After so many years being lashed in the fires of tough kitchens headed by even tougher chefs the chance to travel the world had finally presented it self and of course, I was in. But into what exactly I had no idea. All I was told is that it's very hard work, big deal (well what top kitchen isn't), long hours, yeah right, and that I was expected to form part of a team of 2 that would cook for 45 engineers breakfast, lunch and dinner 7 days a week with 3 of those days involving the design and implementation of a 5 course tasting menu for guests, vips and heads of state. Brilliant I thought, a new challenge.
Oh, I nearly forgot to mention, Lotus is a Malaysian owned team so all the food would have to be Halal ( No booze and no pork), I was already miles outside of my French comfort zone of stuffed pigs trotters and boozy sauces and stocks.
This would make me tough.....
Arrived in Jerez, Spain on 5th February to set up the kitchen so that I could feed the team who were there to test the car.
Now before we go any further I must inform you the good reader that I know nothing about F1 testing let alone racing other than seeing lots of cars speeding round a track one sunday by mistake ( sundays normally a day off and the last thing I do on day's off is sit and watch t.v.).
So I found my tiny kitchen that I would call home for the next 2 weeks in a workable state and measuring just 4 x 1.5 meters, sorted the fridges, gave it a little clean and began storming into my M.E.P (mees en place/prep work).
15 truckies (the guys that set up the garage) on sunday, fish and chips, pea puree, home made tartar and Marco chips. Brilliant 30 minutes done and dusted. 45 team on monday for lunch, a la carte. rump of lamb, pomme puree, tagliatelle of leeks and a very nice jus, Chicken arabiatta, mushroom veloute to start and eton mess for dessert. Every Englishman's ideal welcome to work dinner, a taste of country life.
The week rolls smoothly along starting work at 6am and finishing at 10pm until my stock pile of 3 days ingredients runs dry. My boss Dave, who is a genius with over 12 years experience in the F1 industry (10y at the Japanese Honda kitchen. We'll talk about his exploits later on but be assured he's got some good stories) had warned me of the trials of sourcing ingredients in the secluded parts of continents we were to travel. Any chefs reading this will be saying "Spain is brilliant for fresh fish and decent vegetables, I can think of a million ideas". This is true but now factor in the Halal issue, the fact that all these hardened mechanics want meat and 2 veg with a pasta option and a load of carbs, and the lack of all the storage space and equipment we are blessed with in our lovely kitchens.
This bit of misfortune happened just a we were expected to cook for marketing, the shareholders and the odd journalist.
Right no booze or pork to save me now. Starter was a boozeless, fois gras free chicken liver parfait with truffles and a la greq garnish, cooked recipe free, this was my achievement of the week. Perectly pink with extra sweetness added from sugar and caramelised onions to replace the port, excellent. The amouse was a beef consomme with mushroom cannelloni and porcini mushroom. Assiette of duck (crispy skin, fried breast and confit leg) was next, with rice, malay curry sauce and the garnish you'd find inside a chinese duck wrap......as Ramsay would say done. Dessert, oh dessert, pastry is such a fussy thing, luckily i've got the basics locked down with a few tricks up my sleeve. Any way dessert was bannana milkshake, bannoffee pie and caramelised banana, an old Gherkin dish that had served me well before.
I could write a miles worth of text but the year is a long one and I'm tired. Rest assured dear reader that the knives will fly, plates will crash, but the food will always leave the kitchen on time.
