Meet the person who eats 1,000 mince pies a 12 months – beginning in January

Fancy a mince pie?

The reply is all the time sure for Will Torrent, 37, who eats round 1,000 of the festive treats yearly.

That’s alongside along with his workforce of meals specialists – who begin cooking and sampling festive meals in January on a quest to seek out the final word recipe.

Will’s first expertise in an expert kitchen was aged 15, shadowing Heston Blumenthal.

Since then, the Christmas chef has been perfecting mince pies at Waitrose & Partners for almost 13 years, utilizing AI to raised perceive what flavours folks world wide are raving about.

The father of two, who lives in Maidenhead, Berkshire, along with his spouse Francesca and two kids, nine-month-old Joseph and three-year-old Olivia, exams mince pies along with his workforce all year long, beginning in January.

Will and the Waitrose Innovation Team, who put together their secret Christmas recipes 18 to 24 months upfront, are behind the model’s new No.1 Crumble Top Mince Pies – in addition to different Christmas favourites.

He stated he ‘loves his job’, which consists of growing ‘all issues candy’, together with sweets, the place he goes into full ‘Willy Wonka mode’.

‘I might most likely say that we eat the equal of 1,000 mince pies a 12 months,’ Will instructed PA Real Life.

‘We’ll begin brainstorming our Christmas recipes mid-January [for the next 18 to 24 months] and we are going to actually be tasting all year long.’

Will’s love of meals began along with his grandfather John, who labored as a chef in accommodations in London and Bournemouth, and grandmother Kath, who he described as an ‘superb prepare dinner and baker’.

He stated: ‘On each side of my household, meals has all the time been essential.’

During his first 12 months of GCSEs, aged 15, Will was required to finish every week’s work expertise and stated that he wish to work in a restaurant.

Fortunately, one of many academics had a contact at a restaurant in Bray, who stated they have been prepared to take Will on for every week.

‘That restaurant simply so occurred to be The Fat Duck with Heston Blumenthal,’ he stated.

‘So my first ever week in an expert kitchen was shadowing Heston and having random spoons of meals given to me to strive.

‘It had an enormous affect on my profession and the way in which that I believe as a chef.

‘It taught me to query every little thing and that it is okay to not like one thing however articulate why… ‘

Will went on to check Culinary Art Management on the University of West London in Ealing from 2004 to 2007.

‘There was one thing that clicked with the candy aspect,’ he stated.

‘I additionally lived at house, so my mum Anne most popular me coming house with chocolate-covered aprons moderately than fish guts.’

He was then provided a job at a Swiss patisserie in Thames Ditton in 2008 referred to as Bachmann’s, the place he honed his craft making traditional patisserie and desserts, together with mince pies at Christmas.

‘I look again very fondly on that point,’ he stated.

‘We could be making these large vats of mince meat in late September and exquisite butter pastry in late November – they have been very good.’

In 2011, Will joined Waitrose’ meals innovation workforce, first as a marketing consultant after which as a full-time accomplice.

‘I’m most likely my very own worst enemy within the sense that I by no means swap off,’ he stated.

‘I really like my job and think about myself very fortunate.’

The workforce start fine-tuning their Christmas recipes 12 to 24 months upfront primarily based on digital knowledge of individuals’s meals preferences everywhere in the world.

‘It’s Christmas all 12 months spherical for us,’ he stated.

‘We use AI to trace digital meals knowledge.

‘Through analysing social media, menus and on-line recipes, we are able to have a look at what’s taking place on menus in Sydney and see what’s taking place with avenue meals in Los Angeles.’

Will sits down with the meals innovation workforce – a ‘small workforce of foodies’ that features cooks, product builders and pattern specialists – barely every week after New Year’s Day and evaluations buyer tendencies from world wide and within the UK.

Traditionally mince pies are made by mixing minced meat, dried fruits, spices reminiscent of cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg, and suet, the arduous white fats on the kidneys and loins of cattle, sheep or different animals.

‘The level I need to make is that we do not simply throw the kitchen sink at a mince pie as a result of it sounds tremendous fashionable, we do it for a great purpose,’ he stated.

One of the recipes Will is most happy with is Waitrose’ award-winning No.1 Brown Butter Mince Pies with Cognac.

‘There was nearly a magical second when showcasing it to the remainder of the workforce,’ he stated.

‘There was nearly silence, which might imply certainly one of two issues, both they hate it or they’re actually loving it.’

Thankfully it was the latter and mince pie gross sales on the grocery store are already up 15 per cent this week 12 months on 12 months, in accordance with Will, who paradoxically was not a fan of the Christmas traditional as a toddler.

‘When it will get to the season we’re additionally taking a look at what our different retailer buddies are bringing onto the market so we’re tasting their mince pie ranges,’ he stated.

‘So I believe we labored it out and it is equal to about 1,000 mince pies a 12 months between us.

‘I keep in mind final 12 months after we had that huge warmth wave with report temperatures and what occurs, the air-con breaks.

‘So we have got folks sweating, carrying Hawaiian shirts and taking a look at Christmas puddings and mince pies. You could not write it.’

Will, who admits that he struggles to ‘swap off’ from work, used to proceed baking mince pies for buddies and neighbours.

But now, with kids, that is not really easy.

He stated: ‘I’ve a nine-month-old and almost three-year-old so looking for time to bake after placing them to mattress and wanting to look at Netflix is a no-no.’

He will, nevertheless, be cooking up a storm at his native church on Christmas day.

‘You can inform how a lot it means for people who find themselves on their very own or who’ve been affected this 12 months by the cost-of-living disaster,’ he stated.

‘At the tip of the day, there’ll all the time be a Christmas pudding, there’ll all the time be a Christmas cake and there’ll all the time be a mince pie.

‘Our position is to recollect the place the roots of these merchandise lie… as a result of they’re so instantly linked to the folks’s traditions, whether or not that is stir-up Sunday making your Christmas pudding or consuming your first mince pie.’