Paul's Luxury Afternoon Tea at the Dorchester | Paul Hollywood's Pies & Puds

this is the heart of the hotel the kitchen once I'm inside the memories come flooding back the feeling of it hasn't changed it's still here this was a home from home for me for quite a while I was homesick at the beginning I remember when the first birthday came out from the north came down here and it's the first time I've been in London I got used to it in the end but yeah had a good time there I'll miss it if you look in the kitchens they've all got different hats on Flats flat hats means you're a chef the party if you've got a domed hat means you like sous chef who means you're like one of the executives means you're really powerful so the bigger the hats the more powerful you are I'm on a search to find the current executive chef Henry brossi because he's the one who's going to give me the okay to have a sneaky look around the kitchen hello Chef welcome back to the door nice to meet you too fantastic it's just so weird being back it has a little bit change but yeah but that area always do the same in us 91. I was a 90 just when it reopens yeah a new addition since my time here is the chef's table somewhere diners can book if they really want a close-up view of the chefs at work at a price of course wow wow that's actually using our estate I like that I like that a lot that's the theater right there very impressive but it's more familiar territory I'm Keen to see is it okay if I go to have a look at my old horse I want to go into almost blindfold them you'll call yourself okay thanks very much yeah thank you good fun thank you this in the morning when I used to come in three two two in the morning I used to come into work and this was the this is the main Corridor it's a pastry area this was the chocolate room is this still a chocolate room it is it's still the chocolate room this in here is like a chill room and I used to go playing in here sometimes in the afternoon and we used to do little curls and little chocolate things to go on top of the afternoon tea it's really cold in there it's weird [Music] ah you see this here in the morning when I used to come in first job was to to lay out all the pastries so we'd we'd produce all the croissant the Pano Chocolat then you have your puff pastry you have your rolls and it's all set up and these they're I think they're the same rules as well I bet myself on that guy more than once no I think I think the scars have worn away now hello [Music] the current head pastry chef is David Girard so it's your responsibility to make sure everything that leaves this kitchen is absolutely it's a big responsibility but yeah that's why I have my nice to chef with me as well you know the hat that you wear yeah have you got your hat around can I see your hat yo what he's going to bring his hat now I guarantee it will be tall and probably domed and have a slightly soft feel to it Ah that's the one that's the same hat as I used to wear with the flutes it's a nice comfortable hat well it used to be do you know what I did my head's growing see what I used to do with this I went into the kitchen once with the chef and I stapled seven of these together and walked into the kitchen balancing this on my head [Music] it's been over 20 years since I worked here but the memories are fond ones remember when I took this job on I was so excited extremely nervous it was a big responsibility this was in the Dorchester Hotel you would becoming part of a team and a part of a hotel that had been around for a long time and it stood for excellence gave you a buzz gave you a little edgy bit and when you finish you look back at everything that you made before you left that day and you think I'm proud of that yeah I put my name to that you've got to have that passion you want to work in places like this passion passion that's all you need [Music] I'm immensely proud of the part I played in creating the legendary afternoon tea here at the Dorchester but there's one regret I still have another chance to actually eat one but it's now my turn to go upstairs and experience this beautiful afternoon treat I've always been fascinated how my work down in the kitchens fitted into the history of afternoon tea so I've invited my friend and food historian Dr Annie gray to join me I've always wanted to come to this side to actually I have everything so it's taken me 25 years to manage to do that um so I'm quite excited to see what they're going to bring according to Annie I've been part of a long-standing tea time tradition tea comes into the country in about 1640 and it's it you have snacks with it straight away there are pictures from the early 18th century people with bread and butter so tea with something to eat with it is quite a long-standing phenomenon it's hey days really the late 19th century early Edwardian period and that's when you think of people in terribly elegant dresses and that's when you get this explosion of small cakes and biscuits and elegance really [Music] today it's t for two as we're served with the dorchester's current selection of afternoon tea lovely thank you on the menu is a tray of delicate finger sandwiches the cakes I saw being made downstairs and one of my favorites scones with cream and jam plain and raisins lovely wow interesting what you're doing there now it's gone do you put uh cluster cream on first or jam and then cream what do you do to be honest it large depends on what I can reach and who else is digging in the jam pot at the time for me it's Jam topped with clotted cream style of cakes served with afternoon tea has changed a bit over the years Annie has arranged for us to see some examples first Classics from the 1970s what's changed recently is we've moved away from sort of classic British into a mid-classic French style of Patisserie because we class that as more delicate more finesse but that's that's our background that's our heritage the big bulky full of flavored cakes [Music] what strawberry sandwiches next we'll serve cakes from the Edwardian era raspberry tart wow shortbreads these are slices of baking history on a plate it's a Victoria sandwich yeah with um cream and strawberries cream and real strawberries rather than jamming but they're cut into very delicate pieces and they're presented like that the advantage of course is that what doesn't get eaten can be stored and brought out for afternoon tea the next day and nobody will realize that you've already served them if you need to cut Corners okay looks very um Empire doesn't it it's almost showing off it's very British but loading molds were the same at this era when you look at more steamed pudding molds they tend to be castellone form and quite Gothic looking and cake design Echoes the prevailing fashion I think so simple as a shortbread has been given that extra bit of finesse yeah to make it look to say listen we can afford to have this done to our short beds to make it that little bit special but it's also very practical because you can make a lot of shortbreads you can store them for quite a long time and when you want to present them for your afternoon tea you quite simply decorate them so there's a really strong element of practicality there nothing was ever wasted in the Victorian or Redwood modern household you have your deconstructed Victoria sandwich there you have a gateau technically which could be cut into dessert whatever size you want and then you have your biscuit with your little bit of finesse the cream and everything on the top I mean they knew how to really serve tea in the Edwardian times and it's tea oriented because of course you can dunk a shortbread and you can't dunk a raspberry topped

Channel: Paul Hollywood

Views: 275,459

Keywords: Paul Hollywood, Baking, Bake off, Bake-off, channel 4, cakes, bread, baking bread, Paul Hollywood eats japan, Paul Hollywood's City Bakes, cooking, food

Id: qvIHbdx8lJA

Length: 8min 24sec (504 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 20 2022