Elegance. Perfection. Sophistication.
If you stay at the Ritz Hotel in London, those are the qualities you will experience. If you dine in the Ritz restaurant, those are the qualities you will revel over. And, if you embrace The Ritz London Cookbook, those are the recipes that can grace your kitchen, your table, and your life.
This book is simple to describe: superior. If you want to see culinary excellence, to understand what it is and the effort it requires, then The Ritz London Cookbook is the best possible guide you could embrace.
This book is filled with the sumptuous, historic Ritz recipes paired with a bevy of gorgeous food photographs – as you are about to see. The best photograph in the book? It’s the last one in the book: The Brigade. There you the 80+ people that are the Ritz staff. Over twenty serving as “front of the house” and a solid 60 working behind the scenes in the kitchen — where work goes on 7X24.
Yes, if you enjoy a meal at the Ritz, the work of tens of people will go into the courses you select. Here’s one possible selection you might make. First an appetizer: Soft Boiled Gull Eggs, Asparagus, Broad Beans and Pecorino Foam.
Your main course might be this Saddle of Lamb Belle Epoque with chicken mousse wrapped in spinach and the lamb encased in layers of lardo:
And for dessert, perhaps this Hazelnut Semifreddo:
All these recipes are here for you in the cookbook. Now, is this a cookbook for the American home cook? Could you make this meal for yourself? Well, there is one of you and 60 of those Ritz people working round the clock. So, no this meal is not one you could do by yourself on a weekend day, even if you rose at 6 AM. But, you can make any of these dishes or a take a serious stab at it. That main dish? You can do it, mousse and all. The appetizer? I might pass on the Pecorino Foam but some shaved cheese would be fine. The dessert? I can make it all, except perhaps for that chocolate arch. I need a day of Chocolate School for that. You might, too.
You will find the recipes here to be intriguing and, yes, challenging. More ideas include:
Carpaccio of Scallops, Avocado, Crisp Crudités and Citrus
Aromatic Steamed Native Lobster with Ginger Broth and Lime Jelly
Fillet of Beef, Braised Marrow, Smoked Bone Marrow and Red Wine Sauce
Terrine of Goose Liver, Damson and Pistachio
Honey-Glazed Duck with Lavender and Hay
On each page, you may well be stunned. And almost surely tempted to dip in and try. The recipes are very carefully written. The ingredient lists are long, the directions are a page or more of dense type — with several paragraphs guiding you in extreme detail. Following the recipe will take time. Following the recipe is going to deliver a dish like none you have ever crafted.
If you enjoy culinary marathons, then you have an unsurpassed range of options here: first courses, sides, mains and surely those desserts. Each dish is impressive. Each displays that elegance, perfection and sophistication that defines The Ritz. The Ritz London Cookbook is grand, totally grand.