Food & Wine - Luxury Ski News Archive

Entertaining this Jubilee weekend?

In our book a Jubilee celebration cake should be table leg groaningly big. It should have at least one candle, possibly a sparkler and icing as thick as the snow on the roof of your chalet. 

Four layers – two vanilla, two raspberry – sandwiched with a decadent mascarpone raspberry icing. Phwoar. When you cut into it a magical Battenburg-esque layering system ensures everyone gets a double flavour whammy in every iced slice. 

The recipe:

Make two sponges to your favourite recipe in 8-inch tins. Flavour one with vanilla, and one with a good amount of pink food colouring and raspberries (frozen will do). Once cool, slice in half horizontally. Cut a small circle of cake from each middle (ramekin size) and then another circle (cereal bowl size). Separate the circles and rebuild so you have two halves of cake with vanilla outer circles, pink inner wheels and a vanilla centre and two that have pink outer circles, vanilla inner wheels and a pink centre.

Raspberry & Mascarpone Icing

- 150g raspberries
- 2 tbsp caster sugar
- 250g Mascarpone
- 300ml Double Cream

Beat the raspberries, caster sugar and Mascarpone together well before adding the cream. Using an electric beater whisk until stiff and mousse like. Resist licking the spoon until after you’ve iced your cooled cake.

Finish with a smooth topping of icing and sprinkle with dehydrated raspberry pieces, fresh raspberries, Malteasers, white chocolate shavings, or anything else you fancy and throw on a candle with a flourish! Happy Jubilee Celebrations to you! 

If this tasty pud has whet your appetite for afternoon tea and catered chalets, browse live availability now. Our office will be closed over the Jubilee bank holiday but you can book online 24-7, and there's a Jubilee special offer to be snapped up too!

The Vegan Society

According to the latest research carried out by the Vegan Society in 2019, the vegan population in Britain quadrupled between 2014 and 2019. There are an estimated 600,000 Vegans in Britain, compared to just 150,000 in 2014. Almost half of UK Vegans made the decision to make this change in 2018, suggesting this pattern will only continue and accelerate. They estimate that Vegans and Vegetarians will make up a quarter of the British population by 2025 – the growth is exponential!

Changing mindsets

Veganism is one of the fastest growing lifestyle movements, and slowly but steadily even the more close-minded regions are beginning to adapt their repertoire. There is no doubt that this movement is worldwide, but in part due to the British influence on certain ski resorts, some ski towns have developed Vegan-friendly restaurants more rapidly than other, more traditional regions.

Home from home

We’re sure you would all agree that a catered chalet holiday revolves primarily around the food (and skiing of course). Our goal is to make your holiday as seamless and stress-free as we can. Whether you are gluten intolerant, dairy-free, nut-free or vegan, we work hard to ensure the menus will suit your needs.

Flexibility

Whilst our chalet menus are fixed, they are not set in stone. We have a switch menu option which allows you to swap dishes in and out in order to personalise your holiday menu.

For those of you staying in one of our CLUB Chalets, the chef will be offering canapes and a choice of menu on six evenings; and in our Hotel Theodul and Hotel Arlberg there is a more comprehensive meal plan with cooked breakfast and a choice of menu for the evening meal, on all seven days.

Regardless of which property you may choose, the London office team are on hand to discuss any concerns or requests prior to travel. The team in resort will be informed of any changes to the menus or other information long before your arrival.

Don't take our word for it

Naturally, we are biased and think highly of our culinary skills but if you need a little more persuading, here are some of our latest guests’ reviews on the matter:

No 2 Penthouse Avoriaz – January 2020: …the food was absolutely exceptional. Two of us were vegan, one lactose-intolerant and one unable to eat beef so the way they accommodated us was far beyond what we hoped…

No 2 Aspen House Val d’Isere – January 2020: …Her cooking was amazing, afternoon delights were to die for, and she was most polite andattentive to all of our needs. Our party included two couples (one of which had numerous food intolerances) and a 21-month-old. Sophie cooked my little boy a nutritional two course meal from scratch, every night and made sure all of his favourite meals were on the menu…

Chalet Marielaine Meribel – January 2020: The food is superb; better than the food we had mid-week! We really appreciate the trouble Anna has gone to, to cook gluten free for my husband and vegetarian…

Valdez Suite Morzine – January 2020: Exceptional food with any special requests catered for and menus were well thought out…

Darkoum Lama Courchevel 1850 – January 2020: The food was wonderful and they were able to tailor our meals to various specifications - one person has several severe allergies to nuts, eggs, etc, then there were children’s tastes to account for and adults!

If that’s not enough to whet your appetite, we’re not sure what is! Whether you have dietary requirements or simply love to talk about food (we do too), give us a call on 0208 875 1957 to discuss your next catered ski holiday today!

Whilst our menu is planned, it is not set in stone and we will always do our best to accommodate preferences and requests. All we ask is that you make any requests as early as possible.

