Too Many Critics

Top chefs and restaurateurs played the UK’s food critics at their own game on Sunday 15th April, as they watched how well they coped in the kitchen when the tables were turned at Action Against Hunger’s Too Many Critics event.

Too Many Critics, held at the famous Hawksmoor Guildhall restaurant, saw nine of the country’s most prolific food critics swap their notepads and pens for chefs whites and whisks and take to the kitchen to cook a three course meal for 120 guests, comprising of top chefs and food industry heavyweights.    

After years of writing about other people’s food, the critics were given a taste of their own medicine as their culinary efforts were streamed live into the dining room, for the guests to sit back and enjoy. The evening raised almost £40,000.

Host

Critics

Charles Campion (London Evening Standard), Bill Knott (the FT), Richard Vines (Bloomberg), Fay Maschler (London Evening Standard), Tom Parker Bowles (The Mail on Sunday, Esquire) Giles Coren (The Times), Jay Rayner (The Guardian, The Observer), Tracey MacLeod (The Independent) and Lucas Hollweg (The Sunday Times).

Venue

Sponsors

Champagne Taittinger

....is how Charles Campion describes the age-old art of beer-making. 

Simple is definitely the strategy to undertake when faced with concocting a tipple to be drunk by the nation’s most formidable palates. Charles not only wanted to be part of the critic line-up cooking at the Too Many Critics dinner, but wanted demonstrate how his beer, to be served on the night, also gets made.

Charles therefore teamed up with Redemption Brewery based in Tottenham, London to fashion a straw coloured pale bitter which he believes will do no less than impress.

The main constituents that go into making beer are indeed so simple: it’s just malt (barley that has been toasted and malted), hops, yeast and water. Sophistication and subtlety come in selecting the best ingredients, specifying the amounts and exacting the timescales in each part of the process.

Wednesday March 28th 2012

It’s impossible not to get swept away by magnificent looking chocolates with the most evocative names in Paul A Young’s vivid purple atelier: Blood Orange Martini, Salt & Pepper Marzipan and XO Marmite Truffle, to name just a few.

It was therefore a no brainer for Tracey Macleod to select a chocolatier who could help create a bespoke after dinner treat for the expectedly challenging Too Many Critics crowd. She wanted to inspire glamour, thrill and rock ‘n’ roll to honour the crowning glory of a vibrant meal. Coupled with Paul’s imaginative flavour combinations it was hard to resist the allure of Tobacco Caramel encased by a Whiskey Ganache. Tracey and Paul wanted to achieve an intense rich tobacco caramel to provide a tingly and warming sensation to the throat, that could stand up to Bowmore’s Darkest 15 Year Single Malt smoky and peaty layers. The chocolate sphere would then be enrobed in 64% Dominican Republic Single Origin Dark Chocolate.

Creating this truffle was done over two occasions, first the tasting to pin down the precise flavour profile and then the actual crafting. Tracey went through processes that required detail and a deft hand in tempering chocolate, creating the shell from a mould to filling them, and designing the finishing touches. With a master chocolatier like Paul who demands perfection in every step guiding Tracey, this will be impossible to criticise.

The development process took two days. Working in the basement beneath Paul’s marvellous shop, lots of tasting and crafting took place. The first step in the chocolate making process was melting the chocolate and then tempering it. Tempering chocolate involves pouring it out on a marble slab, moving the liquid with palate knives and scrapers to bring the temperature down. The idea behind it is to introduce minute crystals into the chocolate which affect the texture and look: you want chocolate in its finished form snaps not crumbles, and has a shiny sheen. Tracey had fun making sure the chocolate didn’t flow off the table!

Chocolate which is sufficiently tempered is poured into moulds to form delicate shells, which after setting can be filled. The filling was made by infusing caramel with tobacco leaf, and Bowmore whiskey was added to the ganache. Using a funnel, Tracey piped caramel into ganache shells. This step required a lot of precision and a steady hand. Filled shells then get dipped and rolled in more tempered chocolate which forms a textured outer layer. Every single chocolate at Paul A Young is handmade, these special ones for Too Many Critics were no exception. Tracey finished the set spheres by hand-painting each one with a lit cigarette. Just the thing to conclude a lively dinner.