HE might have a host of Michelin stars to his name but chef Raymond Blanc is still passionate about the grass roots of cooking.

Alongside his hugely successful restaurants and television series he has also launched a range of cookware he hopes will help the people of Britain get into the kitchen more.

Raymond was in Colchester to give one of just a handful of cookery demonstrations he does each year - and spoke about how busy lives have conspired against families having the chance to cook and eat together.

“It is hard, particularly for women who seem to be the ones doing everything.

“Running the house, going out to work, looking after the children and then coming home and having to cook.

“I admire women so much and I had the most amazing example in my own mother who was a wonderful cook and taught me everything I know,” explains Raymond.

Born and raised in the Franche-Comte region of eastern France, his future career as a chef was perhaps marked out by his childhood which he describes as “working class”.

“We were poor so that is my background.

“My mother would cook food every day twice a day for us, lunch and dinner and all the food would be coming from the ground or from the forest.

“At the age of six I knew about everything she grew and I would be helping to grow it and bring it in.

“I hated that garden because whereas my friends were out playing football I was in garden helping to harvest the beans and peas,” he laughs.

He explains his mother would use everything she produced, pickling and drying what she could for future use and storing it on specially raised benches in the family cellar.

“It was amazing, fresh food and it opened up a world for me and taught me about provenance and about seasonal produce and the act of living that has stayed with me.

“She also taught me how important the table is.

“She would work all day to produce a meal and then sometimes in the evening the men would come home and there would be 20 people round the table sharing the meal.

“It was very sociable. But I lived at a very different time and I realise everyone is much busier and that is why I admire women so much now, for all they do,” he says.

But he is also adamant it is possible to come up with a tasty, nutritious meal for the family after a long day at work that won’t eat into family time.

So what would he suggest ?

“It could be as simple as a piece of salmon, with a bit of butter, with seasonal vegetables or even some cheese and bread.

“An omelette or a souffle is also such a simple dish to create and you can use lots of different ingredients to your taste,” he adds.

Raymond explains the key to a successful omelette is all in the eggs.

“You have to make sure the eggs are fresh and have come from a good place.

“So you check the codes on the side and they should have a lion or a cockerel and then code which shows you the chickens have been vaccinated again salmonella and also have been well-looked after.

“When you have cracked it you can tell from the colour and the way the yolk breaks if it is good as well.

“None of this putting it in water and seeing if the egg floats up. That is a load of rubbish,” he says.

One of the key ingredients he swears by is of course Maldon sea salt.

“It has to be sea salt too, not rock salt and you have make sure you whisk the egg up a good amount and just fold the edges in when you cook it.

“A good omelette should only take about three minutes to cook but I realise there is the time it takes to clear up and also to prepare.

“That is why I wanted to design a range of cookware that would help people and save them time,” he says.

The range includes a pressure cooker which he admits is one of his favourite pieces.

“My mum used hers all the time and they are really coming back in a big way.

“Because of the way it cooks the pressure cooker also keeps most of the vitamins in too.

“If you want to cook a boeuf bourgignon or a leg of lamb it would times as long as if you used a pressure cooker,” says Raymond who was completely self-taught.

But he says cooking is all about education and learning from a young age and has himself trained up a number of chefs who have gone on to major success including Heston Blumenthal.

Returning to Colchester for the teaching sessions brought back culinary memories for Raymond as it was one of the first towns he came to know when he first began working in England.

“The oysters are the best there are and I would choose them over any others because the taste is just so much better than any other.

“It is a really meaty, saline taste.

“Essex is very lucky to have some really top quality produce such as Colchester Oysters and Maldon salt.”

A self-confessed Frenchman “one hundred and fifty per cent” Raymond says the other 50 per cent is definitely British.

“I have a sense of humour and I can laugh at myself, I can smile about myself and I can listen while other people speak.

“On French radio you often can’t hear what people are saying as they talk over each so much,” he laughs.

He admits he loves being able to get out and do the live demonstrations such as the one held in Colchester.

“It is fun and with a few simple dishes, using fresh seasonal ingredients, it gives me a chance to show that cooking does not have to be complicated.”