Food
William Skidelsky enjoys simple cooking, California style
Published 17 November 2003
Keep it simple: a lesson from the Californian school of cookery
When, earlier this year, the French Laundry in California topped Restaurant magazine's annual poll of the world's best restaurants, it confirmed what many people already knew: that in terms of quality, America's restaurants are at least equal to those in Europe. This impression was reinforced by American restaurants occupying three of the top ten slots on the list - more than any other country. Critics wondered: had the culinary mantle shifted to the other side of the Atlantic?
Before topping the list, the French Laundry was by no means the American restaurant that Europeans were most likely to have heard of. During the past 20 or so years, that honour has gone to Alice Waters's Chez Panisse, also in California. Chez Panisse is emphatically not the kind of establishment that wins stars or "Best Restaurant" awards: Waters's cooking is too understated and homely for that. However, in terms of influence, her impact has been enormous.
Waters is the originator of a style of cooking that has come to be known as "Californian". This emphasises fresh, locally sourced and seasonal ingredients that taste good. Generally, as little is done to those ingredients as possible: simple cooking methods, such as grilling or baking, are preferred to more labour-intensive ones. Waters believes that many foods are best not cooked at all, and so salads occupy a prominent place on her menus. None of this is to say that the Californian method is unsophisticated, however. Even if the techniques are simple, there is considerable art in getting the combinations right.
The main representative of the Californian school of cookery in Britain is Sally Clarke, proprietor of Clarke's restaurant in London (124 Kensington Church Street; 020 7221 9225). Clarke herself is English, but she spent four years in her twenties working in America, and became enormously influenced by Waters. She opened Clarke's 18 years ago and, besides expanding operations to open a bakery next door, has since barely tampered with the format. Clarke's is modelled on Chez Panisse in several ways, the most obvious being the no-choice set dinner menu. Diners are presented with four courses comprising a starter, a main course, cheeses (always British) and a dessert, all of which costs £48. The menu changes daily, but everyone who visits on a particular night eats the same.
When I ate there recently, the line-up consisted of a salad of smoked salmon, bitter leaves and grated celeriac with lemon and mustard dressing, followed by a leg of slow-baked Aylesbury duck with poached quince, autumn vegetables, chestnuts and white beans. After the cheeses (one from Wales, one from St Albans) came a seriously tangy lemon pudding, which had been caramelised on top like a creme brulee.
The flavours throughout were incredibly clean. Unlike in most high-quality restaurants, it didn't seem as if a lot of effort had been put into ensuring the unity of individual dishes; instead, they felt more like assemblies of loosely affiliated components. The danger of this approach is that dishes could end up seeming like random combinations of unrelated ingredients. With our Aylesbury duck leg, for example, the beans and vegetables occupied the centre of the plate, underneath the duck, while the poached quince pieces had been placed near the edge. The tartness of the quinces perfectly balanced the richness of the duck, but given the impulse to gravitate towards the crowded centre of the plate, there was a risk of their seeming insufficiently integrated with the other components. What prevented this from happening was the sauce, which had been infused with the quince poaching liquor and thus bore a trace of the fruit's flavour. By these means, the physical separation of the quinces was compensated by the sensual structure of the dish: one was reminded of their presence with every mouthful.
A modest and unpretentious restaurant such as Clarke's could seem on the expensive side. One can imagine paying less for somewhere grander and more ostentatious. But the financial outlay is certainly made worth it by the thought and attention that have gone into the cooking.
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