Chef Kat McGibbon on Finding Confidence Under Pressure

In today’s episode, we sit down with Scottish chef Kat McGibbon, winner of the 2025 HIT Scotland Scholarship and champion of The Heat, the culinary competition led by multi-Michelin-starred chef Jean-Christophe Novelli.

Kat reflects on the experiences that have shaped her career, from growing up in the Scottish Highlands to working her way through professional kitchens, competing on the international stage, and immersing herself in culinary experiences across Boulder, Barcelona, Australia, and the UK. Along the way, she opens up about overcoming self-doubt, embracing pressure, and finding confidence by stepping outside her comfort zone.

This conversation is about taking chances, staying curious, and discovering just how much you're capable of when you're willing to keep growing under pressure.

Transcript

TRANSCRIPT

Kirk Bachmann: Hello, everyone. My name is Kirk Bachmann, and welcome back to The Ultimate Dish. Today’s guest is someone we already consider part of the Escoffier family, and that’s not just a figure of speech. Please welcome Scottish Chef Kat McGibbon. Half-Kiwi, half-Scottish, Kat grew up on a remote country estate in the Scottish Highlands, the kind of place with no phone signal, where childhood basically meant stags and deer and quad bikes and getting gloriously muddy — we’ll talk about that. Chasing her dream of becoming a chef, Kat moved to Glasgow. She completed a two-year culinary course at the City of Glasgow College, then built her career through some of the city’s best kitchens, starting as a commis chef at the Virgin Hotel, moving to the fine-dining hotspot Glaschu, and stepping up to chef de partie at the AC Marriott’s Hazel restaurant. In 2025, Kat earned a HIT Scotland scholarship, and that’s how we got to know her. She spent an unforgettable week with us here in Boulder, Colorado, at our Boulder campus through a partnership with Gecko Hospitality, working alongside our chefs and students in our kitchen labs, breaking down techniques in pastry, plating, and butchery, and heading out to Black Cat Farm for a true farm-to-table experience. We connected immediately, and we’ve been cheering her on ever since, and there’s plenty to cheer about. Around that same time, Kat competed in a competition in Barcelona under multi-Michelin-starred chef Jean-Christophe Novelli — I may have gotten that wrong, but I’m gonna go with that — and this was a competition series called The Heat, and guess what? She won. That’s right, we’ll talk about that today too. And after that, she took three months to travel Australia, and she’s recently landed her next chapter back in the UK, cooking at The Lennox with Chef Nico Simeone’s new Manchester restaurant, a stripped-back, indulgence-driven concept with an open kitchen and a Japanese-style barbecue. Kat, welcome back into the Escoffier fold, and welcome to The Ultimate Dish. How are you? I told you I was going to be out of breath.

Kat McGibbon: You did really well. You did really well. Oh my goodness, there’s so much, there’s so much. But so it’s — it’s 7pm —

Kat McGibbon: — in Manchester. It’s just past seven just now, so it’s still early for me.

Kirk Bachmann: That’s so kind, so sweet. I appreciate it, and I know that you’re working around the clock, so we greatly appreciate that you’re taking a little bit of time to catch up with us. And I do want to remind everyone that the last time we were together we were right here in Boulder, and this really feels like a proper reunion, if you will. Before we dive into things, can you talk a little bit — I just noticed this the other day — your sourdough series on Instagram, is that right?

Sourdough, Billie Eilish & the Dream Table

Kat McGibbon: Yeah, yeah, my sourdough series.

Kirk Bachmann: Where’d that come from? Where’d that passion come from?

Kat McGibbon: So, when I was traveling Australia, I felt like I’d lost my — my — my skills and my cutting edge, and I wanted… when I came back home, before I got a job, I really like struck down and was like, I’m gonna teach myself how to make sourdough and become the best at it. When I want to do something, I want to do it to the best ability that I can get to. So I was really, really hard on myself trying to do that, and I’d watched a bunch of videos on it, and I did a bunch of research on it, and it took me a while to actually get the base of it ready, because you have to make your own starter for it and ferment it for weeks to make it bubbly and active to actually get a nice fermentation on it, and I found the whole science behind it so inspiring, because it’s just so scientific, but you can also add your own twists and turns on it, which is what makes it more fun, because you can add your own identity to it. And once I got the hang of it, I obviously played around with my editing on videos as well, which added my own twist and my own personality to it as well, and I just played around with it, and I feel like I pretty much aced it. I mean, you could ask some phenomenal bakers and they would be like, “She doesn’t know anything,” but I think it came out pretty good, and my mom was very, very happy with fresh baked bread almost every day.

Kirk Bachmann: That’s all that matters if mom’s happy, and I seriously doubt — you’re so humble, but I seriously doubt that you’ve lost your cutting edge. I love the fact that you wanted to sharpen — we’ll say sharpen your cutting edge, right. And then, you know, the other thing that I saw, and I love this topic, and I’ve encouraged our instructors to share this kind of chat with our students in the past, but your top three dream guests to dine with. So, for those listening — and I’ll share too, I’ll share a couple — who are those? Can you share who those three are?

