In a Nutshell, Theo Creton: Cooking has its highs and lows, but you can’t buy the feeling of putting a smile on someone’s face’

Theo Creton, head chef of MARA Restaurant at Links House, Dornoch, on the most he’s ever paid for a meal, his favourite cookbook and the dish he is most proud of.

What’s the closest thing you have to a signature dish?
Portmahomack lobster lasagna, with layers of pasta with a smooth, buttery Orkney scallop mousse, made with lobster knuckles folded with kitchen garden herbs. It is finished with a light lobster bisque, accompanied by a barbecued lobster tail, glazed in a spiced tomato oil.

Describe your style of cuisine in ten words:
Classical French, but with a little tongue-in-cheek attitude.

Best and/or most memorable meal you’ve ever eaten:
The duck yolk custard bun from A. Wong’s in London blew my mind, it was perfectly cooked in the middle, with a crispy base. Fantastic cookery.

Worst/weirdest thing you’ve ever eaten:
A long time ago, a chef made us a staff meal of cheesy rice! It was awful, with overcooked dry rice, with grated cheese on top. No seasoning, no herbs, nothing.

Worst thing you’ve ever cooked:
When I first started dating my partner Mia, I decided to try and impress her by cooking her favourite mac and cheese. I thought the more cheese the better, so I bought 2kg of mozzarella for two people. It was vile, we ended up getting takeaway.

What’s the dish that you’re most proud of having cooked?
The focaccia we make at Links House is the first recipe I have created from scratch. I fine-tuned it during lockdown, when I cooked over 150 loaves of bread every week, along with soup and dessert, as part of a community support effort for the local community. Making different breads at such a high volume allowed me to tweak and perfect them.

Favourite ingredient:
Chardonnay vinegar lifts any dish and brings out sweetness and depth in sauces.

Your go-to recipe book:
The Flavor Bible by Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg. It has a comprehensive list of ingredients and flavours to pair with them. I build my dishes around three matching seasonal tastes.

What other country’s cuisine really excites and intrigues you?
Japan. What they do with preservation and fermentation is amazing. I’m anti-food waste, so the more summer produce we can preserve, the more exciting the winter menus become.

Most you’ve ever paid for a meal:
I went to L’Enclume this year with my partner and two friends — the bill was just under £1600. Worth every penny.

Your favourite Scottish chef:
I worked with Graeme Cheevers for a few months. He completely changed the way I look at food. I proudly showed him how I’d been taught to make jus. He said: ‘It’s nice, but I’d use that as a base to start my jus.’ That’s when I realised that he was on a different level.

Favourite chef outside Scotland:
Ron McKinlay, who is a Canadian chef.

Who taught you to cook or ignited your passion for food as a youngster?
My dad was one of the first to teach me to cook, and my mum and gran were also fantastic cooks; most of my dinners were home cooked.

Most important lesson a young chef can learn:
Cooking has its highs and lows, but you can’t buy the feeling of putting a smile on someone’s face by creating a proper meal. Love and passion will take you to the next level. But take a breath! Enjoy the ride, but care about what you do. (Also, you need hard work!)

Culinary mentor – the most important person in your development:
Leonard Cseh, my lecturer at the University of Derby, was a tough cookie. He sent me on a placement at Links House, even though I’d never worked in a kitchen before. It was a baptism of fire, straight into a 2 AA rosette restaurant. It was a real sink-or-swim moment, but it set me on the right path.

Best thing about the industry:
The people. I’ve made so many friends from all over the world

Worst thing about the industry:
The unsociable hours, I still find challenging at times. But there’s a growing focus on balance now, which is a really positive shift.

What’s the biggest sin a chef can commit?
Deliberately sabotaging a guest’s food or a team member’s prep.  I won’t stand for it.

What do you eat when you’re at home?
I love sandwiches. Hellmann’s mayonnaise, Emmental cheese, with Arran tomato and chilli jam, always hits the spot after service.

Celebrity guest or your perfect dinner party – who would you most like to cook for?
I’d love to cook for comedian Shane Gillis, he’s absolutely hilarious, so it would be a fun, relaxed evening.

Tell me something about you that virtually no one knows:
When I was 20, I had no idea what I wanted to do. My best friend was worried I was drifting; he knew I liked food, so he secretly booked me onto an open day at the University of Derby for Professional Culinary Arts and told my mum, who took me along. I was then offered a place, so that was the start of my culinary journey.

What’s your favourite wine?
I’m not much of a wine drinker, but I recently tried Moscato for the first time, and I loved it.

Your spirit of choice?
Captain Morgan’s Spiced Rum. I won’t drink anything else… well, maybe a Tequila Rose.

Do you play music in the kitchen, and if so, what’s your go-to track or artist?
You can’t get frustrated listening to Ariana Grande. I also play old-school Rihanna, NSYNC, lots of 90s and 80s tunes from Michael Jackson, Phil Collins. If we need to work faster in the kitchen, I throw in some house music.

If you weren’t a chef, what would you be?
I love meeting people, so I’d probably do something with networking. But I’d get super bored in an office, I can’t think of anything worse than sitting in front of a computer for hours.

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