Episode 183： Princess Diana’s Favorite Recipe
Episode Stats
Words per Minute
207.21587
Summary
In this episode, I sit down with a former chef to Princess Diana, Queen of England, and multiple different presidents, and we talk about some of the dynamics of what it takes to be a great chef. Darren McGrady has cooked for the Queen, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush. He s cooked for Princess Diana for four years, and 11 years with the Queen at Buckingham Palace.
Transcript
00:00:17.320
Listen, I do want to give you a disclaimer before you listen to this sit down.
00:00:19.900
If you haven't eaten for the last two hours, you're about to get very, very hungry.
00:00:22.720
Because the person I'm sitting down with was a former chef to Princess Diana,
00:00:26.200
Queen of England, multiple different presidents.
00:00:29.020
Gives us two formulas, which one of them is Princess Diana's favorite dish
00:00:36.780
And we talk about some of the dynamics of what it takes to be a great chef.
00:00:40.500
So with that being said, here is Darren McGrady.
00:00:47.180
So I decided to bring back my friend Darren McGrady.
00:00:55.840
But we were kind of putting a lot of attention into the guests.
00:00:58.760
Today, we're going to put the attention into food and into the belly.
00:01:04.180
If you don't know this man, he's cooked for Princess Diana.
00:01:10.820
Weren't you with Princess Diana for like four years or something?
00:01:13.060
Princess Diana for four years, right until the car accident.
00:01:18.340
Cooked for President Reagan, Clinton, Ford, both Presidents Bush.
00:01:24.320
And today, for Patrick May, David Value, tell me, you're going to be able to see the recipes.
00:01:28.380
So you mind if we look at your new book that just came out and decide what we want to come out with?
00:01:33.940
These are your secret recipes that everybody has access to, right?
00:01:38.680
So these are recipes from my 20 years that I've been here now.
00:01:43.280
These are recipes for every single season, every single event.
00:01:46.500
Whether it's a garden party or 4th of July or Thanksgiving, Easter, every single holiday, there's something to cook in there.
00:01:57.420
So you're specifically saying, here's what you could make on this day with everything being in there lined up.
00:02:03.440
So we have this habit when we have friends and over of going to those tried and tested recipes.
00:02:13.260
What I'm saying is, next time it's one of those holidays, whichever one it is, whether it's March Madness, whether it's Spring Break or Mardi Gras, go to this.
00:02:24.240
These are recipes I've been cooking for 20 years now.
00:02:29.380
What I want to do is one recipe from this book and then one recipe from my first book.
00:02:34.380
The first book, Eating Royally, which is the name of my catering company in Dallas, is about my sort of 15 years with the royal family.
00:02:42.960
And one of my favorite dishes in there, the one I'm asked to do more than anything, is bread and butter pudding.
00:02:48.440
And that was Princess Diana's all-time favorite.
00:02:51.620
Yeah, so it's not like the bread pudding that you have here, which is sort of really thick and really stodgy.
00:02:57.820
It's like a cross between a bread pudding and a crème brûlée.
00:03:01.280
And the reason being is because we just use egg yolks in there.
00:03:04.180
And then it has raisin soaked in amaretto, the almond liqueur, which sort of takes it to that next level.
00:03:10.000
So am I going to be able to do what you're doing?
00:03:23.080
So the dish we're making today, I heard lamb curry, something like that.
00:03:26.640
Yeah, so we'll do the bread and butter pudding from the first cookbook.
00:03:30.560
And then we'll do the lamb curry, because I wanted to sort of, I have one section on curries.
00:03:39.540
And so I have one section just on different types of curries.
00:03:44.540
Well, I'm a diehard curry guy, so I love curries.
00:03:55.540
So let's start off with the bread and butter pudding.
00:03:57.920
And the bread and butter pudding, we start off with just egg yolks in there.
00:04:05.660
Into that, we're going to add some cream and some milk, but we need to boil them first.
00:04:10.900
Then we've got the egg yolks there and some sugar going in there as well.
00:04:20.700
We really do eat well in the UK, but we die about 25.
00:04:24.260
And then once this milk and cream comes to the boil, then we're going to pour that into
00:04:30.040
And while we're waiting for that to come to the boil, we'll start with the bread in the
00:04:36.900
The American version of the bread and butter pudding is where they just start piling up
00:04:41.940
And once it's cooked, you can actually slice it.