Kat McGibbon: Yeah, of course. I’ve been asked that a few times, and it’s a little bit biased — just, obviously, it’s my opinion, but some of it is not even based on cooking at all. It’s based on just my personal love for these people. Billie Eilish is one of them. She’s just like an icon and an inspiration to me, and has been for almost what feels like forever, and so I would take any opportunity at all in my whole life to have her just in a room beside me, so that’s why I pick her for every single question that kind of falls in the line of that. And then my second one would be Gordon Ramsay — I mean, he’s a Scottish icon and basically revolutionized the culinary world from working with Marco Pierre White and just became who he is, so I think it would be terrifying to be sat across from him, though, because I feel like he would just — the eye contact would just make me sweat in fear — but it would be worth it, I think, just purely by being in the same room. And then Amy Winehouse, because again, icon, and I just would love to rattle her brain a little bit about just her life, but that’s purely just based on what I would like in a room. What would you like?

Kirk Bachmann: No, I love that. And while I share a couple of thoughts, I would love to know what you would cook for them, or what you would order. But you enlightened a couple of things that I didn’t think about when I first thought about it. And you can see Marco Pierre White — you might not be able to see the whole thing, but he’s right there looking down on us. He is. Yeah. Icon. White Heat is, you know, one of those that I read and passed off to many, many, many students over the years. Totally agree. And then that’s a beautiful connection to Gordon Ramsay, who trained with him as well. Love that. My list, Kat — if I didn’t say Auguste Escoffier, I’d get in a lot of trouble, right? So I gotta say Auguste and Roger Vergé — who, you know, obviously no longer with us, but really kind of defined what they call the cuisine of the sun, the Mediterranean cuisine that I love so much today. I have Dominique Crenn on my list — three Michelin stars at a beautiful restaurant in San Francisco — but because you brought up musical personalities, I quickly wrote down Bono and Sting. I would have to have them both at the table. I have no idea what I would say to either of them, but I would be in awe if they were both at the table. I’ve seen them both, and I absolutely adore them. But what would you cook for these folks?

Kat McGibbon: It’s an interesting question, because I know Billie Eilish is vegan, so that kind of takes away my whole personality with cooking. I’m obviously a big meat lover, grew up around it, so it would be a little bit in my blind side cooking for her, but I think that’s what makes cooking beautiful as well — like, adapting to people’s preferences and blowing what they didn’t think was possible out of the water by being able to cater for them. So I would probably… I don’t know, it’s… it’s a tricky one. And I seem to fall for pastry quite a lot. Desserts seem to be my very strong point, and to make a dessert that is completely vegan but make it seem like it’s completely indulgent would be my go-to, I think. And everybody loves finishing something sweet or having something sweet — you can’t really go wrong. So it would maybe be some sort of crémeux — we were doing a crémeux at my work at the moment, which is just so delicate and beautiful — or I love panna cotta. I’d love to do a vegan soufflé, but that would be so different to do, because obviously egg white is the main component of that dish, but it would definitely be a dessert.

Kirk Bachmann: No, I love that, because it finishes the evening and the event strong, right? Gives everyone something to talk about. As you mentioned, the vegan approach — that’s a safe approach. The first thing that popped into my head is perhaps even a lentil shepherd’s pie, something so simple, right, but yet so absolutely delicious. I love this concept. We could write a book about this. Who’s coming to dinner? I love it. Well, let’s talk about you. Your path into food is such a great one — and a great one, Kat, for our students to hear — because it wasn’t handed to you. You built it line by line, kitchen by kitchen, and you continue to do that. Would you mind taking us back to the very beginning? What pulled you from that Highlands childhood toward a professional kitchen, you know, in the first place?

From the Highlands to Glasgow’s Kitchens

Kat McGibbon: Yeah, I mean, in high school we have — it’s called home economics, where you would be — taught, even. Sorry, my grammar is awful — I blame it on being Scottish. And we were taught just basics in the kitchen, and what to do, and how to do it, and a lot of students kind of use that class as like a skip class — like, nobody really wanted to learn too much in it, and they would use it as like a get out of jail free card. And I really loved it, and I almost thought to myself, “Oh, am I one of these kids because I love it so much?” And all the kids that are kind of failing in school kind of went there, so then I kind of put it on the back burner for a little bit, and I was like, I want to do something else, I don’t want to fall into that. And then Covid happened, and I was at home, obviously doing nothing like everybody else, and I watched a lot of Hell’s Kitchen — which is funny, because Gordon Ramsay just seems to be my brain at all times — but I watched a lot of Hell’s Kitchen, and it kind of inspired me to create my own dishes at home, and I got really into it and I got really interested. And the thing about me is I’m very determined — if I want to learn something, I will learn it, and I want to learn as much as possible. So I went to a college in my local area and I did the lowest level possible, and I passed it with flying colors, and my tutor was like, “You should have done levels above — you were much better than this.” So then I moved to Glasgow, and I did my two years there, and ever since then it’s been strength to strength, and it’s just… it’s funny, because for ages I was thinking I’m not good at anything, or I can’t do anything else but this, but that’s why it’s my passion — because nothing else seems to fit for me, because this is solely what I’m made to do. And I feel really grateful that I actually know that, because I have so many friends that don’t know what they want to do with their life, or they’re still searching for their passion, and I feel really grateful that I feel so comfortable and driven at all times within this passion, and continuing to grow more.

