Estate / Dish Up / Countryside Fare: Tenderloin steaks and summer pudding

Countryside Fare

Tenderloin steaks and summer pudding

Summer is a busy time of year for the private chef. In some homes, personal staff are required to travel with their employer, so the chef packs up the kitchen and moves to the summer home for the season. Her Majesty the Queen of England heads off to Balmoral Castle for the summer with her chefs and staff in tow. The Royal Family entertains on a grand scale, which means long days for all.

I spent 11 years as a royal chef traveling around the country and the world with my employer. The annual summer trip to Balmoral Castle was one of the highlights of the job. The castle, located in Scotland, covers more than 50,000 acres of land. Alongside flows the River Dee, which is loaded with fish, and there is plenty of game for the catching.

Often I would be in the raspberry cages picking berries for dinner, and Her Majesty the Queen and Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother would walk through the garden. Other days, Princess Diana would enter the garden with Princes William and Harry to pick strawberries. These were delivered to the kitchen with orders such as "Have Chef make a summer pudding." Summer pudding is a traditional British dish that epitomizes summer. You'll find a recipe for it below.
At the end of summer it's time to pack away knives and cookware and head south, back to Buckingham Palace...