00:04:44.340
So you get the best part, because this is my favorite part of bread that I shouldn't
00:04:48.660
This was Princess Diana's favorite, and she'd just eat it in small portions.
00:04:53.160
Once you taste it, you'll see why she loved it so much.
00:04:58.200
By the way, our dogs will eat these four pieces, no problem.
00:05:02.280
Then I noticed the way you did it, you just kind of spread it right on the plate.
00:05:09.720
Okay, so you grab this, and then you just sprinkle that all the way on the bottom.
00:05:14.200
And then on top of that, we've got the raisins soaked in amaretto.
00:05:18.100
And I did those about half an hour ago, because I want them to really plump off.
00:05:21.940
So you want about half of those in here on the top, if you want to sprinkle those on.
00:05:36.700
Now, if you're cooking this for the kids, you can use just orange juice in there instead.
00:05:42.540
What we're trying to do is hydrate those raisins to make it really tasty.
00:05:46.120
But when we're just cooking for me and you, I want to add a little of this amaretto into there.
00:05:51.720
We put our next layer on there, so we go back to our bread again.
00:05:55.360
And this time, we're actually going to slice it, the crusts off.
00:06:02.220
And this time, this is what makes it different, what makes it English, is we actually use butter.
00:06:07.940
So we take some soft butter and actually butter the bread.
00:06:14.380
And then those, we go into half using unsalted butter on there.
00:06:22.100
We don't want the salty flavor to come through, so that's why we prefer to use unsalted in there.
00:06:37.620
And now the milk's coming to the boil, the milk and cream.
00:06:40.100
So if you want to pour that into there for me, and I'll whisk.
00:06:44.660
So we've got the egg yolks, the sugar, cream and milk in there now.
00:06:52.720
And then, the next stage, carefully, we just want to pour this mixture into our bread mix.
00:07:07.180
Am I putting it over the bread, or it doesn't matter?
00:07:15.620
Then, it's going to go into the oven, 350 degrees, for about 30 minutes or so.
00:07:22.480
We want it to jiggle, so that it's not sort of too overcooked.
00:07:26.180
If you're familiar with cooking like a creme brulee or something, that's the consistency we're looking for.
00:07:38.540
That took us like six minutes, seven minutes to make it.
00:07:45.220
While that's cooking in the oven, why don't we make the lamb curry?
00:07:48.640
So how was it like working with Princess Diana and, you know, working with the Queen for that entire time you were with them?
00:07:57.060
The first 11 years I was working with the Queen at Buckingham Palace and traveling around the world with her, wherever she went, to Sandringham, Windsor, Balmoral, the Royal Yacht Britannia, wherever it was in the world as well.
00:08:10.420
That's where I got to cook for all the different kings, queens, and presidents.
00:08:17.720
But it was an incredible experience in the sense that the food had to be amazing.
00:08:25.320
The china was sort of Mice and China from the 1900s.
00:08:34.020
When I moved to Princess Diana, it was much more relaxed.
00:08:36.900
And for her, she would come in the kitchen all the time and bring the boys in.
00:08:41.400
And I held Prince Harry as a baby while Princess Diana was eating cereals in the kitchen.
00:08:46.660
It's like, literally, I've got the crown jewels in my hand there.
00:08:56.100
So this is just a little preparation ahead of time for our curry.
00:09:02.200
In fact, chicken tikka marsala is the UK's favorite dish now.
00:09:11.060
Now, that's slightly different from the old English-style curry.
00:09:15.040
And this curry is one that's sort of been made in England for hundreds of years now.
00:09:20.560
It comes from that sort of India when we sort of had the empire.
00:09:26.380
So we have a curry powder, which is a ready-made mix.
00:09:35.140
And this is very similar to the garam masala, which they use in a lot of the Indian cooking, too.
00:09:41.520
This is a lot milder curry, but it's sort of a nice creamy sauce.
00:09:45.580
And in the UK, we'll do this with sort of chicken.
00:09:48.100
We'll do this with lamb and sometimes beef as well.
00:09:52.560
And then with that, I'm doing some rice, which is super easy to make.
00:09:55.820
When I'm cooking rice, it always gets sticky or overcooked.
00:09:59.540
The thing with rice is you do equal amounts of the rice.
00:10:02.960
So you do two to one with the rice and the water.
00:10:13.940
And then here's some chicken bouillon, some broth, which is going to flavor the curry sauce.
