The Association held a successful fund-raising Cheese and Wine evening in The Grove Room, St John’s Church, Locks Heath on Saturday 23 March 2019. It was attended by some 45 members and supporters.
We were very fortunate to have Alan Humphrey, Grand Cordon Culinairé and Member Association Culinairé Francaise as our speaker.
Alan regaled us with many stories from the grand kitchens of the big hotels. He described the partie system of separation of tasks in big kitchens, and explained why restaurants always have menus in French as it is the lingua-franca of the cooking world. He spent some time working in the bahnhof (railway station) in Lucerne where they often served 1,000 lunches in a day.
One amusing tale he told concerned the escape into the kitchen of a live guinea fowl which Alan had been assigned to ‘despatch’ and prepare for the oven. He had neglected to trim its wings! It was eventually cornered and caught. Alan has cooked for presidents and prime ministers as the photos illustrate. He confessed to liking the current vogue for TV cooking programmes, except Bake-Off as he is not very interested in cake!
Alan brought with him fascinating menus and memorabilia from his life as a chef de cuisine.
After the talk, everyone tucked into a splendid table of cheeses, bread, biscuits and fruit, topped off with a glass of wine.
The evening was organised by Katrina Trott and Janice Childs – thank you, both.
The tombola was very well supported by both gifters and, better still, punters!
Fareham - Vannes Twinning Association 