Gordo, Gizzi Erskine, Niamh Shields And Frank And Lucy

GORDO ESCAPED to a supper club recently.

This was the first to be run by one of the freakiest (in a great way) foodies he has come across in a while. Franco Sotgiu and his good lady, Lucy Thomas, have a rather fabulous Victorian Vicarage somewhere between Bolton and Whitefield.

Amongst other strange stuff, Franco has an industrial-sized kitchen and a couple of pigs in the top field. There used to be three a couple of days ago. 

Gordo warmed to her when she explained that she was a TV chef who ‘loved cooking offal’.

He owns Chroma knives, the importer of Porsche type 301, Haiku and Sebastian Conran knives, which are terribly sharp and beloved of chefs throughout the UK. 

On arrival, Gordo was met by Lawrence and Mary Ellen from Aumbry, the second time this amazing couple have cooked privately for The Fat One in the past month. The fabulous Siobhan, Aumbry’s maitre d', thrust a glass of champagne into Gordo’s mitt. He didn’t need any help finding one of the best mini pork pies he’d woofed down in a while, along with pork scratchings and parma ham. You can believe Gordo when he tells you the piggie products hadn’t earned any air miles. Belinda the porker was nowhere to be seen. 

Bury Black Pudding Scotch Eggs

Other guests included the ex-two Michelin-starred chef Aiden Byrne with his (much) better half Sarah; Dianne Bourne, Gordo’s favourite diarist from the Manchester Evening News; Neil Sowerby, who can’t half have a drink, along with Debbie Manley and Joanna Simpson, one of only five PR girlies allowed into ManCon Towers. 

To Gordo’s delight, Niamh Shields, a blogger placed in the world’s top ten by The Times, and who can actually write and cook, was there too. Gordo has just cooking one of Niamh’s recipes from her book, Comfort and Spice, Recipes for Modern Living - spiced ducks legs with pancetta and potatoes. Trust Gordo, this lady’s recipes work. She can have a drink too as it happens. Go and buy her book, quick.

Then there was another top woman from That There London; Gizzi Erskine, who spent the whole night pawing poor old Gordo. It was embarrassing, but Gordo managed to put up with it. It helps that she is as FIT AS A BUTCHER’S DOG.

Gizzi is now thinking about kicking the fiancée into touch, but Gordo has since been discouraging her through Twitter and Facebook. She needs to cool down a bit really; sometimes Gordo can be a bit overpowering for these young women. They can get carried away. 

Dirty Slut Of A Suet Pudding

Mind you, Gordo did warm to her when she explained she was a TV chef who ‘loved cooking offal’, having trained under one of Gordo’s favourite chefs, the delightful Fergus Henderson at St. John. It needs to be said that a nice whole veal kidney, cooked in hay, does wonders for Gordo’s libido. 

The wine was from Franco’s cellar; it was fantastic. They're all listed on the menu below. Especially outstanding was the Chablis, the Rully and that Margaux, which, for a Cru Bourgeois Exceptionelle, was boxing well above its weight. 

Mary Ellen and Lawrence are just getting better and better too; every time they cook for Gordo they do something which blows his voluminous skirts up. From this menu, the pork liver pate stood out. It was married with a medium gobstopper sized liquid ball of jasmine and honey slid off a spoon onto Gordo’s tongue and snogged him. Rotten it was. 

The cauliflower and oat groat porage is a take on Heston's snail porridge, showing that Mary Ellen’s tenure at the Fat Duck in Bray hasn’t gone to waste; it was in Gordo's top ten dishes this year so far. 

Franco And Pa

Has Gordo told you about the fresh bread and, wait for it, dripping? A first. Beautiful, silky and savoury with a depth of flavour that could compete for lushness with a properly aged balsamic off a small estate in Modena. They cost more than a hundred euros for a quarter of a pint; Gordo would happily pay the same for the dripping. 

Fatty doesn’t rate the poached plaice and on the second time of trying it, it’s just as boring. But, standing to the side of this misfire, is a mini pudding. She is gorgeous, slouching on a lamp post and surely asking Gordo if he wants to do business. Inside the temptress is a jewel; a perfectly cooked oyster. This needs to be a stand-alone dish. At the moment it’s Wham! and Andrew Ridgely needs to be fucked off.

Chroma Knives Charity Supper Club

Smoked Green’s Cheddar Gougeres, Parma Ham, Kale Chips, Pickled Elderberries

Deutz Brut NV Champagne, Ay, France 

Bread & Dripping 

Pork Liver Paté

Jasmine & Honey

Riesling Réné Muré, 2006 

Home Smoked Mackerel

Poached rhubarb, mustard cream & toasted rye bread

Chablis ‘Le Grand Bois’, Domaine Grande Chaume, 2008 

Bury Black Pudding Scotch Egg

Mushroom relish & tomato ketchup

Bardolino Custoza 2009 

Cauliflower & Oat Groat Porage

Cauliflower cheese beignets

Pecorino IGT, Passetti, 2009 

Poached Plaice

Oyster pudding, fennel & mew

Sancerre St Michel Girard 2010 

Braised Ringley Wild Boar

Cuttlefish & black peas

Rully Premier Cru, Eric de Suremain 2006 

Slow Cooked Cumbrian Boer Goat

Pearl Barley, cauliflower & smoked shallot

Chateau Labégorce Zédé, Margaux Cru Bourgeois Exceptionelle, 2000 

British & Irish Cheeses

Gewurztraminer Late Harvest 2006 & Krohn CoheitaPort 1978 

Grapefruit Posset

Celery granite & grapefruit sherbert

Pacherenc St Albert, 2009 

Macerated Strawberries

Elderflower, rose & pepper

Deutz Rosé Vintage Champagne 2006 

Almond Crisp

Chocolate mousse, griottine cherries & cocoa sorbet

Jean Bousquet Malbec, Dulce Naturale 2007 

Coffee, petit fours and a dram of Glenfarclas

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