Maker Spotlight: The Boot Inn

The Boot Inn, located in the picturesque village of Berwick St James, is on a mission to create fantastic, hearty dishes over fire.

We spoke to owner and head chef Ross Anderson about his journey from the Armed Forces to publican, and how he balances his busy catering business alongside cooking up a storm at The Boot. 

How did you get started cooking? 

I’ve been a chef for nearly 30 years now – I’m ex-military, and I’ve been fortunate to cook for a lot of people, such as the royal family, politicians and a host of others. I spent 10 years in the armed forces and did a lot of competition work, working with organisations such as The Craft Guild of Chefs. 

It was really from a young age that my fascination for cooking over fire was born. My parents moved down to the West Country when I was young, and we spent late summer evenings cooking over barbecues with big bits of local meat. That always resonates with me and takes me back – the smell of the fire, utilising something that’s almost primeval and natural. 

You’ve had a really varied career – what else did you get up to? 

I’ve been fortunate enough to work with some quite famous chefs like Albert Roux and have cooked in some top restaurants. I got head hunted and headed back to the Armed Forces, working alongside the British Army Culinary Arts competition team and teaching recruits their trade. I then had the exciting opportunity to apply for a job for a new culinary college in London, and long story short, I ended up teaching some amazing students for 3 years and this culminated in being awarded Teacher of the Year. 

We decided as a young family with our 2 boys getting older, that I needed to be closer to home, so i hung up my London whites and headed to the cookery school at Waitrose in Salisbury to lead the team. I worked together with them for a year and they then invited me to become their National Food Experience Manager – so again, lots of travelling! 

One of the main elements within the cookery school was teaching clients how to use the Big Green Egg BBQ and from there a love bloomed!

At one particular event in collaboration with the Big Green Egg company, the owner approached me and proposed an offer I couldn’t refuse – to work directly with one of the best barbecues in the world.... I couldn't say no!

I worked with them for two years, travelling around the world, working in inspirational places, and cooking over fire took hold of me once again. 

With age comes a reallignment of values and what is important and so once again, I came back home and set up our own company, Roam – named after myself and my wonderful wife, Amy.

 

What’s the story behind Roam?

Well, we started the company and then the world threw a pandemic at us, but we weren’t giving up! We made meals to deliver to people's homes but with a little bit of a difference – we were using the barbecues to create something really special. We had Big Green Eggs and other barbecues in our commercial unit and in our garden, and we prepped, and we prepared, and at one point, we were doing nearly 800 meals a week!

Once the world opened up again, we went back to oursue what we were meant to do as a company – teaching people the joy of cooking over fire. 

We worked with clients across the UK doing cookery classes and showing them how to cook on fantastic BBQs such as the Somerset Grill, Alfa Forni and of course, Big Green Egg.

How did The Boot Inn come into the picture, then?

The crazy thing is that both mine and Amy’s parents were publicans and we both said, we’d never ever, ever buy a pub. But then Alice, one of my staff members, lived across from The Boot Inn – it had been closed for five months, with two zero-rated food hygiene ratings to its name and we couldn’t resist. We wanted to take the pub from being lost and bring it back to the community. 

What does having a pub mean to you? 

We want locals to feel like they belong – this is their pub, and their community.  I'm talking about good quality food sourced locally, supporting local businesses with great beer!

To me, it’s about having somewhere people can meet and sit in the garden in the summer, or sit next to a roaring fire in the winter, and enjoy a great bite to eat and a proper pint with it. 

The other thing we want to do is give young people a chance – we’re working really closely with local youngsters and training them, so we offer a fantastic service that really makes you feel like part of the family. 

What’s different about The Boot Inn compared to other pubs? 

Alongside our daily menu, we get the grills lit and cook over these incredible BBQs, and we’re about to take our grill nights to the next level, so watch this space!

We have feasting nights as well, which are a real spectacle – we cook a range of dishes and put them in the centre of the table for everyone to try on feasting boards. There’s nothing worse than being in a restaurant, ordering your meal, and then when someone else’s comes along, you think “oh, I should have had that!”. These communal events are fantastic for bringing people together, seeing them stretch across the table for the last roast potato – we love that. 

How important is working with local suppliers to you?

It’s huge. We shout from the rooftops about our local suppliers. We get our meat from people like Pritchetts and Walter Rose & Son, and then our fish comes from Premier Fish on the south coast. 

Another great example is our belly pork, which comes from a local farmer called Cameron in Devizes, who’s won awards for six years in a row. You cook it slow for six hours, put it down on the centre of the table, then people cut into it, and it makes them pause – it’s beautiful. 

We also love working with The Artisan Wine and Spirit Co in Salisbury – those guys know what they’re on about! We can sit down, grab a drink together, and then they’ll tell us what we should be having on the wine menu. 

Any secrets to share with us about cooking over fire?

It’s all about the simplicity of it and letting the ingredients shine. Season it with salt, cook it with some incredible wood (we use East Brothers, based in West Dean) or an amazing lump of charcoal from Globaltic and then dress it with something that’s going to enhance it, like our chimichurri – that’s how you make it mindblowing. 

The Americanisation of barbecuing has a lot to answer for. We talk a lot about British farming and promoting it, and that's what I want to do. That doesn't mean sticking a sickly sauce over the top of a piece of beef that a farmer has spent 18 months rearing, coming up, feeding it in the right grass, feeding it the right grains, making sure it's looked after, pushing it through such a strict process to get all these accreditations… Instead, we need to respect British farming and really promote that animal. Cooking over fire just elevates it, so we do very little to the meat itself, but then we serve it with incredible accompaniments instead. 

What’s next for The Boot Inn? 

Well, the goal is eventually to have a small pub group – we’re hoping to have three pubs that all focus on incredible food and that real community feel. So we’re growing our team and seeing how we can take it to the next level. 

We also offer our Roam cooking classes here at The Boot, so you can join in and learn how to use that pizza oven that’s being neglected in the back garden properly! 

What does it mean to be part of the Wiltshire Marque?

We think it’s a great organisation and a great opportunity, and it’s the sort of thing the county, and the country, needs – we have an amazing food and hospitality sector in Wiltshire, and it deserves to be shouted about.  

Book a table at The Boot Inn on their website – https://bootinnberwick.co.uk/ 
You can also find out more about Roam's cooking classes at https://www.roamcatering.co.uk/roam-theboot

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