Up the Brigade

Kirk Bachmann: That’s such a great message that I believe our students can relate with. Everyone comes from a different path, and different things ignite their passion, right? It could be the class itself, the content, it could be the teacher, it could be someone else in the class that really motivates you. So, when we think about those two years that you did at the City College, and then you came up through a very traditional brigade as a commis, and then the chef de partie at Hazel — could you share a little bit, take us back. What did each one of those steps in your career teach you that the one before couldn’t? Was there a cap at every step of the way?

Kat McGibbon: Yeah. So, when I was in college, I was looking for a part-time commis chef position at the time, and it was really hard for me as a commis to get a job, because every restaurant or every place looks for a commis with experience, and I was a commis with no experience, and they weren’t willing to give me experience to get experience, and I found it completely mind-blowing, because I’m so passionate and willing, and I said I would be like a sponge — you know, I would absorb every piece of information that you give me, and I will do the best ability of it as I can, and be curious and ask questions and make mistakes, but learn from them. But it was really hard to secure a position that would allow that for me, and I fell really luckily into Virgin’s hands, and I worked there for three months, and unfortunately the place got liquidized, and I got made redundant, but that place gave me so many opportunities in terms of just people, and I learned so much just commercially by working in service with other chefs, and just even how to stand in a kitchen or to work these long hours, which you get used to. And after that, it was my head chef from that job that helped me get my second job and my third job, because he seen something in me that kept me with him for my whole career in Scotland, which I’m forever grateful. He was also the chef that was with me when I won this HIT Scotland scholarship, and that put me forward to do it. I owe a lot to him and my path to success, because without somebody that believes in you, it’s a really, really shark-y industry to develop up in. And he took me from being a commis chef to being a chef de partie, and he was just constantly wanting me to evolve, and he would constantly see success in my eyes. And you need that — it’s almost like a stepping stone with all the self-doubt that some people have, and I have, with being a chef in this industry. There’s a lot of team players, but then there’s also a lot of people that are out for themselves and to make themselves look better, and you need somebody that’s on your side, and that will help you get to where you want to be if they see true success with you.

Being the Only Woman in the Room

Kirk Bachmann: Yeah, I so appreciate the sincerity in your voice here — a lesson, hopefully, that our students hear as well. Whether it’s three months or three years or 30 years, it really is about relationships. It’s about networking. It’s about connecting. You have the six degrees of separation to this one individual who has been by your side for a lot, including for your scholarship. It brings up another question — you’ve spoken in the past about being the only woman in the kitchen, and about having to have this ability to be thick-skinned and quick-witted, basically to hold your own. Can you share with our students, with our guests, and our audience — how did you learn to stand your ground? And what would you say to a young woman, or anyone for that matter, who’s walking into that environment for the first time in their lives?

Kat McGibbon: Yeah, I mean, in the majority of kitchens I’ve been in, I think there’s been maybe one kitchen that’s had a woman in it. Every other time it has been men, and I get on with men quite well in kitchens — I’ve got quite a witty banter, and I don’t take things too harshly. But it is difficult, because it is almost like an isolation type of thing — just if you have an issue with something, or how something is said, because it’s been offensive to maybe a woman, or how you feel about it. Most of the time, you are the only one that’s having this issue, because I am the only woman. And then it almost makes me feel as though that I’m the issue for having an issue about it, because nobody else feels that way, and it’s tempting for me not to say anything, because then it would just ruin the flow of the team. But then I’ve realized that letting that happen — there are people that can see this — and front of house a lot of the time is women as well, and they’re dealing with chefs, and there’s this massive stigma around servers being so scared and intimidated of chefs because of this banter or this intimidating face that they have on. And I feel as though if someone in the back that works hand in hand can stand up for it and can have a voice to it, and shut things down when they need to be shut down, or tell somebody, “That’s not appropriate,” or “That’s not okay — that makes me feel uncomfortable” — then that can change the dynamic, and going forward, that can change it too. And it took me a while to gather that a little bit, and it took some turmoil through kitchens to develop that. But once I’d done that for myself in a kitchen — and I’d actually ended up having to leave the kitchen and find somewhere else — from that point on, I said, I need to have a voice for the women that don’t. Because there’s so many women in the chef industry that think it’s better to stay quiet, or think it’s better to not say anything, because they don’t want to be the issue. But if I can be the one that can be the voice for them, then it makes it easier for people in the generation below me to have that as well.

