Handel was employed for just under two years by the 1st Duke of Chandos at Cannons, his immense Baroque/Palladian pile in Stanmore, Middlesex. Under the Duke’s patronage he composed the Chandos Anthems and “other important works”, says Wikipedia vaguely.
Another famous European, this time French, came to England, Albert Roux, who died this month aged eighty-five. His patron, for nine years, was the racehorse trainer, Peter Cazalet, married to Leonora, PG Wodehouse’s adored step-daughter. It is easy to imagine her telling him about their chef and the wonderful dishes he conjures up.
Caviar Frais
Cantaloup
Consommé aux Pommes d’Amour
Sylphides à la crême d’Ecrevisses
Mignonette de poulet petit Duc
Points d’asperges à la Mistinguette
Suprême de fois gras au champagne
Neige aux Perles des Alpes
Timbale de ris de veau Toulousaine
Salade d’endive et de céléri
Le Plum Pudding
L’Etoile au Berger
Benedictins Blancs
Bombe Nero
Friandises
Diablotins
Fruits
Only this menu was thought up by Bertie Wooster in The Code of the Woosters. He expects to go prison for a month. “On the night when I emerge, I shall expect a dinner that will live in legend and song”. You will remember Anatole is the chef at Brinkley Court, employed by Mrs Tom Travers (Aunt Dahlia). Norman Murphy always said that Wodehouse never invented if he could borrow from real life. It is easy to see Albert Roux’s reincarnation as Anatole. This is a great literary reveal. As far as I’m aware it has never been written about and for a jolly good reason: it’s impossible.
Anatole first appears in Clustering Round Young Bingo in 1925, ten years before Albert Roux was born! So we must re-assess the matter. Imagine Leonora reading about Anatole’s dishes and going to the kitchen to show them to Albert; he is intrigued and re-creates them. Albert was too good to stay with the Cazalets and they knew it, encouraging him to start a restaurant in 1967, Le Gavroche, with his brother Michel. But this doesn’t wash either as Leonora died tragically in 1944. However, her husband could have been the inspirer.
Now we are all Bertie Woosters planning our first serious lunch when we are released. After a glass of champagne I will start with Salade d’endives au Roquefort et aux noix, accompanied by a re-assuringly expensive white Burgundy. Then Fricassée de Rognons de Veau à la Dijonnaise with a robust, red Cote de Rhône. Because I’m not greedy I’ll just have Baba au Rhum to finish. This isn’t an imaginary menu; it’s what I usually have at Le Colombier.