We’re back in the family kitchen, and I wonder if Wareing regrets missing so many dinners with his kids when they were growing up. ‘Are you serious? No. I had a job to do, I was on a train track going at 100mph.’
He didn’t feel bad for Jane?
‘No, what would I feel bad for her for? She married a f—king chef.’ He’s somewhere between exasperated, angry and laughing. ‘What is she going to expect? You think I’m going to become some soft-ass, coming home at six o’clock at night because I’ve got married? She married a guy that was working 16 hours a day.’
But what if she wanted to work 16 hours a day…? ‘That wasn’t even an option, because from the day I met Jane, nothing has ever changed. I can’t have a baby, can I? So when Jane was pregnant, she had to stop, because that’s what Mother Nature tells you to do. I didn’t give birth.’
He laughs again, until I say she sounds a little long-suffering. ‘That’s not true. That’s not true at all.’
We move on, but when Jane walks back through, Wareing interrupts to insist I ask her how she coped. She looks pleased to clear it up. ‘It comes across as I’m a bit of a doormat. But when we met, he was a chef, and I knew that life, and you just like someone and you get on with it,’ she says. ‘I stayed at home, looked after the kids. Sometimes it was annoying – “your dad’s asleep on the sofa, again” – but that was the way it was.’
Wareing smiles at me and spreads his arms. ‘Thank you.’
They are a perfectly matched pair. Jane is in charge of most of the meals at home and understands that a critique is inevitable. Their lockdown cookbook, Marcus’ Kitchen, was inspired by conversations about how basic weekday suppers can go wrong. As a family, they occasionally score her dishes out of 10.
Last night she did a shepherd’s pie, which Wareing and the kids declared ‘wet’. ‘She left the potatoes sitting in the water to keep them warm, and it doesn’t matter how long you drain them, you’ll never get rid of it,’ he says. Then, turning to Jane: ‘And that’s the reason why your potato purée wasn’t as good as it normally is. But next time, just try harder.’
She flicks him the Vs. ‘Well you were watching football, so get off your arse if you have a problem…’ They both laugh.
