Text 9482, 153 rader
Skriven 2006-12-30 18:44:50 av Ian Hoare
Ärende: 39th Anniversary Lunch
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Hi,

As a preamble to our visit to Gordon Ramsey's place on the 3rd, here's a
report on our lunch today. It was our 39th wedding anniversary today, ans we
celebrated it with 7 friends in a gaff called "The Old Bell" in Malmesbury,
where the very talented (watch this space) young chef Tom Rains did us a 6
course tasting menu to which one of the friends added a cheese course of 5
rare and excellent English cheeses. 

We arrived a  wee bit early (11.50) to find a lovely room set aside for our
use, with a very friendly french waitress from Strasbourg and a bottle of
champagne, arranged in advance by one of our number (she who arranged the
cheeses - Carol the French cheese Queen) as a _lovely_ anniversary present
to Jacquie and me. So we duly had a glass. I'm afraid that I didn't note the
names of all the individual wines, but I was told that this was the "House
Champagne" and excellent it was too. 

Gradually everyone arrived, with excellent timing, considering the execrable
weather (more anon). So we staggered, glasses in hands to the dining room
where a _large_ table was laid for the nine of us - sadly one of our number
was laid low with 'flu, so her husband Nigel came - very nobly - on his own.
Conversation flowed, and the discussion ranged wide - but never strayed far
from food!!!

The first course consisted of "Marinated Scottish Salmon and Crab, Spring
onions, Ginger and Lemon". A very pretty presentation, without being overly
"cheffy". A disc of marinated salmon about 2" in diamater and 3/16th of an
inch in thickness was topped with white crabmeat mixed with a very little
finely chopped spring (US Green) onion, and topped with three or maybe four
petals of sweet pickled ginger. For me this was the only false note in the
whole menu. I am not a fan of sweet things with salmon or crab. I stripped
the petals from the dish, and it was wonderful. however, the ginger was a
bit too sweet  I felt. Had Tom cut them thinner, amd maybe rinsed off the
syrup, I feel they would have  been superb with the fish/shellfish. This was
served with a Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon, which was an excellent example of
the grape. Herbaceous and gooseberries, as the clichés have it, but that
describes the wine beautifully. Very long on the palate, the wine went
admirably well the the dish.

Then came the second course. The wine was served first, and my heart sank.
It was a Jurançon moelleux, Chateau Jolys though I didn't note the year, I'm
afraid. The wine uses two grapes relatively unknown in the US, the Gros and
Petit Manseng, which usually give it a light overlay of cloves. Although I
was expecting this, it was very restrained, and I don't think most of us
found much. the wine had a nice balance between sweet and balancing acidity,
and it went admirably - with the magnificent second course.

This was "Seared escalope of Foie Gras, Wild Mushroom Tagliatelli." This was
a little nest of (I'm pretty sure they were home made) tagliatelli, cooked
to perfect al dente consistency, with a couple of teaspoonsful of wild
mushrooms cooked together, and topped by two collops (let's keep to English,
shall we) of fresh foie gras, just lightly seared in a dry pan. They were
topped with a thin slice of truffle. Around this was a little moat of the
most delightful, unctuous rich wine reduction sauce that I've had since I
ate at the French Laundry. It was just sharp enough from the red wine to cut
through the richness of the Foie Gras, especially when helped by the
Jurancon. It was sticky from the reduction of the stock, the truffle juices
were used to enrich it - to excellent effect.and it was an utter delight, as
was the whole dish.   

The reason I said earlier that my heart sank, was because I find the service
of a rich foie gras with a sweet wine at the beginning of the meal tends to
dampen the appetite, and also makes it VERY hard for any dry white wine to
follow. However, we were given plenty of time to finish the course, and
cleanse our palates with bread and water before the next course, and I found
no problem moving on to:-

Roast Cornish Scallops, new potato salad, truffle dressing. This was served
with an excellent Argentian Chardonnay - to my shame I failed to note the
grower, but it was made from very ripe grapes - unoaked, I think, but
buttery nevertheless - and again accompanied the dish extremely well. 