00:10:19.760
And then I've got, we're doing a lamb curry today.
00:10:34.420
And then I'm actually coating the rice in that little bit of oil.
00:10:46.980
So what we do is bring that water or broth, whichever you want to use, to the boil.
00:10:52.160
Once it comes to the boil, we then turn it down low and pop a lid on it.
00:11:05.100
If you lift the lid, the steam starts shooting out.
00:11:07.700
And we need that steam to sort of open those rice granules.
00:11:12.000
That's the perfect timing on opening the rice granules in this.
00:11:19.000
Darren, let me ask you, what makes for a great chef?
00:11:21.440
Like, how much math has to do with being a great chef?
00:11:24.500
When I was at school, I knew I wanted to be a chef.
00:11:36.120
And I went for so long doing all of the, I'm not interested in the math, interested in the
00:11:41.980
English, until my mother, who was also a cook at a local hotel, she said, what happens when
00:11:50.420
What happens when you're timing recipes and you've got to do two times the recipe and things?
00:11:56.400
I mean, need to start knuckling down and learning how to do math and English.
00:12:01.480
So that's super important in there now, too, for sort of working out those times the recipes.
00:12:08.080
You first had the passion, then the math showed up.
00:12:09.620
The passion, and then the math, and then the English came in that, yeah, you know, I
00:12:14.560
And that came in later, too, for writing the book.
00:12:19.320
Once it comes to the boil, we'll turn it down low, pop the lid on.
00:12:26.620
And then in the meantime, we'll start the curry.
00:12:46.700
And the thing with chopping, it's important that you go down your knuckle when you're chopping.
00:12:54.600
So you can see there as I'm cutting down, my finger...
00:13:02.040
So that when you're chopping, and most people are sort of cutting like this, and those fingernails...
00:13:24.360
What you can do now is take this part and turn it this way, and then cut down.
00:13:28.960
And then you don't do anything to it like this?
00:13:35.760
And this is rustic as well, you know, we're not doing sort of a fine, fine chop or anything
00:13:48.840
So we need to time that for 18 minutes, and then we'll be good.
00:14:08.960
So while that, we're waiting for the rice, then we can take our onion and pop that in
00:14:15.760
Now, you don't really worry about splitting up the onions that are like, just leave them
00:14:22.960
And then we can take our lamb, and I've got some leg of lamb that I've just sliced.
00:14:26.960
And all I want from this is sort of little bite-sized pieces.
00:14:31.960
And leave some of that fat on there too, because that gives you the flavor, right?
00:14:38.960
Washington Post came out with an article yesterday saying, it's not fat that's bad for
00:14:47.960
I think bread is probably one of the worst things we have.
00:14:59.960
You'll lose guaranteed two or three pounds in a week.
00:15:02.960
But not today, because today we're having bread pudding.
00:15:06.960
So don't judge us today when we're having a bread pudding.
00:15:10.960
And in moderation, I think all of it's good in moderation.
00:15:19.960
And if you want to get the wooden spoon and give that a stir around.
00:15:34.960
So once you've stirred all that in, then I'm going to put some curry powder in there.
00:15:40.960
And then some flour in there, which will just bind it.
00:15:55.960
You know, a lot of people say, well, why you put water in and not chicken broth or something?
00:16:01.960
I like to do my own flavor, my own strengths when it comes to broths.
00:16:05.960
You know, if you put a broth in there, it could be, well, it's not very weak or it's too strong.
00:16:10.960
So I like to use some bouillon, some chicken bouillon.
00:16:13.960
I can add more if I need and the same as the curry powder.
00:16:16.960
When we taste it later, we can add more if we need.
00:16:22.960
Wait for it to come to the boil and then we'll turn it down and let it simmer.
00:16:33.960
Once the rice is cooked, we'll take that to one side and let that cool down a little and then the lamb should be ready.
00:16:39.960
So as this comes to the boil, it starts to thicken.
00:16:41.960
It opens up that starch granules in the flour and then we'll have a nice thick sauce.
00:16:46.960
Is that going to get thick or it's not going to be, is it going to be like a...
00:16:50.960
It's not too thick, but it starts to get thick.
00:16:56.960
One of the problems with the Indian restaurants over here catering to the masses is they'll make a big pot of curry sauce and then they'll cook goat separate.
