Smokestak founder David Carter on why his approach to cooking at home is notably different to the food he serves at his Shoreditch restaurant
As the founder of barbecue joint Smokestak, David is known for his slow-smoked beef brisket buns, charred pork belly ribs and crispy ox cheek. Before opening the Shoreditch restaurant in 2016, he served up a similarly meaty feast from a food truck, attracting queues that snaked around the block. His restaurant dishes remain meat-focussed today, with a good selection of tangy slaws and hispi cabbage to cut through the richness. More recently, he co-founded Manteca in Soho with Chris Leach, which specialises in nose-to-tail, British-Italian food, including fire-cooked meats and handmade pasta. Here, he tells us why his approach to cooking at home is far less meaty and why his favourite weekend activity is sampling other restaurants.
“The kitchen is designed to be all clean lines, with a nod to the Victorian heritage of the building. We live in a two-up, two-down terrace just off Columbia Road, which was completely unliveable when we bought it at auction. When we moved in, we didn’t have a fridge, so we’d keep the milk outside. We knocked through downstairs and extended into the side return in order to make one large room that contains the living and dining areas, as well as the kitchen. The kitchen is at the back of the plan and looks out onto the garden through a wall of glass doors. I wanted to be an architect before I got into restaurants, so in a way, I was vicariously living out that dream with this project.
“The kitchen feels quite slick, with one clean run of green tulipwood units all the way to the end of the room, a parallel island and walnut Shaker-style units in the alcoves on either side of the fireplace. It was made by Biddulph Kitchens & Joinery, who we were introduced to by one of our wine suppliers. Luke, the founder, is an artist and absolute master of his craft – what he does with joinery is second to none.
“Lucy and I designed the kitchen together: she’s on the finishes side, while I lie more on the practical side so thought a lot about the ergonomics of the space. As a chef, the less walking you have to do in a kitchen, the better. Lucy is a complete minimalist, so for her, less is more and I have to agree that the kitchen looks much more streamlined when there are fewer things in it. She’s even managed to be minimal when it comes to Ned’s toys – they’re all things that will last and are plastic free.
“We looked at all these amazing appliances and induction hobs, but actually settled on quite straightforward pieces and went for a Lacanche Range Cooker. With everything else, it felt like there would always be a better model coming out, but this is designed to last and is also absolutely beautiful. It has so much power and feels right in terms of the home’s Victorian roots. Especially in the kitchen, we were really keen to make sure we acknowledged the building’s age, while also making it suitable for modern life.
“My most cherished kitchen tools are a handful of knives that I’ve collected over the years. I have two or three really good knives, including one that I love by Fingal Ferguson, an Irish knifemaker who I came across at a festival we used to do in Dublin called The Big Grill Festival. He uses the Japanese technique of making knives and definitely knows his way around metal. I won’t ever go into the kitchen and not use that knife. It’s as sharp as hell and keeps its edge.
“I’m quite simple when it comes to equipment and don’t really have any gadgets. We have some great cast-iron pans by a Swedish brand called Skeppshult. They’re designed to last for generations and hopefully, they’ll outlive us. You don’t really need to use soap on them, just a bit of oil in the base to keep their patina. We use them at least twice a week and find the more you use them, the better they get.
“The cookbook I refer to most is The Sportsman by Stephen Harris. He’s a brilliant tutor and I find his approach to food so inspirational. I also love Diana Henry’s book for weekday meals, especially Bird in the Hand. She’s great at one-pot dishes that are relatively simple, most of which I cooked my way through in lockdown.
“It’s not strictly a cookbook, but I really got into chef Thomas Keller’s Masterclass series at the beginning of my career. These classes were so useful when I was trying to learn and needed to be instructed. I watched them back-to-back and have never seen such meticulous attention to detail. He’s a complete pedant and I’ve honestly never seen anything like it in my life – he’s a bit of a magician really.
“My approach to home cooking is worlds apart from the food I make in the restaurant. At Smokestak, the dishes are very time-consuming and meaty but at home, we cook simple, produce-led food. Pork and beef – ironically, considering I founded Smokestak – are the things we eat the least; in fact, we eat very little meat at home. We tend to cook fish twice a week and eat lots of pulses, grains, lentils and chickpeas. Lucy does a fair bit of the cooking at home, but I usually cook at the weekend and two or three times in the week if I’m lucky. We tend to do our shopping at the local greengrocers around us and will often head to Broadway Market, which is great. Fish either comes from Finn or Flounder on Broadway Market or from Bethnal Green Fish Supplies, a wholesaler that will drop fish round once every couple of weeks.
“A classic weekday meal here is pan-fried fish, which we’ll season with salt, pepper and olive oil. We’ll basically cook whatever is going from Bethnal Green Fish Supplies – it could be bream, sea bass, Dover sole, or turbot. We tend to cook braised lentils or roasted vegetables at least once a week too.
