Celebrate the Queen’s Jubilee and the London Olympics with Fortnum and Mason

All of Great Britain is getting ready to celebrate the 60^th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth’s reign. And what a party it is going to be – especially when followed by the London Olympics!

From boat races on the Thames to fireworks over London Bridge, the Queen should be pleased. And why no – she’s is second only to Queen Victoria in the length of her time on the throne.

She has seen England recover from World War II, her former colonies become independent nations and English arts and industry continue to influence the world's culture. Not a bad resume for a monarch!

The citizens of Great Britain will confirm these accomplishments in a seemingly endless stream of street parties, which are a unique English way of celebrating.

The first street gatherings were held in 1919, though they were actually more of a tea than meal, to celebrate the signing of the peace treaty at Versailles, which marked the end of World War I and its terrible trench causalities.

Street parties came into their own as full neighborhood food fests, complete with banners and dancing, as England celebrated the coronation of George VI in 1936, the coronation of the present Queen in 1953 and a host of royal weddings.

But if kitchen fare on paper plates isn’t quite your dish of choice, well, there is, always and forever, Fortnum & Mason’s, English esteem purveyor for over 300 years of all that’s tasty and unique.

Their hampers marked with the famed “F&M” logo have, like the English culture itself, crisscrossed the world, bringing pleasure to anyone lucky enough to receive one. The contents are always outstanding and true culinary treasures.

If you are in London for either the Queen’s Golden Jubilee or the Olympics, go and purchase one. If London isn’t on your itinerary, you can order a basket via the Internet.

Either way, you will never forget the experience. And the basket once it’s empty, can sit proudly on a shelf in your office silently telling all who enter that you shop at simply the best – London’s unforgettable Fortnum & Mason.

 Your Culinary World copyright Ana Kinkaid/Peter Schlagel 2012

The Queen's Royal Menu for Barack and Michelle Obama's British State Dinner

The United States President and First Lady, Barack and Michelle Obama, were recently entertained at a rare royal state dinner by England’s Queen Elizabeth II.  At such historic events, no detail is overlooked. 

With 162 plus vip guests looking forward to being seated in the grand banquet hall, each place setting is always measured out with a ruler. (A missed inch here or there can result in a shortage of space at the end of the 168 foot table, meaning an entire lengthy table reset. Ouch!)

Treasured golden candelabras and engraved antique glasses are polished and shined under the direction of the Assistant Yeoman of the Royal Glass and China Pantry. Finally, at exactly 5PM the Queen herself traditionally enters the historic Hall to review the preparation (which is only proper as she is the host of the evening’s festivities).

Accompanied by the Master of the Queen’s Household and his supportive staff, Her Majesty always seems to find a missed detail – a candle slightly askew, a microphone waiting to squeal when turned on.  All are corrected by the palace’s highly trained staff, each with floor-saving dusters worn over their shoes.   

Down in the Great Kitchen, the Royal Chef directs a staff of 23 chefs and nine kitchen porters. Mobile hot food trolleys (carts) are used to transport all the food they have prepared for guests from the lower kitchen to the Great Hall above. Once transported to the upper floor, the prepared courses are laid out and garnished by the supportive chefs, who are waiting in the prep rooms that adjoin the Banquet Hall.  

Each group of nine guests along the formal banquet table is served by an under butler, a wine butler, a footman and a page – not a bad staffing level!

Service begins and pauses, quite literally, with staff signals from a discreetly placed series of red and green lights. Additionally, the floor staff is trained to respond to an array of subtle hand signals that relay each guest’s instant needs.

And the menu served? One truly worthy of such a memorable event!

THE CUISINE

Paupiette de Sole et Cresson Sauce Nantua (Roulade of Sole and Watercress Accented with a Nantua Seafood Sauce)

 Agneau de la Nouvelle Saison de Windsor au Basilic (New Season Lamb Herbed with Windsor Basil)

Courgettes et Radis Sautées (Sauteed Zucchinis and Radishes)

Panaché d'Haricots Verts (Panache Mix of Green Beans)

Pommes Boulangère (Baked Apples)

Salade (Fresh Greens Salad)

Charlotte à la Vanille et Cerises Griottes (Vanilla Charlotte Garnished with Sour Cherries)

Fruits de Dessert (Dessert Fruits)

THE WINES
Ridgeview Cuvée Merret Fitzrovia Rosé 2004
Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos 2004 (Domaine William Fèvre)
Echézeaux Grand Cru 1990 (Domaine de la Romanée-Conti)
Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin, Vintage Rich 2002
Royal Vintage Port 1963!