00:17:08.960
And then when somebody wants it, they put a ladle of sauce over that cooked lamb, over that cooked chicken.
00:17:16.960
You know, the traditional homemaker that's cooking this in small kitchens, they will actually start with the lamb and they let it marinate in there and let it cook through and all those flavors go in.
00:17:26.960
Like when you go to a restaurant, do you know that they're doing that or they're not doing that?
00:17:33.960
If you're in India and you're trying those dishes or someone that's cooking the authentic dishes, you can, when you bite into the lamb, you can really taste that flavor of the curry all the way through.
00:17:42.960
Whereas, you know, you're just tasting lamb or chicken with a little curry sauce on the side in the way some of the restaurants do it.
00:17:54.960
We just leave that, turn it down a little and let it simmer away.
00:18:04.960
You know, we go out and it's freezing cold and then we come back and you can smell the curry cooking and then a big bowl of rice with some curry over the top.
00:18:15.960
You know, my dad used to say when we were growing up in Iran, he would always say, to keep the kids away from causing trouble, always have the home smell like good food.
00:18:27.960
If there's a smell of food at the house, kids won't leave.
00:18:33.960
And if they have a parent that cooks good, they're always around, right?
00:18:36.960
If they don't, they're like, mom, I got to go somewhere.
00:18:51.960
We want it nice and firm on the top and jiggly underneath.
00:19:04.960
So are we actually going to be able to eat this or are we just going to look how pretty it is?
00:19:13.960
When I cut into it, you see there's liquid in the bottom there.
00:19:20.960
This is what I mean about sort of not taking it out too early.
00:19:22.960
By just using the egg yolks in there, you create your own like custard sauce.
00:19:26.960
So when that sits there now, by the time we actually sit down and eat, that will all
00:19:32.960
So we'll have the bread pudding and a little sauce to go with it all in one dish.
00:19:41.960
We've got a little bit runny on the inside, but we'll leave that and the residual heat will
00:19:47.960
It's saying, don't listen to Darren, just take a bite.
00:19:59.960
If it goes too firm, what happens is the eggs start contracting and you actually squeeze
00:20:05.960
out all the liquid and it just makes it really nasty.
00:20:18.960
This is the benefit of actually cooking that lamb in the sauce.
00:20:29.960
You see how all the liquid is absorbed into the rice now.
00:20:33.960
And when we just move it a little bit, it's all nice and flaky.
00:20:49.960
This is like, you know, cooking is almost teasing though.
00:20:52.960
When you cook and you smell it and you're not like jumping the gun.
00:20:56.960
You know, it's like, I want to take a bite right now.
00:20:58.960
The worst things are things that, you know, take a long time.
00:21:01.960
If you're doing a steak, you can say, oh, this is so good.
00:21:06.960
It's when you're doing things like curries that are like, come on, come on.
00:21:09.960
It's almost like the preparation of the food is the foreplay aspect of cooking.
00:21:34.960
And then a little cilantro on the top to give it some color.
00:21:41.960
That's an English style curry with some easy to make rice and a little cilantro on top.
00:21:48.960
And that's what the Royal Chef at Home is all about.
00:21:50.960
Just making simple foods, but making them perfect.
00:21:53.960
Making all those flavors together so that you can make these dishes at home as perfect as I made them when I cooked for the Queen.
00:22:07.960
I think what makes for a good chef is the passion.
00:22:11.960
You've got to have passion for wanting to cook, for wanting to get up every morning and want to go into the kitchen.
00:22:19.960
I've been cooking now for over 30 years and cooking for kings, queens, presidents.
00:22:24.960
And even now, you know, with eating royally, going into people's homes and cooking, I still have that same passion, that still same drive to get up each day and say, I'm cooking today.
00:22:36.960
So I think passion, creativity is important to be creative and to come up with new ideas all the time.
00:22:43.960
You know, we don't want to make the same dishes all the time.
00:22:48.960
We want to stay with what's new and what's modern and see what's happening around the world.
00:22:56.960
Do you subscribe to the magazines with recipes and you test them out yourself?
00:23:01.960
The internet's a great thing now, you know, for going to different magazine sites, going to different websites.
00:23:06.960
There's so many food bloggers that are saying, try this restaurant, try this dish.
00:23:10.960
And you sort of take a look, you look at what's trending in different parts of the country.
00:23:15.960
And then traveling too, with my Royal Chef side, doing corporate events around the world and speaking events.
