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The City of London Cookbook by Peter Gladwin

The City of London Cook Book

By Peter Gladwin
Reviewed by Martin Fagan of Squaremilebookstore.com

Like most things, the art of the City Lunch was spoiled by Americans. Before they arrived in the City in their droves in the early 1980s, the City liked to cut deals over epic lunches, which suited the Anglo-Saxon temperament for food and hospitality and also accorded to an historic precedent: the City of London’s development as a financial hub was in the dark, smoky coffee houses and restaurants where, over soused hogs cheeks washed down with small beer, merchants could arrange insurance for their vessels and cargo and a gentleman could buy ordinary stock in the new-fangled South Sea Company.

But then came the Yanks with their gym memberships, mineral water and breakfast meetings (as Oscar Wilde said: “Only dull people are brilliant at breakfast”) and everything changed, as our abstemious and parsimonious former Colonials prevented their English staff from indulging in lunch and imposed video conferencing as a way to broker deals. You have to remember they come from a nation that won’t sell alcohol to people below 21 but allows them - at age 18 - to buy an assault rifle and armour-piercing ammunition.

As a much-needed antidote to the modern reality that a City lunch is a scarfed-down sarnie at your desk, The City of London Cook Book is a serendipitous combination of fact, gossip, humour and mouth-watering recipes and includes contributions from key figures including Tony Blair, Gordon Ramsey, Sir Terence Conran, Rick Stein and Michael Winner. This unique compendium explores the food of the city - its traditions, recipes and obscurities. Top City restaurateur and chef Peter Gladwin, reveals a world beyond normally closed doors, spectacular royal receptions, livery company feasts and boardroom banquets. Fascinating facts, quirky quotes, rare illustrations and fabulous food are all sandwiched between its hard covers.

Gladwin is a well-known figure in the City of London. From parading the Swan at “The Swan Feast” (Gladwin assures us that, although a few City Livery Companies celebrate their ancient right to nurture and eat swans they no longer eat an actual swan, but chefs are sworn to secrecy about the origin of the substitute) to carving the Baron of Beef at the Lord Mayor’s Banquet, he has become a leading authority on City hospitality. Providing delicious food for private parties and weddings as well as the City’s major state banquets and the Queen’s Jubilee celebrations – his company, Party Ingredients, is now the market leader in its specialist field.

Each section includes guest recipes; they range from the kitchens at the Old Bailey (where kidneys were served on hanging days), the Bank of England and the Tower of London to today’s modern City restaurants where Steak & Kidney Pudding meets Rocket Salad. Gladwin also offers his own anecdotes from such secret traditions as The Boar's Head Feast, The Sheriff's Breakfast, The Ceremony of the Keys and many more.

Although there is much historical content – anecdotes, recipes, etc – there is also much of the present day City as well. For example, a clued-up chef knows how business in the City is faring by what customers choose to eat, and Gladwin says there’s a lot to be gleaned from the orders coming into the kitchen and a good restaurant menu is a barometer of the moods of the City’s movers and shakers. For example, what Gladwin calls “rocket salad syndrome” he interprets as a fractious time in the markets, as business people need to prove they’re lean, keen, mean, focused and definitely not distracted by life’s small pleasures, such as eating a decent lunch. In contrast, a large Tournedos Steak washed down with one of those exclusive (and incredibly expensive) numbered bottles of Australian Shiraz is a sure sign that things are going well.

Gladwin feels dessert is the best gauge of all. Not ordering a pudding is closely connected to “rocket salad syndrome”, while ordering sticky toffee pudding is a well known comfort food and a reliever of stress; ordering French cheese is equated with taking stock, contemplation and preparing for some mature decision making.

So - why should you buy this book – and especially at this time of year? Well, if you have an interest in the history of perhaps the greatest financial centre in the world, you like a bit of trivia to leaven the historical facts, you eat food (and like to cook the occasional recipe) and you’re charitably inclined, then you should treat yourself to a copy. And sleep the sleep of the just in the knowledge you’re helping others who are less fortunate than you.

That’s because the Lord Mayor of London will donate the proceeds of this book to the Treloar Trust, which grew out of Lord Mayor Treloar’s vision in 1906 to bring together medical care, education and opportunities for “little crippled children” to help them take control of their lives.

Sir William Treloar’s Appeal raised today’s equivalent of 4 million pounds. The charity needs to match that total to ensure Treloar's future. Since 1906 the need has changed, but it hasn’t gone away. Today, Treloar’s educates and enables some of the most disabled children in Britain: the majority use wheelchairs, many have little or no speech and some know they won’t live to grow old. Treloar's dismantles the limitations of disability by tackling them on all fronts.

The appeal will contribute towards Treloar’s Centenary Appeal. It will enable Treloar’s remarkable work to continue by creating exciting new facilities to help physically disabled young people develop greater independence, and by offering support to those who are Moving On in their communities.

So do yourself – and others – a favour and buy this book, either as a treat for you or a Christmas present for someone else. And remember - the next time you want to gauge the mood of the City, don’t ask a broker, analyst or an economist – ask a City chef.

You know it makes sense.

The City of London Cookbook by Peter Gladwin can be bought for just 12.99 pounds by clicking here.

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with due acknowledgement to UK-Analyst.com