5 minutes with Daniel Turner

What’s your background?

"I’ve been at Goodwood over 7 years, working in various restaurants across the estate and it’s been fascinating seeing first-hand how they operate. I’ve learnt so much from every person I’ve worked with. As a chef, I don’t think you ever stop learning – I look forward to discovering new techniques from the talented people in my team, and I really enjoy passing on some of the things I’ve picked up along the way.

I love the fact that we get to know our members at The Kennels. Their feedback is immediate, and we can adapt our two menus – the relaxed, bar menu and the dining room menu – each season, according to what has been popular."

Do you have a favourite style of cooking?

"My natural way of cooking works perfectly with The Kennels’ philosophy of ‘home from home’ dishes. Obviously, we put a Chef’s twist on our food, but everything is based on fairly simple, familiar recipes, created with prime cuts of Goodwood meat, the best local fish and seasonal vegetables. I’m not really one for potions and powders, or tiny portions.

One of the very best things about working for Goodwood is knowing exactly where our produce comes from.  My team and I speak to John, the butcher, regularly to find out what cuts of meat are available. I know that the animals are reared just down the road, and they have been nurtured and cared for. John can tell me exactly how the meat has been prepared and how long it has been aged for.

I also love making the most of the seasons. I’m keeping an eye out for the wild garlic – it grows everywhere around here, so we will be incorporating it into some dishes very soon. The St George’s mushrooms should be out on the Duchess’s Paddock before long, so you might see us gathering those. With ingredients that we can’t grow or forage here, we try to source them as locally as possible: our asparagus, for example, comes from Petworth. I don’t like the idea of flying things halfway around the world."

What interests you in the world of cooking at the moment?

"Personally, I love counter eating: the kind of restaurant where the cooking happens in front of you. Temper in Soho is a great example of this: a whole-animal, high-end barbecue restaurant where the chefs cook your meat over fire in the middle of the room. The Chef’s table is another version of this, where your guests can see how you prepare their food. I’m not saying that this would work at The Kennels, but I do like the concept. It’s the chance to see behind the scenes that people enjoy, I think.

I would love the chance to see how the Goodwood teams cope with the really big events: the dinners at the Festival of Speed, for example, or the food at the Qatar Goodwood Festival. We are always busy at The Kennels during the horse-racing and motorsport events, but not quite on that scale!

I’m so proud of my team – there are only seven of us, and we work together really well. I know that we are all excited about the busy events season to come, and creating the very best dishes we can for everyone who visits The Kennels."