Royal watchers have been busy this year, and with the holidays right around the corner, Princess Diana’s former personal chef is making it possible for every-day people to make palace-worthy dishes in their own kitchen. In The Royal Chef At Home: Easy Seasonal Entertaining, Darren McGrady, “The Royal Chef”, provides home cooks with multi-course meal plans that will ease the minds of the home cook.
With two decades working in North American kitchens, McGrady’s brand-new recipes reflect modern flavour, hearty cooking and gourmet palates, but always with a touch of palace elegance. This highly giftable book featuring 224 pages of recipes, intermingled with engaging stories and stunning photography, will become a treasured entertaining handbook.
McGrady shares,
“The years I spent working in the kitchens of Buckingham Palace, Windsor and Balmoral Castles cooking for the British royal family taught me the fundamentals of cuisine and trained me as a chef. But being a chef is my job; being a cook is who I am. For me it is about beauty, nourishment, friendship and love. While I like to cook for myself, it’s sharing food with family and friends that brings me the greatest satisfaction.”
McGrady’s heart for family, friends, and food, is evident on every page of this new cookbook. Each category of recipes is preceded by a note from McGrady, presented in his conversational, uplifting writing style. The book is organized by season with some events highlighted, including: Thanksgiving for a crowd, Christmas celebrations, Valentine’s dinner for two, proper Sunday dinner, Mother’s Day and “fire up the grill”.
McGrady provides ingredients, substitutions and alternatives, making this a convenient resource for individuals and families with unique dietary needs. The Royal Chef At Home also includes a section called “Notes on Entertaining” with tips and tricks to help lighten the load and make even the largest of celebrations come off without a hitch.
My Reflections:
Chef to the British Royal family, Darren McGrady shares some of his favorite, most desirable meals, desserts and more in his newest book, "The Royal Chef at Home."
Entertaining can be a simple, yet elegant affair, and we don't have to be a royal chef to do it either! Chef McGrady will teach you how to present gorgeous dishes, with a British flair.
This book is easy to use, the index is divided into seasonal dishes and fun ideas, very cleverly laid out!
I loved some of the titles, An elegant tea, Mardi Gras Dance and Drink, Graduation Celebration, Superfoods and Healthy Cooking to name just a few.
My favorite section was, "An Elegant Tea" My grandparents were British and had "tea time." I grew up loving this simple, yet indulgent time of the day!
My favorite section was, "An Elegant Tea" My grandparents were British and had "tea time." I grew up loving this simple, yet indulgent time of the day!
Mind you there were no potted shrimp dishes. Shortbread occasionally made an appearance though!
Grandma would approve of this book, of that I am sure!
I really enjoyed that this is not your everyday cookbook, it is so much more. It is a guide to entertaining and not merely preparing the dishes but also the presentation of them. All this ensconced in a beautifully presented package of glossy decedent pictures and hardbound with a dust jacket, very proper, indeed!
"You don't have to be Royalty to eat like one," I liked that quote!
So if you are looking for that perfect gift this holiday season, the one for the person who has it all, this cookbook will most certainly be a treat.
Get ready to salivate all over the glossy yumminess of this cookbook!
About the Authur:
Darren McGrady was personal chef to Queen Elizabeth II, Princess Diana and Princes’ William and Harry for fifteen years and has cooked for five US Presidents. He is an author, culinary consultant and public speakers and runs Eating Royally, Fine Dining Catering Company in Dallas, Texas. His first cookbook titled ‘Eating Royally; Recipes and Remembrances from a Palace Kitchen’ is now in sixth print with all of his advance and royalties donated to the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric Aids Foundation.
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