Your Culinary World copyright Ana Kinkaid/Peter Schlagel 2011

Queen's Menu for Royal Wedding Reception Just Held at Buckingham Palace

After William and Catherine said their vows in a moving Westminster ceremony, they have joined Queen Elizabeth and 650 select guests to enjoy a marvelous wedding reception at Buckingham Palace.    

Royal Chef Mark Flanagan and his supportive team of 21 chefs have worked carefully for days prepping and then adding the final touches to over 10,000 canapes – truly a task only for the skilled.

And now, with fanfare, is the menu they have created:

• Cornish Crab Salad on Lemon Blini
• Pressed Duck Terrine with Fruit Chutney
• Roulade of Goats Cheese with Caramelised Walnuts
• Assortment of Palmiers and Cheese Straws
• Scottish Smoked Salmon Rose on Beetroot Blini
• Miniature Watercress and Asparagus Tart
• Poached Asparagus Spears with Hollandaise Sauce for Dipping
• Quails Eggs with Celery Salt
• Scottish Langoustines with Lemon Mayonnaise 
• Pressed Confit of Pork Belly with Crayfish and Crackling
  
• Wild Mushroom and Celeriac Chausson
• Bubble and Squeak with Confit Shoulder of Lamb
• Grain Mustard and honey-glazed Chipolatas
• Smoked Haddock Fishcake with Pea Guacamole
• Miniature Yorkshire Pudding with Roast Fillet of Beef and Horseradish Mousse
• Gateau Opera
• Blood Orange Pate de Fruit
• Raspberry Financier
• Rhubarb Crème Brulee Tartlet
• Passion Fruit Praline
• White and Dark Chocolate Ganache Truffle
• Milk Chocolate Praline with Nuts

What stunning display of talent and creativity. And the champagne to be enjoyed? Why Pol Roger, of course - Winston Churchill's favorite!

Here's to love and a great evening of fun and happy memories for all attending. (But please, will someone there see that Chef and his shaff enjoy a glass of bubbly as well. Well done gentlemen!)

Your Culinary World copyright Ana Kinkaid/Peter Schlagel 2011

Royal Wedding Menu Trends Past and Present

Though there are many still wondering about who will design Kate Middleton’s wedding dress, chefs worldwide are looking for which culinary trends will be set by Kate and William’s elaborate wedding. And as in any royal event, the past is always the most appropriate starting point when seaching for new traditions.

In 1923 Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (the future Queen Mother) married Prince Albert, who would become King George VI after his brother King Edward VIII abdicated to marry the American divorcee Wallis Simpson.

Recently the Oscar winning movie, The King’s Speech, depicted the amazing relationship between this lovely Scottish lady and the Prince that won her heart. At their wedding each dish was named after a member of the royal family: Consomme a la Windsor, Supremes de Saumon Reine Mary, Cotelettes d’Agneau Prince Albert, Chapons a la Strathmore and Fraises Duchesse Elizabeth.

When their daughter, the then Princess Elizabeth, married her prince, Philip Mountbatten of Greece in 1947, she was facing the crushing austerity of the years that followed World War II in England. With a nod to the difficulties faced by the common citizens of Britain at that time, the menu was a more restrained one that included Filet de Sole Mountbatten and Perdreau en Casserole.  But even in those dark days, a wedding is still a wedding and needs a touch of grace and elegance. And so a stunning ice cream dish, a Bombe Glacee Princesse Elizabeth made with rare out of season strawberries, was served as a finishing touch. 

On the death of her father, King George VI, in 1952 Princess Elizabeth became the Queen of England and remains so today. Together she and Prince Philip had four children – Charles, Anne, Andrew and Edward.

Anne, the Princess Royal, would be the first to marry in 1973, not to a prince but to a commoner then a lieutenant in Queen’s own Dragoon Guards, a Mr. Mark Phillips. Later commissioned a captain, he was the first commoner to marry a member of the royal family in 200 years!

Their lavish Westminster wedding was a grand gala watched on television by an estimated 500 million people around the world. Equally extravagant was the feast served at their post wedding reception which featured lobster and partridge, not to mention a towering five foot six inch wedding cake – exactly the height of the newly married princess.

