Eric Lanlard - Eric Lanlards Afternoon Tea

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I experienced my first British afternoon tea at the tender age of seven when my Anglophile mother took me on an overnight ferry trip across the channel to England. She had read in a magazine it was the ultimate British tradition and wanted to experience it. After what felt like hours on a bus, we arrived at a proper tea room where we were served a traditional cream tea. We hadnt anticipated quite how much food would be served, and having just eaten lunch beforehand we were full very quickly. Before we embarked on our ferry home, my mum purchased a fine china floral tea service from one of the souvenir shops in Portsmouth her idea was to replicate our experience back home for friends. However, it wasnt so easy we soon discovered that clotted cream was only available in the UK, and none of mums French baking books featured a recipe for scones. Despite this we made it happen and, of course, I was always the first to volunteer to help in the kitchen or set the table. How funny to think, all these years later, I am now an expert on the art of afternoon tea and I have designed and served my afternoon tea experiences on luxury cruise ships, at 5-star hotels all over the world and at Cake Boy, my ptisserie in London.

Afternoon tea is a fun and very glamorous experience, usually served in beautiful surroundings, and a very relaxed way to meet friends or celebrate an occasion without being rushed. Some people might say that afternoon tea is the new lunch! Like most things, the afternoon tea has evolved and has become more interactive in recent years, involving enticing themes and featuring new ingredients or baking techniques. The same goes for the tea; in recent years we have learned so much about tea and are now enjoying many more new flavours or blends that can be matched to food. Many top hotels now employ a tea sommelier who can guide you through the ceremony of choosing and brewing the perfect cup.

In this book, I wanted to share with you my passion for baking, but also my love for afternoon tea, and provide the ideas for you to create your own gorgeous afternoon tea at home. Whether you want to celebrate a special occasion or simply entertain friends and family, the following chapters include sweet and savoury recipes from casual and rustic dishes to more flamboyant showpieces to suit any theme or occasion. Of course, Ive included some classics with my own added twist as well as a few more innovative recipes that are sure to become talking points when served this is what afternoon tea is all about: great food, great company, beautiful surroundings and memorable conversations. I think my mum will love this book I expect the (now vintage) floral tea service will come out and I shall receive a request for some clotted cream to be sent to France very soon

I hope you will enjoy cooking from this book as much as I have enjoyed writing it.

Happy baking!

Eric x

Just as you would with wine, tea should be paired with the food you are serving. In the Far East, tea is often served throughout a meal and great care goes into choosing which tea to serve. There are no rules dictating what tea should be served with which foods, but some teas complement certain flavours better than others.

White tea has a light, soft and very subtle flavour which, if paired with any strong-flavoured foods, will lose its natural sweetness and it will be impossible to detect its delicate flavour. This tea should be served without milk, and is the ideal choice to serve at the beginning of your afternoon tea in anticipation of the arrival of any food, after which you can move on to a stronger-flavoured tea.

Herbal infusions are a popular choice and there are a huge variety of different flavours, from fruits and flower blossoms to herbs and spices. Some blends may be too overpowering to pair with certain foods, so choose subtle flavours that will enhance your food instead of overwhelming it.

Green tea is another very popular choice. It has a subtle flavour, making it the perfect companion to mild-flavoured foods such as seafood or chicken, and should be served without milk. A good green tea is the perfect choice to serve with my .

Some fruit-flavoured green teas have a light sweet flavour that would be a suitable accompaniment to fruit and pastries such as my .

Black tea has a full and robust flavour, therefore the type of foods that complement this tea best should be similarly strong so that one flavour is not dominating the other.

. Darjeeling is the perfect pairing to a creamy pastry, such as a fruit mousse, syllabub or even an clair; its the rich tea flavour and the cream that work so well together, so Darjeeling is best kept for sweet treats.

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two powerful flavours!

Do try experimenting by tasting lots of different teas to see what you like best, as there are so many teas and blends now available.

It all starts with the water your ingredients are secondary; it doesnt matter if you use a tea bag or loose leaf tea, a horrible taste like chlorine, iron or sulphur can damage the taste and aroma of your tea. Fill a kettle with cold mineral or filtered water do not use pre-boiled or distilled water, as the more oxygen there is in the water, the better your tea will taste.

Bring fresh water to the boil. Immediately fill your empty cup or teapot and leave for 5 minutes to warm. Fine china is a great insulator of heat that will keep your tea hotter for longer. Empty the water from your cup or teapot and refill with very hot (but not boiling) water. If the water is boiling or too hot you could destroy some of the complex flavours from the tea leaves. If using a cup, leave some space for the milk (if liked).

If using a tea bag, leave it to infuse for 35 minutes depending on the type of tea and how strong you like it, then remove the tea bag using a spoon. There is always an argument about when to add the milk (if using), but it has been proven that tea will infuse more effectively in just hot water rather than a mix of milk and water.

If using loose leaf tea, add one teaspoon of tea per person to the tea pot, plus one extra (this is the same if using a infuser). Using a preheated spoon, swirl the leaves in the water and leave to infuse for:
1 minute for green tea (dont leave for more than 2 minutes, as green tea will become bitter)
3 minutes for black tea
810 minutes for herbal or fruit infusions

The taste and flavours of loose tea leaves is incomparable to tea bags, even expensive brands. In the Far East the traditional way to use loose tea leaves is to add them first to very hot water to remove any impurities, and then infuse them in slightly cooler freshly drawn hot water.