George Jephson for Service Works

George Jephson is a charcutier, producing French Charcuterie including Pate En Croute, Terrine, Fromage De Tête, and more from the basement at Cadet wine bar in Newington Green. Championing classic French charcuterie in the UK, George is a seasoned enthusiast and placed 4th in the Pâté En Croute World Championship.

In a sense, what you’re doing goes beyond cooking and pastry, it’s preservation - continuing French tradition and charcuterie. Do you feel this kind of cooking is becoming a lost artistry and do you feel a sense of responsibility to continue it?

Traditionally, everything we do is in the realm of the butcher rather than the chef. Certainly in France, charcuterie is all part of the butcher's training (which is not the case in the UK), and it has a youthful and active community who still practice it and arguably better than ever.

I don't think these skills and traditions will ever die out completely, they might grow and diminish in popularity but there is such a fundamental joy, purpose and self sufficiency in it all that it will always spark a passion in someone, somewhere. I think the French are doing a great job continuing the craft, I'm just promoting it overseas.

What drew you to charcuterie in the first place?

Half of my family are French and we spent most of our childhood between Normandy, Brittany and Paris. Food was central to family life, saucisson and pate was one of my earliest memories of loving food. Via a circuitous route of cooking, fishmongering, and cheese-mongering, I then spent over a decade as a whole carcass butcher.

The move into charcuterie felt logical and before I knew it, it had become an obsession. There was so much I didn't know, and I committed to spending the rest of my days learning and improving. There's nothing like chasing that first childhood happiness to give you a raison d'etre.

What are some of the pates and charcuterie that you’ve been most proud of?

I am most proud of the Pate En Croute I entered at the World Championships in Lyon. It was the culmination of all the years of learning and practice, and included multiple techniques which were hard won!