Kirk Bachmann: Very, very well said. I mean, I hope you know how inspirational your words are, and your actions are. Do you feel like that comes with a little bit of added pressure for you, on top of some of the responsibilities you already have just doing your job?

Kat McGibbon: Yeah, yeah, it is. It is added pressure, and it does sometimes cause some divides. But I feel as though if I didn’t do that, I would be going against my moral compass — even just in life and in relationships, I’m someone that I’ll speak my mind, and if something doesn’t sit right, I’ll say about it. And if that’s an issue for you, for me telling you how I feel, then it’s not my issue that we’re having, it’s your issue. And yeah, it is. It’s difficult, but it’s important. I’m never going to change that.

Escoffier, Boulder & Black Cat Farm

Kirk Bachmann: No, you shouldn’t. Such, such mature and wise words. I absolutely love it and respect it. I’m a little biased on this next section of our chat, because this is where we met, where our paths crossed — in 2025 you were the winner of an incredible scholarship, and came to Colorado, long trek from Scotland, via our friends at Gecko Hospitality. And can you take us inside that week? It’s one thing to just travel halfway across the world, but then to literally go to work in our kitchens, even though you were the guest — it was a busy time, it was a fun time. You’ll be happy to know that Chef Eric Skokan will be on the show in a couple of weeks — we’ll talk about you, we’ll talk about you. So, you spent a lot of time, students were in awe, everybody was really, really excited to meet you. And was there a moment — well, tell us a little bit about how that all kind of resonated with you, and was there a moment, or a food, or a plating, or an experience with a student or an instructor that really stood out for you, that maybe even shifted your thinking a little bit about food? Maybe it was on the farm with Eric.

Kat McGibbon: Yeah, well — so coming to America, I’d never been to America before, so even having the opportunity to fly across to the States was absolutely incredible for me. And Auguste Escoffier School is one — my head chef was in awe, and he was a major fan of Auguste himself. So the fact that it kind of all correlated was very full circle for him and for me. So it was just incredible. And arriving and seeing the school and meeting yourself and everybody on it was incredibly welcoming, and the campus is beautiful, right on the mountains as well. It was just, yeah, it was incredible. And I was so, so excited to get into the kitchens as well, because I mean, I’d been working obviously before that, but to go back into an educational kind of atmosphere around people that are just wanting to learn and willing to learn was amazing, because in some kitchens people don’t have that anymore — people have been working for so long that they don’t care anymore. And to be back into an immersed environment of people that are just like you and want to learn and are passionate, it’s amazing. And a few of the classes that me and Ben [00:22:00] did were the world cuisine classes, which we loved, and we both picked them — we’d be given a schedule separately, and we ended up picking everything the same, because we both had the same kind of pathway of where we wanted to go, and the world cuisine classes were our favorite. Because we got a briefing on what we were coming for and what we were doing, and then everybody was so excited about doing their own parts, and everybody helped each other, and then sitting down at the end and eating and talking about pros and cons of the whole meal — it was just something that has never been done before in any of the colleges or even workplaces that I’ve been in, and it was just a really, really nice environment. And then Black Cat Farm, for me, was the standout. The whole trip — I was looking forward to it for the whole trip. I’m massive on sustainability, and I love the idea of having a restaurant on the farm that you get your colleagues for for the week — it’s just incredible. And it was… I can’t even put it into words… it was just very inspiring to meet Chef Eric [00:23:03], and just to see his commercial kitchen in this shed that he’d transformed. It was crazy that the amazing food was coming out of that, and writing his menus — I’ve got so many pictures and videos on my phone of the menus that he’d wrote on parchment paper that he’d stuck on the wall for what they were doing.

Kirk Bachmann: Yeah —

Kat McGibbon: Yeah, I’ve got pictures of them, and I’ve maybe stolen a few recipes.

Kirk Bachmann: I have one here that I pulled off the wall the other day when it was over there.

Kat McGibbon: I wish I’d asked. That’s his go-to. Yeah, I’ll text you a picture of it. It’s fabulous.

Kirk Bachmann: Please —

Kat McGibbon: That would be great. Yeah, it’s amazing.

Kirk Bachmann: And thanks for mentioning Ben. And Ben had a wonderful time as well, as did Eric. You know, I’m interested — I think we had a conversation, it was a very hot day when we were on the farm, and you guys were moving through the sunflowers and all of that, so you weren’t lounging by the pool — it was hard work. But I’m curious: we talked about produce so often coming from big suppliers, which is important, right, rather than just straight from the source, like you just mentioned. Has anything changed, or have you noticed more, after your farm-to-table experience, which has sort of changed or influenced how you would like to see sourcing occur going forward?

