Читать книгу Dinner at Buckingham Palace - Secrets & recipes from the reign of Queen Victoria to Queen Elizabeth II - Charles Oliver - Страница 6
ОглавлениеBased on Charlie Oliver’s personal recollections, Dinner at Buckingham Palace contains a unique collection of authentic recipes from the royal kitchens. It is also a historic reflection of the culinary habits of the royal household, from Victoria to Elizabeth II. With its selection of recipes from the royal kitchens to suit family and intimate gatherings, and some to suit grander occasions, Dinner at Buckingham Palace provides a fascinating insight into royal food, serving procedures, personal preferences, kitchens, dining rooms and menu books. But who was Charlie Oliver?
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Charles ‘Charlie’ Oliver was the son of a royal servant, also called Charles, who served at Balmoral at the end of the nineteenth century, during the reign of Queen Victoria. When Charlie was born, in about 1884, his family continued to live within the Royal Household, and as young Charlie grew up, like his father he became part of the entourage of employees who served and tended the monarchy and their guests. It was practically inevitable that the child of a servant should follow in his or her parents’ footsteps, for to serve the monarchy was considered a great honour. Charles continued to work for the Royal Household for most of his life although at the outbreak of the First World War he left to join the army and fight for his country. Caught in the historic battle at Gallipoli, he was gravely wounded, but somehow managed to survive, with only one lung and permanent partial paralysis. After his recovery he returned to royal service and was appointed to the personal staff of the Prince of Wales, now serving under King George V and Queen Mary.
It was said that his diligence and endless good humour endeared him both to the staff and to the King and Queen and he was in many ways quite a remarkable character. He was known at Buckingham Palace where he was employed for many years, at Windsor Castle where he worked under the rule of housekeeper Alice Bruce, and at Balmoral. As a result of his injuries he was left with a serious speech impediment but this only brought him closer to the royal family circle, for ‘Bertie’ (King George VI) also stammered. At the Palace Charles Oliver eventually came to work under the authority of Sir Piers Legh (1890–1955), who as Master of the Household had overall responsibility for the domestic workings at Buckingham Palace from 1941 to 1953, during which time Charlie Oliver became his right-hand man.
He remained throughout his life a bachelor and devoted much of his time when not serving King, Queen and country to acquiring both a taste for and knowledge about good food. He was particularly fascinated by the royal kitchens, keeping endless notes, recording every detail, and over a period of many years he gradually amassed a considerable collection of royal recipes and old menus, of which he was extremely proud. He also lovingly and respectfully hoarded a treasure of many anecdotes relating to the serving of these dishes, recording state social events, royal tastes and entertaining preferences, to make his own unique and very individual commentary.
Charlie suggested that the wealth of material he had gathered over the years should be compiled into what he described as ‘a cookbook with a difference’. He made only one stipulation: that it should not be published until after his death.
Throughout his life he remained very close to those who continued to live and work at the Palace, and after retiring he still regularly returned to visit, as he lived nearby in a basement apartment in Buckingham Gate. Despite his age and his physical handicaps, he served as a London borough councillor and was employed as a guide at the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey. He died in 1965.
A few years later in 1968, through a contact at the Palace, the contents of his diaries and collections were brought to the attention of Jack Fishman, who was a former editor of one of the country’s national newspapers. Having worked as a professional journalist for a considerable time, Fishman had acquired many political and royal contacts. Since departing the newspaper he had established himself as a successful author, including biographies of Bogart, Stalin, and notably the internationally acclaimed My Darling Clementine, the biography of Lady Churchill.
Recognizing the unique content and historic value of Charles Oliver’s records, Jack Fishman made various attempts to get them published, but for many years most of the material remained buried in his attic. The original manuscript for this book was discovered after Fishman’s own death in 1997.
Among the vast collection of papers, documents and photographs that he had collected, there were some unpublished personal, charming, family photos of the Queen and Prince Philip and of their young children. Some of these had been given to Fishman by Lord Mountbatten and have been included within this book, along with other rare royal photos found in Fishman’s collection.
