Boxing Day is a time to relax and put your feet up, even for the Royal Family, who spend the day eating a dish known for being the “ultimate comfort food.”
Queen Elizabeth was known to begin today with a hearty breakfast of bacon, eggs and kedgeree, an old-fashioned yet delicious dish. According to Hello! Magazine, this meal contains smoked fish, rice, and hard-boiled eggs in a cream sauce seasoned with curry powder.
Darren McGrady, a former royal chef for over 15 years has said that his kedgeree breakfast recipe is “absolutely perfect, and fit for the royal breakfast table!”
In a video online, Mr McGrady said: “One of the most popular breakfast dishes that I cooked for the Royal Family, is a dish called Kedgeree. It’s the ultimate comfort food dish that was brought over to the Victorians in the era of the Raj by the returning British colonials.
“The original dish was made of beans and rice and lentils and by the 19th century in the UK, it became a more sophisticated, classy dish for breakfast and brunch, entertaining with the addition of smoked haddock and boiled eggs.”
READ MORE: Inside King Felipe and Queen Letizia of Spain’s Christmas celebrations
Method
To begin, place the haddock skin-side down in a large pan.
Pour the milk into the pan as well to poach the fish. Cover it completely in milk, place a lid on the pan and then bring it to a simmer on the stove for eight to 10 minutes.
Mr McGrady said: “For Kedgeree, we have to poach the fish and you can poach in water if you want to, but it’s actually best to poach in milk. Milk has that fat in it and as it’s poaching the fat actually holds onto the flavours that are coming out of the fish, that smokiness that comes out of the fish.”
Drain the fish in a colander over a bowl, in order to keep the cooking liquid.
Place the milk cooking liquid back into a pan alongside your cream, and cook until it thickens for around 10 minutes. Mix the curry powder into the creamy sauce until it has fully dissolved.
Add your cooked rice to the creamy sauce, then season with salt and pepper.
Begin flaking the fish once it has gone cold. Carefully pull off the skin, which will cause it to flake. Then, add your fish into the creamy rice dish, and is is now ready to be plated.
Hard-boil your eggs at the final stage and then cut them into quarter pieces. Place on top of the dish to garnish along with your parsley, and your perfect Boxing Day meal is now ready to serve.
Mr McGrady said: “Delicate but delicious smoked haddock, nestling in a creamy almost porridge of curried cream, garnished with a hard-boiled egg and fresh parsley – the ultimate Victorian culinary decadence.”
