Speaker / Host
Paul Rankin
Paul Rankin is an Irish television chef, best known from 'Ready Steady Cook', in 1989 he opened the very successful Roscoff, helping to change the face of Northern Ireland's culinary scene. It was the first restaurant in Northern Ireland to be awarded a Michelin star. 10 years later, in 1999, Rankin replaced it with his flagship restaurant Cayenne.
About Paul Rankin
Paul Rankin, best known for Ready Steady Cook, is one of the UK’s most popular celebrity chefs, and has also starred in Step up to the Plate, Local Food Heroes, Saturday Kitchen, Ten Mile Menu, and alongside Nick Nairn on Paul and Nick’s Big Food Trip. He is an experienced and consummate awards host.
Paul Rankin is best known for being one of the longest standing and most successful chefs on ‘Ready Steady Cook’ on BBC 2, which regularly pulls in viewers of nearly 3 million. Paul has appeared on ‘Step Up to the Plate’ (BBC 1), ‘Local Food Heroes’ (UKTV) and ‘Saturday Kitchen’ (BBC 1). Previously, Paul has appeared on ‘Celebrity X Factor’ (ITV 1), as one of ‘The Chefs’. The group were so popular that they made it to the final stages of the competition. In 2005 he was asked to overhaul the menus at a Belfast Care Home for the elderly and his enthusiasm for this cause has led to him addressing conferences and events for care industry professionals and this in turn triggered a ‘Tonight’ with Trevor McDonald special programme on the subject for ITV 1 in which Paul was heavily featured.
When not busy in his restaurants and with his television commitments, Paul is furiously writing recipes. He has published several books including ‘Gourmet Ireland’ (BBC Books), ‘Gourmet Ireland 2’ (BBC Books), ‘Ideal Home Cooking’ (Boxtree), ‘Dublin Dining’ (Black & White Publishing) and ‘New Irish Cookery’ (BBC Books). Paul was appointed International Ambassador for Bushmills Whiskey and regularly does consultancy work for Sodexo. He has his own range of phenomenally successful Irish breads with Irwins Bakery available in major supermarkets throughout the UK and is expanding the range all the time.
Paul has also filmed his own series for BBC Ireland, The Rankin Challenge, which ran for three years to much popularity. Continuing to work with wife and business partner Jeanne, Paul also hosted his own cookery segment on ITV’s morning programme GMTV and the two have published numerous cookery books and previously held positions as the resident chef and writer for Ideal Home magazine. Paul Rankin remains for many, however, best remembered for his more than ten year tenure on the BBC TV chef series Ready, Steady, Cook where he worked alongside a number of other popular broadcasting personalities and TV chefs. Paul continues to be a regular guest on Saturday Kitchen and contributes to a variety of other cooking broadcasts.
