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Chef: Florence Cornish
Restaurant/Kitchen: Menu Development for Hilton
Location: UK & Ireland
Social Media: Instagram: @florence_cornish
Meet Chef Florence Cornish, Menu Development Chef for Hilton UK & Ireland. From crafting contemporary hotel menus to publishing her cookbook. Her culinary journey reflects a passion for creating delicious, memorable dishes, from smash burgers to family-inspired classics. Dive into her world of creativity and taste!
1. Your restaurant/role:
I work in the central food and drink team at Hilton. My role as Menu Development Chef for UK & Ireland means I create the menus across 24 of our hotels, ensuring they are profitable, contemporary, consistent and most importantly tasty.
2. Describe your kitchen:
I don’t have a permanent kitchen, I do my development work in our hotel kitchens and move around each time we update the menu. It’s important to do this because you need to see the kitchen working in real time to understand how best to create a menu that plays to its strengths and gives our guests exactly what they want. In terms of the kind of kitchen I like to work in, there are a few key things: it has to be clean and organised. I’m a bit of an organisation nerd, but I really feel like a tidy kitchen leads to a tidy mind. It’s also key that there is a strong sense of collaboration in the
kitchen. You want everyone to lift each other up with positive feedback and shared ideas.
3. Favourite Chef Works item and why?
The Hartford Chef Coat, I got three with my name personalised on them last year, and I really treasure them. You can feel how high-quality they are and they are super durable, which is so important.
Chef Florence Cornish wearing Chef Works Hartford Chef Coat
4. First job in the industry:
Ginger Jar is a boutique catering company founded by Jenny McNeill. I trialed for the job while I was finishing my chef training and was so excited to land it. I remember calling my best friend saying, “I got the job!” The kitchen was also just a 15-minute walk from my house, which was great. When I started I was very junior and focused on learning all I could about events, catering, budgeting and planning prep. There were definitely some wild times, like catering for several hundred in a marquee where the generator kept shutting off, or trying to set panna cottas in a blast chiller because the gelatin just wouldn’t cooperate! But it really taught me how to find a way through almost any situation and how to problem-solve on the spot. Jenny was incredibly kind and generous to me—she allowed me to grow and guided me without judgment or shame, which I truly valued.
5. Favourite cookbook:
The one I use the most is probably The Violet Bakery Cookbook. The recipes are so straightforward and flavour-focused, not overly fussy.
6. Your awards/career highlights:
Publishing my cookbook, Made in the USA, has to be one of the best moments of my career. It felt surreal to have all my recipes, stories, and memories written down on the pages. Winning three Great Taste Awards at Allplants felt amazing. Cooking for News UK in France was a mad, celeb-filled, HOT experience, but so fun.
‘Made in the USA’ Chef Florence’s award winning book
7. Your cooking inspiration:
These are just a few, but I love Christina Tosi’s style of food. It’s skillful yet unpretentious. Her food delivers amazing flavour and a huge amount of fun, which is exactly what food is to me. I can appreciate the craft of a super fine dining meal, but I’d much rather eat a freshly baked pile of cookies any day. Ina Garten is a demi-goddess in my opinion. She’s hilarious, her home is the stuff of upstate New York dreams, and her recipes are pretty much failsafe.Dara Klein is behind Tiella, a restaurant pop-up that was (and I think still is) running at the Compton Arms pub. My colleague Dylan introduced me to her work and again, her food is unbelievably flavorful and moreish, yet not at all pretentious. It celebrates flavour, and the dishes are accessible. The crispy potatoes she makes are worth the trip alone.
8. Your specialty creation and what makes it so special?
Definitely a cheeseburger. Preferably a smash burger, with a thin and really well-caramelized crust, melted American cheese, two types of onion (raw and sautéed), lettuce, homemade garlic mayo and a sesame bun. What makes it special is just how comforting it is and how simple the ingredients are. The less fiddling you do to the patty, the better. Just a bit of salt and pepper,nothing else.
Chef Florence enjoying her speciality dish
9. Favourite dish to eat and why:
Well, I eat a cheeseburger about once a week! But other than that, it’s a toss-up between buffalo wings with blue cheese dip or lobster linguine. It’s all about balance.
10. Weirdest thing you ever ate:
At a staff meal once, somebody put up a big bowl of what we thought was chocolate mousse. We called it the ‘Big Bowl of Brown’ because it didn’t give any clues as to what it was. I think whoever made it forgot to add sugar because it tasted both of nothing, and bad?! A mystery to this day.
11. Favourite ice cream flavour and what do you pair it with?
Probably pistachio. Perfect on its own, but I would never say no to sprinkles… Is that a pairing?! If not, I’d say a sour cherry compote over the top. STUNNING.
12. Favourite family recipe:
There are two. We always have latkes with sour cream and smoked salmon whenever we get together. Who doesn’t love a crispy, fried potato? The other is at Christmas, we have something called Stuffing Rolls, which is stuffing rolled in streaky bacon and roasted in the oven. I always thought they were completely normal and that everyone had them, but apparently it’s a quirk of my grandad’s, for which I’m forever grateful.
13. Favourite wine – any specific ones in particular?
Ciu Ciu Bacchus Rosso Piceno. It tastes delicious and is under £20 a bottle.
14. Who would you most like to cook for?
My great-grandmother, Flo, who I’m named after. I never met her, and apparently, she was an absolute force to be reckoned with. Also, Dolly Parton as I’d make her some Southern classics.
Chef Florence Cornish ready to create menus for Hilton Hotels
15. And who would you least like to cook for?
Gosh, any critic, I think. I just really believe that food should be enjoyed and shared, not pulled apart in tiny detail.
16. Favourite things to do when not cooking:
Reading, watching terrible reality TV, traveling exploring new places, and listening to classic country music.
17. Favourite city to visit, any particular highlights?
I absolutely love Margate (not sure it’s a city) and have been going there for years. Highlights definitely include Angela’s Fish Restaurant The Rose in June pub, Morelli’s for ice cream in Broadstairs and Oast for baked goods and coffee.
18. Your greatest indulgence?
Good vanilla bean paste. It’s the only thing I’m really adamant about in baking, even though it’s pretty pricey.
19. And finally, your all-time best culinary tip?
Salt throughout the dish. Don’t just salt one thing or at the end, every element needs to be seasoned.
Photography: Photoshoot – Jason Moore photography @jasonmoorephoto