In a nutshell, Chef Keith Greig: ‘I was vegan for nine months – it was an awful experience’

May 21, 2024

Keith Greig is an Edinburgh-based chef with a passion for wild game and outdoor cooking with a field to fork approach. During the shooting season, Keith caters on a small estate in Fife, using wild game from the local area in the dishes.

What’s the closest thing you have to a signature dish:

I would have to say my Crispy Shredded Chilli Venison or Venison Bulgogi.

Describe your style of cuisine in ten words:

Music festival street food with a wild twist.

Best and/or most memorable meal you’ve ever eaten:

Mixed Seafood Platter in Oban, it was wet and wild but the food was incredible.

Worst/weirdest thing you’ve ever eaten:

Lamb Brains, they don’t taste of much and the consistency is like jelly.

Worst thing you’ve ever cooked:

Also the lamb brains, I have tried them once and that’s enough for me.

What’s the dish that you’re most proud of having cooked:

Thai Venison with Smacked Cucumber Salad.

Favourite ingredient

Harissa.

Your go-to recipe book:

The Giggling Squid (a fantastic selection of Thai recipes).

What other country’s cuisine really excites and intrigues you?

Big fan of Mexican, Korean and Thai Street Food.

Most you’ve ever paid for a meal:

£150 for a 3-course steak dinner, it was terrible.

Your favourite Scottish chef:

Nick Nairn, I just love his passion for wild meat.

Favourite chef outside Scotland:

Lee Tiernan of Black Axe Mangal in London.

Who taught you to cook

My mum.

Most important lesson a young chef can learn:

Persevere and have fun learning and cooking.

You culinary mentor

Lucy Pattinson, she’s a big influence on me and her passion is infectious.

Best thing about the industry:

Creating dishes for others to enjoy.

Worst thing about the industry:

The hospitality sector has been fighting an uphill battle since lockdown, it is tough out there.

What’s the biggest sin a chef can commit:

Becoming complacent and think you know it all.

What do you eat when you’re at home:

Paella, lots of paella and crisps……lots of crisps.

Celebrity guest or your perfect dinner party – who would you most like to cook for:

I’d have to say Christopher Nolan because I am such a cinephile. Such a great film director.

Tell me a something about you that virtually no-one knows:

I was vegan for nine months due to a fodmap diet – it was an awful experience.

What’s your favourite wine?

Red Wine, a nice Cabernet Sauvignon is my wine of choice.

Your spirit of choice?

Sipsmith Gin, it’s one of my favourites.

Do you play music in the kitchen and, if so, what’s your go-to track or artist:

Bury Tomorrow on repeat, a brilliant British metal band.

If you weren’t a chef, what would you be:

The dream is to have a smallholding, rear animals for meat and live off the land.

Tell me a something about you that your customers won’t know:

I am incredibly tone deaf to the point my singing is so bad it’s good.

Keith Greig will be heating up the Kitchen Theatre at this year’s Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust Scottish Game Fair event, which takes place from 5 – 7 July at Perthshire’s Scone Palace.