Regency Gothic banquet
Less than a week to go before the Regency Gothic banquet. Numerous souls have booked (well over sixty at last count) and of those a rather large proportion has costume. Mine is dusky pink with a black lace overdress-thing. (I don’t know clothing terms nearly as well as I know food.) Anyhow, if I were slender and beautiful, I would look like someone out of a Georgette Heyer novel. As it is, my costume looks gorgeous, due to the wondrousness of friends and family who can sew. I keep offering banquet-attendees my recipe for period makeup, but they’re sublimely disinterested.
There are some last minute concerns, but at this stage we just have to wear them. The chef wants to use modern techniques to bring the fat level of the food down. He doesn’t agree that the level of fat is part of the flavour and texture and is important to the style of the cuisine and that by changing it, he’s making it modern. I can’t win that argument, nor can I make the time between service of courses long enough to reflect Regency norms because that sort of thing costs vastly in modern hotel terms. I’ll let you know how the changes go down. It will make the food more digestible to the fragile modern stomach, for certain. The big question is if he’s right and he can reduce the fat levels without reducing the flavour or texture. I’ll report back next week.
Right now, what you need to know is what the final menu looks like. From next week I start blogging the recipes, so you’ll want an overview now.
The first course is based around a chicken dish. Chicken and vegetables and bread rolls basically. The second is based around beef and a delightful Springish pea soup. The third is an entirely evil array of cakes and desserts, including raspberry cream, icecream and ginger drops. I’ll blog the entire final menu on the night of the banquet and then I’ll follow with recipes.
September 26th, 2007 at 5:38 am
I picked up my first Heyer novel on Friday night and have now finished 3. It’s coloured my outlook on life. Oh, and there are at least two more costumed people attending, from Queensland.
Does the chef blog? Because I’d love to be reading his thoughts on this process
September 26th, 2007 at 5:50 am
So many people are discovering or rediscovering Heyer in the lead-up to the banquet :).
I don’t think the chef blogs, alas.
September 27th, 2007 at 1:53 pm
[…] JAMES GARDNER wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptHe doesn’t agree that the level of fat is part of the flavour and texture and is important to the style of the cuisine and that by changing it, he’s making it modern. I can’t win that argument, nor can I make the time between service of … […]