00:23:21.960
I get to try some amazing restaurants, you know, whether I'm in Singapore, Japan, New York, or over in England.
00:23:28.960
I bet you probably get invited to a lot of executive events to either speak or even help with some of these,
00:23:33.960
because we've got a lot of entrepreneurs that follow the content here.
00:23:36.960
You probably get invited to do a lot of private functions as well.
00:23:39.960
Well, I do a lot of private functions, a lot of sort of corporate events.
00:23:43.960
And for a lot of clients, they want to say a thank you to their clients and treat them like royalty.
00:23:50.960
And what better than sort of bringing in the Royal Chef and having me either come in and just do a presentation,
00:23:57.960
talk about my 15 years with the Royal Family, whether it's with a slideshow presentation or giving the recipes to the local hotel,
00:24:04.960
and letting them and working with them, let them prepare them.
00:24:09.960
I can speak from experience having you the other night here.
00:24:13.960
Really, people are still talking about it till today.
00:24:15.960
So can we, can we, you know, have a deep dive in this food and actually taste it?
00:24:19.960
Because I'm, I'm losing a little bit of patience. It's okay with you.
00:24:25.960
By the way, the presentation is amazing right here. Just looking at it. So I'm ready.
00:24:29.960
But before we, you know, dig deep into the food, is it fair to say that if I get trained by the Royal Chef,
00:24:36.960
does that officially like indirectly make me a chef? Is that kind of qualifies me or?
00:24:41.960
I think you've helped create two of my favorite dishes and certainly one of Princess Diana's favorites.
00:24:46.960
So I say, yeah, you're a chef too. Welcome to the family.
00:24:50.960
So, you know, I'm gonna go change my outfit if you don't mind.
00:24:52.960
I love that. Is that okay with you? Absolutely.
00:24:56.960
I love it. You've even got your name on there too.
00:24:58.960
Yeah, I like this. By the way, this is from one of our value tainers.
00:25:01.960
He's a chef, Chris Martin. He made this for us and he sent it to us.
00:25:04.960
So Chris, thank you for this gift. Now we're wearing it.
00:25:09.960
I think so. I think it's, I think now we can both sit together at the chef's tainer.
00:25:16.960
I have friends that are big on, you know, this goes with white wine, this goes with red wine.
00:25:21.960
Well, I always tell people, you know, drink whatever you want to drink.
00:25:25.960
Don't be a sort of snob. Don't think, ah, I've got to eat white wine.
00:25:28.960
I've got to drink white wine. I've got to drink red wine.
00:25:32.960
But when we're doing Kure's, the best thing is beer.
00:25:35.960
And we're in Dallas, Texas. Why not do some Shiner with this?
00:25:44.960
Let's, Mario is a Shiner guy as well. Mario, why don't we grab some Shiner here for us?
00:25:48.960
Okay, so here we have the Shiner. Mario apparently told us these guys have been brewing in Texas since 1909.
00:25:57.960
I twist it. I work out, you know, five times a week.
00:26:10.960
Rustic. One of the easier to make dishes from the book.
00:26:13.960
And that's what, you know, the book was intended for.
00:26:16.960
To make simple dishes that you can cook at home every night for every occasion.
00:26:21.960
Lots more advanced dishes in there too, but save those for special occasions.
00:26:39.960
That curry flavor really comes through, doesn't it?
00:26:42.960
Because you're cooking that curry into the lamb, it makes a huge difference.
00:26:48.960
It's a lot different in a Thai place down the street.
00:26:53.960
The next time I go there, I'm going to say, I want to go back in your kitchen and see if you got this sauce.
00:26:58.960
Because the royal chef told us you're not doing it right.
00:27:00.960
I think with your chef, you go back in the kitchen and teach them.
00:27:10.960
By the way, would you have ever guessed, like I would have never guessed beer with curry, right?
00:27:15.960
And then if it's too hot, it's milk. Because milk coats the tongue.
00:27:20.960
Serious, yeah. And so that takes away the spice.
00:27:22.960
See, my Middle Eastern friends got offended because there's no, they look for excuses to drink alcohol.
00:27:34.960
Now, let me ask you, Darren, I mean, obviously, as a chef, I sat with Curtis Stone, a friend of mine from L.A.,
00:27:40.960
runs a couple of restaurants for himself. I asked him this question. I'm curious what you'll say to it.
