The fine dining of aristocratic England
Originally published in Maxx-m Magazine, September 2010
Queen
Elizabeth II of England likes nothing better than to eat a simple piece of
grilled chicken with a fresh salad, according to one of her former palace
chefs. But things were not always so down-to-earth at the Royal Table; in fact,
the history of royal cooking and eating in England is a tale of gluttony and
excess on a magnificent scale, of groaning banqueting tables and rigid dining
formalities, and of gourmandising refugees from mainland Europe bringing their
culinary arts to the palaces of the British Isles. And though high-end dining
in England – and especially in London – today is a grand tasting menu of global
influences, old echoes of royal institutions linger on amongst formal dinners
and high teas.
English
cooking has long been the butt of many a bad joke. Many foreigners believe that
the country’s cuisine is at best hearty, earthy and rustic – from Cornish
pasties to Lancashire hotpots – and at worst a series of crude heart-attack
inducing horrors like soggy chips and deep-fried Mars Bars. In short, nothing
fit for a king. But that is all the stuff of the commoner’s table; in the royal
courts and stately homes things were always much more refined – if no less
unhealthy.
One
of the very first cookbooks written in English is the late 14th century Forme
of Cury (“cury” being Old English for “cookery”). With some 200 mind-boggling
recipes written out in quill pen on sheets of soft leather by “the Master Cooks
of King Richard II” it is a window on the extravagance of royal banqueting.
There are recipes for the elaborate edible sculptures that adorned the tables
of guests of the Plantagenet court, expensive demands for rare spices shipped
all the way from Indonesia, instructions for stuffing and roasting whole pigs,
sheep and deer, and even dishes made from whales, seals and dolphins.
A
Forme of Cury recipe for roast geese with “Sauce Madame” tells cooks to “take
sage, parsley, hyssop and savoury, quinces and pears, garlic and grapes, and
fill the geese with them. Sew the hole so that no grease comes out, and roast
them well, and keep the dripping that falls from them. …” And all of these
greasy goodies were sanctioned by “the masters of medicine and of philosophy”
of the court!
England
– and indeed Europe – never really developed the individual royal dishes seen
in so many Asian countries. This was in part because the royal houses of
Western Europe so often intermarried and traded places; English dynasties were
at various times largely of Dutch or German descent. But if these pan-European
royals lacked their own culinary specialities, what they had was an eating
culture of formality and expansiveness. And very often the food itself was
French. Even today the menus for many of the banquets that the Queen hosts in
Buckingham Palace are printed in French, and French method and technique still
informs the royal kitchens.
This
French connection in the cuisine of the courts became stronger after the
Napoleonic Wars. In fact, the concept of the public restaurant is in part a
consequence of the French Revolution. Gallic chefs from the royal palaces and
aristocratic chateaus were left unemployed when their bosses got the
revolutionary chop. Some set up the first high-class eating houses in Paris for
paying diners; others crossed the English Channel to seek employment with the
kings and aristocrats of Britain.
The
United Kingdom’s first celebrity chef was a Frenchman. Alexis Soyer, who was
born in Paris, came to England in 1830 and worked in the kitchens of princes,
dukes and marquesses. He cooked a royal breakfast for 2,000 people on the
morning of QueenVictoria’s coronation.
Today
the royal household still employs its own brigade of chefs who cater for the
family on a daily basis, and who prepare the food for the great state banquets
held for visiting dignitaries at Buckingham Palace.
These
banquets are the direct link to the extravagant past hinted at in the Forme of
Cury. Though whales and dolphins and whole pigs are off the menu today, classical
French method and formal English service are still the watchwords. After
Champagne to accompany the toasts, fish and meat courses are served on platters
of silver gilt and dessert courses come on fine porcelain with port and more
Champagne, while a chamber orchestra plays from the balcony and liveried
bearers trot between the tables.
Things
are less grand on a normal day. According to Darren McGrady, a former royal
pastry chef, and for four years the personal chef to the late Princess Diana,
the Queen takes high tea every day; Diana was a fan of tomato mousse and
stuffed eggplant, and the young princes like to tuck into a decidedly
down-to-earth cottage pie.
All
of this royal dining, formal or otherwise, is shut off to members of the public
– except those invited to partake of tea and cucumber sandwiches during the
Queen’s summer garden parties.
But
the places outside the palaces that maintain the closest connections to the
original French-influenced royal and aristocratic dining traditions of England
are the grand old hotels of London. The Ritz, the Dorchester, the Savoy and
Claridge’s are the bastions of the formality that has long surrounded English
royal dining. All have their own royal connections, especially Claridge’s,
while the Ritz is the most famous place to take in public the kind of high tea
the Queen is served in private each afternoon. Her great-grandfather Edward VII
often took his own tea at the Ritz, as did her mother.
And
while there are none of the great specifically royal cooking styles of Asia,
here and there a dish of royal descent has slipped into the diet of the general
English public. The Victoria sponge – two layers of fluffy cake sandwiched with
a layer of strawberry jam – is what Queen Victoria took with her own afternoon
tea. Coronation chicken – shredded chicken meat with mayonnaise and curry
spices, an eternal sandwich filling for English picnics – was invented by the
celebrated cook Constance Spry for the current Queen’s coronation in 1953. And
last of all, it’s worth remembering those Continental connections from the
post-French Revolution days of Alexis Soyer: Prince Charles’ favourite chef is
said to be an Italian, Antonio Carluccio.
© Tim Hannigan 2010
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