Christmas is a perfect time to get creative in the kitchen, says globetrotting chef Stevie Parle. Richard McComb gets a flavour for his ideas.

For a young lad obsessed with food, the 90s and early noughties weren't the best time to be growing up in Birmingham.

Stevie Parle, one of Britain's most exciting cooking talents, recalls there were a few good Indian restaurants, but he struggles to remember their names.

Fortunately, his mother and father, Hilary and Jim Parle, were adventurous amateur cooks and it was through them and foreign holidays that he developed his love of food. At the family home in Harborne, he watched attentively as his parents, both GPs, tackled the recipes of Madhur Jaffrey, Ken Hom and the River Cafe, where Parle would end up working. Jaffrey's style of cooking, in particular, must have fired his imagination because this globe-trotting cook simply cannot get enough of spices.

The 27-year-old chef is the co-presenter of Spice Trip on More4, during which he and spice blender Emma Grazette scour the globe for tips on transforming everyday dishes using simple spices. In the programme, Mexican cuisine comes under the microscope for chilli, Cambodia is celebrated for black pepper, Turkey for cumin, Zanzibar for cloves and India for cinnamon. In this Sunday's episode, the duo head to Grenada to look at the uses and reputed aphrodisiac powers of nutmeg, hailed on the Caribbean island as "black gold". Dishes include nutmeg roast chicken with squash and spinach and creamy buttermilk pudding with honey nutmeg peaches.

The television series has a spin-off cook book, also called Spice Trip, featuring more than 100 recipes.

Parle, who will be at Selfridges, Birmingham, with Grazette on Saturday, says he found school boring and left the classroom to see the world at 16, travelling around south-east Asia. He was inspired by the vibrancy and immediacy of food - "I just loved how satisfying it is. I love the craft aspect" - and trained at the Ballymaloe Cookery School, near Cork, Ireland. Parle then jumped straight into the heat of culinary battle at the illustrious River Cafe. He has also worked at Moro and Petersham Nurseries in London and in New York.

Following the success of a pop-up restaurant venture, Parle now runs the critically-acclaimed Dock Kitchen in Ladbroke Grove, west London, where he harnesses his eclectic knowledge of food and spice combinations with spontaneous menu creations. He prides himself on his "experimental kitchen" where a popular local favourite of chicken livers in seven spice and pomegranate molasses is always on the menu.

The restaurant's Christmas specials include slow-roast Kelly Bronze turkey in a Mexican black mole sauce. Parle admits it takes a lot of time to achieve the chilli and chocolate sauce effect but he can't help himself. He'll do anything to spice up a diner's life. Do not be distracted by the exotic influences though. Parle insists spices are also the heart and soul of an old-fashioned English Christmas.

"I like a traditional Christmas," says Parle, who will be returning to his home city for the festivities. "I always find spices are incredibly Christmasy. In England, we cook with spice, but not that much. Then around Christmas everyone starts getting out the cinnamon and cloves and all the things you put in mulled wine. All those smells are what Christmas is really about for me."

Parle's favourite seasonal ham recipe is based on a family recipe originating from Ireland and incorporates cloves as well as a luxuriously sticky bourbon and marmalade glaze.

The chef says his love of individual spices changes according to the seasons, so at the minute nurturing nutmeg hits the spot. Parle says: "Nutmeg is a brilliant spice for winter. It is really warming and all those things that you want to eat now, like potatoes and dark greens and all those type of things, all benefit from a bit of nutmeg."

Parle, who went to Harborne Junior School and Solihull School, got stuck in cooking his first Christmas lunch in his teens and admits he likes to tackle the biggest meal of the year himself, as he finds the experience easier if he is hands on. But just like his dishes at Dock Kitchen, simplicity and big flavours are the key, not over-elaboration and endless trimmings.

"My thing is that if you are cooking at Christmas, you decide what you're having," says Parle. "People always say, 'Oh, I want roast potatoes', 'I want mashed potatoes', or 'I want parsnips'. You don't need that many different things. I would always go for two or three really delicious sides that will all be hot at the same time. The point of the meal is to enjoy yourself, not cook a million different things."

This Christmas, however, Parle will be taking a back seat. He and his wife Nicola, who is also from Birmingham, have a two-week-old baby called Rafe, as well as a two-and-a-half-year-old son, Sam. Both sets of grandparents live within walking distance - Nicola's parents live in Edgbaston - so they plan to visit them both on Christmas Day.

Where will they be going for lunch though?

"We might find out who's doing what," confides Parle.

* Stevie Parle and Emma Grazette will be at Selfridges, Birmingham, on Saturday from 1-2pm. Spice Trip is published by Square Peg, priced 20 pounds. Spice Trip is on More4 at 8pm on Sunday.

My Grandad's Sticky Clove Bourbon Ham

Prep: 5 mins
Cook: 45 mins

Glazed ham studded with cloves is a traditional favourite recipe for Stevie Parle. The addition of bourbon to the classic Christmas ham adds another level of flavour. It's a great dish to cook any time and is ideal for a big party.

* Ingredients:

1 x 3kg (7lb) cooked ham on the bone, cooled

About 20 whole cloves

4 tbsp orange marmalade

4 tbsp honey

4 tbsp Dijon mustard

100 ml (3 1/2 fl oz) bourbon

* Method:

Preheat the oven to 160 C/325 F/gas 3.

Cut the rind off the cooked ham, leaving the fat, and place the ham in a roasting tin.

With a sharp knife, score the fat in a diamond pattern, taking care not to cut through the meat, and stick a clove into the centre of each diamond.

In a bowl, mix the marmalade, honey, mustard and bourbon together and, using a pastry brush or palette knife, spread the ham with a third of the glaze.

Bake for 15 minutes, then take the ham out of the oven and spread with another third of the glaze. Return the ham to the oven for another 15 minutes, then spread with the remaining glaze and return to the oven for a final 15 minutes.

Remove the ham from the oven and let it rest for 15 minutes, before slicing.