In 1981 Prince Charles, the heir apparent to the English throne, would marry the lovely Lady Diana Spencer again as millions watched and wished them well and long life.

Yet despite a fairytale gown and 27 stunning wedding cakes (!), the marriage of the young and beautiful Diana and Prince Charles ended sadly in a bitter divorce and, ultimately, a tragic car wreck that shocked the world.   

This week another charming couple will wed in London’s grandest cathedral. Whether they will copy Diana’s wedding menu of chicken stuffed with lamb mousse (a la Princess of Wales) or brill in a rich lobster sauce, one can only hope that the greatest trend they share with everyone will be a fresh belief that Love should be mixed with maturity and tended with care and insight.  

Your Culinary World copyright Ana Kinkaid/Peter Schlagel 2011

Possible New Menu and Champagne Choices at William and Kate’s Royal Wedding

While many people are currently wondering who will design Kate Middleton’s wedding dress, chefs around the world are thinking menu – menu- menu – menu. If the past is any guide (and we are talking tradition here), it might be helpful to review the choices of former British princesses on their wedding day.

In 1947 when the present Queen Elizabeth was still a princess, she chose a blended English French menu to celebrate her wedding to Philip Mountbatten. Then, as now, the young couple was faced with the difficulty of hosting an elaborate wedding during hard economic times.

As a result, elegant restraint was the main theme of the event with the exception of 20,000 plus white pearls sent from America to accent the young princess’ snow white wedding dress. Those lucky enough to attend the post-wedding oh so select private reception dined on a menu of:

Filet of Sole Mountbattan **  Perdreau en Casserole ** Haricots Verts ** Pommes Noisettes ** Salad Royale ** Bombe Glacee Elizabeth ** Friandises ** Dessert ** Café

The baroque wedding cake was a stunning 2.5 meters or eight foot tall and topped with a silver sculpture of England’s patron St. George and his Dragon.  

Glasses of Bollinger champagne were passed to the enjoyment of all, thanks to the American General George Patton (also a noted lover of fine Champagne), who late in 1944 rushed to the Bollinger’s French estate and prevented the evacuating Germans from dynamiting the rare wines stored in the champagne cellars there.

In more affluent days, Prince Charles and a hopeful Lady Diana dined on gold plate at their 1981 morning-after breakfast reception (actually an elaborate late brunch) as their guests enjoyed:  

Brill in Lobster Sauce ** Chicken Breasts Garnished with Lamb Mousse ** Strawberries with Cornish Cream ** Claret and Port

The groom cut their five tier wedding cake with his naval parade sword. Each lovely layer was decorated with sugar doves nestled in a confectionary garden of roses, lilies of the valley, fuchsias and orchids entwined with an ornamental “C” and “D”.

It was a lovely wedding complete with endless toasts, of course, of Bollinger's legendary champagne. The entire world seemed to stop that day with everyone wishing the young couple the very best. Sadly it was not to be.

Today another royal wedding is on the horizon and this young couple seems to be more modern, focused and eager to reflect the times they live in. With an informative wedding website and a list of selected charities replacing the standard "me-me" bridal gift registry, William and Kate Middleton are both a breath of fresh air in the stately halls of British traditions.

It’s even possible they might select their own champagne, say England’s own, the Nyetimber’s Classic Cuvee 2003 of Sussex. Chosen at the esteemed international Bollicine del Mondo competition held last year in Verona, Italy as the best bubbly in the world, this remarkable English, yes ENGLISH, champagne beat out 52 other entries including Bollinger and Roederer! Mon dieu!

So, it will be interesting to see what this very modern young couple chooses. Many are betting on a health focused menu that also highlights the culinary traditions of England, all done with a touch of elegance and grace.

And the champagne…? Bollinger, Nyetimber or something else? Well, change is always possible, even at historic Windsor.

Yet, when Prince William introduced Kate to a preview of her future royal duties recently in North Wales, she christened a new lifeboat by pouring (poured, not broken) a bottle of Bollinger’s finest over the bow.

There are also other champagne houses that are willing to help the million plus wedding visitors to London celebrate the April 29th festivities in style. One is the English firm of Halewood International, which has owned the Prince William Champagne brand for decades. With an event/brand name match like that, Halewood is sure to be, as the English would say, rather popular.

But come ladies and gentlemen, whose going to create a  worthy "Lady Kate" Champagne? Please, let's remember to honor the bride!

Your Culinary World copyright Ana Kinkaid/Peter Schlagel 2011