Scot Kirton’s lime & lemongrass sorbet

Asked whether he has time, or makes time, to cook at home, Scot Kirton offered a glimpse into his family life. He also, no doubt wisely, said that he has no favourites in his restaurant empire. But I had to ask. Just in case.

Anyway, he says of his home cooking life: “Yes, my home eating life is vastly different… It’s great to be able to spend more time at home now with my wife and two little girls. I definitely do the cooking; we have a pellet smoker outside and a pizza oven, so do a lot of slow-cooked cuts of meat or fish. I enjoy spices quite a bit, which the children haven’t come to terms with yet.”

And that ‘favourite’ restaurant? He wasn’t biting. “I definitely don’t have a favourite; I eat at them all fairly regularly, mostly when we change menus so I can try to help guide them if I feel there is anything wrong. But these days they don’t need too much guidance, as they are all highly talented and are taking the restaurant in their own desired directions.”

He does miss running a smaller kitchen, as he once did before the group really took off.

“I most certainly do miss running a small kitchen, but wouldn’t change a thing if I had to do it again. I get so much joy out of watching these young chefs evolving and growing up, and winning their own awards.”

So here’s a sweet taste of a great chef’s home life (and Kirton is a chef, and a very fine one, even if he has passed that baton to the host of chefs now working under his wing).

Scot Kirton’s lime & lemongrass sorbet

Ingredients

For the sorbet:

20g sugar

2g stabiliser

140g sugar  

160g glucose

120g lime juice

8g lime zest

700g water

3 leaves gelatine

5 sticks lemongrass

12 limes for the lime wedges

Method

For the sorbet:

Mix first sugar (20g) with stabiliser. Combine second sugar (140g), glucose, lemon juice, zest, water and lemongrass and bring to the boil.

Take off the heat, cover and infuse for 30 minutes. 

Heat again, add the bloomed gelatine, sugar and stabiliser and bring to the boil again and cook stabiliser. 

Strain and mature for 8 hours. Churn in an ice cream maker.

Lime wedges:

Cut lime in half lengthways. Scoop out lime segments (segments can be squeezed for lime juice in sorbet). Fill half the limes with sorbet and freeze for 6 hours. Slice each lime in half again to form wedges, and serve. DM