Dubonnet and gin before lunch. Martinis at 6pm and Veuve Clicquot champagne with dinner. Her favourite recipes came doused in double cream, expensive liqueurs and brandy syrups — and yet she lived to be 101.
The Queen Mother had a remarkable appetite for food and drink. This week sees the publication of A Taste Of Mey, a collection of recipes — with a foreword written by the Prince of Wales — from former staff and guests at the Queen Mother’s Scottish residence, the Castle of Mey.
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A picnic favourite of Her Majesty’s, Oeufs Drumkilbo is described as ‘a posh prawn co*cktail and egg mayonnaise wrapped into one’. The dish provided hearty ballast for afternoons of vigorous walking in Scotland, and was served at the wedding breakfast of Prince Andrew and Fergie.
SERVES 6
450 ml mayonnaise
4 diced hard boiled eggs
225g prawns (cooked but chilled)
225g diced lobster (cooked but chilled)
3 diced tomatoes (skinned and de-seeded)
1 dessertspoon anchovy essence
6 drops Tabasco sauce
1 dessertspoon tomato puree
4 sheets leaf gelatine
150 ml warm fish stock
Soak the gelatine in cold water, then dissolve it in the fish stock and allow to cool. Place the mayonnaise in a bowl and add half the cooled gelatine. Add all the other ingredients to the mayonnaise mixture and stir carefully to combine. Place it in a china or glass bowl and chill until set. Glaze with the remaining gelatine, decorate at will and allow to set. Serve with fingers of brown bread, mustard and cress.
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Tipsy Tart
This brandy-soaked tart provided the perfect excuse for a boozy tea time.
SERVES 8
For the tart:
100g dates chopped
150ml boiling water
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
125g butter softened
225g sugar
1 egg beaten
150g plain flour
For the syrup:
100g sugar
50ml water
1 teaspoon butter
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
25ml brandy (and a drop more to taste)
For the tart, preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas 4 and grease a 20cm pie dish. Soak the dates in the bicarbonate of soda and boiling water till soft.
Leave to cool. Cream butter and sugar together with the egg. Sift dry ingredients into mixture, fold in, then add dates and walnuts. Place it into a pie dish and bake for about 30 minutes (until a skewer comes out clean).
For the syrup, dissolve sugar and water on the stove until the mixture has thickened a little.
Remove from the stove and stir in vanilla essence, butter and brandy. Pour syrup over tart and serve with cream or ice cream
Bloody Bull
A variation of the classic Bloody Mary co*cktail made with vodka, tomato juice and seasoning, the Bloody Bull was an invention of the flamboyant playwright Noel Coward.
He first offered the drink to the Queen Mother when she visited his Jamaican villa in 1965. The Queen Mother’s verdict? ‘Delicious, just the thing to get us going.’
SERVES 2
1 small tin beef consommé
Equal amount of tomato juice
2 tablespoons vodka
Generous splash of Worcester sauce
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1 teaspoon dill
Put plenty of ice in the shaker and shake well
After Eight Ice Cream
The Royal Warrant for chocolate-making may have gone to Bond Street chocolatiers Charbonnel et Walker, but the Queen Mother always maintained a fondness for After Eights.
SERVES 6
2 boxes of After Eight choc mints
2 oz castor sugar
6 egg yolks
10 oz double cream
125ml wineglass of brandy
Boil sugar in 230ml water for three minutes. Put in blender with mints and mix until melted. Add beaten egg yolks and blend for 15 seconds.
Leave in blender and allow to cool until room temperature. Add brandy and cream before blending for ten seconds.
Pour into a dish and freeze.
Soufflé Rothschild
Created by French chef Marie-Antoine Careme in honour of banking scion James Mayer de Rothschild in the early 1800s, the essential ingredient to this extravagant souffle is Goldwasser, a clear, 80 per cent proof orange-anise flavoured liqueur containing flakes of 23 carat gold leaf.
The Queen Mother’s response when served the dish at a party hosted by her brother, David Bowes-Lyon, at a London hotel was: ‘Oh! What a treat ... I haven’t seen this since before the war.’
SERVES 4
4 tablespoons Goldwasser
100g grated candied cherries
100g sugar
50g flour
360ml half milk & half single cream
5 egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla
Butter
Granulated sugar
6 egg whites
2 tablespoons sugar
Preheat oven to 400°F/200°C/Gas 6. Soak cherries in Goldwasser for 15 minutes. Mix sugar, flour and salt in a saucepan.
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Add cream and whisk over low heat until mixture thickens. Remove from heat and add a little of the heated sauce to egg yolks.
Then whisk in yolk mixture to the cream. Add vanilla, cherries and Goldwasser. Let it cool to room temperature. Butter a 1.5 litre soufflé mould and sprinkle it with sugar. Beat egg whites until they begin to froth, gradually adding in two tablespoons of sugar until they form stiff peaks.
Fold egg whites into the custard. Fill the mould with the mixture and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until top of the soufflé is golden.
Chicken Tropicana
Another recipe inspired by the Queen Mother’s trip to Noel Coward’s house in Jamaica. Served in a halved coconut, this is the ultimate kitsch Sixties dish.
SERVES 4
2kg large chicken
4 coconuts (1 whole coconut per guest; adjust other ingredients if more used)
2 red peppers
2 green peppers
2 onions
175g fresh corn off the cob (or one tin of sweetcorn)
100g mushrooms
Cornflour
Salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons plain flour mixed to a thick paste with cold water.
Wash and dry the coconuts. Punch three holes at the top of the coconut and drain liquid through a fine sieve into a container.
Carefully saw off the top of each coconut to make a lid. Put the shells to one side for later use. Place the chicken and coconut milk in a large pot with a lid. Simmer until tender. Remove the chicken, then skin and bone it.
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Cut chicken meat into small pieces and replace in the pot with the liquid. Add chopped peppers, chopped mushrooms, chopped onion, corn and seasoning to taste.
Simmer until peppers are soft, adding a little water if necessary. The sauce when cooking should be slightly thicker than milk, so if necessary add a little mixed cornflour to bring to this consistency. When cooked, fill the coconuts with the mixture.
Using the flour and water paste, carefully seal the lids on to the bases and ensure the top holes are re-sealed. Put the coconuts into the oven (300°F/150°C/Gas 3) for 1½ hours to heat the shells and contents thoroughly.
- A Taste Of Mey is published by The Queen Elizabeth Castle of Mey Trust at £20 and is available from castleofmey.org.uk