TUESDAY 30 NOVEMBER 2010 • A SURPRISE FROM SOPHIE GRIGSON
Filming BBC2 Kitchen Secrets with Sophie Grigson
Photograph courtesy of Vanessa Kimbell
Hello friends
Has our wonderful Heston started a new trend in hiding a whole orange in his Christmas pudding?
Yesterday, we were filming Raymond Blanc Kitchen Secrets, and I was treated by Sophie Grigson to an intriguing dessert...
The pastry was made of suet and flour, with a little self raising flour lining the pudding basin. The lined bowl was filled with butter and caster sugar! At this stage I could not help pocking a little bit of fun at the richness of English patisserie ... what's next? Well, surprise, surprise! Not an orange but a whole raw lemon plonked in the middle of the mountain of sugar and butter; certainly intriguing.
Sophie covered and sealed the bowl with the remaining suet pastry and steamed it for three hours. And the result?
The pastry was golden and within the broken crust was a rich pool of golden, lemony syrup, seriously yummy and incredibly sweet, and impossible to say no to! The whole pudding and lemon was shared and celebrated.
Thank you Sophie.
Best
RB
For more information on the Raymond Blanc Cookery School, click here to visit Le Manoir's website
The photograph of Sophie Grigson was taken by Vanessa Kimbell, who recently blogged about her visit to Le Manoir for lunch, and a tour of the kitchens, including a conversation with Executive Head Chef Gary Jones. You can read her blog here
PS Please tell me what you think of my blogs and my website: I want to hear from you!
Follow Raymond Blanc on Twitter
Contact Raymond via the Contact page of the website
Read RB's Le Blog for the catering profession on the Caterer website, by clicking here