Links House executive chef, 28-year-old Theo Creton, used to work at a nightclub. Now he’s leading the first Christmas Day festivities at the Dornoch boutique hotel.
Theo never planned to be a chef, but it seems his career change was meant to be.
“I was working in a nightclub and in Waitrose,” says Theo.
“Someone from the partner dining room at Waitrose called in sick, and it basically came to me.
“I had no cooking experience – I’d only really cooked for my family.
“And they asked if I wanted to make food for 200 people.
“I thought – why not?”
Theo ended up working for four years at Links House as head chef, and then in Ballintaggart in Perthshire.
Theo returned to Mara, the restaurant at Links House, in September this year.
“It’s like putting on a pair of shoes you haven’t worn in years,” he says.
“After my first week, I felt like I’d been there for years and never left.”
Dornoch chef Theo: don’t have turkey on Christmas
And though Theo is excited about leading the team for Christmas, he has some strong opinions about what belongs on the plate.
I ask Theo if he will be offering turkey on the festive menu at Links House on Christmas Day.
He sighs on the other end of the phone line.
“I. Hate. Turkey,” he says.
“I don’t understand why people, on one of the most important days of the year, sit round the table with their loved ones and get served some dry turkey.
“It’s the driest meat in the world – I challenge anyone to make it tender. It’s impossible.
“Buy a gammon, chicken, duck or a goose – but don’t do the turkey.”
What is Christmas like at Links House, Dornoch?
The Christmas Day lunch at Links House is inspired by Theo’s own family traditions, he tells me.
“Mum always used to make the starter, but my dad hated it,” he laughs.
“It would be shaved lettuce with poached pear on the top, with hollandaise sauce.
“I always knew when I saw that, it was the start of the Christmas festivities.
“So I will be making a play off that. Pear with a tarragon mousseline.
“Plus prawn cocktail with Marie Rose sauce – can’t beat it.
“For the mains, there will be – not a turkey in sight – roast duck or roast sirloin.
“My mum always used to cook gammon in apple juice or coca cola, so since we’re in Scotland, we’re going to cook it in Irn-Bru.
“And you can’t have it without the trimmings. So we’ll have cauliflower cheese, roast potato, pigs in blankets, stuffing, red cabbage, little baby carrots.
“Then we’ll have a cheeseboard, and clementine cheesecake.
“My grandma makes the best Christmas Pudding. I’ve been feeding that with brandy for months now, so that will be served with a brandy cream.”
‘Sometimes people forget that we’re human too’
Theo has worked every Christmas Day since he became a chef eight years ago, he tells me.
And it doesn’t come without its challenges.
“The Christmas season is one of the toughest,” says Theo.
“In terms of how we’re treated in hospitality. It frustrates me.
“In the industry, there are guys and girls working through Christmas away from their families. And I think sometimes they get abused by guests – not at Links House.
“But elsewhere, people are so horrible to you. They forget that you are working, and that we could be with our families. But because we love our job and we want to create experiences for people, so we choose to work.
“Sometimes people forget that we’re human too.
“My brother’s recently had kids. This will be his third kid’s first Christmas with everyone.
“And I’m missing out on that. Which is tough, but I’m also doing something I love.
“That’s the toughest bit.”
“But I’m definitely not missing out the Christmas dinner because my dad, bless him, is an awful cook,” laughs Theo.
“And I’m working with a family here.
“We’ve been working together since the beginning of the year.
“I call it the Love Island effect of working with people in kitchens. By the time you’ve been working with them for three months, it’s like you’ve known them for years.
“We’re all very close.”
The staff will be able to celebrate together once the work is finished on Christmas Day.
“When we all finish, around ten o’clock, we will definitely be heading to the pub,” adds Theo.
“Dornoch has a brilliant community. At New Year’s, the whole town comes to Dornoch’s main street.
“It will be the same on Christmas.
“I’m looking forward to that.”
Conversation