Royal dishes: what Elizabeth II likes to eat and how to cook it

Diet almost certainly played some role in Elizabeth II's longevity and good health. A platinum jubilee for a monarch is unheard of. What are the Queen's favorite dishes and how to prepare them, reports with the BBC.

Photo: Shutterstock

The queen herself said in the comments to the documentary that in her youth there was not even such a thing as a platinum anniversary, because it never occurred to anyone that at least someone could live up to it, that is, spend 70 years on the throne.

In the middle of the last century, the German philosopher Ludwig Feuerbach blessed humanity with the catchphrase “We are what we eat.” Nowadays it is attributed to Hippocrates, whose name doctors who take office swear by, but the ancient Greek did not think of such a thing. Only dishes prepared from the freshest and environmentally tested products are served at the royal table.

But no one can count on a succulent piece of venison, which until relatively recently walked around the hills surrounding the royal Balmoral, or on salmon caught in the same rivers.

On the subject: Crossed the Pacific Ocean Alone: ​​The Amazing Story of an 83-Year-Old Sailor

True, you can always try to create something similar, at least in a very relative approximation, especially since we are unlikely to have the opportunity to compare our own opus with the original.

But let's start with a dish that, as far as we know, is not included in the traditional royal diet, but which was invented for the coronation of Elizabeth II, so to speak, marked the beginning of the culinary history of her reign.

coronation chick

Chicken, by and large, is just plain cold chicken. This is poultry in curry sauce. It doesn’t fit the current idea of ​​beauty (from a culinary point of view), but it won’t hurt from time to time - especially as a filling for sandwiches or an accompaniment to baked potatoes.

Original recipe, no bells and whistles

Cooked chicken meat, cut into easy-to-eat pieces. You can boil it, you can bake it. In the first case, the meat may turn out to be somewhat watery, in the second - somewhat dry. The best result is obtained if you put the bird in the oven without wrapping it too tightly in foil. Plus:

• Dried
• Mayonnaise
• Whipped cream (sour cream works much better)
• Olive oil (the first pressing is useless here, and sunflower oil will do, if, of course, it is refined)
• curry powder
• shallots
• Red wine
• Bay leaf
• Lemon juice
• Pinch of sugar
• Salt pepper

With quantities - decide for yourself. It's purely a matter of taste, start with small proportions and add what you personally lack.

Cooking made easy

Finely chop the onion and lightly sauté it in olive oil along with the bay leaf and curry powder. 3-5 minutes is more than enough. Add red wine and bring to a boil. Some authors add tomato paste at this place, or even ketchup. They do not make special weather, but create a pleasant pinkish color.

Squeeze a lemon there, sugar, salt, pepper. And let it boil until it starts to thicken. Strain the result and let the pure liquid cool.

But then just mix everything else with this liquid. Aesthetes can sprinkle an unintelligible yellowish mass, bulging with chicken pieces, toasted almond slices.

What you do with it is up to you, but to preserve the flimsy illusion of a healthy lifestyle, you can wrap the coronation chicken in a large leaf of lettuce!

So what does Her Majesty eat anyway?

Deren McGrady, a former head chef in the royal kitchen where he spent 11 years and author of Eating Royally, says Elizabeth II is not a foodie.

Unlike her late husband, Prince Philip, who was always ready to try something unusual and unusual, the queen is suspicious of innovations and first demands to be shown the full list of products, then studies it for a long time, and only after careful consideration says that Yes, let's try this.
As you might guess, royal approval is not always given.

Whatever it was, but here is the recipe for one of the Queen's favorite snacks.

Pate Gleneagles

Literally translated, Gleneagles is “valley of the eagles”, and therefore the modernized name: Pate from the Valley of the Eagles.
Quantities are given for 8-10 persons, if anything, reduce accordingly.

• 2 pounds raw smoked salmon (about a kilogram), cut into very thin slices
• 1 pound (half kilo) hot smoked trout
• Small bunch of dill, finely chopped
• Butter. Small hemorrhoids, because it requires three servings somewhere around 220-250 g
• A teaspoon of lemon juice
• 1 pound (half kilo) smoked mackerel
• Small bunch of thin green onions (I think they are called Vietnamese), cut in the same way as the dill

Plus a special mold for baking cupcakes. Here you can definitely not worry and take any bowl. The beauty of a cake pan is that the layers are equal in thickness. You can make individual pates in empty cans! A little more fuss, but it will be even more beautiful.

What to do with it

By and large, this dish can be easily made by a person whose culinary skills are limited to scrambled eggs. True, you need a food processor.

Start by lining the sides and bottom of your existing pan or pans with cling film. This is super important, otherwise you will never pull out your masterpiece from them.

Take half of the salmon slices and carefully line the sides and bottom of your dishes with them. Assume that the slices should be hung over the edge in order to cover the surface with them at the end of the process.

Gently remove the skin and bones from the trout and mash in a food processor until mushy. Add there the first third of the oil, dill and lemon juice. Beat until completely homogeneous, pack the result tightly into prepared dishes and put it in the freezer for 10 minutes.

When everything has hardened properly, turn the pate over on a dish, remove the film, cut into pieces up to an inch (2,5 cm) wide and serve, say, on lettuce leaves with toasted foppish, or not toasted the simplest bread.

