Henry Harris prepares seasonal vegetables at Racine restaurant

Henry Harris is chef-proprietor of Racine, a restaurant in the Knightsbridge district of London where for the past seven years he has been producing authentic and wonderfully-executed French bistro cooking. One of the things I admire most about this restaurant is that each dish comes with what, in the chef’s opinion, is the most appropriate accompaniment. The dish is served complete.

This makes Harris the perfect chef to ask about the importance of having the right accompaniments. I have a particular interest in this because my wife [Jancis Robinson] has the habit of choosing not from the main protein elements on a menu but from the accompanying ingredients. She is far more excited by the prospect of broad beans, beetroot, braised endive or a Bearnaise sauce than she is by a fillet of fish, a hunk of red meat or a piece of chicken, however organic or expensive.

So I took her and three of her female friends to put Racine’s menu to the test. Thus, the hot foie gras won fans because of the griotte cherries served with it. The endive, a once-unpopular vegetable, was caramelised and proved so enticing that three of us ordered the wild duck with cassis that it accompanies, while another guest was drawn to the comfort of the haricot beans with lamb – a dish so popular that it is a permanent feature on Racine’s Sunday lunch menu. I chose celeriac remoulade with Bayonne ham and then skate – the latter because I was intrigued by the accompanying piperade and wilted chorizo.

The following morning, I shared a pot of tea with Harris at a table covered with menus old and new, and we discussed his approach. We took apart the meal I’d eaten the night before. Harris said that the macerated cherries appeal because they bridge the gap between the richness of foie gras and the sweetness of the pain d’épices (spice bread) that is served with it. “I was taught that fruit and savoury do not mix, but I saw how much redcurrant jelly goes into game sauces and I changed my mind. This recipe works well because all the ingredients can be cooked in one pan. The foie gras is cooked first, the pan is wiped down, then the pain d’épices is toasted and finally the cherries are added with a little duck stock and a tiny bit of butter.”

The dish I had eaten the previous evening, of three slices of chorizo on top of the skate wing, proved not only that unlikely ingredients can make an exciting combination, but also the importance of restraint. A mere three slices of chorizo, quickly sautéed in the pan after the fish has been cooked and then placed on top, permeates the skin and allows it to develop an extra range of pungent flavours.

As for caramelised endives, Harris says a Belgian chef taught him these. “Endive is now a popular vegetable but if you ask 12 different chefs how to cook it they will give you 12 different recipes. This chef saw my complicated way of preparation and told me quite firmly that if there was one vegetable Belgians knew precisely how to cook it was endive. He simplified the whole process. Now I just trim the ends and roast them for up to an hour in the oven with butter and nutmeg and it works very well with anything from salmon to a veal chop.”

Harris said that one of the most challenging aspects of his role is to teach his chefs how to use vegetables properly: “It’s quite scary how expensive good vegetables have become. They do add so much to any dish – but I have learnt now that if you can’t afford it, then don’t add it.”

Racine, 239 Brompton Road London SW3
tel: +44 (0)20-7584 4477 www.racine-restaurant.com

nicholas.lander@ft.com
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