Kat McGibbon: So after the scholarship I went back to work at the Marriott, and obviously it’s a bigger hotel, so things can’t really change too much in terms of what meets the business’s needs, the company’s GP, and everything. But when I went to Australia I tried to work in a few places, and I’d picked places that I knew were more subject to sourcing around them — and obviously Australia has the best seafood in the world, right on the beachfronts — and that’s where I could kind of see the difference, just purely based on the contrast from Scotland. I think it’s about where you’re picking the restaurants, because there are definitely places making more of a conscious effort to do that. For instance, in Manchester here, there’s this restaurant called Winsome, and they source everything locally — butchers, seafood, all of their veg comes from local farmers around the area — which makes it just that little bit more indulgent, because you know where everything is coming from, and it’s incredible. And with The Lennox as well, there are implications of that as well. But it’s something that going forward for me — when I go into private chefing — I say “if,” but “when,” because I will be doing it — that is going to be a major standpoint for me: the local produce and the sustainability of it too.

Grabbing It with Both Hands

Kirk Bachmann: It’s amazing. So to that point, Kat, if you were talking to a student, or anyone — a co-worker — who was deciding whether or not they might want to try an immersive, hands-on culinary experience abroad, what would you tell them?

Kat McGibbon: Oh, do it — grab it with both hands and run. Like, it was the best experience for me, in terms of even just meeting people and having different walks of life talk to you about where they come from and how they feel about being a chef, and what Auguste Escoffier has brought to them, and how they feel about produce. It just brings so much to the table and opens your own horizons of everything, and I think you would be silly if you didn’t take an immersive experience like that.

Kirk Bachmann: We’ll take that as an order. That’s great advice.

Kat McGibbon: Yeah, exactly. It’s an order.

The Heat: Barcelona & Jean-Christophe Novelli

Kirk Bachmann: Pun intended. Things really heated up for you, literally, as time went on. You went on to win this incredible competition in Barcelona with Jean-Christophe, and what was —

Kat McGibbon: Really —

Kirk Bachmann: — what was that like in the presence of that sort of royalty, I guess I would say?

Kat McGibbon: Yeah, Jean-Christophe Novelli is incredible — credible, inspiring man. I think he’s got three or four Michelin-star restaurants around the world, in London, in France, in Belfast. It was just so surreal being in the same room as him, never mind — we worked alongside him when the semi-final was on. He was in the kitchen, and he was always skulking around — he was always dodging around you. You didn’t know where he was, and then he’d be right beside you, looking at your work. And he’s so, so passionate about people learning, and he does come across quite scary on the show, but he was the most lovely family man — he was to us, and we all felt as though we were like his children. And it was such an intense environment, and we all got so close for the two weeks that we were filming that it was heartbreaking to actually leave, because it just felt like we’d created all this bond with each other and with Jean-Christophe, and it was just a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and I’m forever grateful for even just being in the same room as all the amazing people that were on it, as well as me.

Kirk Bachmann: Are you staying in touch with some of them?

Kat McGibbon: Yeah, I am. One of the girls that I became really, really good friends with, she lives in London — I’ve seen her so many times, I was literally at her birthday last month. And then Akito and Jay live in Manchester, which is why I moved.

Kirk Bachmann: Oh, wow! Okay, yeah, okay.

Kat McGibbon: So we’re all besties now.

Kirk Bachmann: That’s awesome. That’s awesome. You know, the show is fairly famous for blending the kitchen pressure, if you will, with living and competing alongside your rivals who become your friends, right? How did you keep it together in that environment?

Keeping It Together

Kat McGibbon: Well, I hardly kept it together, I think — they did me really well with how composed I was, because I was breaking down left, right, and center. No, it was difficult — it was definitely a challenge. But I think once we’d all realized that we were all in it together, we all had each other’s backs a little bit more. And we had so many people from the production side in the back saying to us that we’re the best crew that they’ve ever worked with, just purely on us bonding with each other, and everyone having so much respect and empathy for each person. They’d never seen something like that before in a brand-new cast of people that are all competing against each other. Because when I got to the semi-final, I was at the point where I was like, I don’t even want to beat him, because I love him so much, and I think he deserves to win — but then I’m obviously like, I really want to win, and I deserve it so much. But yeah, it was just the most amazing, amazing time ever.

Kirk Bachmann: That’s a really good point. And I was going to bring that up — how do you draw the line? Because you’re together with people who become very close to you for a long period of time, and it’s stressful. Is there a point where you ever didn’t want to win, and you were more interested in just this incredible experience and collaboration? I’m thinking that you still wanted to win.

Kat McGibbon: Yeah, I mean, I’m a very competitive person, so once I go in for a prize, I’m gonna get the prize, and I’m gonna run off in that direction with it. But yeah — everybody’s a shark in this, right?

Kirk Bachmann: Right, yeah.

Kat McGibbon: But yeah, there were so many times where I was like, I think they deserve to win, or I think they deserve to win. But then you know, that works a lot of my own self-doubt as well — you know, I doubt myself, and think that I don’t deserve it more than anybody else. When I do, and I work hard, and I put my whole, my whole self onto the plate. And if that works out for me, then it does, and it did, and I am so incredibly proud of how I did and how I managed to achieve it. And I imagine everyone was just over the moon, ecstatic and happy for you too.

