The Independent

April 14, 1990

 

Patron saint ofLakeland breakfasts

 

Emily Green visits FrancisCoulson, the most revered of British chefs and bakers, who opened the originalBritish country house hotel - Sharrow Bay in Cumbria

 

 

EVERY PROFESSION hasits saint. For British restaurateurs and hoteliers, that figure is FrancisCoulson, chef-proprietor of Sharrow Bay Hotel, a rambling, Cumbrian lodge onthe remote north-eastern lip of Ullswater.

 

''The thing aboutFrancis is that he is so utterly nice,'' began Tom Jaine, editor of The GoodFood Guide, a sentiment echoed in the opening remarks of a battery of criticsand hoteliers I quizzed. Mr Coulson is, indeed, a gentleman, now quite adelicate one in his early seventies. Yet what is remarkable about this famouslynice man is his legacy. It is his particular interpretation of the recipes ofConstance Spry, Elizabeth David, his family and robust Cumbrian women that wenow recognise as Lakeland cookery. And it is his delicate system of nicetiesand hospitality that built the first country house hotel.

 

When he bought SharrowBay from a certain Mrs Nelson in the autumn of 1948, she confided in him that''there were fairies down by the boulders'' on the Ullswater shoreline. MrCoulson thought her a mite touched.

 

The local shopkeepersthought him every bit as dotty: a tall, effeminate southerner who arrived withlittle more than pots, pans and a pair of wellies, who was camping before therange in his kitchen, and saying he was going to open a hotel.

 

Unexpected bank loanscame through, afternoon teas were announced and, as a series of characters camehis way, he began collecting recipes. The first person was a half-Belgian,half-Cumbrian baker by the name of Renee Atkinson, who only trussed her fullbosom when beating choux pastry, and sent the cakes she baked around the clockto Fortnum & Mason. ''She had a bed by her Aga and used to wake up at thecorrect times,'' recalls Mr Coulson.

 

He, too, became a dedicatedbaker, descending to the kitchen three or four times a night to check ''thegood old dough''. He introduced croissants and brioche to the Lake District,one of the first people to do so in British hotels. The idea was that thecustomers would prefer a continental breakfast. However, the guests clung totheir cereals, kippers, eggs, fried mushrooms, rough Cumberland ham, spicyCumberland sausages and thick wedges of black pudding, simply adding croissantand brioche to the feast. The French-led hoteliers' association Relais etChateaux recently recognised the Sharrow breakfast with a special award.

 

Mr Coulson, who haslearned much from the French and who especially admires Provencal cookery,believes the French could learn from the British. He promotes slow cooking, andinsists that Cumbrian chicken is every bit as special as the prized fowl ofBresse. Gravy's fall from fashion, in favour of ''sauce'', is an abidingirritation.

 

''I'm very proud thatI'm British. I was brought up to make grrrravy,'' he says. Witness his approachto leg of lamb over a bed of vegetables: ''If you have a bit of lamb fat, yousit it on top of the meat so it becomes crisp. Lovely word: crrrisp.Immediately you start thinking about that lovely top piece of the leg of lamb .. . Then cooking croutons in fat, before you start making the grrrravy - justtake the juices, the goodness of it. Drain off the vegetables if they haven'tgone brown, then with the goodness, just add a bit of flour - don't be unhappyabout making a certain amount of a roux - and also add your stock, and, if ithas been cooked with a little rosemary, it's glorious.''

 

He refined arepertoire of traditional sweets: rum nicky, Grasmere short- shortcake,frangipane, syllabub, cabinet pudding, rhubarb fool. From ''an old dear'' hediscovered sticky toffee pudding and lightened the formula, teasing the nameinto ''icky sticky toffee pudding''. ''Almost to the level of art, are hisdesserts,'' says Egon Ronay. ''Fredy Giradet of Restaurant Giradet in Lausanneonce wrote to me to send him a bread and butter pudding recipe. I sent himthree, including one of Francis Coulson's. That was the one he adopted.''

 

Sharrow Bay has anall-British kitchen (the Spanish-born staff member Juan Martin is now anaturalised Briton). More impressive is the tenure of the brigade. Mr Martinhas been there for 25 years, Colin Akrigg for 22, Philip Wilson for 18. ColinWhite, who trained at Sharrow Bay more than 20 years ago, has just returned atthe instigation of the late Jane Grigson.

 

The most importantcharacter to affect Francis Coulson and the Sharrow Bay Hotel, Brian Sack,arrived as a jauntily de-mobbed flyer in a bomber jacket and MG in 1952. Heplanned to stay for six months, and has been there ever since managing thefront-of- house, as Mr Coulson's partner. It is Mr Sack who coined theexpression ''country house hotel''.

 

The country housestyle they improvised dispensed with the reception desk: you have wandered intoa home. You might be greeted by Mr Sack or Mr Coulson, the wine waiter or thehousekeeper. Staff catch you in passing. ''Our friendship has had an enormouseffect on the operation,'' says Mr Sack. Mr Coulson could never bear presentinga bill; Mr Sack does it graciously. ''But our ideas about decor are identical.''

 

This is to say thatthey are abject devotees of genteel clutter. No surface goes unlaid withporcelain, dolls, elaborate lamps. The grounds are studded with statuettes ofputti. Is this in homage to Mrs Nelson's fairies? ''Yes. Cherubs to the fore!''chimes Mr Coulson.