High-fliers with the feminine touch: the spotlight falls on two women who know the meaning of soaraway success A second helping

Byres Road -- need lament no more.

Although it disappeared some seven years ago, Mo Scott, its founder

and the talented chef of its heyday, has started a new food business

which promises an equally sophisticated and imaginative prospect.

Scott launched Earlshill Farm Foods last autumn with the assistance of

Fiona Kirk -- a friend from Poachers days. And she is working flat out

to meet demand.

The new enterprise is based at Scott's home at Earlshill Farm near

Lochwinnoch in Renfrewshire. Although as firmly founded on the

principles of excellence as its predecessor, it operates now in two

different but complementary culinary spheres: cookery demonstrations and

freshly-prepared freezer foods.

The farm kitchen acts now by turns as theatrical arena in which Scott

can demonstrate her recipes and cooking techniques, and as workshop

where she creates an extensive range of delicious and imaginative dishes

for the freezer.

Both parts of the enterprise are capable of standing alone, but she

confidently expects them to reinforce one another.

As an award-winning chef, as well as a successful restaurateur, she

has moved some way away from her original training in biology at Bath

University.

She had always loved food and cooking and soon after taking her degree

returned to the kitchen, working in top restaurants across the country.

Building on her early enthusiasm for traditional home cooking and

simple wholesome ingredients, she was able at the age of 23 -- then

Glasgow's youngest-ever licensee -- to open Poachers. Very quickly the

name became a byword for culinary excellence and originality.

It was during these hectic and exciting years that the seed of her

present business was sown: customers were always asking about the

ingredients of particular dishes or how they were cooked.

Buying Earlshill Farm, and its transformation by her architect

husband, were crucial in facilitating her new venture. Space was

available for him to combine a comfortable family home with a large

kitchen containing an Aga for cooking demonstrations. There were also

plenty of outbuildings for storage and freezers.

Equally important, Scott says, was the Women into Management Course

run by Glasgow Opportunities which she took two years ago. This was a

four-month training for women who wanted to return to business after a

break.

The course, she says, identified areas of business opportunity and

analysed returners' strengths and weaknesses, their capabilities and

responsibilities in relation to family commitments, as well as giving

them a rigorous training in every aspect of management.

It was also a great motivator, giving her confidence as well as the

skills to help her tackle the next stage in her career.

The enthusiasm of so many foodie fans gave her the final shove towards

launching the enterprise. And their judgment looks like being

vindicated. Already many of the participants in the cookery

demonstrations have booked for more; meanwhile, the freezers are

emptying rapidly.

The programme of demonstrations, which take place both during the day

and in the evening, covers a wide range of topics: food preparation --

soups, sauces, mousselines and bouillabaise -- game cookery,

quickly-prepared suppers, sophisticated dinner-party menus, and finally,

Aga teach-ins.

Her confident yet friendly style, her genuine enthusiasm for food, the

tasting of the various dishes as she prepares them, and the informal

lunch or supper with wine which follows all contribute to the enjoyment

-- as well as the instructiveness -- of the occasion.

Non-participants are equally keen. Never, says one spouse, has he been

so well fed as he tucks into one delicious meal after another in the

weeks following an Earlshill demonstration.

And for those who are too busy to learn the secrets of cooking

perfection for themselves, the freezer foods are the answer.

These are all made entirely by Mo Scott and Fiona Kirk, using only the

best and freshest ingredients.