A loving touch

One moment he is standing before a pile of carefully prepared ingredients, the next he is delicately positioning a garnish of chervil on the finished dish.

Somewhere in between he has stirred, chopped and whipped the ingredients into order, as he calls on his skills as a master chef to transform them into a really succulent meal.

Carson, 27, took on the post of head chef at the Cherwell Boathouse a year ago and says that, despite often working 70 hours a week, he has never been happier.

He was looking for a job which would allow him to stretch his imagination and use quality ingredients creatively, and this is it.

Cooking for him is all about being imaginative and having a feel for the ingredients. It is about adding a pinch of love to each dish too.

"Put all your energy and love into a dish and the customers will taste the difference, I am convinced of that," he said, as he skilfully trimmed a baby turnip into shape and tossed it into a pan.

Carson was preparing the mise en place' for his wild rabbit signature dish, which he is featuring on his spring menu. It is a dish which evolved from a classic confit of rabbit.

The baby turnips, which are tossed in hot oil and fresh thyme along with seasoned mushrooms, then baked for a few moments, are part of the garnish for this dish.

He would have liked to have been using St George's mushrooms. They look rather like large domestic button mushrooms, but have a thick dense flesh and a far more assertive flavour, however they were not available that day.

He had to make do with open mushrooms, which often need a touch of butter to bring out their flavour.

The main part of the dish is created by mincing together rabbit heart and kidneys with a little softened garlic and a shallot, which is then stuffed into medallions cut from the rabbit loin. Caul fat, a web-like membrane, which wraps internal organs, holds the mixture together.

When he has finished, having placed the saddle and haunch into a pan to brown, and heated up an onion gravy, he has to assemble everything as rapidly as possible so it doesn't lose heat. With a twist of the piping bag containing hot creamy mashed potato, he begins.

The soft mashed potato gives him a starting point it is the centre of the dish on which the rabbit leg can be fixed without fear of it moving out of place. Then with a slight of hand, he adds the rest finishing the dish with a swirl of onion gravy and delicate sprigs of chervil, which add a flourish of green.

Triumphantly, he takes one final look, then passes it over for the big taste test.

The new menu has only been available for a couple of days, he needs confirmation that he has got it right. He has, of course, that goes without saying, because throughout the cooking process Carson is adding a pinch of seasoning here and a pinch of seasoning there.

"It might sound silly to say that every single item has to be seasoned as it cooks, but forget to season just one thing and the customers will be able to spot the difference,' he said.

Carson, who was born in Essex, didn't learn to cook at catering college, and admits that he didn't even go through an apprenticeship or official training either, he simply watched those around him and taught himself how to taste.

"It is no good knowing how to cook if you don't know how to taste," he explained, adding that a chef has to be able to recognise the point in a dish where the perfect balance has been achieved and no further seasoning is required.

"My passion for cooking taught me all I know. It has also taught me the importance of using quality ingredients sourced locally when possible. This enables my menus to follow the seasons."

Obviously there are times when Carson finds it difficult to source particular ingredients from Oxfordshire suppliers. The St George's mushrooms, for example, are usually found in Bulgaria, France and Spain. But his meat, including the wild rabbit, comes from Alden's, who are now based at Osney Mead.

This is an Oxford-based butchers who source most of their meal locally. Dews Meadow Farm shop, run by Andrew and Jane Bowler, supply the black pudding, which they make especially for the boathouse. As black pudding features regularly on his menu, Carson says nothing but the best will do. At the moment he is using it to make a black pudding gnocchi and watercress puree, which is served with pan fried sea bass. That unlikely combination, which Carson is particularly proud of, really does heighten flavours when served with fish.

Actually, there are quite a few unlikely combinations coming out of the Cherwell Boathouse these days. Inspired mainly by chefs such as Heston Blumenthal, who are part of the molecular gastronomy movement, Carson is taking flavours to new dimensions. This movement owes much to the late Nicholas Kurti, the Oxford physicist who called on scientific principals to create perfect tastes and textures, Guided by Heston's ideas, Carson sometimes uses akudjura beans from the Australian bush, known as the bush tomato, because of their remarkable tamarillo and caramel flavours. Tonka beans that provide a vanilla flavour are one of his favourites too and for his ice cream he has been known to use popcorn flavouring or lemongrass.

The main restaurant at the Cherwell boathouse seats 70. Food is required for the river bar too. This means there are times when Carson and his kitchen brigade of seven may have cooked as many as 110 lunches, before going on to serve almost as many dinners in the evening. It is hard work but satisfying.

The restaurant, which began life as a student eating den is the 1970s, is now considered one of Oxford's top restaurants. It is here you can relax, having admired the latest collection of paintings or photographs exhibited around its walls, and watch the Cherwell gently lapping against the nearby riverbank as you wait for your meal.

Carson says that the moment he saw the Cherwell Boathouse he knew he wanted to be part of it and that is exactly what he is.