Chris Staines- Head Chef at Foliage
Anyone who has had the pleasure of eating at Foliage in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Knightsbridge knows just what superb modern European cuisine Chris and his team produce every day without fail. One of our favourite restaurants and one of our favourite chefs, Chris has swapped spatula for keyboard to give us his monthly thoughts.
December is upon us again, the time of year when all and sundry head out for the annual infamous office party, where careers are often made or lost, and even the most reserved office wallflower sips one too many and pulls out the proverbial hair pins. A time of year associated with good will to all, a time of giving and receiving and of course a time to buy and eat enough food to keep a normal sized family going for the best part of a year.
In the restaurant business this is our busiest time of the year and whilst everyone else is planning parties and dinners and generally overindulging, my team know better than to ask for even half a day off. Instead, we dream of January which holds the prospect of more than four hours sleep a night. Despite all the mayhem and craziness there’s always a great anticipatory buzz around the hotel as we make sure every detail has been covered and perfected.
Executing the perfect Christmas is challenging for anyone. Nothing is worse than getting everything ready, setting the scene, inviting your nearest and dearest round…..and then spending the whole evening in the kitchen only to find no-one thought to save you any food.
But as ever I am here to help and have done all of the hard work for you so that on the day you need only get dressed and show up. Having scoured the length and breadth of the British Isles I’ve found the best of British producers to supply you with the best quality ingredients and products, (and let’s face it that’s half the battle won). So a great little find and indeed the place where I will be ordering the centre piece of my Christmas feast, is Seldom Seen Farm, a 207 acre farm in Leicestershire. They offer everything from Turkey, Mince Pies, Jams, Chutneys and all sorts of other festive goodies.
However the “Piece de la resistance” for me is the 3 Bird Roast, which consists of a Goose, stuffed with a chicken, stuffed with a pheasant and layered up with pork and orange stuffing. Not only is this delicious and reasonably easy to cook (just pop it in the oven and wait) but all of the poultry is free range and fed on the corn and potatoes grown on the very farm itself, this gives the flesh a wonderful meaty flavour and a lovely yellow hue, nothing like the pale waterlogged flesh of the mass produced birds you will find in your average supermarket. On top of this they will even sell you their wonderful home grown Brussel Sprouts still on the stalk meaning they remain fresh and full of goodness and flavour until the day you need them.
Have a wonderful Christmas and I look forward to chatting with you in 2008!
http://www.seldomseenfarm.co.uk/
Chris Staines
This piece first appeared in The Resident Magazine
