Dear Friend,
My name is Karl-Hermann Wadsack, but my friends call me "Charly". I am living a wonderful retirement in Sweden with my beautiful wife June after selling our restaurant in England in 1995.
I have been a chef since I first came out of school in Hanover, Germany, and now, following years of nagging from friends of mine, I have relented and finally produced a guide on the basics of cooking, including all the tips and advice I can muster after 40 years+ working as a chef.
It's a fair question, which is why I will outline my cooking career history (most of which was in England) for you to decide if I deserve that title:
In 1978, my wife and I took over small pub called “The Three Lions” in the hamlet of Stuckton, Near Fordinbridge in Hampshire, England. It was a beautiful little pub that was serving only scampi and fries in a basket at the time.
It was to be our home and the scene for some of my greatest achievements as a chef over the next 17 years…
1982 – AA First entry with "Rosette", then every year until 1995
1984 – The world famous Egon Ronay Guide, then every year until 1995, including a personal visit in 1981.
1985 – The Good Food Guide, then every year until 1995
1985 - The Michelin Guide (with 3 forks and knives and a special "M")
1992 – Lord Litchfield's "Book of the Best" guide
1993 - Ackerman Guide for Food and Wine (4 clover)
Plus numerous write-ups over the years in national and local papers and radio stations.
For a humble little restaurant, we got quite famous.
Food Awards
Apart from being well-known, we also picked up a few awards over the years…
1982 – Country Pub of the Year Award
1984 – Tuck Inn Award – best food in Pubs or Inns in Southern England
1985 – AA Guide’s Special Award for food and wine in pubs
1986 – Egon Ronay's "The Pewter Plate Award" for Country Restaurant of the Year.
1987 – Dairy Crest Cheese Award for Best Country Restaurant
1989 – Dairy Crest Cheese Award (again!)
1990 – Egon Ronay Award for "Best Pub in Britain"
1990 – La Ina "Civilised Restaurant of the Year"
1990 – Award for our quality of Scottish Salmon, from the “Board” in Scotland
1990 – Award for "Best Wine List of the Year" in the whole of the UK
1991 – Wine List of the Year Award (again!)
(my wife, June Wadsack, was in charge of creating our wine list and she did an amazing job. Our whole family love food and wine - our youngest son, Hans-Joachim (Joe) Wadsack is a regular TV wine expert in the UK and judges wine competitions all over the world)
1992 – Won "Fordingbridge in Bloom" Award for best display of flowers and garden (okay, it's not food but I believe a good restaurant and good cooking is as much about presentation as it is the food itself)
1992 – Mimi Elder from Gourmet Magazine in the USA visited us and gave us a BIG write up which resulted in many American tourists seeking us out
1992 – Won a recipe competition for the German Food and Wine Board (CMA). Resulted in invitation to the Cooks Olympics in Frankfurt, Germany (I was born in Hanover)
1992 – Function Menu of the Year Award
1993 – another great write-up in from the food critic from "The American" magazine. More tourists!
1994 – Pub Wine of the Year Award for best red wine by the glass in the UK
We then sold "The Three Lions" in 1995 to live in Sweden near Junes Momma. The restaurant has gone from strength to strength since then - please visit it if you are ever in the UK; you'll be joined by diners that include Prince Andrew and Madonna...
...I have also cooked for quite a few famous people myself over the years...
I have cooked for the UK Royal Family on many occasions. The first of which was for the Queen when she launched a frigate in Barrow-in-Furness and then again at Quaglinos in London.
I cooked for the Queen's husband, Prince Phillip, when he visited the Old England Hotel as "President of the Royal Yacht Club".
I have cooked for Princess Margaret, Princess Anne and Prince Charles on many occasions at different functions across London.
I also cooked at the wedding of Sir Charles Forte's daughter to an Italian Marquise at Quaglinos.
For those of you interested in soccer, I cooked for many legends of Liverpool in the seventies. We had every home game and visiting team at Anfield every week, and famous popstars such as Cilla Black and Jerry Marsden would often join in the fun!
I particularly loved singing "you ain't seen nothing like the mighty Emlyn" to the tune of "The Mighty Quinn" and referring to Liverpool's late, great captain Emlyn Hughes.
Sir Ted Heath, former Prime Minister of the UK, was a regular at "The Three Lions", as were many famous people, from Lords and Ladies, Actors, Pop Stars, Composers, Military Brass, Comedians, Football Managers, TV stars... too many to mention, let alone remember, but here are a few...
Lord Andrew Lloyd-Webber, Lord Litchfield, Lord Snowden, Douglas Adams, Tom Baker, The Earl and Mrs Normanton, Lord and Lady Stokes, Lord and Lady Norton, Load and Lady Romsey, The Admiral of the Fleet, Robin Cook (former UK Foreign Minister), Murray Walker OBE, Nigel Mansell (former World F1 Champion), Kevin Keegan, Harry Redknapp, Max Bygraves, Des Lynham (if you're in the States and don't know all of these people, believe me they're famous in Europe)...
Because of the improving quality of our customer base over the years, we had to install a helipad and a microlight landing strip! We even had customers from France and Germany who flew to Bournmouth Airport in private aircraft, got picked up in limos just to eat and drink at our restaurant for four hours, then fly back home! I thought they were crazy, but found this type of behaviour to be such a personal and professional compliment.
So, if you're still with me, I guess you agree that I can legitimately call myself a world class chef.
The story of how is guide came to exist is that I was invited to a University in Germany in 2003 to teach a group of American students how to cook - European style!
The course that I prepared for them forms the basis of this e-book course. The videos are a bonus that I thought would bring an extra dimension and value to my course.
It will be my pleasure to guide you through this course via my ebooks and videos - click here to get instant access now.
Yours sincerely
Karl-Hermann Wadsack
aka "Chef Charly"