Duo manage food for fraught
Historical Cookery Christmas Special
Lichfield Garrick
****
SIMON Smith, who runs Thrales restaurant in Lichfield, and Prof Roland Rotherham, are becoming a festive tradition with their seasonal culinary double act.
The duo are Garrick regulars with their historical recipes and demonstrations but their Christmas show is becoming the culinary equivalent of panto.
I do wonder though how many people are put off by the titles of the pair's shows under the impression these are dusty lectures for food anoraks.
Far from being talks on cooking dragon chops on your shield, with a helmet of hedgerow nuts and berries on the side as you wend your way to the Crusades though, you get the feeling that Tommy Cooper would hardly look out of place in the mayhem that ensues. It might start off as a cookery demonstration but any academic stuffiness has gone before the first pan is heated. This is entertainment, pure and simple, slapstick with cream and brandy.
Rotherham, the historian, ex-cavalry officer and former member of staff of Queen Elizabeth II's Royal Household, and world authority on King Arthur and the Holy Grail, finds the recipes in various dusty tomes and Smith, a chef of international renown, cooks them. At least that's the theory.
JOKES, QUIPS AND LAUGHTER
If only life were that simple. In practice Rotherham wanders off into fascinating historical facts and anecdotes while Smith, engulfed in smoke as a pan complains about being unwatched, explains that chef's never burn – merely caramelise but amid the jokes, quips and laughter they do manage to cook some tasty Christmas recipes with some going back 800 years or more.
Smith also imparts, among the jokes, some of the tricks of the trade from his lifetime in cooking which has taken him to British embassies in Paris and Vienna, as well as working in New York and five star hotels. He has the culinary ability to bring a mediaeval recipe down to ingredients you can find at your local supermarket and which can be cooked in a modern kitchen without losing the essence and flavours of the original.
He is also the master of substitution, for example one recipe, Somerset Partridges, calls for cider brandy. If you don't have any then Smith's advice – mix cider and brandy and it works just as well.
This year's recipes included Mrs Beeton's dried fruit compote, bananas in rum, a favourite of Prince Albert, a Queen Elizabeth I pheasant dish and an 18th century tavern dish of partridge as well as pan fried onions and apples from the 14th century and a favourite of Henry V, courgettes with almonds.
There was also real mincemeat pies – with real meat – and, once more, a recipe for a brilliant Christmas pudding. A pudding I have made and can say is probably the best I have tasted.
The pair this week have also launched a book in conjunction with the Garrick, Simmering Through the Ages, and several of the recipes appear regularly on the menu at Thrales. There will be a review of the book shortly; meanwhile all the Christmas recipes from the show are available by clicking here. RECIPES
Roger Clarke
Symphony Hall
****
I HAVE a suspicion that the majority of winners of the endless
procession of reality talent shows on television will end up as little
more than questions in pub quizzes in a few year's time but the Paul
Potts phenomenon seems to have sturdier legs.
I saw the former phone salesman at Symphony Hall some 18 months ago and
on his return just about everything seems that bit bigger: the
orchestra, and, dare I say it, Mr Potts himself, and certainly the
voice.
Since he won Britain's Got Talent Potts has had two-and-a-half years for
voice training, practice and performance and it shows. His voice has
more range and power and he sings with more confidence with top notes
delivered with assurance rather than merely reached.
Some things don't change of course. He still takes some flak for somehow
not being a proper opera singer and for being an opera/pop crossover
performer but Potts has never claimed to be the new Pavarotti, indeed at
his very first audition he just said he was a bloke who sang opera and
little seems to have changed.
ORDINARY BLOKE
He still comes over as an ordinary bloke who just loves to sing opera
and tells the audience again and again how grateful he is to be given
the chance to do just that - which is part of his charm and his appeal.
There are faults, as with most performers, but Potts would never claim
to be the best or even one of the best tenors in the world. The simple
fact is though that he sings arias a lot better than most of us and
while people continue to want to see him perform good luck to him.
You never know he might even just encourage a few people to take an
interest in proper opera. His first CD, One Chance, has sold more
than 4 million copies and a second CD, Passsione, appeared
earlier this year.
He struggled with patter on his first visit and still seems much happier
singing than talking - even telling people “It is not any slicker
than a year ago, I still make it up as I go along.”
He opened with Granada and then moved on to Memory from Cats
which he sang in Italian, something he does a lot, seeming to prefer
Italian versions of songs rather than their English originals which we
saw again with Ewan MacCall's The First Time Ever I saw Your Face and
the haunting love theme from Zeffirelli's 1968 film Romeo and Juliet
both in Italian.
HIGHLIGHT OF THE SHOW
One exception to the comfort zone of Italian was I'm Yours, in English,
which he dedicated to his wife.
Support came from young New Zealand soprano Elizabeth Marvelly who gave
us a mix which included Over the Rainbow, The Prayer as a duet with
Potts, her own song Home and one from fellow Kiwi's Crowded House as
well as one of the highlights of the show, the Maori song Tarakihi made
famous by Kiri Te Kanawa.
The 13 piece orchestra under conductor Bob Willis also deserve a mention
as does pianist and musical director Chris Taylor.
Although Potts has improved as a singer at times you felt that some of
the passion he showed as a novice had lost out a little to superior
technique, improved skills over raw emotion. The passion is still there,
I have no doubt, but at times it seems more muted as if he his thinking
more about his singing and technique then just feeling the music.
Pott's ended with Con te Partiro (Time To Say Goodbye), made famous by
another tenor who takes a bit of flak for not being Pavarotti, Andrea
Bocelli.
His encore was Nessun Dorma from Puccini's Turandot. This was the aria
he performed at his first audition wearing an ill fitting suit and
sporting less than perfect teeth. It was the aria and performance which
was to change his life forever.
The suits are now bespoke and the teeth even and gleaming but he still
lives that song with a passion anyone can feel and it earned a deserved
standing ovation.
Roger Clarke