Cook it: Bloody shame

Rare meats are fast becoming a rare thing …

Has anyone else been surprised of late by a restaurant informing you that your meat will be served ‘medium’ to ‘well done’?

This first happened to me in a burger joint that I had previously enjoyed. Our waiter on this occassion did not warn us that the burgers would be served ‘well done’, in fact she said they would be ‘pink’. When they arrived, they were not; they were dry and dull. I of course complained and was informed that this was a new directive from the local food hygiene authorities.

Our burgers were not great as a consequence, and I was sad about that. A few weeks later I bumped into my friend Andrew Coggings from Coggings & Co., another excellent burger restaurant where I had enjoyed a great burger. I asked him if he had been given the same directive, and he confirmed this was now policy and all of their burgers had to reach a certain temperature and be held at that temperature for a set period of time.

This, it would seem, is to do with the meat used in the preparation of burgers being taken from parts of the beast that are closer to the skin, which is why you can still have a rare steak as that meat is from the core of the carcass.

Of course, this has rather put me off eating burgers for the present, depsite the fact that almost every menu seems to include one, and most of them claim to be ‘The Best’. It’s not the end of the world; they are, after all, only burgers.

Then I discovered that the ruling reaches further. I happened to be in Shoreham by Sea to see a marvellous concert by Richard Durrant and Howard Beach; guitar and harpsichord at the Rope Tackle Arts Centre.

We had timed our arrival so that we could dine first, and having settled into a restaurant called Chambers (I reviewed it favourably a few years back) I was delighted to see that they had calves’ liver on the menu. I love liver, despite it being bad for my gout, and I have it as an occasional treat. Calves’ liver needs to be treated with the greatest respect, and when the waiter informed me that all their calves’ liver now had to be served ‘well done’ I was both shocked and disappointed. It comes as part of the same directive. I cancelled my order and changed to duck, which was nice, although the corn fritters served with it were pretty leaden.

Last week I happened to have a business lunch in Brighton, and took my guest along to the Bistro at Hotel du Vin. Since it opened, the Bistro has been one of my favourite places to dine. I like the room, the wines, the service and the classic dishes that they serve.

Mr L decided to start with scallops, a rich and generous dish that put a big smile on his face. I had a craving for onion soup, a classic that I will often order. Here it was simply perfect, deep in colour and flavour and topped with a crisp cheese encrusted croute. That alone would make for a very satisfying lunch – but we were set on at least a couple of courses, if only to help down the fine bottle of picpoul I had chosen.

For his main course, Mr L had a hankering for a steak, and the steak frites hit exactly the right spot. He likes his steak medium rare, but our waiter recommended that as the rump used was not cut thick it might be better to order it blue.

It was indeed the very best advice, as it arrived perfect as he had said, and although the cut of meat was not thick, it was massive; too big to sit on the plate and therefore folded in two. His frites were also exemplary, piping hot and super crisp, and the bernaise on the side and French beans were equally impressive.

I chose calves’ liver, having forgotten about the new directive. It came with impressive mash, crisp shards of bacon and a rich onion gravy, and my choice of spinach was a wonderfully iron laden accompaniment. The liver was great, a credit to the chef who, depsite having to cook it for far longer than perhaps either of us would ideally like, managed to keep it moist and very tender. Full marks for great cooking against the odds. Hotel du Vin stays high on my list of favourite places to dine.

Hotel du Vin, 2-7 Ship Street, Brighton, BN1 1AD, 01273 718588, www.hotelduvin.com

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