Fred's newsletter: 3.11.20

Good morning,

Our door will be open for lunch this Friday and Saturday and we’ll take the last orders at 4pm. This really isn’t a sustainable way to operate and pay the wages, but we miss you all. We miss the buzz in the restaurant. Whilst we are talking to most of you every week, over the phone or via email, we do miss the music, the noise and the clink of cutlery. Don’t get me wrong, we do still manage to find the joy in running l’escargot. Thank you all for the postcards, the emails and the reviews - we do feel that we are achieving lots, and that our efforts are worth so much.

I am tired though. The last few weeks and months have been long and exhausting, mainly due to the circumstances in the outside world having a direct impact on our lives. As I said last week, I am managing to keep my head up by being back in front of the stove. My body may be aching, but my head is distracted by concentrating on what needs to be done: sourcing and cooking wonderful ingredients so there’s some real food for all of you.

I had a long chat with one of our young chefs last week - the kind of chat that comes up often. “Passion” he said. He mentioned passion a few times in our chat. I’ve heard that word so many times in the past - from chefs both young and old. “Do you know what passion means?” I asked. “Do you know what passion can do to a human being?”. It can destroy relationships, ruin your common sense, and make you lose sleep! I’m old enough to know what the word passion really means, and lucky me, I must have accumulated a fair bit of it to still be here today. The rewards are immense and intense. Not many people understand the feeling of satisfaction you get when your job is not only well done, but appreciated by others. The sensation of overcoming a complicated situation, flying over the obstacles, is one that no words can describe.

This morning some fresh blood is being delivered to the kitchen. This will be given to the young lad, with 10kg of onions and 10kg of pig lard to be diced. I might ask him about passion again after he’s finished his task! Then we’ll turn it all into black pudding, a treat for you all.

The terrine this week is made with Shetland lamb, spinach and some spices. Fabulous flavours, you will like it.

We have some crevettes roses (cooked prawns) with mayonnaise joining the starters this week. You know how much I love mayonnaise. So get your fingers ready for some prawn-peeling. Make sure you have a baguette and good butter to enjoy alongside.

I have placed an order for more XL scallops from Orkney too. This time they’ll accommodate another classic French sauce: the béchamel (or white sauce for you British). Mine is made with half milk / half fish stock and cream. And we will give you a lot of cheese to top it off and bake.

Thanks for your feedback last week on DIY steak tartare. Enough of you are keen, so it’s on this week’s menu. It will all be ready for you to mix, you’ll just need to have some salt and a peppermill ready. I would highly recommend that you eat it same day you collect to preserve the quality and freshness – but then have fun! You can put all the ingredients in a bowl and mix, or start mixing the egg yolk with the mustard to form a kind of mayonnaise, then add in all the others ingredients. It’s up to you. At the end of the day, eating should be a fun, sociable experience. I would love to see the end results, so please send pictures.

The chicken experience is back, with a fresh delivery from Linda. She has written a few words for us (see next post). We are now in November, and the game season is still going strong so we have hare, pheasant and pigeon in the form of a cassoulet with caillettes. We also have roe deer that I’ve boned out and placed in lots of red wine for it to swim in happily. I’m using the bones in a Grand Veneur-style stock - not sure how I’ll finish the sauce yet, maybe with some prunes or redcurrants. We shall see.

There are lamb shanks marinating in rosemary and garlic before going to confit for 24 hours. I had to source from different suppliers as I have ordered so many. If the last two weeks are anything to go by, we will be expecting a lot of orders this week.

We have crabs coming again this week, but this time velvets to be turned into a bisque sauce to be served with Friday’s fish.

Pork neck fillet, I am sure I mentioned before, must be the best part of a pig. It’s highly marbled and has many uses, from terrines to steaks to stews. This week it will be served as a traditional blanquette, finished with crème fraîche from Normandy.

As requested by many of you, the mousse au chocolat is back. Yes, with a fabulous 70% cacao Guayaquil chocolate.

We are expecting some organic Angus beef from Perthshire that will be on the menu next week, along with some young turkeys, known by us French people as dindonneau - a young male turkey. We eat turkey all year around at home. Also, rabbits are in transit and will receive a bath in Dijon mustard when they arrive. All will be on next week’s menu.

Please see our next post for a few words from the beautiful Linda. Thank you Linda for your ongoing friendship and support.

And thanks to all of you!

À bientôt,

Fred