Legends Offal Dinner at Gee’s

A night with Simon Hopkinson, Jeremy Lee and Rowley Leigh

Simon Hopkinson:

“Just as soon as the first Spring lamb was offered by our local Lancashire butcher, my father would be in there to buy – and for ready money – its offal. His particular favourite of all, however, were the testicles [polite northern description: ‘lamb’s fry’], which he would slice in half, liberally season, dust with flour and fry in dripping until crisp and golden. They would then be perched upon immaculate fried bread [the crust removed before frying, always, so the slice was neat and tidy] and consumed with relish for almost every Saturday morning breakfast until Spring merged into Summer – and then they were gone. I never questioned what they were, these delicate and savoury ovals, until I was eventually informed without having asked. I was about seven years old, at the time. One ate.

I would suspect that a Chinese boy of a similar age might also experience such nonchalance when it comes to being served, say, a similar dish of tripe as that which will be served at Gee’s on the 8th July. It is simply a question of ‘This is what we have cooked and it is nice’ – or, more simply, ‘It is your lunch’. All offal is delicious and is wonderful eaten at any time of the year. As a perfect example, the extraordinarily succulent tripe served at moveable stalls in a square in Florence that I encountered in high Summer many years ago, was simply packed into soft buns, doused with piquant sauce and devoured with such pleasure that I immediately ordered up second helpings…

I am moved to say that when mass produced chicken might, eventually, become so dreadful that it almost becomes unpalatable, carefully cooked offal of all varieties will finally be seen as a something really rather special to eat at any time, so happily replacing something absurdly cheap and bad, with something absurdly cheap and good. Although it may be difficult to extinguish those memories of Plimsole-like school liver, do remember that those who cooked it didn’t much care, at the time. Almost all offal needs a care of cookery to make it taste ever so good. I would almost go as far to say that it requires a touch of intellect, too. Food for the brain, perhaps.”

STATEMENT FROM JEREMY MOGFORD, OWNER OF GEES RESTAURANT,

THE LEGENDS OFFAL DINNER AT GEES: PLAYING HOST TO MY HEROES!

When did I first become addicted to offal? I’ve been thinking back and it must have been in the 1950s. I would have been under ten years old and growing up in the post war era. My mother, still alive at ninety five, came from a family who enjoyed country pursuits and she had always made use of the cheaper, less popular cuts which were available in ration times, in addition to various contents of the poacher’s bag. My addiction has become so intense that I cannot resist any dish on a restaurant menu featuring offal of any kind.

My most memorable restaurant offal dishes which are permanently fused in my memory have been enjoyed over the years in London at the early Bibendum when Simon Hopkinson was at the helm, the Blueprint Café and subsequently, Quo Vadis with Jeremy Lee at the stove and last but not least, with Rowley Leigh, originally at Kensington Place in its heyday and latterly of Café Anglais. I must not omit of course, the many incredible lunches and dinners I have enjoyed with the ultimate offal guru, Fergus Henderson at St John.

You wait all of your life to meet a chef who has been your inspiration and three come along at once! Imagine my excitement and how flattered I was when three of my heroes wanted to create an offal evening in July at Gees Restaurant. The perfect Victorian conservatory and garden setting for such an event!

Simon, Jeremy and Rowley have devised an exciting menu, with the restaurants very own Rofford Farm providing some of the ingredients from our herd of Pure Aberdeen Angus cattle, or this year’s Pol Dorset lambs or our Oxford Sandy and Black porkers.

The evening will see dishes including include Jeremy’s crostini de fegatini, followed by Rowley’s dried salted pigs liver with quail’s egg salad served alongside deep fried lamb sweetbreads with sauce gribiche, yakotori duck hearts and Beef tripe with spring onions, ginger, chillies and coriander from Simon. The main course, courtesy of Rowley, will be Ox tongue zampone with salsa verde and seasonal vegetables from Rofford Farm. Finishing the evening with Jeremy Lee’s Vanilla buttermilk pudding.