One of Scotland’s top chefs looks back on the past 40 years, the struggle to gain their Michelin starred success, the problems of running a top restaurant in a remote corner of Skye and rebuilding a home and estate, that, when handed down to her and her husband, was riddled with debts. How did they achieve it all? Claire MacDonald records her life and work with great good humour, sharing some of the secrets of her life at Kinloch Lodge.
Lifting the Lid A Life at Kinloch Lodge, Skye Synopsis
Claire Macdonald is one of the best known figures in the culinary world today. A hugely successful and critically acclaimed cookery writer for over thirty years, she has garnered numerous awards and has appeared regularly on TV and at cookery demonstrations and courses all over the globe. In addition to all this, for forty years she ran the award-winning and internationally renowned Kinloch House Lodge on Skye. Cited as one of the world's top 25 small hotels in Conde Nast Traveller magazine, Kinloch's restaurant is one of only 16 restaurants in Scotland to have been awarded a coveted Michelin star in 2011. In this book Claire looks back over four eventful decades to tell the story of how she, her husband, clan chief Godfrey Macdonald of Macdonald, and their family built up Kinloch from insignificant beginnings in a remote but spectacularly beautiful corner of Skye to the great culinary institution it is today. Full of anecdote and humour, it also reveals how hard it was to achieve their dream. An intermittent water supply, shortage of telephones, a lack of fresh vegetables and problems with fire regulations were just some of the problems they had to face, not to mention the staff member who preferred mingling with the diners to helping in the kitchen, the guest who disappeared and the gardener with very un-green fingers.
Lady Claire Macdonald is the author of almost twenty best-selling cookery books, including Seasonal Cooking, The Harrods Book of Entertaining, The Claire Macdonald Cookbook and Entertaining Solo. She is Patron of Scottish Food Fortnight and The Association of Scottish Farmers' Markets. In recognition of her contribution to Scottish food Claire was presented a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Royal Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland.
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