HOSTING AN AFTERNOON TEA
While many think of afternoon tea as something to enjoy in a hotel, restaurant, or cafรฉ, these days you can open up your home to friends for a lovely private affair. Weโve collected a few of our favorite venuesโ recipes for delightful pastry items you can fill your tea tray with. When hosting a tea at home, be mindful of tea etiquette. For example, if you want milk in your tea, add it first. This tradition originated because china used to be so delicate that hot tea going in directly could crack the cup.
A New Yorkโbased etiquette expert and coach, Mister Manners (aka Thomas Farley), offers a few additional dos and donโts: โUnlike coffee, tea is meant to be sipped with milk, not cream,โ he advises. โThe latter will overwhelm the tea. Sugar, if taken, goes in before the milk. And of course, though lemon is lovely in tea, milk and lemon do not mix. Donโt stir your milk centrifuge-style. Gently move your spoon backward and forward (six oโclock, twelve oโclock), two or three times without clinking the sides of the porcelain. The spoon then takes its place lying on your saucer. It never stays in the cup. Once the tea has steeped to your liking, remove the bag gently and place it on the saucer. Donโt squeeze it over your tea like a sponge.โ
Paramount Londonโs Beet and Goat Cheese Tart
21 oz Kentish red beets
1 liter heavy cream
4 eggs
2 tsp ground sea salt
10.5 oz Ragstone goat cheese
For the Crust
18 oz plain flour
4 tsp sea salt
7 oz soft butter
6 eggs
Wash the beets, wrap each singly in aluminum foil, and place on a baking tray in a preheated oven at 160 degrees until tender (approximately an hour depending on size). While these are in the oven, start making your pastry. Using an electric mixer with paddle attachment, put the flour, butter, and salt in the bowl and mix. Add the eggs one at a time until the dough binds together. You might need to add a little water. Wrap the dough in cling film and chill for one hour before using. When the beets are cooked, cool down and with a towel rub the skin off and then puree. Add four eggs, cream, sea salt, and a few turns of a pepper mill. Set aside. Once the pastry is rested, roll it out and line your tart cases, then rest a further 30 mins. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees, trim the pastry overhang and blind bake the pastry cases by pricking it all over with a fork to prevent air bubbles forming. Line the base and sides with baking parchment and weigh it down with baking beans. Place on a baking sheet and bake for 12 mins, remove the beans and paper and bake the empty cases for a further three mins or until the base is very light brown. Crumble the goat cheese into the tart shells, add the beetroot mix, and cook at 150 degrees for 12-15 mins.
Raffles Singaporeโs Raisin Scones
4 ยฝ cups sugar
3 ยฝ oz butter
7 tbsp baking powder
3 cups flour
1 cup milk
1 cup cream
3 oz raisins
Fold cream, butter, and sugar together. In the meantime, combine flour and baking powder. In slow speed, add the dry ingredients to the butter/sugar mixture. Add the cream and milk gradually and finally the raisins. Rest the dough for 20 minutes. Roll on dough sheeter at ยฝโ. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-22 minutes.
Ritz-Carlton NYCโs Egg Salad with Black Truffle on Pain de Mie
4 grated hard boiled eggs
4 tbsp mayo
2 tbsp black truffle peelings
2 tbsp black truffle juice
2 tbsp chives, cut finely
Pain de Mei
Grate hard-boiled eggs on box grater into a bowl. Add mayo, truffle peelings, truffle juice, and chives. Mix well. Season with kosher salt to taste. Slice the bread lengthwise at ยฝ inch thickness and trim the crust off. Spread egg mixture on Pain de Mei and cut with a sharp knife into 1โ X 3โpieces. Garnish with finely cut chives.
W Londonโs Mar-Tea-Ni
40ml Hendrickโs gin infused with pomegranate,
vanilla, and grapefruit tea
20ml lemon juice
20ml vermouth
3 dashes of Peychaudโs Bitter
10ml vanilla syrup
Put ingredients into a cocktail shaker with ice cubes and shake hard until chilled. Double strain, pour into a martini glass, and garnish with grapefruit peel.
