Fiery superchef Nick Nairn is ablaze with enthusiasm about TV cookery, but he

tells Ron Clark that the real star in his series was some stunning scenery

THERE are a few moments Nick Nairn would be happy to forget. Like the time he spent all day fishing for sea trout for his Wild Harvest 2 TV show and laid his fat, glistening catch on the bank of the loch in readiness for a sizzler of a barbeque. ''We only turned our backs for a moment,'' he said, ''when the cameraman reversed his Land Rover right over them. We thought for a moment about a flatfish barbeque, but it wouldn't have worked.''

Or the frenetic day during a shoot in Argyll when the fiery chef was creating a dish which called for a dash of whisky in a hot pan. But he used too much whisky. And too hot a pan. The resultant fireball not only took the eyebrows off several of the crew, but torched #2000 worth of the BBC's microphones.

Or the bitter day in the North Sea off Fife, when he was kitted up to go windsurfing for a scenic connecting shot. The crew who were to film him turned up two hours late. ''I was in the water all that time,'' he recalled. ''I can windsurf perfectly well, but in that shot I was flopping about all over the place. I was knackered. My arms were falling off.''

These moments are, of course, all behind him now as he enters into negotiations with the BBC about the next stage in his elevation through the ranks of superstar chefs. But the glow of his triumphant second series still warms him. ''The feedback we've had has been fantastic. And the ratings! We had figures we wouldn't have dared hope for.''

He was speaking at his Michelin star Braeval Mill restaurant in Aberfoyle where he had just served Sunday lunch to a full house of demanding customers. The earlier part of the weekend had been spent filming a guest spot for the BBC's prime-time Food & Drink show. And he wasn't even out of breath.

''I'm a foodie through and through. I love everything about food. But there was only one real star in the last show - Scotland. The second series was much glossier than the first and I think I became more mature on camera, but the scenery was an attraction in its own right. It was wonderful, drop-dead gorgeous.''

Nairn, the reigning champion of Scottish produce, is currently sprinting through a constant seven-day week of filming, writing, personal appearances and is still turning a penny as a hands-on chef. There is no prospect of a break until the restaurant closes down for a short while in July. Then he has a plan. He will eat. ''France, Italy, America - wherever there's good food, we'll try it.

''Once a year, we take a holiday and we dine out every night. We used to eat out in different restaurants for lunch and dinner, but that started to become a bit heavy.''

The ''we'' in this case is his wife Fiona, with whom he opened Braeval shortly after finishing his time as one of Britain's hardy sons in the Merchant Marine.

''The Merchant Navy sets you up in several different ways,'' he said. ''You start to feel that, if you can survive the life, you can survive anything. It instils a measure of self-discipline and, certainly in my case, it was a great cure for wanderlust.

''My first trip, at the age of 17, was through Suez, just after the Middle East war. They were still exploding mines in the canal as we passed through. And in Indonesia, we were involved in a collision with another ship which resulted in us spending six weeks in dry dock in Singapore.''

Singapore was still an exotic city in those days, before the seafront was sanitised and developed by high-tech empires. Nairn, as a young navigating officer, had time to wander the teeming street markets and discover the overpowering aromas, colours and clamour of the food stalls.

''It was here that my interest in food really started. I had my first noodles in Singapore, and my first curry in Madras.'' When he hung up his shore whites for the last time and returned to Scotland, the idea of a restaurant was firmly fixed in his mind. How to go about it was a different thing entirely. It is a matter of record that the personable chef is self-taught, but some credit must go to his wife Fiona.

''It took us a year to convert Braeval from a derelict heap. I was working directly with the builders on the restoration during the day. At night, Fiona and I would try out recipes on each other, in an attempt to create our own style.''

The dishes then were considerably simpler than those in the BBC book which accompanies Wild Harvest 2. Now it is all confident creations like Saddle of Hare with Red Onion Marmalade, Pheasant Breast with Drambuie, and Lasagne of Squat Lobster. Then, it was just a matter of getting something onto the table.

''On our first night,'' Nairn recalled, ''we invited in the all the tradesmen and their wives and families. It was a kind of lunacy. We were young, naive, and sorely short of practice. The next night we were half empty, but the night after that the restaurant was fully booked and it stayed that way throughout our first year in the business.''

Nairn still finds the fame aspect a little on the weird side of pleasant. He has difficulty with the fact that people will stop him for an autograph as he walks down the village street.

''For the latest Food & Drink show,'' he said, ''I was cooking a flat-warming meal for a very pleasant young couple. As part of it, I met all their relatives who turned up for the party. Because of my television exposure, they appeared awestruck. It was bizarre. I'm just a guy.''

But the rewards are rich. For a boy who saw the world before he was out of his teens, he was woefully short of experience of Scotland until Wild Harvest. ''It took me to Skye, where I fished for mackerel with Jerry Cox. Great shoals filled the bay and we were able to walk out of Jerry's front door, straight onto his boat and catch our supper. And I found Arran for the first time. What a marvellous island.

''The series also taught me how to dive. I could sail and surf already, but it was great to get the kit on and dive for my own scallops. Scotland still has the best seafood in the world, bar none. Don't let anybody tell you otherwise.''

n Wild Harvest 2, Nick Nairn (BBC Books, #14.99)