The Bertinet Kitchen Cookery School, Bath England

Wow! It’s already been a bit over two weeks since we returned from our UK trip. Without further ado I simply have to share our cookery school experience with you.

Richard Bertinet is a Frenchman from Brittany who has lived in England since 1988. In 2005 he not only opened his cooking school in Bath but also published his first book “Dough” which garnered a number of awards from the likes of James Beard, Julia Child, IACP and The Guild of Food Writers. Not bad, eh?

I discovered him in recent months while searching online for baking and pastry books, a pastime which I find quite enjoyable. He has recently published his 6th book “Crumb” which he described to me as an update and refreshing of many of the bread recipes in “Dough”. I bought a copy bien sür.

When I learned that Richard has a baking school in Bath (an hour and a half train ride from London), Steve and I decided we had to include a visit there in our itinerary. I emailed the school and received a very welcoming response from Richard’s wife Jo who invited us to stop in for one of the bread classes. And so we did.

We arrived around 2 pm, the class having kicked off at 10 that morning. The 12 students had made their dough for the various breads (breadsticks, focaccia, fougasse and mini loaves), the dough had proofed nicely and it was time for shaping and baking.

Shaped fougasse

Richard working on focaccia

It was truly enjoyable to see Richard interact with the class, having fun yet pointing out in an obviously knowledgeable and clear manner how things should be done. I picked up a couple of tips and techniques too. Love it!

The kitchen staff that day, Jen and Daisy, were kind, helpful and very tolerant of our presence. We did our best to stay out of the way but were also able to walk around the room and watch the students doing their thing.

Once all the breads were out of the oven, a long communal table was set up for a group lunch to which we were kindly invited. Wine, charcuterie, platters of tomatoes/mozzarella/basil, fresh bread of course, cheeses and the star of the show for many - pork rillettes, a slow cooked shredded pork in fat and seasonings, typically smeared on bread. To each his/her own I say!

If you’re planning a trip to England, Steve and I definitely recommend a visit to Bath. The Jane Austen center, the Roman Baths and the Abbey are just a few of the sites to visit. And if you love baking and cooking - need I say more? You know what to do.

Coming up - cinnamon knots, inspired by “Crumb”. Stay tuned!

Afternoon tea in the United Kingdom

Steve and I recently returned from a wonderful trip to the United Kingdom, during which we spent some quality time with friends Richard and Pauline, visited a number of historic sites and enjoyed many travel experiences and foods. Check out Steve’s blog to read about our other adventures.

Leading up to our departure, afternoon tea was on my radar, prompting us to reserve spots for three, count' ‘em three, tea venues - The Balmoral Hotel in Edinburgh, The Dorchester in London and The Pump Room in Bath. We also had a spur-of-the-moment lunch in the tea room aboard The Royal Yacht Britannia.

Get ready for it - here we go!

The Balmoral in Edinburgh was first. We were pleasantly greeted by the staff and seated in the Palm Court along with a number of others who came to enjoy this traditionally British pastime.

We started with glasses of Ruinart champagne as we perused the menu and made our tea choices. Interestingly they were still offering the summer menu even though it was late September, and let me tell you, it worked!

Hmmm . . . . I wonder what the autumn and winter menus are like.

We were treated to a dazzling display of tea pouring, and when we asked our server how long it took her to master the technique, she reported just a few practice sessions before she was raring to go.

The amuse bouche of leek and potato soup was creamy and tasty, soon to be followed by our savouries and sandwiches.

We had planned to try haggis at least once on the trip and this turned out to be the one and only time. On the top tier above - a small dollop of haggis tucked into a nice round of puff pastry was pretty darn good and paired nicely with the marjoram and sweet corn tartelette along side. Well prepared, nicely presented and, in a word, delicious.

The other sandwiches were classic afternoon tea offerings of The Balmoral’s take on cucumber, egg salad, coronation chicken, ham and smoked salmon. The small brioche roll with the egg salad was particularly delightful, although Steve and I must admit we’re not big smoked salmon fans so that one went by the wayside.

After a satisfactory post sandwich break our plain and fruit scones arrived accompanied by clotted cream and strawberry jam. Now I’m the first to tell you I love a good scone but these were too cake-y and dense for my taste (although the cream and jam helped!).

The desserts were definitely the piéce de resistance for me - spot on textures and flavors, particularly the praline cream on the crunchy topped choux and the buttery, crisp tart crust with the combo of cherry/pistachio/milk chocolate. The pumpkin spice version of opera was moist, creamy and nicely layered, but alas Steve doesn’t like pumpkin so he did not indulge. Poor Steve.

We received some final treats as parting gifts - strawberry sorbet cones, tins of tea and a box holding chocolate and pâte de fruit. Not a bad way to round out the afternoon!

Needless to say, we left satiated and wondering if we would even want dinner later on.

The next day we opted for the “Hop on, Hop off” city bus tour to get a lay of the land in and around Edinburgh. One of our goals was to visit the Royal Yacht Britannia which has been docked in Edinburgh since it was decommissioned in 1997. We took the self guided audio tour, making an unplanned stop for lunch in the tea room on the ship.

