living in Hong Kong with two small children, taking every opportunity to continue her food journey by travelling and attending courses to fully explore Thai food. The two years were time well spent as Ali’s favourite dish (after much deliberation from this true foodie) is her authentic Thai Style Green Curry!
We next caught up with Ali’s foodie journey when she found herself back in Yorkshire, where she set up her own private catering business, with many of her clients being the people who she had met up with Gibraltar and Spain, who had homes in Yorkshire too. What wonderful Yorkshire connections! Never advertising her services, the demand for her culinary expertise quickly grew by word of mouth. Once her children were a little older and a little more demanding of her time, she worked with their school in York to offer cookery lessons, some for those going off to university totally unprepared to be cooking for the first time. Unlike her own sons!
All the time Ali was thinking about setting up a cookery school so more people could benefit from her food journey, passion and extensive experience, and was approached by the Rymer Family, owners of JSR Farms as they had thoughts of doing exactly the same. JSR owned a farmstead they were looking to convert for the purpose, and Ali immediately jumped on board – designing the cookery school and watching the build closely. The Yorkshire Wolds Cookery School officially opened in 2010 when she became head tutor, and got to share her love of good food with so many. Us included!
After a decade at the cookery school, Ali had made plans to leave in June 2020 with plans to do something totally different, but then in March the pandemic hit and Ali quickly thought on her feet of how she could use her talents to support those at home. Time for video tutorials sharing recipes, tips and an insight into Ali’s country living with her sons. These were a huge hit with her at home audience and Ali realised there was a gap for those stuck at home who wanted to enjoy restaurant quality food. Cooking at home was starting to get a little boring! Ali contacted the Rymer Family again and asked them to consider her using their kitchens at the cookery school to support her with just what people were needing – restaurant quality, fine frozen food! Blast freezer bought, steep learning curve climbed and Ali was set! With her son’s back home in Yorkshire this was a real family effort.
Fast forward a little time and that plan to do something a little different had certainly evolved! With so many new customers now relying on the service Ali provided, it’s led to new premises and shop in Pocklington and producing fine frozen food to be shared in homes across Yorkshire.
It’s not just the convenience of frozen food that her customers keep coming back for, for many it’s the use of seasonal and local food, and her support of artisan food producers like ourselves. You’ll always see a bottle of our Yorkshire Rapeseed Oil in Ali’s kitchen! This approach doesn’t come without cost to the business, but it is something that Ali has always been passionate about, and cooking with this care is something that many customers now demand as the point of difference.
It’s these customers that very much form Ali’s plans as the business continues to grow and evolve with Ali at the helm. Do keep an eye out on social media and sign up for her newsletter for all the latest news, the team at ABC don’t sit still for long!
Ali’s love of food and travel has formed much of where she is today, and we were keen to find out what it’s been like to cook for F1 teams, royalty and VIPs. Ali holds amazing memories of cooking for the legendary Marlboro Honda F1 team when both Aryton Senna and Alain Proust drove for them. Besides cooking for the team (in a motor home!) they also cooked for visiting VIPs. Many events involved working with James Hunt, one of the world’s best racing drivers when he was a host. Crazy times aplenty with him around! But our favourite story had to be when Ali used her Spanish language skills to get the racing commentator Murray Walker out of getting a parking ticket when she schmoozed the Spanish police on his behalf! She must have known that her love of travel and entertaining would help her out, and that continues today.
One question we always ask our favourite Yorkshire foodie people is who is their food hero? Ali didn’t hesitate. That person was her Mum, Sheila. A true inspiration to Ali and her sisters, Sheila taught them all about the importance of using seasonal produce and keeping food miles low. She would be so proud of what Ali is doing now – bringing her most loved dishes and family favourites from her kitchen to our tables. Bringing the story full circle back to the beginning, for this woman who has been on quite some journey to where she is today. We’ll continue to watch this space!
We're pleased to be able to share one of Ali's delicious recipes with you. A delicious seasonal dish, make using Yorkshire Rapeseed Oil of course!
"We are lucky enough to live in a veritable market garden in Yorkshire and, in the main, it’s the aim to source these seasonal ingredients as locally as possible. I make this with locally grown asparagus when available, just replace the beans. This salad makes the most of what’s on our doorstep. The herby mayo dressing uses our Yorkshire Rapeseed Oil and fresh herbs. We chose home grown chives and flat leaf parsley for our herbs, but you can use your favourites. If you would prefer, add the herbs to a good dollop of our Yorkshire Mayonnaise with Lemon for the required zing in this dish! A great dish to use roast chicken leftovers, or do like Ali does and poach your chicken fillets in water with a splash of wine, tarragon, parsley and peppercorns for around 20 minutes."
A Salad of Chicken, New Potatoes, Beans & Avocado with a Herb Mayonnaise