00:27:43.960
How critical are you of chefs when you go to restaurants?
00:27:46.960
Like, is your expectation, these guys better bring me good?
00:27:49.960
Like, are you very critical because your expectations are so high?
00:27:52.960
And I always tell people that, you know, whenever I go out, I judge the restaurant, judge the chef on what I'm paying for the meal.
00:28:01.960
So if I'm going to the French Laundry, I'd better have a good meal. The standard had better be high.
00:28:07.960
If I'm at a restaurant where my young kids can actually draw on the table and with crayons, you know, and they say, how do you want your steak?
00:28:15.960
I'd just say, surprise me. Surprise me. Because it's never going to come how I want it.
00:28:20.960
So I'm not as critical. I don't expect sort of the, you know, the local burger joint to cook burgers as good as, you know, one of the top five star hotels, Michelin restaurants and things.
00:28:31.960
Got it. Are there any restaurants that you like? Are there any, like, I know you said the French Laundry, but is there any other ones that for you it's like top five?
00:28:38.960
There are so many. I mean, traveling all the time, you get to see some amazing restaurants. And I was recently because I host culinary trips, too, and I do speaking events around the world.
00:28:48.960
I was in Italy and in Modena. Massimo Bottura, one of the most amazing chefs, probably the best chef in the whole universe.
00:28:57.960
Really? You know, seeing his food. Traveling around the country, I mean, even in New York, ABC Kitchen, another one of my favorite restaurants.
00:29:05.960
Here in Dallas, there's a restaurant called Gemma. It's a beautiful restaurant. It's small. I always find that dinner is always not just the food. It's the ambiance, too.
00:29:16.960
It's the music and it's the experience. And people often say, well, you know, I tried this at the restaurant and it was amazing.
00:29:23.960
But when I got home and cooked it, it never quite tasted the same. And you cooked it as good.
00:29:29.960
But, you know, the washing machine's on. The kids want help with their homework. They're running around screaming. The TV's on.
00:29:35.960
And so that makes a difference. It's the ambiance.
00:29:37.960
So do you typically go out or you're more just like, I'm just going to stay home and cook? What's your mindset with that?
00:29:42.960
I like the idea of going out. But my wife, Wendy, says, no, let's stay home. You cook.
00:29:47.960
Does she also cook or no? No, she's not. She doesn't cook at all.
00:29:50.960
Perfect fit for you. I mean, you guys are like perfection right there.
00:29:53.960
She just loves me to cook. And I just love cooking anyway. And so the odd times that, you know, she's cooking, she'll do food for her and the kids.
00:30:01.960
And, you know, when I'm traveling and doing events, occasionally she'll cook things like spaghetti with bolognese sauce.
00:30:07.960
And I'm in my office working away and I'm listening to the cooking. And I'll say, Wendy, I think your spaghetti is ready.
00:30:15.960
She said, how do you know? I said, well, because the, do you not hear the sound of the water when the pasta is ready?
00:30:25.960
And it is science. Yeah, it is. So we talked about English and math. The science is important too.
00:30:31.960
Unbelievable. So what's your favorite, all time favorite? Like for me, I could eat sea urchin every day of the week for the rest of my life and overdose on it.
00:30:40.960
Right. I could, I could eat caviar every day for the rest of my life. I grew up by Caspian Sea in Iran. So for us, it's like very special.
00:30:48.960
Well, I am partial to caviar. I did like caviar.
00:30:55.960
For me, it's Indian food. I love curries. I love all the flavors that go into it.
00:31:00.960
And for me too, this is one of my favorite chapters of the book where I talk about all the different curries, you know, with the Thai curry and everything.
00:31:06.960
But for me, not only to eat Indian food, but to cook it too. I love the flavors that all come together.
00:31:11.960
English food can be a bit boring at times. You know, it's just sort of the protein, the vegetables, the starch.
00:31:19.960
Let me ask you. So I automatically took the spoon and a fork. You only took the fork and you're lefty.
00:31:24.960
Your spoon is still clean. You're keeping a spoon. So tell me about the etiquette here, because I grew up in a family where we eat with the spoon and the fork.
00:31:31.960
We grew up in the UK. We have a knife and a fork.
00:31:36.960
Yeah. I saw the spoon there and thought, I'm going to get to the dessert before you.
