This article is reproduced from the author | Zhang Lushi
Just sat down and found out that the protagonist of the meal here is still wine. The impact of cultural customs on dining seems to be deeply rooted.
drove from Edinburgh to Highlands Perthshire, and stopped in the countryside of the small village of Crieff, and Glenturret, the oldest record-breaking whiskey distiller in Scotland, appeared before his eyes. I came here because I heard that a fine-cuisine restaurant was opened in the winery and I won one Michelin star after seven months of opening. Among the Michelin-starred restaurants, it is the first time to open a whiskey distillery.
The tradition of domestic meals with spirits (white wine) has a long history. Before I arrived at Glenturret, I imagined whether I would use whiskey instead of wine to pair it. However, after sitting down, I found that the spirits still only appeared before and after the meal, and wine was still the main clue throughout the dish. The influence of cultural customs on people seems to be deeply rooted.
Glenturret Whiskey Distillery
When the rain arrived, Alex Thomson in the distillery casually said: "Today's rain, tomorrow's whiskey", and deconstructed the meaning of the Glenturret name for me: "turret" is "thump flowing water", and "glen" means "valley". Recalling the Gaelic origin of the name "whiskey" in the 15th century: "Uisge Beath", I can't help but sigh again that Scotland is really poets everywhere.
From wine tasting before meals, tulip-shaped wine glasses held in your hands, to two crystal lamps in the restaurant, to various exquisite glassware for the wine and dishes served in the dining room, it is hard not to notice the crystal glass craftsmanship of Lalique, which has always been famous for designing perfume bottles. In fact, Glenturret, which has been distilled whiskey since at least 1763, was jointly acquired by the Lalique Group and Swiss tycoon Hansjörg Wyss three years ago. The restaurant opened after the epidemic was jointly named "The Glenturret Lalique Restaurant" and invited Glasgow celebrity chef Mark Donald to take charge of the new restaurant.
This is a pretty wonderful meal. In addition to the aura and creativity on the test menu, there are also fun things like spraying some whiskey on the kumquat snowballs and naming "kumquat penicillin". It is actually not easy to create a "taste bud surprise". It is not possible to mix and match all kinds of ingredients and spices that are not incompatible with each other. Today, the British kitchen industry is booming, and young chefs are constantly emerging everywhere, but in my experience, it is not difficult to make the dishes look good, and there are not many that are both color, fragrance and taste. In the multi-channel trial menu, it is not uncommon to reuse the same ingredients and spices, which makes the same taste appear several times in the whole meal. Mark's creation made me still maintain my interest and surprise from the beginning of four side dishes, three seafood, and one meat dish until the end of two desserts.
"Kumquat Penicillin" spraying whiskey on kumquat snowflakes
There are many ingredients nearby to get the ingredients, which is very popular. Rapeseed oil, elderflower, green tomatoes and strawberries all come from the countryside near the restaurant, while the bread made from old noodles is made of barley made from whiskey in the distillery and honey made from neighbors.
food design has many Scottish characteristics, such as outstanding seafood dishes. The North Sea is rich in crayfish and shell mussels, and crayfish and cherry stone clams are both direct "sashimi" here. But what made my eyes shine the most was the "sandwich shrimp chips" that were inverted into the shape of crayfish: the crispy slice was actually made of concentrated crayfish sauce and shrimp head paste. What impressed me was not just the rich umami flavor, but for a long time, ingredients like "shrimp head and shrimp paste" have been abandoned or directly ignored in the British food industry. In recent years, it is quite exciting to see similar scraps "enter the house" more and more frequently. For example, in the past, British diners only favored the meat steak and fish steak that had been removed from bones, and even refused to be able to stand the whole chicken on the table. Today, the chicken feet with fangs and claws appear in the elegant Michelin-starred restaurant, which is no longer novel.
"sandwich shrimp chips" in the shape of crayfish
Looking at Mark Donald's resume, he suddenly saw his experience of "studying" at Noma, a Copenhagen restaurant that opened 18 years ago. At that time, I thought to myself that Noma really tasted like a northern European chef, "Whampoa Military Academy". Today, the advocacy of "zero food waste" in various parts of Europe is attributed to Noma and its founder René Redzepi. This second-generation Danish immigrant from Macedonia led the "New Nordic Cooking" craze that swept across Europe and guided the food style to return to "nature" and "market", and the resounding has not been completed yet. I met René in Copenhagen in 2014, and after eating the sauce he made of pickled grasshoppers, I will never forget it.
Tattie Scone
Mark's menu also has a "side dish" that is easily overlooked: it is called Tattie Scone. This was originally a traditional Scottish potato cake that often appeared on the breakfast table, and "tattie" is the nickname for "potatoes" by locals. The Scottish chef made a luxury innovation for this traditional snack: the flour and potato kneading process was preserved, but the nearby highlands and beef sashimi were added on top, and a spoonful of black fish roe sauce was added. Although the taste is brand new when you enter the mouth, this fine cuisine integrates the concept of folk snacks, making people feel more intimate. After the meal,
drove away from the countryside in a light rain, and recalled a meal that had just passed: the portion was just right, and there was no sense of fullness when leaving the table, and the chef's creation until the last dessert can still excite the taste buds.