I know it's boring, but this was yet another excellently conceived and
superbly executed and presented dish. We each had one scallop, which had
been briefly roasted on a hot tray in the oven so that one side was seared
and the other cooked just perfectly by indirect heat. These slices were
arranged on a zig-zag of two sauces one brown and truffly, and the other - I
think, the creamy mayonnaise used to dress the potatoes. Looked a million
dollars, and tasted better. The Scallops were really fresh, and so they
could be (and were) cooked very simply. their sweetness was beautifully
complemented by the sauces and also - much to my surprise - by the potato
salad, prettily presented in a tower. A little pile of cress finished off
the plate. 

Tom then served us his "Creme Fraiche Sorbet". I had been deeply suspicious
of this, as I'm not really a fan of what we get most of the time in the
Correze as Creme Fraiche, finding it much too sharp and sour from the
ferment. I was wrong - it was a delight, and worked better than it had any
right to do as a palate cleanser before the next course. It was presented in
little tall glasses, and was topped with a  red berry coulis. Delicious. No
wine (natch). 

We then moved on to the meat course, which was "Fillet of Balmoral Venison,
Savoy cabbage, Creamed Potato, Green Peppercorn Sauce."  Served with
Bulletin Place Shiraz 2005 from SE Australia. This was two medallions of
venison tenderloin about 2" or a bit less across, cut from the whole piece,
that had been roasted just lightly pink. These were sitting on a bed of
shredded savoy cabbage, cooked - I think - by being steamed, with a little
butter. There was a little pile of butter roasted vegetables (tiny sprout, a
cube of baby turnip, a finger of parsnip and a slice of carrot). and of
creamed potatoes. these were made properly by being pushed through a sieve
twice for smoothness. The green peppercorn sauce was similar to that
commonly used with steak, with a little cognac, some more heavily reduced
veal stock, cream and the green peppercorns. It complemented the meat very
well, and brought out the pepperiness of the shiraz  beautifully. Another
wonderful food/wine match. I see that I've not said what I think of the
dish. Just wonderful, I can't think how it could have been bettered. 

Now came for Carol's moment of glory, when we had our 5 rare and wonderful
british cheeses. She's listed them already. Her favourite was the Flower
Marie, which is a triple cream ewes milk cheese. VERY creamy, soft and quite
delicate, it was a joy. actually so were all the others. The Blackstick blue
was sort of similar - in my view - to a blue cheshire, but yellower, I have
to say that it was the cheese I liked least of the five, but that's purely a
matter of personal taste. There was a magnificent washed crust cheese,
called Celtic Promise where instead of using salt water which is the usual
liquid used for washing the crust of such cheeses, the makers use cider.
Quite pongy, but very subtle and surprisingly mild on the palate. Oatcakes
from Duchy Originals were what I chose to accompany them but there was also
walnut bread and other thins (Carol will have to tell you about them).

Finally. we moved to the pud. This was a "Coconut Creme Brulee with Almond
Madeleine". the Madeleine was moistly tender and wonderful, and the burn't
cream was perfect again. Not too strongly coconutty, it was served in a wide
shallow gratin dish, which meant we could have lots of beautfully crunchy
caramel. This is a hard dish to get really good, as you have to end up with
something that is creamy & unctuous below, with the thinnest coating of
freshly made caramelised melted sugar. While we were waiting for the pud, I
was called to the bar by the waiter - to find one of our friends there, who
had driven all the way from Hereford through floods and gales just to be
able to say "hi" to us all. That was lovely, and he joined us for coffee in
the library (which is where we had met originally). The "petit fours" that
_I_ had, most certainly weren't petit fours, they were much better!! They
were home made truffles in various flavours and they brought the meal to a
triumphant conclusion. 

Before going home, Tom Rains invited those of us who wanted to, to see the
kitchens and show off his pride and joy - the Paco Jet sorbetiere. That
takes frozen sorbet mix or ice cream base and makes as many portions of
perfect sorbets or ice creams, as are required in just a few moments.
Apparently they're like gold dust as well as being horrendously expensive.
But having had his creme fraiche sorbet (and Heston Blumenthal's bacon and
egg ice cream - yup he also has one) I can say that his pleasure in having
it is well justified. Apart from that, we saw great cauldrons of stock being
made and reduced. "the secret to good cooking is good stock and the secret
to good stock is having the right ingredients" was Tom's comment as we went
past.

A wonderful meal, a wonderful party and a wonderful day.
Bon appetit
Ian in Forges
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