A SELF-TAUGHT chef who earned a Michelin star at just 24 and a national following after appearing on the Great British Menu at 27, has secured his first book deal.

Farmers’ son Tommy Banks became the country’s youngest ever Michelin star recipient as head chef and co-owner of The Black Swan at Oldstead.

After a series of show-stopping performances on the Great British Menu last year – where one particularly memorable dish took its inspiration form White Horse of Kilburn - he suddenly found himself with a new national following.

Now the chef, who has not even celebrated his 30th birthday, has secured his first book deal.

Roots, published by Seven Dials, will come out on May 3 next year.

It will showcase 100 recipes, as well as stories and ideas about growing, foraging and preserving, accompanied by photographs from North Yorkshire. Each recipe is designed to be inspired by a root ingredient and is designed to appeal to home cooks, professional chefs and gardeners.

Although it is more than a year before his book is due to come out, people have already begun pre-ordering copies on Amazon.

Tommy’s interest in cooking started when he began working at The Black Swan after his parents brought the pub about the time he left school and he began to help out when they were short-staffed in the kitchen.

From there he developed his unique style by looking at his background in farming and the surrounding countryside for his inspiration and cooking with ingredients he had foraged or grown in the surrounding countryside.

The approach earned the young chef his first Michelin star and last year he appeared on the Great British Menu, where he obtained top scores from judges.

One of his most memorable dishes was a show-stopping dessert, which took its inspiration from the White Horse of Kilburn, which his grandfather used to maintain.

Entitled My Great Briton, it included local ingredients including a Douglas Fir parfait, lemon verbena gel and ewe’s milk yoghurt sorbet with a Douglas Fir sour cocktail –and also a recording of his grandfather’s voice talking about the White Horse.

The North Yorkshire chef is due to make another appearance on the Great British Menu this month.