Gerry Goldwyre's North American Adventure

 

MasterChef winner, chef and architect, Gerry Goldwyre and his wife Susan are on a year's trip to American discovering all that's best about food and cooking along the way.

THANKSGIVING AND NEW YEAR: California to the british virgin islands

Thanksgiving dinner in California was a great success. But not before I played a trick on the 18 sceptical Americans who considered a Scot would be unable to execute an American thanksgiving dinner. They assembled about 2.30pm for drinks. Spirits were high and matched the noise level. We brought out our spoof menu made out to be the real thing:

Bruchetta of jellied eel
Haggis, turnip and potato soup with chilli oil.
Roast turkey breast with char grilled pickled gherkins and roast potatoes.
Blue cheese and chocolate mousse with marmalade shortbread.

Believable? Only just. The guests must have been horrified but said very little other than “Oh that sounds nice. Do you eat this often in Scotland?” Talk about the Brits having a stiff upper lip and not wanting to offend.

When we served up the real menu they were delighted. It was more traditional. I also made some chilli roasted almond nibbles which are quick and easy to prepare

The food went down a treat and everyone appreciated the joke. Various threats of deportation were made but by that time the wine was talking.

Next day we had another attempt at playing cowboys and went out riding. My horse must have heard about my prank. On a steep rocky incline he stopped dead, threw his head back and whacked me on the chin. My front teeth felt loose and my lip was bleeding. Wounded pride followed. Susan just laughed and suggested if I held my teeth in place they would re set in the sockets!

Tucson to Dallas

From our California retreat we moved on to Tucson, Arizona where we met up again with Jill McCormick of the Peppertrees Inn.

From Tucson we drove a long “haul-ass” route to Texas. Texas goes on for ever from El Paso in the west passing farms after farm of cattle. Sometimes I wonder about the beef in USA. It is mostly fed on a hormone-supplemented diet. We try to avoid this and go for grass fed or organic.

Whilst on the subject of food quality, this trip has allowed much time for research. As a result I will never again knowingly consume or serve any food that contains hydrogenated oils in our restaurant. We have been astounded at how many foods contain this disgusting ingredient there are. The oils are simply there to make industrial processing easier and cheaper with no gain in quality and should be banned in my humble opinion. Recent research suggests these oils could actually be killing us. I understand they are soon to be banned in Europe and are currently banned in some other countries. Next time you buy packaged food stuff check the ingredient list and ithink before you buy it. If you doubt my word have a look on the Net and see the research for yourself. One of my personal disappointments is that McVities digestive biscuits contain this devil’s ingredient. No more digestive biscuits with tea for me. OK, off my hobby horse.

The British Virgin Islands

We pressed on to Dallas to meet up with friends, Chris and Sandy Haire. They were among our very first guests at the restaurant when we opened in 1995 and we have kept in touch all this time. We left our tartan car in their driveway and took a flight to the British Virgin Islands. It was -4 deg C when we left Dallas and 27 deg C when we arrived in BVI.

Limbo Dancer at New Year

The islands are idyllic as you might expect. Hilly islands, covered with green, dotted with beautiful beaches and surrounded by blue-green water that is crystal clear. We stayed at Nanny Cay in Tortola. It has excellent web cams if you want to take a look. Christmas really was on the beach this year. Just the two of us, we opened our pressies from home and then enjoyed home made sour dough rolls with the Jill McCormick style crispy poached egg, bacon and tomato and washed it all down with a bottle of Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc. Amazingly this wine is available here at approx £14.

For New Year we travelled to another island and stayed on a friend’s boat. The best part was watching the boats jostling for position at the moorings. The beach had a barbecue with a very acceptable chicken roti on offer. Somewhere on the island Bill Gates, Michael Jordan and Eric Clapton were seeing out 2004 but we never saw them. We brought the New Year in standing ankle deep in warm water and powder fine sand sipping chilled champagne. It doesn’t get much better.

We leave BVI at the end of January and we are now counting the weeks to our return. Before I go I have been asked to give a talk to the Culinary Institute of New England which has college here in Tortola. Why Tortola you might ask? Well, given the cold temperatures in New England at this time of year, where would you rather be? The students here pay around $20 - $30 K to learn how to cook!

Next stop for us is Florida and then travel up the east coast back to New York. Must be back by April 15th as we have 3 bookings the following week. I’m looking forward to re-stocking my food stores and no hydrogenated oils will cross my doorway.

If anyone is keen to read more on our trip, our daily diary is posted on our web site