The chef who aims to be a cut above the rest

Neven Maguire and Richard Corrigan had better watch their backs, there’s a new chef in town. Adrian Martin is young, ambitious, energetic, tech savvy and is poised to take over the cookery clique, knocking Donal Skehan from his perch.
The Bawnboy native spoke to The Anglo-Celt’s JENNY MCGOVERN about peeling spuds in the back kitchen, dreaming of his own TV show and how no matter where he goes people compliment him... on his accent.

Chef Adrian’s star is on the rise, at 23 he has achieved what many aspiring chefs can only dream of, with just three years of professional chef-fing under his belt he’s gone and landed his own television show. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves, he isn’t an overnight success, he has spent a long time honing his craft and it all began ten years ago. 

“I’ve always wanted to be a chef,” he confirms. “I’ve been cooking since I was about 13/14. I remember peeling spuds in my back kitchen and dreaming that someday I would have my own show.”
He took to the art of cooking like a fish to batter.
“I love cooking, I’m a very fidgety person and I find when I start into a recipe it relaxes me”
After finishing secondary school in Ballinamore Adrian had his first foray into the cookery world, studying 'Baking & Pastry Arts Management’ in DIT. Whilst he truly enjoyed this, he soon realised his passion lay elsewhere on the food spectrum.
“I loved the course in DIT, I specialised in making wedding cakes and to be honest I was very good at making them. I soon found out though that the process of actually transporting a wedding cake to a venue is such a nightmare,” he laughs.
While studying in DIT he began work in the illustrious MacNean’s House in Blacklion, training under fellow Cavan man Neven Maguire and it was here that his range of cookery skills was broadened.
“In Neven’s I worked in lots of different areas of cooking, it was there where I learned to work with meat, fish, veg and garnishes. In 2013 I went to Killybegs for a year to study Culinary Arts, I just loved it,” he enthused.
He soon settled on his own style of cooking, where he specialises in meat dishes and meat cuts.
“I love creating simple, homecooked recipes. My idea is to demonstrate how versatile simple cuts of meat are. Take mince for example, I’ll get a good batch of mince from the local craft butcher and devise five different dishes that are tasty, healthy and will last a family through the week.”

Ambassador
Adrian began to travel around the food and craft fairs of Ireland, performing cookery demonstrations, it wasn’t long until the industry took note of him. Soon after meeting John Hickey, CEO of the Associated Craft Butchers of Ireland (ACBI) at an event he was appointed ambassador for the association, a job which Adrian couldn’t be more proud of. As part of his role as ambassador for ACBI Adrian visits schools nationwide. As well as cookery demonstrations he also teaches the children about the value of their local butcher and the importance of quality meat.
“My main role is to represent all the craft butchers in the country, so yeah there’s a lot of pressure on me,” he laughs. “We have more than 600 registered craft butchers and it’s my job to help with promotional activities for them. I do a lot of product development with them also, that involves training the butchers and teaching them ways of preparing and selling their products.
“The whole idea of a craft butcher is about traceability, they are able to say with confidence where their produce comes from. It’s from farm to fork, if they don’t have their own farm we help them select a farm where they’ll purchase their meat from. We help them choose their own abattoir where the animals are slaughtered, from there the meat is transported directly to their butcher shop. When you see the whole process you really take note of all the hard work that these people do in order to put food on people’s tables and it pays off, I have craft butchers from around the country telling me they’re busier now than they were during the boom.
“And with good reason,” he adds, “Irish meat is the best you’ll ever taste.”

Cookery slot
In mid 2014 Adrian was approached by TV3 with the possibilty of hosting a weekly cookery slot on one of their shows, he tells the Celt he was thrilled at the prospect.
“They had seen me at various food festivals around Ireland and they contacted me about working with them, of course I said yes!”
In October Adrian made his debut on 'Late Lunch Live’ with Martin and Lucy.
“It’s a great show, they’re so funny and they’re always slagging me 'for looking about 12’.” The show which has now been rebranded as 'The Seven O’Clock Show’ features Adrian cooking alongside celebrity guests.
He relishes each how each show is a new experience, and some guests are more adept than others. “I loved cooking with Bressie, he was just so awkward, he couldn’t multi-task to save his life - it was hilarious. He was fairly sweating,” he laughs.
Following on the success of his TV3 appearances Adrian was approached by Irish TV to make his own cookery show. A series of six, hour long episodes of 'Chef Adrian - The Craft Butcher’ aired on Irish TV just before Christmas and ran into the new year. Each show sees Adrian hit the roads, visiting farmers, craft butchers and local suppliers, speaking to them about their produce and demonstrating recipes with the local ingredients. The show has already been commissioned for a second series. In June he will be crossing the water to Glasgow, where he will continue his work visiting schools, craft butchers and highlighting the importance of traceability.

Coeliac
Adrian has just been appointed ambassador for Coeliac Awareness Ireland, he will be travelling around the country spreading word on gluten free menus.
“It’s become the latest fad for people to cut gluten out of their diet, I know several people who have done it with great results. But one in every 100 people in Ireland have the disease. Some people just cannot digest gluten, and studies have shown that cutting out gluten has proven to help children with autism and women who are having difficulty conceiving. So I’ll be travelling around the country raising awareness and demonstrating some fantastic gluten-free recipes.”
As part of his role as ambassador Adrian will be attempting to make a new world record. He plans to create the world’s largest gluten-free pancake. “It’s going to be great fun, if anyone out there has a big enough pan send them my way.”
He finds that his star is rising alongside the county’s reputation as a centre of culinary excellence.
“Everywhere I go everyone loves the accent. I’m very proud to be from Cavan. It’s brilliant, we have so much to be proud of here. All the work that has been put in by food producers and the Taste of Cavan committee has really paid off, Cavan is well on the way to becoming the food capital of Ireland.”
There’s no slowing down for Adrian, he has a second tv show in the pipeline and he’s in the process of writing a cookery book which he hopes to release later this year, despite his success so far he’s still dreaming big.
“I’d love to have my own show in America, imagine cooking with Ellen De Generes, that would be some craic! The past few months have just been so exciting and busy and I can’t wait to see what the future holds.”
'There’s no stopping you,’ the Celt cheers him on.
“I try my best and work hard, sure that’s all you can do.”