His restaurant may have been been named one of Britain’s top three eateries, but, by his own admission, Raymond Blanc is grumpy.

The chef saw his double Michelin-starred restaurant Le Manoir Aux Quat’ Saisons, in Great Milton, climb five places from last year’s eighth spot in the 2011 Good Food Guide, which was released last week.

But he has been out of the kitchen for months now with a broken leg — and is becomingly increasingly frustrated by his inability to do what he loves most in the world — cook.

“It has been very boring,” he said “and patience is something you either have or you don’t.

“But then kitchens are so angular with all that stainless steel, they are not easy things to return to. I can prop myself up against the stove but I can’t get around.

“And when you haven’t walked for five months you get tired so quickly because none of the muscles work and you have to relearn everything.”

Not that he has been entirely idle during his recuperation.

M. Blanc has recently been promoting the latest addition to his ‘library’ — A Taste of Relais and Chateaux — a book on the food of the prestigious hotel ‘group’ to which he has contributed.

And the 60-year-old has also been preparing for the start of filming the next part of his TV series Kitchen Secrets.

That is on top of the small matter of supervising the running of the Brasserie Blanc chain, the Maison Blanc cafes, and Le Manoir — which fell just behind Heston Blumenthal’s Fat Duck, in Bray, Berkshire, and Gordon Ramsay’s Royal Hospital Road, London, in the Which?-produced restaurant guide.

“In A Taste of Relais and Chateaux I wrote the recipes in the winter with the produce that was on hand, so it is very much a late autumn entry — pears, winter vegetables, oysters and scallops,” he said, “because everything needs to centre on the seasons. That’s how Le Manoir is defined and always has been — by what you can get.”

And how does M. Blanc feel about giving away all his secrets, either on TV or in books?

”There are 42 chefs in my kitchen and I’m sharing my secrets with them all the time, that’s how you train them, so for me keeping things to myself is an alien concept.

“You are much richer by giving, because then you can move on and never get stale. It keeps you on the edge and fresh. And anyway, it’s what you love doing.

“And if you don’t share them, they will be torn off you anyway. So, if I ever take a dish from somewhere, I will always credit them with the idea because of the values of honesty and respect, and with the Internet everything is accessible anyway.”

So are we mere mortals going to be able to cook from this new book?

“Well, I’m only contributing, along with Heston Blumenthal, Alain Roux, Michel Roux Jr, Michael Caines and John Campbell. But, yes.

“My roasted winter vegetable dish is made with pumpkin, baby onions, beetroot jus, parsnip ribbons and deep fried sage so you get the crunch and the soft, the silky with the munchy, it’s a very sensual dish.

“But, then, food is so extraordinary on so many levels. And the British are reconnecting with their food, their farmers and their values and rediscovering food.”

M. Blanc was at Waterstone’s on Saturday signing copies of A Taste of Relais and Chateaux.

Is that something he enjoys?

“I love book signings,” he said, almost surprised to be asked. “I think they are very rewarding, although the best part is writing the books in the first place and working with the photographers so that the pictures get your juices flowing and you want to eat the food on the page.

“And anyway, I haven’t really changed my mind. I’m still consistent and very proud of all my books, while trying to remove the myth of celebrity status and all the rubbish that goes with it.

“But signings are like meeting your guests — it’s the people who believe in what you do, the people who buy and read and cook from your books. The only sad thing is that too often there isn’t enough time to engage with them all.”