NYLON - February 2008 - (Page 107) GOOD EATS GLOSSARY: If bangers and mash sounds more like a deviant act than an entrée, read on for an education in our top 12 english edibles. FV FANCY FEAST Hungry? Why wait? Chef Andrew Turner is reinventing British cuisine one quail egg at a time. By Fiorella Valdesolo. Illustrations by Andrew Rae To be the chef at the helm of a restaurant in the Langham Hotel—a place that, after a multi-milliondollar renovation, will re-open as the “grand hotel of London”—you have to be a bit, well, cocksure. Andrew Turner, who wowed diners in his previous positions at Pennyhill Park Hotel in Surrey, and at 1880 at The Bentley and 1837 at Browns (both in London), is just that. And all it takes is one taste of his elegantly appointed concoctions at the Langham’s new, breathtakingly designed (David Collins Studio was in charge of every detail, from the theatrically vaulted wine passageway to the Vera Wang for Wedgewood gilded china) Landau restaurant, to understand why. “The food we’re doing is very different but still classical,” explains Turner from a corner in the Landau’s kitchen, which is already a whirlwind of frenzied activity days before the restaurant is even set to open. “A lot of what we’re trying to do here is on provenance, so I’ve sourced the majority of the products from across Great Britain whenever possible.” Turner’s devotion to slow-food cooking techniques and seasonal ingredients might not be revolutionary, but it is uncommon within the realm of hotel restaurants—he also has plans to cultivate his own garden and build six beehives on the roof. Turner is on a mission to transform not only how hotel restaurants, but also how English restaurants in general, are viewed. “Hotels were the training grounds for British chefs and it was the same in France,” he says. “And more and more, they’ve sold their souls to restauranteurs to come in and run their businesses. You can see something beautiful here [at the Landau] and hopefully we can match the décor with the food and service and all walk away from this proud. It’s about time that hotel chefs stood up for themselves and said, ‘We don’t need your Gordon Ramsays in every single hotel in London.’” And though haute cuisine may not be a homegrown concept in England like it is in France or Spain, Turner’s cooking is proof that things are looking up. Perhaps the best way to experience the food at the Landau is through one of the “grazing” menus, which are different from tasting menus you might find elsewhere. “Grazing has nothing to do with the tasting concept at all,” says Turner. “We do a menu like a story: It has a beginning, it has a middle and it has an end, and it goes in a specific order. You can go from five to seven chapters, and if you want me to go wicked, I’ve even done 24 before. But it’s not just tasting—you’re not eating bites and going, ‘Well, I’ve tried a bit of that, I’ve tried a bit of that.’” This is a good thing, because one “bit” of Turner’s food wouldn’t suffice. From the silky pumpkin soup garnished with a quail egg, to the fresh Cornish crab and avocado with lemon myrtle and pickled apple puree, to the lusciously rich cutlet of Devonshire lamb served alongside a confit of Merton Farm mutton with mint and artichokes, this is food that will impress even the most cynical of restaurant-goers: Likely because each dish is treated as an individual work of art, or, as Turner sees it, a piece of music. “I basically have the idea and then like all good musicians I sit down and jam a bit,” he explains, a sly smile on his face. “At the end of the day it has to make a good record for me. And if it makes the record we’ll put it on the plate. But really that record is only as good as the people who listen to it, so the people who eat will be the ones who tell me whether it’s good or not. I’ve done it twice in London before, but this is the biggest platform I’ve ever had to show off on.” BANGERS AND MASH Sausages are the bangers, and mash is mashed potatoes in this hearty pub dish often doused in onion gravy. MUSHY PEAS As the name implies, these are peas that have been reduced, via prolonged simmering, to a mushy consistency. Variations include a touch of mint. BUBBLE AND SQUEAK It sounds like a children’s cartoon, but bubble and squeak is in fact a pan-fried mixture of leftover vegetables and mashed potatoes. WELSH RAREBIT This dish, which dates back to the 18th century, contains no rabbit, just melted cheese and butter poured over buttered toast, SCOTCH EGG There is nothing Scottish about this dish, which consists of a hardboiled egg coated in sausage and breadcrumbs. PLOUGHMAN’S LUNCH A cold meal made up of a slab of cheese (commonly cheddar or stilton), crusty bread, pickles or pickled onions, and an apple. YORKSHIRE PUDDING Not a pudding in the American sense at all, this flaky oven-baked popover is traditionally served alongside a roast beef with drippings from the pan poured over it. TRIFLE A dessert made by layering sponge cake, custard, fruit, cream, and sometimes alcohol. SPOTTED DICK Banish all nightmarish visions of polka-dotted genitalia because this vile-sounding dish, a steamed pudding “spotted” with currants, is anything but. CHIPS French fries, you idiot. BACON BUTTIE No eggs. No cheese. Just a bacon sandwich. Your basic vegetarian nightmare. JELLIED EELS An old East End favorite: boiled eels, served cold and topped with vinegar. If possible, it is even grosser than it sounds.
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