Kat McGibbon: Yeah, it was beautiful. It was really, really nice. It was definitely like the highest moment in my career.

The Toughest Moment

Kirk Bachmann: Amazing. Are you at liberty to share the toughest moment in the competition, when you maybe thought, wow, I don’t know that I can get there?

Kat McGibbon: Yeah, yeah. Well, there was — there was a few — well, there were two standouts for me. I would say the first one was halfway through the series, and there was an argument at a table — it was just conflict through miscommunication, and it was really hard to deal with, because this is such a new environment for everybody. I mean, a lot of us had never been on camera before and had cameras following us, and we’d had our phones taken off of us for the whole time that we were away. And I’m a big communicator with my mom — I talk to her every day of my life, maybe twice, maybe three times. She does get annoyed at me with phoning her so often, but she’s a massive part of my life, and it was really hard to not be able to have that support. And when it got to these points that were really, really hard, and you didn’t have somebody to speak to about it that you knew and that you trusted — and you wanted that — that kind of breaks you. And then knowing everything is caught on camera, and that you’re speaking to a camera constantly, and every kind of reaction is caught — you kind of feel a little bit like, I’m completely vulnerable to exposure for everything I feel. And you do get inside your head with that.
And that happened the same when it was the semi-final — I’d burnt my finger, and then I’d got into so much self-doubt about, this was the end for me, because I’d hurt myself, and I can’t perform as well now. And that for me was crucial, because I’d completely thought I’d lost my chance. And I remember at the end of the semi-final, before the two finalists got picked, I packed away my knife bag, and I said goodbye to all the kitchen staff, and I said, “Thank you for everything, this has been an amazing experience,” and put my knife bag away. And when we were all standing in front of Jean-Christophe, before he announced the two finalists, I was looking at the ground, because I didn’t want to look at him — I’d felt so disappointed in myself that I didn’t even want him to see the disappointment in my face. And it was just incredible when he said to me that I was in the final, because there was not one single part of myself that thought that was possible. And I broke down, and I cried. And that was another moment where I wish I could have phoned my mom and told her, like, I’ve made it into the final. And when they let me — for my mom — when I’d won — and being able to hear her voice for the first time in two and a half weeks, which isn’t a long time, but it is when you speak to her every single day — it was just, honestly, it was amazing. I feel like that’s what — I don’t know — seeing your kid for the first time feels like. You know, it was just, it was amazing.

Advice for Aspiring Competitors

Kirk Bachmann: I just love your transparency and your honesty and the emotion. It makes me think that — and I don’t ever want to downplay — we’re on a show together, and we chat for 45 minutes or an hour, and we hear all of the highlights, right? But I always want to have the disclosure that anyone listening to the show has to recognize the hours and the years and the days of working hard and focusing. So I don’t ever want to underestimate how important the work is. But if a student asked you, or dreamt of competing one day, something like this — what would you tell them that you wish you had known before walking into the competition?

Kat McGibbon: That’s a great question. I would tell them to just believe in yourself. I mean, it sounds clichéd, and it sounds like the advice that everyone would give, but at the end of the day, you’re there for yourself, and as much as the experience is amazing regardless of where you fall, you are there for yourself, and you owe it to yourself to trust yourself enough to be able to get yourself through it. And another thing I wish is to just have my setup a little bit better. I take my whole knife bag with me, which was a bit silly, because I have so much in my knife bag that I don’t need. And I have certain things that help me in the kitchen, like I have a palette knife that I keep in my back pocket that I just whip out whenever I need it, and it’s just easy, accessible, quick, and efficient, and I didn’t bring it with me, and it completely messed up my routine, because I was so used to it. And I think it’s something like that — if you have something that you do in your kitchen that helps you, just take it. And it’s about having the comfort of having what you knew before with you in this new environment, that is going to help you succeed.

Australia: East Coast, Seafood & Frozen Yogurt

Kirk Bachmann: That’s such great advice. You know, it’s cognitive, right? It’s mise en place, right? Really thinking through how to prepare yourself. I would love if you can take some time to talk about Australia — I’m personally over the moon excited to hear about the food and the travel and the people. And what impressed you the most, and what do you miss the most?

Kat McGibbon: Yeah, well, so my mom is from New Zealand — she was born there.

Kirk Bachmann: Okay, okay.

Kat McGibbon: I’ve got family in New Zealand and Australia, so it’s been a massive part of my life that I want to go over there and travel and move over there eventually as well. So I went over and I did five weeks traveling up the East Coast of Australia with a tour company of about 25 people, and it was honestly like the best five weeks of my life, because you just become bonded with these people that you never knew before, that come from all over the world, and it was great — kind of like a social experiment on yourself to see how well you get on with different walks of life. And it was different ages from 18 to 30, and I’ve made best friends for life, just purely from these people that we’ve shared these experiences with. And you know, Australia is just so beautiful, and the mean — the travel over was not beautiful, because I did 32 hours, three stops, which was awful. It’s like going to Colorado twice from Scotland, like —

Kirk Bachmann: That’s probably the thing that people don’t think about a lot. What time of the year were you there?

