Former Royal Chef's Culinary Tribute to Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh

the first time i met prince philip was at balmoral castle it was my first year there i was working in the kitchen i was the only one there and this old man came in in tatty clothing a real tatty sweater with all the elbows falling apart and i thought he was the gardener and he said i'm looking for the head chef i said just a moment i'll go and look for him for you so i went off into the ladder found the chef i said chef the uh the gardener's looking for you it's the gardener this time of night well we walked back into the kitchen together and the head chef said good evening your highness and i suddenly realized it was prince philip the duke of edinburgh after that he came into the kitchen four or five times a week he'd often come in and just discuss about the barbecues he loved to cook he loved to cook on the grill prince harry called him the master of the barbecue and he really was he'd come into the kitchen uh after afternoon tea and the chefs would be shouting all the way around the juke's down the juke's down just getting ready to discuss with him what he wanted for dinner that night it wasn't just balmoral where he cooked on the grill on the royal britannia too well not actually on britannia when we were on the western isles cruise and we could be up at the isle of skye or somewhere like that and uh he'd see a deserted beach somewhere and he'd say a beautiful day and he'd say let's do a barbecue so we got a barbecue lunch so they'd send a boat ashore and set up the barbecue and he would go ahead and get the fire going and then the rest of the family would go along later he just loved cooking on the grill he was always tickled by new gadgets i remember somebody gave him a pepper mill with a flashlight on the end and he could see where the pepper was going this flashlight shining down onto his steaks when he was grilling i think all of the chefs used to enjoy it when the duke came into the kitchen to talk about a barbecue he'd always been into the gardens that morning or something and he knew what was ripe he'd walked and and he checked everything were there lots of strawberries that were ripening were the vegetables ripe and he had these plums that that grew at balmoral that were just amazing and often you'd see him just in the garden just sort of stood there picking these gorgeous victoria plums and you had to stay on top of everything when he came into the kitchen and said what are we having tonight and are there any strawberries in the garden that was a loaded question he knew that there were strawberries in the garden if he was saying that and you better know as well he didn't suffer falls gladly he had a great sense of humor too i remember princess diana sat in the kitchen sat on top of the freezer and she was just picking away at lychees eating those and she was chatting about the theater and phantom of the opera suddenly the duke walked in and she turned she said oh you've caught me and he's he said uh um oh uh you're down here to discuss the barbecue tonight are you and she just looked horrified she said i i wouldn't know where to start normally the queen would be the one that chose the menus for the two of them for dinner but i think he liked it when he got to choose the menus for his private dinner parties when he was with friends uh he always went for sort of weird and crazy and and different foods i think just you know a steak was boring so uh he he'd say let's have joked hair or or snipe or teal or partridge all of these different game from off the estate he'd say um let's do let's do a souffle for dessert and you say well would you like chocolate or gramani vanilla and he said let's do kipper okay even at breakfast i think just eggs and bacon were boring he loved it when you put smoked haddock kedgeree or devil kidneys on the menu i remember one time we were at wood farm and he had noisettes of lamb tiny little eyes of meat for dinner for him and his guests he came into the kitchen and he said what have we got for dinner tonight and i said your highness it's the lamb the noisettes of lamb and i opened the fridge and and he pulled them out and he said well what about these what are these i said oh that's um leg of lamb steaks that's for the staff and he looked at the tiny little noisettes and the big leg of lamb steaks and he said well we'll have those so i had to throw some chicken really quickly for the staff once at sandringham we had mango melba on the menu for royal dinner and the duke came into the kitchen and i was just peeling and slicing the mangoes and he just stood there and watched he said that's not the proper way to peel a mango and then he came over and he said give me a knife give me a spoon and he took the mango and cut around the edges and then scooped in with the spoon on both side and opened it up and then did the same the other side