Miles Collins

The Larder Chef Past and Present

The larder chef, or ‘Garde Manger’ as they are known in French kitchens is responsible for the ‘cold kitchen’. The French translation means ‘keeper of the food’ in kitchen hierachy or a storage place for cold foods, a pantry of sorts, if you will.

The role of the larder chef has changed considerably over the years. There was a time when it was a highly skilled job with an unenviable remit. Butchery skills were a must as was a knowledge of pastry for cold cutting pies and hot baked savouries. Traditionally any raw meat or fish prep was done by the larder chef, today in a world of cross contamination safety checks it would never be allowed. In the modern kitchen the larder chef is responsible for starters both hot and cold, raw meat and fish is prepared in a seperate section (in my kitchen it is) by the sauce chef with the larder chef concentrating on cooked and chilled foodstuffs.

I enjoy the larder section more now than I did in my younger days, I love charcuterie; the making of terrines, pates, curing and smoking meat and fish holds a certain fascination. Making something taste good when served cold is far harder than serving it hot, you have to compensate the lack of temperature with extra seasoning and that is why so many terrines and pates fall short, Chefs check the mixture for seasoning when the mixture is hot rather than cold not realising the taste sensation will be considerably different.

I’ve worked with some real heroes on the larder section, in a hotel they are the ones who get rammed at lunch with preparing all of the cold meats and salads for corporate buffets, if you ‘pop in’ for a sandwich it will be the larder chef wishing you a slow and painfull death because they’re the ones who have to do it. Show me a larder chef who enjoys stopping what they are doing to make a cheese sandwich and I’ll show you a liar.

When I returned to the UK from a stint in Germany I worked in a kitchen where the motto was definitely ‘work hard,play hard’. As far as we were concerned the role of the larder chef was to ‘get the beers in’ because he always finished service first, god help him if he forgot myself or the six foot three, seventeen stone pastry chef with a penchant for football violence. Jason worked on the larder, a chubby and particularly unattractive lad from the North East with a girlfriend to match. Many a crude joke was made at his expense, he could give it back though until the day he tripped over the door step carrying a tray of two hundred freshly made mini sausage rolls. He landed spread eagled, covered in pork and pastry in front of the entire brigade of sixteen male chefs who proceeded to literally kick him whilst he was down. 

I was fortunate enough to work for a chef who had a real knowledge of a proper larder section when I was training. When everyone else was doing egg mayonnaise and prawn cocktail we were doing ballontines of chicken, game terrines, potages of seafood and the like. Twenty odd years on I have never worked for anyone who could produce a cold, decorated buffet to the standard of Chef Barker.