Kat McGibbon: I went in November, so I went for their summer season.

Kirk Bachmann: Is there a food memory that just — you’ll just never forget?

Kat McGibbon: There are so many. For Christmas I lived in Bondi [00:39:24], and the seafood all around the harbor — Sydney Harbor — would do just incredible things. There were these massive king prawns and beautiful, like, white fish. It was honestly — and I’m not a big fish eater, I never normally have it, but it was just so fresh and delicate that you had to. It would be a crime not to. And that was one thing that I remember. And another thing would be their frozen yogurt — I am a fiend for frozen yogurt, and we don’t have a lot of that over in Scotland, like frozen yogurt shops. And they’ve got a thing called Yo-Chi, which is like a big brand in Australia, where you go and it’s like a self-serve that you do yourself, and then you add all your toppings and you weigh it and you pay the price of how much it weighs. And I paid $30 for my first frozen yogurt, which was ridiculous, and that was my whole spending for the day on one frozen yogurt.

Kirk Bachmann: But memorable, but memorable, though, right?

Kat McGibbon: Yeah.

The Lennox in Manchester

Kirk Bachmann: Oh my goodness, I love it. And now you’re at The Lennox in Manchester. What drew you to that kitchen, and maybe even more specifically that philosophy of cooking?

Kat McGibbon: Yeah. Well, The Lennox only opened about three months ago in Manchester, which is actually when I moved, and I didn’t know about it until I was in Manchester. I was walking around — because Lucky Cat by Gordon Ramsay is right opposite, and I dined there with my mum before she’d left, and I loved it. And I walked around the area, and I’d seen The Lennox, and it’s a very kind of modern, cool vibe inside, so it kind of instantly drew me to it. And I walked in, and it was an open pass, and I could see into the kitchen, and I loved that, I thought it was so cool. And I’ve decided for myself that if I don’t want to eat somewhere, I don’t want to work there. And The Lennox would be somewhere that I would be like, I need to eat there, I want to eat there, that’s so cool. So I walked up to the pass because it was open, and I directly spoke to the head chef, and I said, “Are you hiring?” And he said yes, and I said, “Can I have a job trial tomorrow?” And he said yes. And yeah, it was a very ballsy move, because I didn’t even have to send over my CV or anything. I went for my job trial, and it was very, very busy, because they’d just opened, and the social media is really, really doing well in terms of marketing — they’re booked and busy, so it’s about 150 to 200 covers every day Tuesday to Friday, and then Saturdays and Sundays are around 280 to 300 covers a day. So it is unbelievably busy. And on my job trial, we were doing things and I was learning and I was making an emulsion, which I’d made many times before, but I’d obviously just traveled Australia, so I did think I’d lost my knack a little bit. And as I was making the emulsion, my head chef comes over to me and he said, “If you split this emulsion, you don’t get the job.” And I was like, oh my god, this pressure — that’s not fair. And then I was like, pressure makes diamonds. And I didn’t split the emulsion. And then he offered me the job, and I was like, it’s amazing.

The Plan: Private Cheffing & What’s Next

Kirk Bachmann: Pressure makes diamonds. Oh my gosh, I’m so stealing that.

Kat McGibbon: Copyrighting that. I love that.

Kirk Bachmann: I’ll give you credit. You know, what I love about you sharing the amount of covers — and there’s such excitement in your voice, like you’re sharing that in a very, really, really positive way. Like, oh my gosh, we’re so busy. I absolutely love it. How does — because you’ve said your ultimate dream is to be like the top private chef in the world — how does this chapter at The Lennox fit into your bigger plan of achieving that?

Kat McGibbon: Yeah, I think it’s so important, this time right now. I’ve decided from this summer till about next summer, I want to put my head down and really, really get fully immersed into kitchens and learn as much as possible — the fast pace, the different sections, the different people that I’m going to meet. And even that’s why I like the open kitchen — dealing hand in hand, we’ve got a chef’s table that sits inside the kitchen essentially, and they see everything, and they can have an immersive experience with you. And I think it’s so important to be able to cope in a high-pressure environment, doing so many covers, and be able to have these simple conversations with people trying to enjoy your food, because that’s what’s going to be what I’m doing if I’m going into private cheffing. And I think it’s just so important that I really push myself to the limit of that this year, just for my own self-satisfaction of knowing that when I go into being self-employed in my private cheffing, I’m going to fully ace it from the start, and that’s what the plan is for the rest of this year.

Kirk Bachmann: I love that. You know what? Escoffier — I think I’ve shared this with you — we talk about hospitality a lot, not just as a service, but as how we make people feel. And I truly believe that private cheffing is that idea, probably at its most personal — how you make people feel, right?

Kat McGibbon: Yeah, yeah.

Kirk Bachmann: What’s next? What’s next? I’m not done with you yet, but what’s next for Chef Kat? And can you share where you want people to find you on social media?

