More Books for Giving – Blood, Sweat & Asparagus Spears; A Taste for Wine
BLOOD, SWEAT AND ASPARAGUS SPEARS
The Story of the 1990s Restaurant Revolution
Andrew Turvil
Elliott & Thompson pp241 £20
Britain has no habit of restaurant use.
Thus wrote The Good Food Guide (TGFG) editor Tom Jaine in 1990. Every foodie is aware of the beginning of the restaurant revolution last century. The Roux brothers are rightly credited with being important pioneers. Yet it wasn't an overnight process. They opened Le Gavrioche in 1967. Twenty years on, the competition, major hotels aside, was still relatively limited.
There is no doubt that the 1990s saw a quantum leap in the British restaurant scene. Andrew Turvil, first as a contributor to TGFG then latterly as its editor, witnessed and sampled the entire decade. This is the story. Caveat - don't read it while you're hungry.
Not only were the Roux brothers stars in their own right, those who passed through their kitchen would go on to form a culinary galaxy. Think Pierre Koffmann, Gordon Ramsay, Marcus Wareing and Marco Pierre White. The latter is credited as being the first example of chef as rock and roll star. Having missed a bus on his way home to Yorkshire, he literally knocked on the door of Le Gavroche. While he cut a scruffy figure, unkempt with long hair, White impressed Albert Roux with his shining eyes as he talked about cooking and was offered an apprenticeship on condition he had a haircut.
Turvil credits Marco's 1990 book White Heat as marking the ending of one era and the beginning of the next. Most of the new stars, however, had been trained in the classical French way. Turvil describes the ambience in Gordon Ramsay's eponymous, flagship restaurant as being rather stuffily French. It was in the 90s that the move away from the traditional French idiom began. Paradoxically, that movement was started in France itself, pioneered by the like of Michel Guérard. In Britain this was continued by Swiss chef Anton Mosimann, who was featured in this column a few weeks ago.
It was also in this decade that many decided to make the ingredients the main event. This has always been a fundamental tenet of Italian cuisine; however, for a few decades an Italian restaurant in Britain was synonymous with pasta, pizza, and trattorie featuring ever larger pepper mills. Giorgio Locatelli was one of the earliest stars. Ironically some of the most successful proponents of this type of Italian establishment weren't Italian at all. Rose Gray (English) and Ruth Rogers (American) founded The River Café with simple dishes at eyewatering prices. That spawned the careers of Theo Randall, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and, notoriously, Jamie Oliver.
It is remarkable to think that when Ronnie Clydesdale set up The Ubiquitous Chip in Glasgow in 1971, his stated aim to highlight top quality Scottish produce was regarded as revolutionary. One chef who took that to ultimate extremes has to be Fergus Henderson. I suppose one could describe his approach as nose to tail eating before the term was coined. His signature dish was Roast Bone Marrow and Parsley Salad. I can do little better than quote the great man himself.
It would be disingenuous to the animal not to make the most of the whole beast; there is a whole set of delights, textural and flavoursome, which lie beyond the fillet... Do not be afraid of cooking, as your ingredients will know, and misbehave.
There is much, much more to this fascinating work. The chefs who pushed their own styles of food to the highest levels, such as Atul Kochar and Heston Blumenthal; the entrepreneur chefs such as Rick Stein, and those whose main aim was at a TV camera, such as Jamie and Nigella (no surnames required).
You won't be reading this if you're not interested in food. If you were alive and eating during the 1990s, you will unearth so many happy memories: if not, you'll gain a great insight into how the British restaurant scene was transformed from a bad joke to a major powerhouse.
A TASTE FOR WINE
A new tasting masterclass for wine lovers
Rose Murray Brown
Mitchell Beazley pp222 £25
You may wonder why there might be a need for yet another book on the subject. Well, firstly, this is by Rose Murray Brown, as fine a wine writer as you might wish to pop a cork with. Secondly, it is noteworthy that Rose was asked to write this - by Mitchell Beazley, no less, publishers of work by Hugh Johnson, Jancis Robinson and Michael Broadbent. Our Rose is in good company. Even if you don't know her, that's reason enough for respect.
So let's hear what she has to say about the book. First and foremost, it is a practical, unpretentious wine book with ten self-guided tasting practices... Already the lady is speaking my language. Reading about wine is fine, but you can't learn it from a book. These practices (she's making me salivate) range from full rich reds to sparkling wines that you can follow in your own time - with or without tasting buddies.
Take it from me, with tasting buddies is much better, especially along with a dish or two from Tom Cooks! It's unusual to be able to write a review almost entirely from the introduction, but it is an excellent precis. It must be stressed that this is much more than a tasting guide. You will learn much about the making of wine as well.
And unlike a lot of tomes which may have been on your shelves for a few decades, it is slap bang up to date. Rose makes reference to fifty one wine producing countries. FIFTY ONE!! When I started my wine journey, I could have told you of four, all in Europe. Australian wine was a joke, and New Zealand probably hadn't entered the 1950s, let alone discovered how to make wine.
Let this be the start of a fantastic odyssey. Yes, Rose will teach you the basics of how to taste and extract maximum enjoyment from a glass of wine. But pretty soon she'll have you exploring the globe. Not only is there a fat section on wine producing countries and their profiles, she even drills down into recommendations for wineries to visit.
A beautifully written work by an expert on top of her game.