|
by Benay Bernstein
TEA LESSON IN LONDON
Ann couldn’t resist the clotted cream. We all watched with wonder as she ate far more than her share. There was plenty for all, but Ann had become a mischievous child right in front of our eyes. Each spoonful of cream on her scone flooded her with childhood memories of tea in Ireland with mum and gram’s special treats. Tastes and smells, pleasures of youth, home and family punctuated every morsel. Ann radiated joy… and Chef Newsted couldn’t have wished for a better response.
During our recent trip to London, thanks to the stellar coordination of Ron Taylor and his attentive concierge staff at the Kensington Marriott Hotel, we were enjoying a hastily arranged lesson with Executive Chef David Newsted, on preparing proper English Tea. Chef Newsted allocated space in the busy hotel for us to practice hands-on cooking and finger-licking tasting. Our labors culminated in an elegant feast.
It took many years for the British to develop the fine art of the tea service. Until the early 19th century, English nobility ate only two meals a day, an excessively hearty breakfast and an abundant late dinner. Anna Russell nee Anna Maria Stanhope, the 7th Duchess of Bedford and Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Victoria, regularly got hungry at around three-thirty in the afternoon and began inviting friends to visit and join her in a light meal. Seated on a sofa in her salon, the Duchess graciously served tea and treats on a low table creating a stylish social event known as Low Tea. The upper classes all over England soon took up the practice, while High Tea became the light meal or supper, which completes the day’s eating for the majority of the population who had their big meal at lunch time. This meal is known as High Tea because the food is eaten at a table of full height, (Don’t you just love such trivia?)
Count on eating scones, creamy butter, jams and marmalade, finger sandwiches and sweets at tea. Extra delights include clotted cream, lemon curd and choux pastries. After steeping, the tea is poured into a small portion of milk in your cup. Proper order is important but implicit rather than taught. It is also convenient to apply jam before cream on scones otherwise, the jam can slide off - terribly messy and improper.
 To make scones we donned blue striped chef’s aprons, scrubbed like surgeons, and dipped our hands in bowls of flour and butter. Mixed to a fine crumb we incorporated one handful of raisins and one handful of sugar before gently mashing in enough milk to form a ball. Correctly mashed, the ball separates with a gentle pull without gooey strands or milky glops. Ann’s dough came out perfect as she had learned to make scones at her mother’s knee. Ola’s beautiful nails will eventually recover but she admits hand made scones will not figure on her menu.
Preparing choux paste for cream puffs and éclairs is exceedingly easy so long as you bravely add the flour all at once and stir over heat for 20-30 seconds through the initial lumps until smooth. Proportions are simple, one pound of flour, one packet of butter and one pint of water. Once the mixture is slightly cooled, the eggs are added one at a time, cooking in the still warm mixture. The dough is called a paste because it is gooey and can be dropped in rounds on a baking sheet or squeezed through a pastry tube. Once baked, the round pastries are a cinch to fill with whipped cream. Making vanilla cream and chocolate icing for the elongated éclairs is more of a challenge.
I was particularly interested in the distinct spreads used for each type of finger sandwich. Horseradish cream accompanied the mounds of paper-thin roast beef;  chive and caper aioli enhanced the smoked salmon and greens; and a mixture of mayonnaise, ketchup, and paprika coordinated perfectly with the tomato and cheese sandwich combination. No food is ever shaped in a triangle or High Treason will have been committed. The reason is so secret that if I tell you I will have to kill you! Seriously, Chef Newsted did not reveal the reason to us.
Getting to know the chef and hearing his personal story was as much fun as cooking. This year marks David Newsted’s twenty-fifth year in the culinary profession. He studied and worked all over the world including Saudi Arabia, Antigua, Moscow, where he appeared weekly on television in a cooking show, and London in the finest hotels including Le Meridien, the Park Lane, and fourteen years at the Dorchester where he trained and rose through the ranks. The Kensington Marriott appreciates its good fortune in having such a seasoned Executive Chef.
My favorite part of visiting with Chef David was hearing him tell how he unexpectedly found his profession. Late from a high school football practice (soccer), David was faced with a dilemma. All of the work experience slots for the next day had been taken except two, one was cooking, the other, hairdressing, both difficult selections for a fifteen year old working class boy from northern England. He chose cooking and discovered his passion. David loved the atmosphere, variety and the high adrenalin pace of a kitchen. When school ended on a Friday of the year he turned sixteen, his mother had his bike waiting for him. She told David not to return until he had a job. The following Monday, David started his culinary training. Attending cooking college one day a week for three years and working full time in a cooking apprenticeship, David earned his position in this demanding, perfectionist’s field.
Perfect scones… perfect éclairs… perfect tea sandwiches… and a wonderful success story, gave us a perfect afternoon of English Tea. Lady Bedford herself could not ask for more.
© July 2007 LuxuryWeb Magazine. All rights reserved.
|
