Hello
and welcome to the first official Amadeus blog. With
Christmas fast approaching we thought we would give you a festive
treat and an insight into how the professionals make Christmas
sparkle in the kitchens.
As our prestigious Compton Verney venue opens its doors for the
festive season, Amadeus caught up with Senior Head Chef,
Darren Proud to find out how he prepares
for the festive season at work and at home..
With an impressive background across the catering industry
including a stint at Grosvenor House, Darren is now Senior Head
Chef at Amadeus.
What can we expect from Christmas at Compton
Verney?
Christmas at Compton Verney is special, it has everything you
need for the perfect winter scene. We are in a
beautiful rural part of Warwickshire and the surroundings at
Compton Verney add to the whole experience.
From a personal perspective Christmas at Compton Verney means
hard work with the rewards you want as a Chef. We draw up a
menu around September time and build from there. This year we
have drawn up a traditional Christmas menu with Roast Turkey but
added some more unusual and contemporary starters such as Crevichve
of Crayfish with gazpacio dressing or Sweet pumpkin and parsnip
soup with apple croutons for something to warm people up!,
Following its growth in popularity over recent years,
how many people can you expect over the festive
period?
The Christmas cafe menu is open from 14th November to
12th December which consists of soups, hot salads,
afternoon teas, etc it can vary day to day how many people we get
through the door.
Over the period between 16 -19 of December for the candle lit
dinners we normally average around 200 people.
How many people would usually work at Compton Verney
corporate event?
There are two of us in the kitchen, which can obviously mean a
lot of work but we enjoy what we do and have a really good
understanding with each other so it works really well. We
also have the full time team who are permanently based at Compton
Verney for the day to day running of the cafe.
Ordinarily there would be six front of house staff that help
make the whole Compton Verney experience worthwhile.
How much preparation goes into an event such as
this?
We begin preparation for the corporate parties around two days
before, setting up rooms and making sure everything looks the
part. In terms of food preparation, everything we use is
local produce so we get a delivery in the morning and prepare the
food ready for when our guests arrive in the afternoon or
evening.
In terms of the Cafe menu, everything is made to order so it's a
constant process. Throughout November and December we can be
quite busy so it is a case of keeping on top of everything.
With it being open to the public it is a case of making sure you
are prepared all of the time, especially at this time of year
because Compton Verney has a great reputation.
Do you cook your Christmas dinner at home?
No, with me being from the North East we would either visit
family up there, if not we have them come to us and go somewhere
for a meal locally.
Christmas is a time for family so I like to spend as much time
as possible with them. As a Chef hours can be quite
anti-social so it's nice just to have the time to relax and spend
time with my two young daughters. For me Christmas is the
perfect time to get everybody together and a great opportunity for
me to steer clear of the kitchen.
Do you have any important advice / tips for anyone
preparing Christmas dinner at home?
Make sure everything is prepared and cooked properly, but most
importantly enjoy yourself it's easy to get carried away with the
food aspect, when really you should be concentrating on having
fun. It sounds like an obvious thing to say but if your food
is prepared properly and your turkey is cooked then you are
definitely doing things right.
To make sure your turkey is cooked properly ensure that there is
no sign of blood, the meat is a nice white colour and the juices
are clear.
Any money or time saving tips?
The best tip I have to save time and money is portion
control. Think about how many people you have for dinner,
think realistically about how much they are going to eat and only
cook what will get eaten. I realise its easier said than done
and we have all been in the position where we have made masses of
Christmas dinner because it's generally the biggest meal of the
year.
However, from experience everybody prefers quality over quantity
so my main advice would be to use good quality produce ahead of the
heaps of food we have got used to. Failing that, a personal
favourite of mine is gathering together all of your left-overs and
making a festive style bubble and squeak.