Linton, near Cambridge 1860
In 1776 William Mason and the Master of Pembroke, James Brown each gave £50 in memory of their friend Thomas Gray. Mason wished for the money to be invested until such time as the College could afford to re-build one whole side of either of the quadrangles or a new building next to the Garden.
Thus began the Building Fund, which was much augmented by a major bequest received in 1807 from Mrs Sara Lonsdale of Barham Hall. In honour of William Pitt, she decided to leave to Pembroke her estate at Barham, near Linton, Cambridgeshire, directing that the income from one third of it should be added to the Building Fund. The annual Barham Dinner, for junior members about to graduate or complete their postgraduate work, commemorates this bequest.
This year's Barham Dinner was held on Saturday in the main Hall. The menu began with an amuse bouche of tomato essence with local asparagus. The essence is made by suspending blended tomatoes and herbs in a cloth bag overnight, the resulting essence slowly drips from the bag and tastes lovely.
For the starter we served an prawn and avocado salad with sweetcorn sorbet and caviar.
Fillet of beef cooked sous vide to 58C, notice the lovely redish pink colour that is consistent throughout the joint.
Fillet of beef with roasted artichokes, pak choi, smoked pommes puree and red wine jus
Artichoke risotto with soft poached duck egg
For dessert we served praline-coated milk and honey ice cream with strawberry soup
Bon Appetite!
This was hands down the best meal I have had in Pembroke, and probably one of the best I've had anywhere in a long time.
ReplyDeleteThe main course was perfect. It was so tender and melted in your mouth, and the smoked mashed potatoes were a great touch. The bok choi left something to be desired--I think given the artichokes and potatoes, a bed of fresh greens (cress, perhaps) would have made a better pairing with everything else. But still, it was very good. Finally, everyone loved the dessert. You definitely have to do that again. Portion sizes were a bit small--I'd say scaling up the meat and dessert by about 20% would have been appreciated. But still, great job.