British Christmas Food in Brazil (part 1)

Yesterday I told you about my Véspera de Natal (Christmas Eve): food, drink and excitement in the form of Amigo Oculto.  Today I wanted to tell you about my Christmas day experience of a year ago (though in reality this will be a thinly disguised vehicle to allow me to boast about my self-proclaimed culinary prowess).

This time last year I had been in Rio for just 6 months and so my new family and I were still getting to know each other. Back in October of that year, my mother-in-law had casually asked about the traditional English foods. When I described Beef Wellington a strange look came over her face. I thought nothing more of it until a week before Christmas when another member of the family told me they were looking forward to trying my Beef Wellington on Christmas day! Ha ha, she had got me fully roped in! She reassured me that it would only be a few people, maybe 7 or 8 at the most, but by the end of Christmas Eve, more than 15 people had told me how curious they were about the meal I was cooking tomorrow. Oh great!

I get a bit annoyed when people tell me British food is bad. Sure you can find bad food in Britain, but great British food can hold its own against any other cuisine. The St John restaurants in London are a prime example. My full rant on this subject is at the bottom of the post…

What my mother-in-law didn’t know was that I had never made Beef Wellington. In fact I’m not even sure if I’d actually eaten it before! For those of you who don’t know, Beef Wellington is a whole fillet of beef, covered in paté, duxelles (finely chopped mushrooms), ultra fine pancetta/bacon and then covered in puff pastry and baked in the oven. There are so many things that can go wrong. The pastry can be heavy or soggy or simply all-out fail. The meat can be tough, raw or over-cooked. And the worst part is that there is no way of telling if the meat is raw or overdone until you cut open the pastry with a curious audience leaning in expectantly!

It was a very stressful experience. I had visions of utter humiliation as it went horribly wrong and I simultaneously ruined Christmas and my reputation within the family. I won’t bore you with a blow-by-blow account. Instead I’ll bore you with some pictures! (If you’re interested in recreating this, here is the recipe I used – all praise to Gordon Ramsay!)

Stressing that it is all about to go disastrously wrong! Here I am about to attempt to roll the paper-thin pancetta around the meat and paté. To add disaster potential, the whole lot is sitting on overlapping sheets of PVC food wrap (saran wrap/cling film).

 

I couldn't have done it without my trusty helpers (brother-in-law and wife). We were amazed that the wrapping process seemed to go quite well!

 

My wife was responsible for the wonderful success of the pastry. Here you see it before and after baking.

 

This is 100% pure, grade-A relief. Somehow we had pulled off a miracle!

 

All in all, 18 people ended up squeezing around the table to try the gringo’s Christmas food! I was so tired and relieved that I can hardly remember actually eating the food, but everyone said it was yummy!

Until I got to Brazil, Christmas had been all about simple, relaxed enjoyment and indulgence. But on this day, just over a year ago, my respect for my mother (and other Christmas cooks around the world) grew immeasurably.

 

 

[Quick rant: English food still has a bad reputation internationally, mostly because of generally low standards in food back in the 1970s. But I have to say this attitude is now badly out of date and when someone tells me that British food is terrible, what they are actually telling me is that they don’t have a clue about British food today. Britain not only has excellent restaurants serving food from all over the world, but you can find plenty of amazing, traditional British food that will stand comparison with the food of any other country. If you’re ever in London, please check out St John or St John’s Bread & Wine. If you’re not in London, you can get the cookbook from Fergus Henderson, the chef behind the St John restaurants.]

7 replies
  1. Ray & Gil
    Ray & Gil says:

    Tom,

    I totally agree with you, the UK has great food. I love to explore London’s restaurants. Gil and I have a few favorites, last time we were there, we found a couple of great options for Lebanese/Middle Eastern food on Edgware Road. Also found a great little Vegan/ Indian restaurant in the Hammersmith area, near Beadon Road. One of our favorite places for great authentic British food is Brown’s : http://www.bestlondonrestaurants.co.uk/restaurants/london/brownshotelafternoontea.asp?gclid=CLbW7PeSo60CFQjd4AodV3fkmg
    Totally awesome!!
    Great job on the Wellingyon Beef, it looks rather sophisticated and complex to prepare, you definitely pulled it off!

    Abracos

    Ray

    Reply
  2. tomlemes
    tomlemes says:

    Thanks Ray. I think living away from my home country has made me a little defensive! Ha ha! I do miss London for the depth and variety of food on offer. Last time I was there I ate Afghan food at The Afghan Kitchen – yum! And thanks for the link – I have never been but I have heard that Brown’s is the place to go for afternoon tea. How English can you get?! I will go next time for sure.

    My wife often suggests we make Beef Wellington again, but I’m not sure if I could. It was very tricky and I’m happy with my 100% record. If I try again it will probably go all wrong!

    Reply
  3. Eva
    Eva says:

    I once had an Argentinean guy I hadn’t met before come into MY house in Buenos AIres for the first time and tell me, “you must love the food here, American food is awful.” As you can tell, I’m still pissed about it ha ha….but I do just find it one of those inexplicably rude things that people seem to think is ok to say (and I 100% don’t agree, America has great food, but if all you know is McDonalds that’s not my fault).
    That said, the nice thing about making “home” dishes for people in other countries is that even if it goes wrong, you might be disappointed but they have nothing to compare it to! (“In England we LIKE soggy puff pastry and raw pancetta, the dish came out exactly like it should…”)

    Reply
  4. The Gritty Poet
    The Gritty Poet says:

    Man that looks like one labor intensive dish, good thing you had a team there to help out. I would never try it solo.
    This post kind of reminds me of the first time I made Steak au Poivre, which is a simpler undertaking than Wellington but beyond my comfort zone. I pulled it of quite well, and then decided I was a great chef and hence never needed to do it again. One dish I love dabbling with is Polenta ( I love adding onions and parmesan when preparing this yellow wonder). So yummy that I bet God lives on a Polenta cloud.

    Reply
  5. tomlemes
    tomlemes says:

    Ha ha! Good point Eva – when they have no point of reference, you’re the boss! I totally feel your annoyance with the Argentinian guy. It wouldn’t bother me so much if the person doing the food-dissing knew anything about food, but usually it’s someone who’s only vaguely interested/knowledgeable anyway! Grr….

    @Gritty, looking back, it was a ridiculous thing to attempt for such a high-profile event – really I deserved for the whole thing fail disastrously. And yes, very labour intensive – 2.5 hours in the preparation and cooking and those 18 people devoured it in 20 minutes!!

    Reply
  6. tomlemes
    tomlemes says:

    Ana, that’s an amazing site – the photos are amazing. If someone can make the dirty dishes look good then they can do anything! I had to do a little food photography for a recent job and it takes a lot of patience. Not good when you’re hungry!

    Reply

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