Almost all witnesses (and there are not many of them; the queen does not talk about her personal tastes) say that Elizabeth II willingly adheres to the traditional English formula: meat and vegetables. She doesn’t disdain French cuisine either, but halibut with mornay sauce is too much for us.

No, the sauce itself is simpler: bechamel with grated cheese, but halibut has recently become so expensive, at least in London, that it has turned into a delicacy, like some kind of truffle. And therefore, let’s leave this overgrown flounder to wealthy people, and let’s get busy with beef.

Steak with mushroom and whiskey sauce

Heat butter with vegetable oil in a frying pan and fry the steak. Salt and pepper the top, at some point pour the oily liquid over the surface several times. How long to fry it?

It all depends on its thickness and your inner vampire (with or without blood). In any case, there are a lot of recipes with explanations on the Internet.

Take out the finished meat and put it somewhere warm, it is useful for it to come to its senses a little before eating. This is called the word “rest”.

While the steak is cooling (but not cooling!) send the onions, garlic and mushrooms to the same pan. Give them 5 minutes and add whiskey. After another 2-3 minutes, add mustard, broth and sour cream to this company. Taste, salt and pepper, bring to a boil and pour over the steak.

Fast and simple. If you prefer a thick sauce, you can either thicken it with cornstarch or let it simmer until reduced in volume. In the second case, add whiskey at the very end, otherwise there will be nothing left of it.

And a dessert!

Photo: Shutterstock

No one has any doubts here: Elizabeth II loves chocolate. She can eat it in any form, but one of her favorite desserts is a cake-pie called “Chocolate Splendor”, or “Chocolate Perfection”.
Those who are faint of heart or on a diet should not read further. Or give up on all restrictions and follow the example of Her Majesty. There are several options for “perfection,” but they are not too different from each other. This recipe comes from Matt Tebbit, one of the presenters of the BBC's Saturday Kitchen.

For the dough

• 120 g unsalted butter
• 60 g sugar
• 300 g flour
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 tablespoons high fat cream

Note: always increase the amount of ingredients for the dough by one and a half times, so that it fits where it needs to be easily and freely and you don’t have to, as happened more than once, puff, cutting out “patches” in order to patch up dough holes. Whatever remains can then simply be baked like cookies.

For filling

• 4 eggs
• 3 egg yolks (prepare for the inevitable meringue)
• 175 g fine confectioner's sugar
• 250 g butter
• 375 g dark chocolate, broken into pieces
• Pinch of salt

How will the heart calm down ... sorry, how to decorate all this

• 300 ml double cream
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• 50 g dark chocolate (grated)
• 50 g white chocolate (grated)

What to do:

Start by immediately turning on the oven so that it is properly heated to 200 degrees Celsius. If you have a convection oven, then up to 180.

Then everything goes according to the usual scheme: rub butter, flour and sugar, add cream and yolk and mix until a slightly clay-like lump is formed. All this can be done by hand, but in the combine everything mixes perfectly, and without much effort.

Roll out the dough to a thickness of about 3 mm (it can be thicker, as it turns out) and carefully lay out the prepared pie dish with it. It is better to lay out the form with baking paper, otherwise it will stick so that it does not seem small. Place in the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes until cooked through and golden.

Take it out and let it cool, but don’t turn off the oven yet. Make the filling. First, melt the chocolate with butter and a pinch of salt in a water bath. It's really very simple. There was a case where chocolate separated into butter and cocoa. The latter curled up into small nasty grains, which could not be “stirred” back in any way. I had to throw it away, despite the fact that it was a pity for the food.

Let the melted chocolate and butter cool a little (but not too much, otherwise the mixture will harden), while you beat the eggs and sugar until the mixture triples in volume and becomes almost white.

Mix the result with the chocolate mixture, carefully pour into the cooled mold and bake in the same oven for another 15 minutes. Remove and let cool until firm.

And, the last chord of the heroic symphony: whip the cream with cinnamon, artistically place on the cake and sprinkle with grated chocolate.

You may be interested in: top New York news, stories of our immigrants and helpful tips about life in the Big Apple - read it all on ForumDaily New York.

It remains to persuade your family to this number of calories.

Finally:

In the event that the Queen receives heads of state who, by status, are entitled to a state visit and a banquet at Buckingham Palace or Windsor Castle, completely different dishes appear on the table. As a rule, the menu takes into account the preferences of the guest. Donald Trump, for example, was fed young lamb when he was president.
Everyone knows that he loves some burgers, but the royal adaptation to each individual guest has limits.

Read also on ForumDaily:

Your state may owe you a large amount of money: how to get it

Mysteries of medicine in the USA: how the same procedure cost a woman first free, and then $2185

The future is here: now every San Francisco resident can call a driverless robot taxi

Do you want more important and interesting news about life in the USA and immigration to America? — support us donate! Also subscribe to our page Facebook. Select the “Priority in display” option and read us first. Also, don't forget to subscribe to our РєР ° РЅР ° Р »РІ Telegram  and Instagram- there is a lot of interesting things there. And join thousands of readers ForumDaily New York — there you will find a lot of interesting and positive information about life in the metropolis.