LITMIR.BIZ

Скачать книгу

The result of the investigation was the suspension of Francatelli until the matter shall be laid before Her Majesty and Prince Albert; when there is no doubt that measures will be adopted to prevent a recurrence of such disgraceful proceedings.’

      HER MAJESTY’S DINNER

      25 JANUARY 1841

       Potages

      À la Tête de Veau en Tortue

      De Quenelles de Volaille au Consommé

       Poissons

      Le Saumon à la sauce Homard

      Les Soles frites à la sauce Hollandaise

       Relevés

      Le Filet de Boeuf, piqué braisé aux Pommes de Terre

      Le Chapon à la Godard

       Entrées

      Le Bord de Pommes de Terre, garni de Palais de Boeuf

      La Chartreuse de Perdrix aux Choux

      Les Côtelettes d’Agneau panées

      La Blanquette de Volaille à l’écarlate

      Les Lapereaux sautés aux Fines Herbes

      Les Petits Pâtés aux Huitres

       Rôts

      Les Poulets

      Les Faisans

       Relevés

      Le Pudding à l’Orange

      Les Omelettes Soufflées

       Entremets

      Les Pommes de Terre à la Strasbourgeoise

      Les Epinards au Jus

      La Gelée de Marasquin

      Les Petites Talmouses

      Les Feuillantines de Pommes

      La Crème aux Amandes Pralinées

       Buffet

      Roast Beef and Mutton

      Boiled round of Beef

      Queen Victoria’s favourite pommes de terre are well in evidence. Just as it was de rigueur for high-society chefs to be French, so was it to have the menu written in French. Still today, culinary terms, and the names of dishes, are frequently displayed in French: a 2013 advertisement for a royal chef to be based at Buckingham Palace listed as desirable a ‘good understanding of kitchen French’.

      The Spectator’s view was that Francatelli, ‘a man of genius’, angered by the changes wrought by the new Comptroller of her Majesty’s Household, had chosen to insult his deputy in this fashion as a deliberate and dramatic gesture of self-immolation, metaphorically falling on his sword: ‘It is clear that Francatelli’s “insult” was the usual refuge of men of honour in these swordless days.’ He was subsequently employed in such clubs as Crockford’s and the Reform – and he became probably the first cookery-book celebrity, publishing in 1845 The Modern Cook, which ran to twelve editions, and following it with several other highly successful publications – including in 1861 The Plain Cookery Book for the Working Classes.

      Charlie Oliver must have known, if only from a respectful distance, Monsieur Juste Alphonse Menager, who was chef to Queen Victoria during the last decade or so of her reign, and then to Edward VII. Menager’s retirement was announced in September 1910, not long after the King’s death. He was succeeded by Henri Codard, who moved from Marlborough House, one of the royal family’s London residences, to Buckingham Palace.

      One of Menager’s apprentices was Gabriel Tschumi. Close in age to Charlie Oliver (Tschumi was born in 1883), he must have seemed much more approachable and it is not inconceivable that they became friends. Tschumi – whom the royal family insisted on calling ‘Chummy’ – came to Buckingham Palace in 1899, when Victoria was on the throne. He was only sixteen when he arrived from Switzerland to be kitchen boy to royalty. Under the tutelage of Monsieur Menager and successive royal chefs, he climbed the many rungs of the royal-kitchens ladder over the next thirty-two years. In 1932 he retired from royal service and was chef to the Duke of Portland up to the Duke’s death ten years later – then he returned to royal service as chef to Queen Mary in Marlborough House. Like Charlie Oliver, he lived through a number of royal weddings, funerals, coronations, and an abdication. Planning and food preparations for great events were long and elaborate, and they would have both been involved in these in some capacity, however small. The coronation of Edward VII, a connoisseur of food and drink, especially in generous servings, was no exception – but on 24 June 1902, two days before the event, he came down with appendicitis. Recent medical developments saved his life; however the coronation had to be postponed. The fourteencourse coronation banquet, which included quail and pheasant, meat and fish in enormous quantities, could not all be stored and was instead handed out to the poor of Whitechapel in London’s East End. What they made of the likes of foie gras, côtelettes de bécassines à la Souvaroff, caviar and asparagus has not been recorded. The actual coronation went ahead on 9 August, without hitch, the banquet involving at least as many extravagant dishes as the first time.

       1

       A Brief History of Royal Cooking

       The Tudor and Elizabethan monarchs enjoyed enormous and extravagant feasts, as did the high-living aristocracy of succeeding centuries, who were close enough to the royal court to aspire to its standards even in non-royal entertainment. In 1746 the Earl of Warwick held a banquet for more than 6,000 people, where a great marble basin was filled with a punch made from 25,000 lemons, 80 pints of lemon juice, 4 large barrels of water, 1,003 hundredweight of sugar, 300 biscuits and 5 pounds of nutmeg.

      A great change in the nature and quality of English food took place in the early part of the nineteenth century. After the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars many French chefs were left without noble houses to employ them and came over to England to put their enduring stamp on English cooking. French, or at least ‘frenchified’, food became the most desirable and dishes were given French or semi-French names regardless of their origins. The introduction of French kitchen techniques also led to a refining of the English appetite. Dumplings became quenelles, fish was transformed into soufflés, meat was enhanced with sauces, socles of rice or pastry held composed salads and other dishes, and desserts became rich and a far cry from the homey English pie. Even typically English foods, notably game, were cooked in a more imaginative manner.

      The chef who had the greatest influence on this development was Antonin Carême (1784–1833), one of the master chefs of all time and creator of immensely elaborate confectionery, as depicted in his drawings – they have to be seen to be believed. Widely regarded as the founder of haute cuisine, Carême was chef to Talleyrand, Tsar Alexander I and to England’s George IV, who enjoyed vast quantities of high-quality food. It became obligatory for royal chefs to be French or at least French-trained, and this remained more or less the case for years to come.

      VICTORIAN EXTRAVAGANCE

      Royal eating habits during the reigns of Queen Victoria and

Скачать книгу