A CHEF GOES SHOPPING

You know you’re with a pro when kohl rabi inspires ecstasy. Christopher Hirst shops with Jeremy Lee and lists suppliers who sell to the public too ...

From INTELLIGENT LIFE Magazine, Autumn 2009

In a south London market, Jeremy Lee, head chef at the Blueprint Café, came close to ecstasy. “Wow! How gorgeous,” he exclaimed, holding up a pale green vegetable that looked like a sputnik. “Kohl rabi is a hugely underestimated vegetable. Sliced very thinly, it makes an excellent salad with vinaigrette, or you can use it in a subtle chilled soup.” His attention switched to red chard (“Cook the stems separately from the leaves, and toss in oil”) and girolle mushrooms: “Fry them in butter with parsley, lemon and garlic and serve with fried eggs on grilled bread.”

When you go shopping with a top chef, the basics are transformed into tempting dishes. Lee’s elation was prompted by Booth’s fruit and vegetable stall in Borough Market. Its spectacular display would fit happily into Paris or Milan. It was the first stop in our perambulation round three shops that cater to both
culinary professionals and amateurs.

“Sourcing is pivotal,” says Lee. “The quality of the raw materials accounts for 99% of the quality of the finished dish. You need to shop at places where people are looking out for you.”

With Booth’s selling Italian kohl rabi at around £3 per kilo, red chard at £1.25 per kilo and Scottish girolles at £15 per kilo (you don’t need much of this resilient fungi), there is no financial barrier to making Lee’s suggestions at home. But would you and I be able to produce restaurant-quality meals simply by buying the immaculate foodstuffs used by chefs?

Generally, no. The equipment and expertise of professional kitchens are in a different league to all but a tiny number of amateur cooks. Moreover, restaurants’ supplies often come from sources that we cannot use. Lee buys much of his meat, lop-eared pigs and salt marsh lamb, direct from small farms. If restaurants want unusual items like sea urchins, gulls’ eggs or spider crabs, they go to companies like Chef Direct of Bristol, which does not sell to the public.

There are suppliers we can use, though. My second stop with Lee was Allens butcher’s shop at 117 Mount Street, London W1. Allens, which launched an online store for the public this summer, supplies the Connaught Hotel, Heston Blumenthal’s Fat Duck in Bray and many London clubs. Lee was delighted by a crown of lamb (a roast made from two racks formed into a crown) in Allens’ refrigerated window. “That’s a rare and very old cut. The trick is to crisp up the fat inside the crown. It is often filled with a purée of peas.” Lee was also taken by a grainy lump of the offal steak known as onglet. “It’s got a wonderful flavour, though it can be tough. I’d cook it very briefly with lots of salt and pepper in a very hot frying pan—about three minutes on one side and two on the other—then let it rest for 15-20 minutes before eating.” Whether the home cook would dare to perform this brief, confident assault on the recalcitrant onglet, or manage to crisp the fat inside the crown of lamb is a different matter.

Price is another consideration when aiming for professional results. “That’s the sort of sign I like to see,” said Lee, pointing at a substantial speckled mound in Allens’ window. It read: “Minced Buttock, £10.50 per kilo”. This may seem a bit steep for mince, but then Lee and his colleagues in the trade pay butchers around two-thirds of the public price.

Our final destination was La Fromagerie at 2-6 Moxon Street in Marylebone, London W1. The fragrant heart of the shop is a chilled room containing around 150 different cheeses. We were guided through this lactic cornucopia by the impressively knowledgeable Jon Schofield, who explained how flavour compounds survived in a raw goat’s milk cheese called Rove des Garrigues. “Can you get a hint of bitterness from dandelion?” Lee was transported by the monastery-made chèvre Lingot St Nicolas (“it would be lovely in a salad with beetroot”) and a sheep’s cheese from the Pyrenees called Napoleon: “Really sensational. I’d have it with potatoes and sliced cured meat.”

If you were buying a cheeseboard for heaven, this would be the place to come, though some of the prices are out of this world. The monastic Lingot—half the cheese at La Fromagerie comes from France—costs £5.50 for a tiny 80g cheese, while the cost of Napoleon is a majestic £29.20 per kilo. A gnarled, aged Mimolette from Flanders that Lee wanted to grate over fresh asparagus costs £37.45 per kilo.

Along with top chefs such as Neil Forbes of Atrium in Edinburgh and Shaun Hill of the Walnut Tree in Abergavenny, Lee places utmost importance on fresh, seasonal ingredients. He dismisses finicky techniques and fussy presentation as “cheffing up”. By shopping where the chefs shop, we can match some of their
ingredients. But don’t expect it to come cheap.

SIX MORE CHEFS’ SPECIALS
Jack O’Shea Butcher selling organic Irish pork and beef aged for up to 65 days; the côte de boeuf is particularly good. Customers include Hix Oyster & Chop House. 11 Montpelier Street, London SW7; 30 Rue le Titien, Brussels 1000; www.natoora.co.uk

H.G. Walter Award-winning butcher that supplies River Café and Arbutus. Their rack of lamb is outstanding, and they do home deliveries. 51 Palliser Road, London W14; www.hgwalter.com

Sheridan’s Wide variety of Irish, British and continental cheeses kept in immaculate conditions. Supplies Bentley’s Oyster Bar and others. 11 South Anne Street, Dublin 2; 14-16 Churchyard Street, Galway; www.sheridanscheesemongers.com

Neal’s Yard Dairy Unequalled selection of cheeses from the British Isles, including Stichelton, a new raw-milk Stilton. 17 Shorts Gardens, London WC2;
6 Park Street, London SE1; www.nealsyarddairy.co.uk

Matthew Stevens & Son Leading supplier of Cornish fish and shellfish. Much of the stock comes from small day-boats, and is now sold online. Back Road East,
St Ives; www.mstevensandson.co.uk

Billingsgate Its 50 traders serve the public Tuesday to Saturday 6-8.30am. Bargains include whole salmon (be prepared to clean and gut), oysters, boxes of shrimps. Trafalgar Way, London E14; www.billingsgate-market.org.uk

Picture credit: Stepheye (via Flickr)

(Christopher Hirst used to be the Weasel in the Independent. In the summer issue of Intelligent Life he wrote about smoking his own food.)