Kat McGibbon: Yeah, so my personal Instagram is kat.mcgibbon, and then my cheffing Instagram is The Kitchen Cat, which is a little play on words, because cats should definitely not be in kitchens, but —

Kirk Bachmann: This cat is —

Kat McGibbon: Oh, I love it. That Instagram is where I post most of my stuff. I do have a TikTok where I do my — we’ve dropped some private cheffing vlogs that I’ve done on there recently, with one of the girls from the show — she started up her own private business already, and I’ve been helping her cater that, which has been amazing. So definitely on there. What’s coming next for me — I’m really just going to stick my head down in The Lennox for the next wee while. I do want to move about kitchens a little bit in Manchester before I make my step away. There’s a few amazing restaurants here, and I think gaining the most experience from several kitchens is where I’m going to really see my skills improve, because it’s not just about learning one set of skills for one thing — it’s about learning several sets of skills for one thing. And I think purely moving around kitchens and seeing how other people do things is how I’m going to learn the most. And then next year, hopefully by May or June, I really am going to take a year out, and I’m going to go to France or Italy and work abroad and learn culinary expertise there. Hopefully.

Kirk Bachmann: I love that — I love that you’ve got a plan, and you’ll work that plan. And when you have a plan, sometimes that plan can change, and you’ll be caught off guard because you have a plan. Since you’re in London, I have to ask — are you a World Cup soccer fan?

Kat McGibbon: Oh God, no. No.

Kat McGibbon: No — I know, all the boys always talk to me about football, and I’m always there, like, I can’t — I just don’t like being around it. But I sometimes fake enjoying talking about it just to have a conversation in the kitchen.

Kirk Bachmann: I love it, I love it. Yeah, it’s a crazy time in the world right now. Before I ask you what the ultimate dish in your world is, I have to — I started to talk about this a little bit earlier. It was the cutest thing right before we jumped on. I have five grandkids, and two of my grandkids, Clay and Rose, called right before the call, and I let them know what we’re doing, and I said, “Clay, I need you to repeat after me: My name is Clay Smith, and I’m going to welcome Kat McGibbon to The Ultimate Dish,” and he did it, and he was so excited. Kids don’t understand distance, right? So Rose wanted me to just pop over and take her over to a friend’s house, but I had to explain all that. But I just want you to know that you’ve got a couple of fans in the northwest part of the United States. I’m going to send a picture over to the kiddos, but before I let you go, I need you to say hello to Clay and Rose.

Kat McGibbon: Hi Rose, hi Clay.

Kirk Bachmann: I love it. Hey, this has been so lovely. It’s so wonderful. I want to be respectful of your time, because it’s a little bit later over in Manchester. But before we let you go, the name of the show is The Ultimate Dish. So in your mind, Kat, what is The Ultimate Dish?

Kat McGibbon’s Ultimate Dish

Kat McGibbon: The Ultimate Dish — well, I would probably say the ultimate dish, purely going on my Scottish roots, would have to be a venison dish. Oh —

Kirk Bachmann: Okay —

Kat McGibbon: You cannot go wrong with venison. It’s such a beautiful meat, especially when you do it well. And having that with probably a symbolistic red wine, some sort of potato fondant, some sort of sauté green — just simple, and let the food do the talking. Either that, or an Orkney scallop, again staying simple to Scotland. Orkney scallops — they’ve got a special place in my heart. I did it as my menu on the show, and they just always resonate with me, because the very first thing I was taught as a commis was to shuck scallops, and to cook scallops. And from that point on, I’ve just played around with them, and they’re just so delicate and beautiful. And yeah, so the ultimate dish would be either of those two.

Kirk Bachmann: I love that — we haven’t had those yet. I want to ask, because I’m a big fan of venison as well — would you throw in, I don’t know, huckleberry or lingonberry, any kind of sort of wild fruit berry into that?

Kat McGibbon: Yeah, like a juniper berry would be nice.

Kirk Bachmann: Juniper berry, yeah. I love it. See, we’re on the same page there, right?

Kat McGibbon: Yeah.

Kirk Bachmann: I was in Sweden once, and I want to put lingonberries on everything. Hey, this has been so much fun, Chef. Thank you. I hope that eventually you can come back, or we come over there, but best of luck at The Lennox. Best of luck with your future endeavors and your travels to France and Italy. Keep us posted, we’ll keep watching you on social media, and get some rest.

Kat McGibbon: I need it. Yeah, thank you so much for inviting me on — I’ve really enjoyed it, and I’ll keep you posted on all my future endeavors, but I wish you all the best as well. Thank you for the catch-up.

Kirk Bachmann: Absolutely. Thank you for listening to The Ultimate Dish Podcast, brought to you by Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts. Visit escoffier.edu/podcast to find any materials mentioned during the podcast, including notes, links, and other resources. And if you can, please leave us a rating on Apple or Spotify, and subscribe to support our show. This helps us reach more aspiring individuals ready to take the next step toward their dream careers. Thanks for listening.