Rooted in Perfection: A conversation with Executive Chef Martin Carabott, Gravetye Manor
- James Massoud
- Oct 21
- 6 min read
At Gravetye Manor – a Michelin starred sanctuary surrounded by 35 acres of historic gardens – Executive Chef Martin Carabott has turned seasonality into an art form. From beetroot crowned with Oscietra caviar to monkfish kissed by charcoal, his menus are shaped by what the soil and sea offer in their prime. Working hand-in-hand with Head Gardener Tom Coward, Carabott creates dishes that tell the story of place and timing, where every ingredient earns its moment on the plate. He talks exclusively to The Knife in this revealing conversation.
Your seasonal sample dinner menu opens with "Garden beetroot variations, Sussex Slipcote, lovage & Oscietra caviar." How do you approach balancing earthiness (from beetroot) with luxury ingredients such as the caviar in a dish that’s rooted in seasonality?
The beetroots in this dish are very much the star of the show. This dish originated with talks I had with Tom, our head gardener, a few months ago. He mentioned there will be a big number of beetroots ready in late summer and a number of varieties, so we set out planning a dish that brings out the best of this amazing, yet often understated ingredient. The earthiness in the beetroots is perfectly paired with Slipcote, a local tangy ewe’s milk cheese and a floral herby flavour from lovage and marigold leaves. The salinity from the Oscietra caviar adds a nice salty touch.
The use of Cornish bluefin tuna with bonito, perilla and garden radishes is another interesting starter. What inspired the choice of perilla here, and how does its flavour profile influence the rest of the dish?
Perilla has a beautiful, fragrant taste, somewhere between basil and mint with a hint of cumin. This, alongside ginger and lemongrass, offers a lift of freshness to the bluefin which is quite a full flavoured fish, while heritage radishes from our garden bring a nice peppery element and a bonito emulsion adds umami.
Looking at the Cornish monkfish over coals, summer beans, English chorizo and basil – what does cooking over coals bring to the flavour and texture, and what challenges does it present in the kitchen?
Cooking over charcoal imparts a beautiful smokiness to the monkfish, which is quite a meaty fish. The only challenge really is getting the temperature of the fish just right and keeping the coals refreshed and hot throughout service to maintain consistency. Cooking over live fire can be temperamental, but once it is mastered, the results are well worth it.
The main courses include "Grange Farm fallow deer cooked over juniper, quince, celeriac & smoked almond." Can you talk us through the role of juniper and quince in game dishes, especially how they influence the perception of wild meat in a fine dining context?
Juniper and quince are both in season the same time that game is at its peak and the aroma the juniper branches impart on the meat as it is cooked, and the balance of the sweetness from the quince, pair very nicely with the gamey flavour of venison.
For desserts, there’s a glazed rum baba with Kent mango, kaffir lime and coconut. How do you work tropical flavour components into the otherwise local / seasonal framework of Gravetye’s kitchen garden and estate?
I love using local produce as much as I can, but at the same time I do not let that stop me looking further afield if I feel the menu needs some balance and there is, for instance, something special like Kent mango in season, which I love to eat. For me, when it comes to creating menus, eating experience takes priority above all else.
With your vegetarian and vegan menus, how do you ensure that they are as exciting and satisfying as the meat/fish-led plates? Any "secret" ingredients or techniques you lean on?
A lot of the vegan and vegetarian ingredients are based on other dishes that might feature fish or meat, with some tweaks as all the components are thought out in a way to create a rounded dish and are already based on seasonal fruit and vegetables.
Working closely with Head Gardener Tom Coward and using produce from Gravetye’s 35-acre estate, can you describe a recent example where garden produce inspired or even dictated a dish you added to the menu?
We had a big glut of blackcurrants in mid-summer and there were crates upon crates of them coming in daily. We made them all into a souffle puree base whilst we had them at their peak flavour and aroma, froze it and are only just now about to use the last of it in the coming days for our blackcurrant souffle [at the time of writing]. This will easily transition into an apple dessert as we have plenty of varieties that are now ready.
You won the Roux Scholarship in 2018, staged at elite kitchens, and most recently held senior roles in London. How have those experiences shaped your style at Gravetye, especially in terms of flavour combinations or plating?
Every place I have worked at has given me a lot of bearing in one way or another. I feel I am lucky to have had brilliant mentors, which have trained my palate and have instilled in me a good instinct when it comes to seasonal changes and food pairings. Having held senior roles in Michelin starred restaurants has allowed me to find my own style, which is always in ongoing development.
What considerations do you make when combining seafood with ingredients from the garden, especially in terms of timing (seasonality, harvest time) and texture?
It generally starts with me discussing with the gardening team about which ingredients we will be getting through from the gardens then I would have a conversation with our fish suppliers about fish seasons and match accordingly. The key thing is creating a dish where both the gardens and the seafood show their best qualities in harmony. Monkfish, which is quite robust, is paired with coco beans which are quite earthy, and yellow runner beans which we also barbecue, English chorizo and grapes. Sea bass, a more delicate fish, is paired with courgettes; more subtle and creamy.
How do you balance guest expectations of fine dining luxury with a commitment to sustainability, seasonality and local sourcing?
I firmly believe that seasonal, local produce if anything is the foundation to real fine dining luxury. In all my time in kitchens all over the world, I have never encountered a scenario where over manipulation of an out-of-season, sub-standard ingredient has made better dishes than locally sourced, seasonal and prime quality produce. The best thing for any chef to do is use ingredients in their prime, ideally ripened on the vine or branch (as is done at Gravetye) and harvested hours before use and only when it is at its peak. You can never replicate that flavour and aroma with produce that is picked under ripe and ripened in transit or forcefully grown under artificial conditions.
The cheese course is six local artisan cheeses with accompaniments. How do you select these cheeses, and how do you think about "accompaniments", so they feel coherent with the other dishes already served?
I simply try the cheeses based on taste, and like other ingredients, I do not restrict myself to using only Sussex cheeses for the sake of using local. It just so happens that there are a number of great cheesemakers that are based close to Gravetye that make great cheeses. One of my favourite examples is Chris Heyes at Balcombe Dairy, which produces 'Blue Clouds' – a beautiful blue cheese, which is also seasonal. The accompaniments are selected based on pairing with each individual cheese and what I personally love to eat that cheese with.
Looking ahead, are there any flavour trends or produce you’re particularly excited about for the next season at Gravetye? And might there be dishes on your menu we haven’t yet seen that you’re working towards or dreaming of?
Yes, quite a few actually: an apple souffle with a smoked butter toffee sauce and Calvados is in development; we also have a yuzu dessert finalised and ready for when the peach house yuzu fruit is ready; a seabass dish with ceps and kales from the garden; a Blythburg Duroc pork dish; and a halibut dish is also in the works.