00:31:45.960
So, yeah. So in the UK, it's a knife and a fork. And we use them together. We don't sort of prop them on the side like they do in the US.
00:31:51.960
We sort of work with them both together like you are with the spoon.
00:31:53.960
Listen, no one's perfect in the UK. It's okay. We'll teach you guys eventually.
00:32:01.960
So the bread butter pudding, it's had time to sit and relax. You see, it's sort of relaxed down a little more.
00:32:06.960
Hopefully when we cut into this, we'll have that liquid that we saw earlier has gone into a beautiful, delicious custard.
00:32:15.960
So when I lift this up, that beautiful custard at the bottom is all set.
00:32:22.960
You can see why this was Princess Diana's favorite dish in the world.
00:32:27.960
But she'd only eat a small portion and then sometimes she'd come back for seconds.
00:32:37.960
That's right. It makes you feel good at least, right?
00:32:42.960
The smell. I mean, you smell it. I'm telling you, you smell it.
00:32:46.960
So you want the crispy, crunchy of that bread on the top, the bread and butter, and then underneath we want that sort of creaminess.
00:32:52.960
And then the raisins with the amaretto really do come through with this.
00:33:17.960
I'm not a dessert guy. This guy, this is, this is insane.
00:33:25.960
Guys, it's terrible. I don't want you guys to try that.
00:33:27.960
I just want you to know it's, it's not something you should try.
00:33:39.960
And those berries just spray down the sweetness.
00:33:42.960
It's, it's almost a better bite if I don't have the berries.
00:33:45.960
Because I get the actual taste, the sweetness of it.
00:33:53.960
I always tell people once you've tried this, you'll never go back to the American style bread pudding.
00:34:01.960
Does this go more with beer or more like a double shot of tequila?
00:34:04.960
What's, it's kind of, what would you recommend with this?
00:34:07.960
This one is actually goes really well with port, port wine.
00:34:11.960
Or something like a sweet white French wine, like a Sauternes.
00:34:18.960
This one's a little bit more refined than sort of the curry.
00:34:21.960
So how often, how often would Princess Diana eat this?
00:34:29.960
I mean, she'd only have a tiny piece like this.
00:34:33.960
Was she always like, was she always part of a, you know, taking care of her health?
00:34:38.960
When I joined her, she got her life back on track.
00:34:40.960
She conquered the bulimia in the hope that others would too.
00:34:55.960
And if she was on her own, she'd sit at the table like this and just eat lunch at the table.
00:34:59.960
And she'd come in the kitchen and she'd say, Darren, I'm starving.
00:35:11.960
So she'd go and sit down and write thank you letters to all the charities before she came back and had lunch.
00:35:18.960
When I joined her, she got her life back on track.
00:35:20.960
She was patron of all those charities and working out at the gym.
00:35:24.960
And she came in the kitchen when I first started there.
00:35:27.960
And she said, Darren, I want you to take care of all the fats and I'll take care of the carbs at the gym.
00:35:36.960
It became more sort of the healthier eating side for her.
00:35:43.960
Like, do you sit there and watch her interviews and reminisce about your time with her?
00:35:46.960
I've seen, you know, I watched the interviews and, you know, you don't have to look sort of too far back to see William and Harry now, those boys.
00:35:54.960
And I still call them boys, but they're taller than me and they've got their own children and everything.
00:35:58.960
But, you know, I think back to holding Harry as a baby and William coming in the kitchen with Princess Diana.
00:36:06.960
And he was going riding on his little Shetland pony, Smokey, and he's just sort of this high, can't see above the counter.
00:36:13.960
And he said, Dan, can I get some orange juice, please?
00:36:15.960
And, you know, those days watching them grow up, seeing them come in the kitchen and seeing what they do now.
00:36:21.960
You know, the charity work that both do and the work that Harry's doing and, you know, both.
00:36:27.960
I mean, Princess Diana's looking down on those boys and she's so proud.
00:36:32.960
Are you still connected with the family? Do you go back and visit every once in a while?
00:36:58.960
So, obviously, you've been with Princess Diana.
00:37:03.960
Like, who were some of the guys, you know, some of the celebrities you cooked for and had experiences with?
00:37:07.960
When I cooked for the Queen, it was sort of mainly kings, queens, presidents, you know, all those dignitaries.
00:37:12.960
When I moved to Princess Diana, it was much different.
00:37:15.960
She was good friends with sort of George Michael, Elton John.