I chose the cream tea special for one and Steve went for the mature cheddar sandwich (he did of course join me in a glass of the sparkling rosé). Note that cream tea, as it’s been explained to me, is typically tea with scones, clotted cream and jam so this luncheon version strayed a bit from that, offering a more hearty approach. Notice my sandwich came with either scone or cake, not both. In the end I chose the egg salad on wholemeal bread and a slice of lemon drizzle cake (one of the many popular cakes in Britain, very much like our glazed pound cake). Very tasty and quite a switch from the petite versions we had enjoyed at the Balmoral. We thought it a pretty perfect lunch in a very pleasant setting.

White piano display in the Britannia’s tea room

We had a pause in our afternoon tea adventures until several days later when we arrived at The Dorchester in London to experience another mid-day repast. Rather unassuming from the outside (save for the Rolls Royces and Bentleys parked out front), the interior was a floral extravaganza within the portion of the hotel called The Promenade. Cushioned seating and tables lined the sides of the space and more seating ran down the middle. And the flowers - what a feast for the eyes!

Looking down The Promenade

While the tea menu was very similar to that at The Balmoral, the setting was definitely more sumptuous. We were seated along one side and soon had our glass of Veuve Cliquot Yellow Label Brut to sip and enjoy while we made our tea choices.

The primary difference in the sandwich selection was the addition of a beef pastrami version to go along with The Dorchester’s take on the classic egg salad, smoked salmon, cucumber and Coronation chicken. We both thought the tastes and textures topped those of The Balmoral (the smoked salmon not withstanding). Plus they brought us a second round to boot!

See that glass carafe in the background? That’s a tea leaf “flower” steeping in hot water which would eventually serve as a palate cleanser after our sandwich course. Hmmmm . . . . interesting.

We were also served a pre-scone treat that hadn’t been listed on the menu - a mango pineapple number, quite delicious indeed.

The scones were pretty much identical to The Balmoral’s, earning only a small bite of each - too cake-y and dense for me.

Finally - dessert!

The Balmoral beats The Dorchester in this category. The chocolate mousse cube was lovely but the mandarin and nut tart didn’t even come close to the caramel nut tart that yours truly (if I may be so humble) makes! Raisins and some kind of gelée stuff in the mix just didn’t work for us. The yuzu tonka bean mousse on a jasmine biscuit was quite odd both in texture and flavor, and the caramelised apple and quince delice on a shortbread round too jelly like.

Nonetheless we did enjoy this experience in a beautiful setting in the heart of London.

We left The Dorchester and headed to Paddington station to catch our train to Bath in Somerset County where the following day it was time for lunch at The Pump Room in the heart of town.

Reportedly one of the places at which Jane Austen hung out, the Pump Room has been around since the late 1700s. Adjacent to the Roman Baths, it is indeed a popular place.

Even though we had reservations, the staff seemed a tad distracted and disorganized at first. Once we were seated we had three different servers approach our table as though none of them were aware of what the others were doing. Oh well. It all smoothed out in the end.

We had a variety of choices from the lunch and afternoon tea menus. Steve chose the fish cakes from the luncheon menu, but for me, having experienced two very classic afternoon teas already (Balmoral and Dorchester), it was time for something a little different.

While many of us think of a posh, classic tea experience when we hear the term “high tea”, in reality it has traditionally been more of a country style, rural “meat tea” at the end of an arduous work day out in the fields. Some say the “high” part of it comes from being seated at a higher table than the usual low lounging chairs from which an afternoon tea might be enjoyed. There you have it.

My high tea was intended to highlight the local apples of Somerset - perfect for this time of year. As you see on the menu below, one had a choice between cider and “apple rambler”. We learned that when the Brits say cider, they mean hard cider (as do the French). The apple rambler was a simple apple juice, more akin to American apple cider. When in Rome . . . . .

Since Steve and I ordered a couple of Kir Royales, I kept my apple choice on the juice side of the equation.

Served on a rustic wooden board, it certainly spoke of being out in the English countryside.

This was a most interesting repast. I had heard about Scotch eggs not too long ago, and friend Pauline had explained what they are just a few days before our arrival in Bath - essentially a softish boiled egg wrapped and fried in a breaded meat layer. This one was served with piccalilli, a mix of pickled, finely chopped veggies like cauliflower, celery, carrot, tomato, onion, sweet peppers and gherkins to name a few. The recipe varies from region to region and usually includes some mustard and a variety of seasonings depending on who’s making it. Whoever set up my board put the piccalilli next to the chicken fennel sausage roll instead of the Scotch egg. Oh my!

I typically shy away from both fried and pickled foods, but I must say this egg and piccalilli combo was a unique and delicious experience. After all, part of traveling is to learn about and enjoy regional cuisines and customs, eh?

The chicken fennel roll was done up in a flaky puff pastry, had just the right fennel-y twist and paired well with the mellow onion chutney.

Last but not least, the apple cake was served with a light clotted type cream and apple jam. The cake was moist with a light crumb and just the right hint of spices - definitely an autumn treat and a perfect ending to my Somerset high tea.

Aside from all of these adventures on the tea trail there were many opportunities for a cuppa any time we felt the need. And we barely scratched the surface of all of the afternoon tea experiences available throughout the realm. It’s Great Britain after all!

You should go sometime. Cheers!