Top chef recommends kitchen tool - and ingredient which works with 'almost anything'

Every month, our Money team interviews top chefs from around the UK, hearing about their cheap food hacks, views on the industry and more. Today, we speak to Tom Earnshaw, head chef at Bohemia in Jersey.

The store-cupboard ingredient with the biggest flavour-for-money payoff is... seaweed jam, for sure. It packs an absolute punch and works with almost anything.

The best cookbook to invest in is... Memories of Gascony by Pierre Koffmann. It's full of his classics. My favourite recipe from it is his pig trotters "Pieds de Cochon".

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Being named Young Chef of the Year by Michelin earlier this year... was amazing. It was a real surprise and a totally surreal experience - not every day you have Gordon Ramsay stand up to shake your hand. I may have sworn live on stage. It has raised mine and Bohemia's profile and is helping us recruit new members to the kitchen team and diners to the restaurant,

I find The Bear triggering... It is fiction and overly dramatised, but it does show a real insight into kitchens. Some scenes can be quite triggering for chefs. I find I can't watch it during my break as I get too riled up.

Jersey is overlooked... People who visit always come back because of the amazing beaches, stunning cliff paths and so much history that combine to create a unique and special place. Add in the friendly welcome, amazing produce from land and sea, and there is nowhere of a similar size that can compete. Where else can you find world famous produce like Jersey Royals, Jersey Milk, Royal Bay oysters and more all in less than 45 square miles?

If you want to create a meal-out-style dish at home and don't want to cook from scratch... I recommend checking out FieldGoods as they offer main meals for under £10 and are redefining frozen food.

A piece of kitchen equipment worth investing in is... a Thermomix. They're incredibly handy in a working kitchen and a good tool to have at home.

The biggest cost pressures are... energy costs, not just ours but our suppliers and farmers. They have all seen their energy costs rise well above inflation, but we are all trying not to pass these costs on to restaurant customers where we can.

Rising costs influence menus... but if an ingredient costs a lot on one dish, it can be balanced out with the course that precedes it.

People often misunderstand... cost and value. Yes, we and any top restaurant are not cheap, but when you understand the quality and amount of ingredients that go into every dish we serve - even before you add in the amount of work that goes into every dish - you start to understand the amazing value. There is a much higher percentage of ingredients cost in a hundred-pound meal at Bohemia than there is in a £20 meal at chain restaurants.

The most underrated British ingredient is... lamb. British lamb is the best in the world for sure.

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Social media helps inspire a lot of up-and-coming chefs... it's like a recipe book.

But the bad thing about social media is the rise in comparing your food to other chefs... Cooking should be about your personality and love of your ingredients. If you cook from the heart and stay faithful to your style without following fads that change almost weekly, you won't go wrong.

The most memorable people I've cooked for are... my grandparents... or Johnny Vegas. Obviously, my grandparents are my biggest fans, but cooking for Johnny was great. After his meal, he came and sat with the chefs and we talked for about an hour about food.

The best advice I've received is...don't give up. The rewards at the end will be worth it more if you push through the dark days.

(c) Sky News 2026: Top chef recommends kitchen tool - and ingredient which works with 'almost anything'