00:37:22.960
And the door opened, and the boss walked in, and she said, come and meet my chef.
00:37:27.960
And she walked in, and right behind her was Gianni Versace.
00:37:31.960
Behind him was George Michael, and then Elton John following up.
00:37:35.960
And they walked into the kitchen, and George Michael was just like, whoa, I love it.
00:37:41.960
And I just stood there looking, thinking, whoa, this is cool.
00:37:44.960
Lots of celebrities would come all the time to the palace, but, you know, with moving to Dallas,
00:37:50.960
now I'm cooking for an incredible plethora of different people and having so much fun.
00:37:58.960
Are you, are you, is it more, is it still some politicians, some business people?
00:38:01.960
What are some of the mixtures you're seeing right now in Dallas?
00:38:04.960
Politicians, business people, celebrities flying around the country and the world doing corporate
00:38:11.960
We, I have my catering company in Dallas, and we fly out, we'll load food on the plane,
00:38:16.960
and go out to Laguna Beach, and up to Aspen, and across to North Carolina, and down to Florida.
00:38:22.960
And the whole team sort of come along and give that royal experience to the client.
00:38:27.960
Yeah, because, so you brought your whole team here when you were...
00:38:32.960
And these were, the way they treated the executives we had here was just priceless.
00:38:35.960
As we said earlier, it's all about the whole ambience.
00:38:39.960
And it's no good me being in the kitchen, making something beautiful, and then, you know,
00:38:47.960
We do everything from service at the table to a synchronized service, but they're good
00:38:54.960
What was the biggest transition for you going from being a chef for the Queen and Princess
00:38:58.960
Diana to then wanting to, you know, you run your own business now.
00:39:04.960
I moved to Princess Diana for four, and then moved to Dallas and spent 17 years cooking
00:39:11.960
And then decided, okay, let's go out into the real world and start my catering company.
00:39:18.960
It really is, you know, making sure you've got the right team around you and you've got
00:39:22.960
to get sort of a place where you can prepare all the food.
00:39:25.960
You've got to get the most amazing suppliers and ingredients.
00:39:28.960
It's, you know, all of that all comes together.
00:39:30.960
And it's taken three years now since I started eating royally.
00:39:34.960
And now we've got everything together and we've got an amazing team.
00:39:37.960
I think that, you know, every one of us wakes up every morning and wants to come to work.
00:39:42.960
And I always tell the team, it's funny when we talk to people, they say, how many people
00:39:51.960
And I couldn't do my job in the kitchen without my servers doing an amazing job, without my
00:39:58.960
team in the kitchen, just washing all the dishes and doing all the cleanup.
00:40:04.960
A lot of times the criticism with chefs, not criticism.
00:40:07.960
It's like the curiosity from other people who are not chefs like you and I, obviously,
00:40:15.960
Everybody thinks there's a madness side to them.
00:40:19.960
They look normal, but then behind camera, these guys are insane and tolerable.
00:40:28.960
I mean, you get chefs like that, but I mean, you get people like that in all industry too.
00:40:32.960
We have those moments and the team will tell you, you know, certain times you stay away
00:40:37.960
Don't come and ask where the napkins are when I'm getting a big meal on the go, because
00:40:43.960
But I grew up, you know, cooking at Buckingham Palace and any minute, you know, Prince William
00:40:50.960
So there could be no sort of shouting and swearing and things like that.
00:41:00.960
Listen, if you're watching this and you obviously learn two formulas on what to make for yourself.
00:41:05.960
One, if you're in the world and you like cooking, you got to get this book here.
00:41:10.960
If you're not in the world, but mother, wife, girlfriend, boyfriend, somebody who enjoys
00:41:17.960
cooking, buy a copy of that book and send it to them.
00:41:22.960
How about if we do something where the copy that I have here, if you could sign it and
00:41:26.960
the first person that watches this and you tweet at he and I what your biggest takeaway
00:41:33.960
was from today's interview, we will mail you a copy signed by Darren McGrady.
00:41:42.960
So with that being said, Darren, thank you so much for joining us here at the house.
00:41:48.960
And by the way, if you haven't already subscribed to Valuetainment on iTunes, please do so.
00:41:55.960
And if you have any questions for me that you may have, you can always find me on Snapchat,
00:42:03.960
And I actually do respond back when you snap me or send me a message on Instagram.