Cause for celebration
News this year that Parisians were flocking to their nearest branch of Marks & Spencer to buy pork pies and British bacon reawakened the old debate about the food cultures of Britain and France.
The art of good living in these islands has long involved an appreciation of French gastronomy, but it is fair to say that the reverse has not exactly been the case. After all, the humblest and plainest preparation of a dish is referred to as "à l'anglaise".
One of the organisations that has been working to upgrade this image is the Logis of Great Britain, a sister association of the French Logis founded just after the war. Régis Crépy, chef-patron at the Great House at Lavenham, in Suffolk, and vice-president of the British Logis, has just led a team of four other chefs on a week-long visit to the Auvergne. As well as some heavy-duty sight-seeing, their main task was to put together a gala dinner menu to show the locals what British food can taste like.
The chefs were: Evelyn Hawksley of Edderton Hall in Welshpool, Powys; Mark Deveney from the Hill House Hotel, Horndon on the Hill in Essex; Jonathan Seymour of Somerset House, near Bath; and Donald Horton from the Ebford House Hotel, Ebford in Devon.
Armed with basketloads of British goodies - kippers, blackberries, farmhouse cheddar, mature stilton, malt whisky and even English wine - they threw themselves at the mercy of about 40 local dignitaries over two nights at the Hotel Bristol in Le Puy.
After a bracing glass of Shawsgate Muller-Thurgau 1991 from Suffolk, diners set to work on galantine of duck with spiced peach. The dish's combination of strong meat, rolled around a stuffing of its own offal and accompanied by fruit and sweet spice, lent it a characteristically British taste, and made it a stimulating opening dish.
The next delicacy showed how times have changed for British chefs - a few years back, fishcakes would hardly have been considered a suitable dish with which to impress the French. For this event, the chefs made a further break from tradition, using kippers as the base for the fishcakes. Their piquant smokiness was offset by an unobtrusive sauce made from bundles of fresh parsley.
Customs restrictions had meant it was not possible to take in home-produced lamb, so local meat had to be used for the main course. French lamb is generally excellent, but the preparation for this occasion was, again, recognisably English. The sweetness of the apricot in the stuffing nicely balanced the assertive savouriness of celery, and the whole dish was underscored by a strong, herby gravy - that's gravy, not jus or fumet.
After the cheeses came poached pear, and here the menu seemed to reach across the Channel in a culinary compromise with France. Even its crème anglaise reinforced a certain French quality.
Crépy hopes this will become an annual venture. As for this year's event, there were some logistic problems involved in co-ordinating five different catering establishments, and next time they will try to use an importer of British meat.
Sparkling wine from Surrey
While the French guests in the Auvergne were pleasantly surprised by their British feast, the wines - Sancerre, red Puligny-Montrachet and Monbazillac - suggest that, in France, some aspects of gastronomy will remain forever French.
Not so in Surrey, where the Denbies wine estate, near Dorking, held a celebratory dinner on 23 September to inaugurate their new range of sparkling wines. Denbies has a top-drawer restaurant as well, so chef Jason Berridge (ex-Hambleton Hall and the Feathers, Woodstock) was on hand to design a new menu of gently expressive flavours that would allow the fizz to sparkle at its brightest.
The wines included an aperitif of Surrey Brut boasting a blend of German varieties; a Classic Brut using the three grapes of Champagne; and a fruit-filled rosé made entirely from Pinot Noir. And the dishes that they partnered represented the most confident of modern British cooking. The wine writers present remarked on the astonishing body of the classic Brut, giving it just the right depth for the earthy starter of smoked chicken and wild mushrooms.
Red wines made from Pinot Noir are often a better match for the dense, textured flesh of salmon than white wine. In this case, the bold accompaniments of fresh shellfish and peppery basil to the main course were ingeniously cut by the presence of the bubbles. Honey-glazed pears were matched with a glass of dessert wine with a natural alcohol level of 16.5%, which left everybody with something to think about.
To COMMEMORATE Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons' 10th anniversary and the success of many chefs who have worked their way through its kitchens, chef-patron Raymond Blanc is holding a two-week celebration, "The Birth of British Chefs", from 7-16 November.
Its launch will be at Le Manoir on Sunday 6 November when 100 guests, including foreign press, will celebrate the coming of age of British cooking.
Throughout the promotion, one of six chefs - Paul Heathcote, Aaron Patterson of Hambleton Hall, Oakham, Clive Fretwell of Le Manoir, Richard Neat of London's Pied à Terre, Lucknam Park's Michael Womersley, and Michael Caines of Gidleigh Park - will cook an eight-course menu featuring their respective signature dishes. Including a Champagne reception and accompanying wines, this will cost £85 per person.
Notable chefs who have also worked with Blanc - John Burton-Race, Bruno Loubet, Marco Pierre White and Simon Haigh of Inverlochy Castle - although not cooking in the promotion, have been invited to the launch dinner.
Blanc wrote a message on the invitation: "For so long, food in Britain was regarded as the worst. Today this is not so. What used to be a mediocre pantomime has turned into a first-class show. What is happening is not a revival of British chefs, but a birth. At no time in the past has such talent, enthusiasm and excellence flourished.
I have been privileged to teach young British chefs, passing on my knowledge, insight and acquired wisdom. Like all art forms, cooking is born of intuition. But besides the creative aspect of it, cooking remains an act of giving and it is in that spirit that I have taught them. After 10 years at Le Manoir, I am proud to say that 10 such young chefs have achieved success in their own right. For a teacher, there is no greater joy and pride than to see one's students reach the peak of their chosen career and become one's equal. Such joy and pride is mine." n