around the stone and he was so excited he was so proud that it actually shown the chefs the proper way to do a mango he was charming and elegant too i remember the gilly's ball at balmoral castle and i got to dance with him the dashing white sergeant two sets of three going around in circles scottish dancing and it was girl boy girl girl boy girl and i was the boy in the center of my group and he was the boy in the center of his group as we came face to face in the group he just nodded his head and smiled happy memories one of the things i loved about prince philip was his sense of humor too he was cheeky like prince harry said i glanced across into the fruit cupboard one day at bomber old castle and i saw someone in there i could just see their backs and i shouted across through the window hello can i help you and then i realized it was the duke and he just stuck his head round i said oh i'm sorry your raw highness i thought someone was stealing the fruit and he just looked back smiled and said well i am one christmas he came into the kitchen and i was getting the christmas cakes ready for afternoon tea he looked at the cake and i'd done 1990 big bold letters across the top and in the bottom right corner i wrote tire naturally he said um what what does tyre mean i said oh it's um it was a good year he was still laughing when he walked out the door one of his favorite dishes was crepe elon days he attended a banquet in iceland and he loved this dish so much he asked for the recipe and then when he got it he sent it down to the kitchens and he was so excited that he got this recipe for for the royal chefs to prepare and he used to request it for a lot of his dinner parties it's basically just a jam and cream just mixed together inside a pancake but it's simple it's plain but he really enjoyed it i'm going to show you how to make the dish you start off with two large bowls into one you add the dry ingredients the flour the baking powder the baking soda and the salt whisk everything together until everything's combined and there are no lumps in the other large bowl the wet ingredients the eggs and then the vanilla i like to use vanilla bean paste then the milk and whisk that into the egg mix next the melted butter in the original recipe it says margarine but i think the butter gives it a much better flavor then you add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and whisk together to make a delicious batter you have to whisk it to make sure there are no lumps next you need a hot saute pan on the stove add a little vegetable oil to stop any sticking then pour the batter into the center of the pan and swirl and spread out the batter so that the crepes aren't too thick place the pan back on the stove and cook it until it's golden brown carefully turn the crepe over and cook on the other side slide it onto a plate and while you make more you need to allow two per person you leave the crepes to cool while you whip the cream then fold the now cold crepes into half and cut with a large round cutter if you don't have one that's okay you can leave them whole open up the crepes and next spread with a little jam i like to use plum plum jam the victoria plums in the balmoral gardens just made the best jam and i know it's one of the duke's favorites next we top with the whipped cream don't put too much in there we have to fold them over and we don't want it oozing out fold the lids on top press down slightly and then we just have to put them on the plate a little sprinkle of powdered sugar and these are ready to serve crepe elim days the recipe from the duke of edinburgh it wasn't just amazing foods that we served at the palace but the wines were incredible too gorgeous wines but prince philip wasn't really a wine drinker he just liked a beer he loved his ipas and really enjoyed those even at banquets rest in peace your highness thank you for the years of happy memories you

Channel: Darren McGrady

Views: 451,350

Rating: 4.9652982 out of 5

Keywords: Royal family, Food, British food, The Queen, buckingham palace, foodie, celebrity chef, eating royally, prince william, prince harry, queen, royal, Delish, Darren McGrady, Royalchef, food, royal eats, british food, Gordon Ramsey, Balmoral, windsor castle, queens food, food network, recipes, dallas, dallas caterer, wedding caterer, corporate caterer, The Crown, victorian food, comfort food, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, pancakes, Crepes Islandaise, jam and cream pancakes

Id: _ZbAQUk-qgw

Length: 10min 49sec (649 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 15 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/shestr0uble]

Victoria Plum Brandy - now there is a drink!

[u/Smarty-Pants-Man]

Darren McGrady is a worldwide treasure

[u/Negative_Difference4]

Such lovely stories!

[u/JJennnnnnifer]

A lovely tribute

[u/_chareth-cutestory]

“The gardener’s looking for you.” This is fantastic.