It was whilst I was working as the personal chef to the late Lord & Lady Edwin McAlpine of Moffat in the late 70's, at their country house in Oxfordshire, England; that I developed a strong interest in Old English ( Victorian & Edwardian fare).
The estate regularly held shoots in the Fall so there was always lots of game birds that had to be hung, ( in a cool dry and dark place for up to 10 days) then dressed ( plucked and gutted)..the livers made wonderful pates.
(This country house was run as a smaller version of Downton, complete with a butler, housekeepers and lady's maids, chauffeurs, and gamekeeper, as well as numerous staff from their own horse stud/dairy farm...they bred race horses .. all the village houses were tythed to the main house.
The main difference here to Downton is that we had our own helicopter pad and The Flying Scotsman train Engine that the now Lord Bill ( William) McAlpine, had restored and brought to the estate to run along the bottom of one of the paddocks)
I found the easiest was for me to do the "mammoth" plucking every week, was to place a chair in the old dog pen, ( which had a chicken wire fence..to catch all the feathers) and pluck the many birds, putting the plucked birds into a basket, to be singed in the kitchen later and I always dressed them under cold running water..made everything smell a bit better.
My hands and clothes used to "reek for days"...and even today I think I am allergic to feathers, lol.
I developed a great recipe for a Russian dish called Kromeskis....it is made from poached light meat ( chicken, pheasant, grouse, even rabbit can be used), the cooked meat is then ground, in those days I had to use a handle driven meat grinder, then added to a meat (using bones from whichever meat was used fo the grinding) stock based bechamel sauce, very thick that was allowed to cool overnight in a baking dish ( like Monday's polenta).
The next day, pieces are cut from it and dipped in flour and then a yeast batter, & deep fried and served with either a curry or tomato sauce...these are a 19th century idea that should be making a re-surface soon...I know it is a bit of painstaking recipe and method but the results are wonderful and in shooting season I made this usually once a week...and there were no leftovers.
I am going to try and experiment in creating some good veggie ones in the next few months, "so stay tuned".
Another thing I developed was a wonderful creamy and thick asparagus soup with fresh butter and cream from their "Lordship's" private herd of Jersey cows, and I had to "tweek" it even more coming to America as in California we don't have good flavored asparagus..yes it looks nice and bright green but the flavor is lost somewhere in the genetics of the plants.
Thursday Menu is a bright and tasty menu of
Asparagus & leek soup
Cream of Arrugala ( I think it is called rocket salad in Europe) soup..this is a mildly peppery soup
both soups made with rice and coconut milk, and soy free margarine/olive oil
I am making an asparagus whole wheat quiche with eggs and yogurt
A mushroom Stroganhoff ( another Russian inspired dish that I used to make for Lord & Lady McAlpine, but in those days using beef or veal) this one will have a coconut-potato based cream sauce with "tons" of Portobello mushrooms and finished with brandy & smoked paprika.
For those who can tolerate it I am also adding steamed spinach too.
This will come with GF pasta to be cooked at the Client's home.
I am making a wonderful hot pepper, zucchini, yam & corn saute-casserole ( added wine and stock so it sort of steam fries)
Then sauteed Swiss chard with turmeric and raisins and roasted vegetable platter, onions, carrots, & potatoes.
No one ordered dessert so no cookies this week..photographs to follow
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