“Another favourite is to roast a chicken with loads of vegetables, which we’ll then eat over a couple of meals. We put onions, carrots, celery and any other vegetables we need to use up in the fridge into a roasting dish with a bit of stock and try to keep them as whole as we can. Then we put the chicken on top; we take it out to rest when it’s cooked and let the vegetables cook for a bit longer until you get an almost syrupy gravy in the bottom of the dish. Sometimes, I give it a Caribbean twist and make the gravy with a tomato base, stock cubes and Worcester sauce, and then serve it up with rice.
“At the weekend, I like to avoid cooking and instead eat at other people’s restaurants, especially those I haven’t yet visited. Brawn on Columbia Road is always a favourite, as is Thai restaurant Som Saa in Spitalfields. The Bridge Arms in Canterbury is great too and the Quality Chop House in Farringdon is another firm favourite that I’ve been going to for years. We’re spoiled for choice in east London.
“Most of my favourite memories from lockdown are when we started to be allowed to have friends round. I really believe that a kitchen is only completely made when you have people over. Lockdown was hugely positive for me in a way, as it gave me a chance to get creative, which can often feel hard on a daily basis when you work in restaurants. I got really into making puddings – especially The River Cafe’s lemon tart – and also spent hours making stocks and braises. I did a lamb shoulder one day, which I cooked slowly overnight – I ended up getting up twice in the night to check on it. I’d never do that now, but I really enjoyed it when I didn’t have the pressure of being at work.”
Serves 4
For the Coco Bianco
200g Coco Bianco beans
300ml water (just enough to cover)
30ml olive oil
1 small onion
1 small carrot
1 celery stalk
2 bay leaves
2 sprigs thyme
Salt (to taste – approx 1 tsp)
Soak beans overnight and drain well. Place all ingredients in a pan and gently simmer for about an hour until the beans soften. Once cooked, disregard bay leaves and thyme; put vegetables into a blender and blitz until they form a puree. Add back to beans and fold through. Season at the very end.
For the fennel
1 fennel bulb
1 tbsp Pernod
50ml stock/water
1 sprig thyme
1 tbsp cold butter
2 tbsp rapeseed oil
1 tsp sea salt
Take one bulb of fennel and cut in half through the root. Take each half and cut into four even pieces, again through the root so they stay intact. Bring a small pan to medium-high heat and pour in just enough oil to cover the base of the pan. Drizzle the fennel with oil (so the salt sticks) and season with salt. Once the pan is hot, cook the fennel on each side for 3-4 minutes until golden brown. Add the Pernod and cook out until it evaporates. Add the stock and lower the heat to low. Cook for a further 3-4 minutes until the root of the fennel is just pierceable with a knife. It should just give but retain a bit of bite. Add thyme. Whisk in cold butter to emulsify with the stock. Season to taste.
For the fish
2 x 500g red mullet
500g water (or just enough to cover)
½ leek or small onion
1 small carrot
1 celery stalk
Fennel trim
Bay leaf
For this dish we have used red mullet, a summer fish now coming into season. The flesh and skin have a crustacea-like richness and sweetness to them. Sea bass, sea bream or mackerel also work well. You want a fish where you can really crisp up the skin.
Gut and clean 2 x 500g red mullet. Descale, then remove the sides before carefully pining the bones. 250-300g red mullet are more common so you can use these, but serve with four side fillets (from 250g fish) vs one side fillet (from 500g fish) as shown. Pan-dry the skin and leave the skin side down on a paper towel while you make the stock. The aim is to dry out the skin as much as possible, so you get it super crispy. Change the paper towel as needed once it becomes moist.
Now for the stock. Once the fillets have been removed, add the fish head and bones with the roughly chopped vegetables to a small saucepan, then cover with cold water. Gently bring to a low simmer and cook for about 30 minutes, skimming any impurities. Strain the bones and veg so you are just left with the stock.
Drizzle the pan with rapeseed oil and season the fish with sea salt. Cook over medium-high heat, skin side down, for 3-4 minutes. Flip to barely cook the other side (for about 20 seconds) and remove from the pan. Place the fish on a paper towel to rest slightly while you finish the sauce. It should be translucent and just cooked through.
For the sauce
200g Datterini tomatoes
100ml fish stock
50ml white wine (optional)
1 tbsp cold butter
1 tsp chopped chives
Lemon wedge (1/8 lemon)
Sea salt
Add the Datterini to the same pan you cooked the fish in on a medium heat. Allow to cook through, stirring often and until they begin to burst (4-5 mins). Once you see signs of the tomatoes sticking to the pan, add the wine and cook out – this is optional. With a wooden spatula, scrape the bottom of the pan, releasing any bits which are stuck to the bottom (this is a good thing). Once the wine reduces to a syrup and the pan begins to caramelise again, add the stock and reduce by half. Lower the heat right down and whisk in the cold butter. Add chives, lemon juice (from the wedge), plus sea salt to taste.
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