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During his many years, from childhood on, spent roaming round the royal kitchens, Charlie Oliver would have come to know, if only from an awed distance, many of the royal chefs and cooks, or heard stories about them. He would never have met Francatelli, who died some years before he was born, but, even decades after Francatelli had left the Palace, it is likely that he would have still been the subject of royal kitchen lore. Charles Elmé Francatelli, of Italian parents but born in Britain, received his culinary training in France under the illustrious Antonin Carême. He seems to have had a strong sense of his standing as a chef, and arrogance put an end to his royal career. The Spectator of 11 December 1841 quoted ‘one of those high-class journals’ (with the implication that such journals were fawning on the royal family), which reported that ‘Monday last, Francatelli took an opportunity of insulting Mr Norton (Deputy Comptroller of her Majesty’s Household) in the presence of all the Pages and about forty others; when high words ensued, which ended in a Policeman being sent for to take Francatelli into custody; but he managed to make his escape before the officer arrived. The result of the investigation was the suspension of Francatelli until the matter shall be laid before Her Majesty and Prince Albert; when there is no doubt that measures will be adopted to prevent a recurrence of such disgraceful proceedings.’
HER MAJESTY’S DINNER
25 JANUARY 1841
Potages
À la Tête de Veau en Tortue
De Quenelles de Volaille au Consommé
Poissons
Le Saumon à la sauce Homard
Les Soles frites à la sauce Hollandaise
Relevés
Le Filet de Boeuf, piqué braisé aux Pommes de Terre
Le Chapon à la Godard
Entrées
Le Bord de Pommes de Terre, garni de Palais de Boeuf
La Chartreuse de Perdrix aux Choux
Les Côtelettes d’Agneau panées
La Blanquette de Volaille à l’écarlate
Les Lapereaux sautés aux Fines Herbes
Les Petits Pâtés aux Huitres
Rôts
Les Poulets
Les Faisans
Relevés
Le Pudding à l’Orange
Les Omelettes Soufflées
Entremets
Les Pommes de Terre à la Strasbourgeoise
Les Epinards au Jus
La Gelée de Marasquin
Les Petites Talmouses
Les Feuillantines de Pommes
La Crème aux Amandes Pralinées
Buffet
Roast Beef and Mutton
Boiled round of Beef
Queen Victoria’s favourite pommes de terre are well in evidence. Just as it was de rigueur for high-society chefs to be French, so was it to have the menu written in French. Still today, culinary terms, and the names of dishes, are frequently displayed in French: a 2013 advertisement for a royal chef to be based at Buckingham Palace listed as desirable a ‘good understanding of kitchen French’.
The Spectator’s view was that Francatelli, ‘a man of genius’, angered by the changes wrought by the new Comptroller of her Majesty’s Household, had chosen to insult his deputy in this fashion as a deliberate and dramatic gesture of self-immolation, metaphorically falling on his sword: ‘It is clear that Francatelli’s “insult” was the usual refuge of men of honour in these swordless days.’ He was subsequently employed in such clubs as Crockford’s and the Reform – and he became probably the first cookery-book celebrity, publishing in 1845 The Modern Cook, which ran to twelve editions, and following it with several other highly successful publications – including in 1861 The Plain Cookery Book for the Working Classes.
Charlie Oliver must have known, if only from a respectful distance, Monsieur Juste Alphonse Menager, who was chef to Queen Victoria during the last decade or so of her reign, and then to Edward VII. Menager’s retirement was announced in September 1910, not long after the King’s death. He was succeeded by Henri Codard, who moved from Marlborough House, one of the royal family’s London residences, to Buckingham Palace.
One of Menager’s apprentices was Gabriel Tschumi. Close in age to Charlie Oliver (Tschumi was born in 1883), he must have seemed much more approachable and it is not inconceivable that they became friends. Tschumi – whom the royal family insisted on calling ‘Chummy’ – came to Buckingham Palace in 1899, when Victoria was on the throne. He was only sixteen when he arrived from Switzerland to be kitchen boy to royalty. Under the tutelage of Monsieur Menager and successive royal chefs, he climbed the many rungs of the royal-kitchens ladder over the next thirty-two years. In 1932 he retired from royal service and was chef to the Duke of Portland up to the Duke’s death ten years later – then he returned to royal service as chef to Queen Mary in Marlborough House. Like Charlie Oliver, he lived through a number of royal weddings, funerals, coronations, and an abdication. Planning and food preparations for great events were long and elaborate, and they would have both been involved in these in some capacity, however small. The coronation of Edward VII, a connoisseur of food and drink, especially in generous servings, was no exception – but on 24 June 1902, two days before the event, he came down with appendicitis. Recent medical developments saved his life; however the coronation had to be postponed. The fourteencourse coronation banquet, which included quail and pheasant, meat and fish in enormous quantities, could not all be stored and was instead handed out to the poor of Whitechapel in London’s East End. What they made of the likes of foie gras, côtelettes de bécassines à la Souvaroff, caviar and asparagus has not been recorded. The actual coronation went ahead on 9 August, without hitch, the banquet involving at least as many extravagant dishes as the first time.
