TTG Features Air travel
Tables are turning on in-flight food
What does British Airways serve its First Class passengers? Kathryn Liston takes a culinary lesson from the foodie experts
first in-flight service of beef tea and sandwiches 85 years ago. Nowadays, First Class cabin crew
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are expected to sniff out a mushroom truffle from its chocolate counterpart and whip up a fluffy scrambled egg in a bain marie, as I discover during a training day at the
asabi nuts and wagyu beef… airline catering has come a long way since British Airways’
airline’s Waterside headquarters in west London. Roast beef, cauliflower
au gratin and saute potatoes have been superseded by seared Scottish king scallop with broad bean puree, crispy porchetta and white
asparagus with truffle vinaigrette. Premier cru wines and champagne
have replaced the four gills of whisky and Vichy water taken onboard the Imperial Airways’ – BA’s predecessor – four-hour flight to Paris in 1927 to “boost passengers’ courage”. Showing us how to plate up, our
trainers, Ann Marie Brazendale and Adrian Yu, stress that attention to detail and working as a team are key. I am expected to produce “picture-
perfect” dishes every time – an amuse bouche timbale of salmon, prawn and caviar, and a surf ‘n’ turf of langoustine and fillet of beef with pont neuf potatoes stacked like a Picasso work of art. A culinary plating by numbers
results in a perfectly presented cooked breakfast, each item positioned according to photographs in Chef’s Chats– the crew’s foodie bible. From tossing a salad in a balsamic
dressing with golden rapeseed oil to laying the table, attention is paid to the tiniest of details. “Serve the meat at six o’clock”, “the long edge of the terrine must face the customer”, the galley steward insists during the service roleplay. There is a lot to remember.
Each British Airways’ First plate must taste and look great 44 05.04.2012
Moving with the times In 1947, “quick freezing” created much excitement in airborne catering. “Australians can enjoy wallaby soup (an Australian delicacy inspired by tails of young kangaroos) en route to London and Antipodeans enjoy strawberries picked the previous June... practically every dish Mrs Beeton ever thought of can be cooked and frozen without losing any of its quality,” reported a 1947 article in the airline’s magazine. Nowadays, celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal is the 21st-century Mrs Beeton, and his suggestion of Japanese
PERFECT PAIRING
From vintages to vegetarian wines, crew are expected to know the different styles of wine and identify their similarities, for example, that Chablis is made with a Chardonnay grape but vinified in stainless steel tanks instead of oak. They also need to know which wine will perfectly complement each dish. Trainer Adrian Yu suggests Laurent- Perrier’s Grand Siecle champagne as an aperitif, the fruity Domaine Brocard Chablis Premier Cru to accompany the prawn and salmon amuse bouche, while the rich Californian Landmark Grand Detour 2008 Pinot Noir partners the surf ‘n’ turf admirably.
umami is a regular feature on BA menus. No, umami is not something with eyes and tentacles. It’s actually the fifth flavour – after sweet, sour, bitter and salty – and it works well at altitude. BA chefs use umami ingredients to help reduce the sodium content of meals, which traditionally had to rely on salt to counteract the taste-killing factors of altitude, air conditioning and reduced oxygen levels. Food lecture over, we turn back to the food prep. Afternoon tea is a glorious array of sandwiches – cucumber with cumin cream cheese, red onion and goat’s cheese Danish – scones with clotted cream and pastries including a caramel mousse and delicious orange and basil macaroons. It’s a far cry from a cheese and pickle sandwich.
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