Cresponsiveness and imagination. These are the requirements that, in addition to the obvious skills, the new chefs of Buckingham Palace must demonstrate, periodically recruited by the manager Mark Flanagan, right-hand man of King Charles in the Royal kitchens. And this not only in reference to the preparation of menus intended for state banquets. King Charles’ chefs must also be ready to create delicious and always different dishes every day, using leftovers from the day before.
King Charles recycles everything, even in the kitchen
To reveal it And Tom Parker Bowles, Camilla’s eldest son born from the Queen’s first marriage. Esteemed chef and food critic, Tom, 49, is not only Carlo’s stepson but also his godson and often visits the palace to dine with the sovereigns. In this way he was able to see first-hand, he says, the king’s commitment to ensuring that nothing is wasted at the palace. Not even scraps and leftovers in the kitchen.
«Prepare fewer dishes!»: this is Carlo’s order to his chefs
From Buckingham Palace to Windsor, from Balmoral to Highgrove, Nothing is thrown away in the kitchens of royal residences anymore. In line with his passionate commitment to the environment and recycling, Carlo has eliminated the traditional rule of daily lunches and dinners with dozens of ever-changing courses, as in the times of Queen Victoria. Now he and Camilla no longer have any qualms about eating what was left over from the previous evening.
Tom Parker Bowles, right, with Carlo and Camilla on their wedding day, April 2005 (IPA)
At court, leftovers are eaten the next day (but with a different look)
Intent on putting his environmental principles into practice, Carlo does And inspired by his Coronation Food Projecta charitable fund launched last year, which aims to eliminate food waste in favor of the neediest communities. He only asks his chefs not to serve the leftovers in their original version. In the kitchen they must be reworked into something creative and tasty at the same time.
Carlo and Camilla taste a dessert in the Isles of Scilly, July 2018 (IPA)
The chefs of the Royal kitchens think about it in advance
For this reason, in Carlo’s kitchens they now prepare menus by working in advance and already thinking about the leftovers. To make life easier for busy chefs, the chosen dish must be able to become a “multiple version course”, simple to modify with the addition of a few ingredients and with minimal effort in the kitchen. The activity in the Royal kitchens it is, in fact, frenetic at any time of day or night, with a large team of chefs and sous-chefs (about twenty) intent on preparing meals based on the guests and events planned at court.
The prior approval of King Charles is always necessary
The official daily menu is sent to the sovereign a couple of days in advance, accompanied by the “alternative” one designed in anticipation of the leftovers that the sovereigns and their guests will most likely eat the following day. And even the portions are new compared to the times of Elisabetta and Filippo: Carlo no longer wants large dishes that risk producing further waste and rubbish. And he ordered his chefs to also follow all the rules for the recycling of cardboard, plastic and packaging various.
Carlo and Camilla’s passion for Balmoral mushroom hunting
Royal cookbook author, Tom Parker Bowles also revealed that Charles and Camilla love to indulge in foragingthe ancient practice of gathering wild foods. Both expert mycologists, during summers at Balmoral they often dedicate themselves to searching for mushrooms in the woods and fields of the estate, engaging in a very competitive race. Porcini mushrooms and chanterelles are real specialties of the Windsor summer estate and, regardless of who finds more of them, they end up on the Royal table that same evening.
