Rob Ryan, Jalons Bridewell's head chef _320
JALONS Bridewell's head chef Rob Ryan banned sugar from his diet 17 years ago.
After running the pastry section of a kitchen in a four-star hotel for three years he became sick of the sight, smell and taste of sugar.
"One of my first jobs in a kitchen was at The Netherwood Hotel in Cumbria where I would make fresh bread and croissants, ice cream and pretty much everything sweet. I remember one time making 6,000 fresh mince pies! It got to the point where I had to stop eating sugary food!"
Despite avoiding desserts himself, the 38-year-old has chosen sticky toffee pudding as his fourth and final recipe - a strange selection considering its high sugar content with plenty of syrup and treacle!
But this dish holds a special place in Rob's heart - it was the dish he used to woo his wife five years ago.
"Ashleigh is South African and didn't grow up with all the puddings we have in Britain. So I wooed her with sticky toffee pudding and now she loves desserts, especially sweet ones like this or sherry trifle!"
Despite a mantra of ‘no sugar in my diet' Rob admits that as a child he had a very sweet tooth.
"My mum would give me lunch money and I'd spend it on sweets before I got to school! As a child I always went to my grandma's on a Sunday and as soon as you walked in you could smell the fruit cake she'd made. You wouldn't be given a cup of tea without a piece of fruit cake. Even now my uncle Ken does the same when you visit.
"I used to have four sugars in my tea but now I have it with none."
Rob, who has worked in venues as diverse as Liverpool Football Club and the one rosette graded Blue Anchor Inn in East Aberthaw, South Wales, doesn't let his dislike of sugar affect his work and says he couldn't do his job if he didn't personally taste test his creations.
"I can get over the smell of the cakes and puddings but tasting the dishes is really hard," he laughs.
"I do miss it sometimes, and when I'm really busy and need a sugar rush I have a handful of white chocolate buttons, the only chocolate I can eat. I love fruit as well which gives me lots of natural sugar. It's just the refined sugar I stay away from."