Things you might not know about our catering…

SWITCH IT UP - For groups taking sole occupancy of a chalet we have a switch menu with a further selection of 10 dishes for you to choose from, to select your bespoke menu for the week.

TWO MENUS - We have a 2^nd week menu so that our returning Clients have different dishes if they holiday with us twice in one season

DIETARY REQUESTS, NO PROBLEM - We have a detailed cookery book so our hosts are able to adapt all our menus for specific dietary requests such as vegan, dairy free, lactose free, gluten free, low cholesterol and vegetarian.

WELL PREPARED - We provide the menu to all our hosts several weeks before the start of the season so they can practice cooking the dishes on their friends and family. All hosts will also cook all meals on the menu during their extensive training programme. Week one guests will not be guinea pigs!

RED OR WHITE? We serve a choice of red or white wine with dinner in all our properties, but we also have an upgrade wine list should you fancy something a little bit extra special.

Handy hints Ben shares with our chalet hosts;

Sprinkle of Sugar

Adding a small sprinkling of sugar to tomatoes helps to bring out the flavour of the fruit.

Just keep whisking!

When whisking egg whites never stop whisking half way through to do something else as the whites will begin to separate and will ruin the end result.

Herbs

When chopping herbs use the stalks of the soft ones, there’s so much flavour in them. Stalks from herbs like tarragon, rosemary and thyme can’t be used.

Nut to worry

When grinding nuts make sure they are cold otherwise the oil will come out of them and make them heavy and greasy.

Of course, we're going to say our menus and food are delicious, but if you don't believe us, read some of the comments from guests who skied with us last season.

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Meribel - Bourbon

Everyone loves a bourbon; everyone loves Meribel. It’s the chocolate crème sandwiched between Val Thorens and Courchevel, sitting pretty at 1750 and regularly found with a dusting of crunchy powdered sugar (or snow).

Courchevel - Pink Panther Wafer

Courchevel looks almost too pretty to eat. The sunsets here will paint the sky a fetching shade of pale pink to match the glasses of rosé which comes out the moment it turns sunny. Big sunglasses, faux fur and tight ski pants are de rigeur; if the Pink Panther himself went skiing, it would be here.

Alpe d'Huez - Shortbread

Sugar, butter and flour is all there is to the crumbly Scottish classic. Why’s it so good? Simplicity. Our Alpe d’Huez chalets are similarly blessed with a heady altitude and great location close to the efficient lift network. It’s as simple as that. If Alpe d’Huez has an accent, it would speak in the same soothing tones as David Tennant or your favourite Scottish grandma.

La Plagne - Fig Roll

They might not be much to look at, but they certainly pack a punch in the flavor stakes. La Plagne may still be recovering from its unfortunate run-in with the 1970’s, but look past the architecture and you quickly discover that the range of slopes more than make up for it.

St Anton - Party Ring

At primary school, it wasn’t a party until the Fox’s Party Rings made an appearance. These sugary little circles of fun are shorthand for a good time. Everyone has a favourite colour, but if you’ve had enough post-ski jaeger bombs you’ll soon find that they all taste the same. A party ring and a disco nap will give you all the energy you need to tackle St Anton’s huge ski area and correspondingly huge party scene.

Lech - French Fancy

The next valley over from St Anton is Lech, home to the world’s fanciest ski hire shop and the prettiest vistas in the Alps. The mountains here are so perfect that they could have been iced each morning by Mr Kipling himself.

St Christoph - Lotus Biscuit

No one really knows where Lotus biscuits come from, but you’re always undeniably pleased when they make an appearance on your saucer. St Christoph is similarly unassuming, but the altitude and proximity to the lifts of our new hotel is sure to take the biscuit.

Val d'Isere - Extremely Chocolatey Biscuits

It’s no surprise that our favourite resort is king of the biscuits. Snow in Val d'Isere is as thick and smooth as the chocolate coating on these delicious snacks. You’ll have to hurry if you want to get your hands on one, though, as we’re selling out fast. That’s just the way the cookie crumbles.

If all this talk of biscuits has made you hungry for a holiday then check out our latest special offers for savings in all resorts, including double saver week offers in Val d’Isere, St Anton, La Plagne, Meribel, Courchevel and Morzine when you book before the end of July. You’d be crackers to miss out!

Help from a Master Sommelier

Selecting the wines for each winter season is a task Pip, our Operations Director, and Alys, our Stores Manager, look forwards to every year. Thankfully the job doesn’t fall solely on their shoulders; they are ably assisted through the whole process by Xavier Rousset, our wine-consultant extraordinaire and qualified Master Sommelier.

Xavier was the youngest Master Sommelier in the world when he passed his exams in 2002. His career has had too many highlights to mention, but some particularly notable experiences include a period as head sommelier at Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons under Raymond Blanc; opening his own Michelin-star restaurant in Marble Arch and running The Blandford Comptoir in Marylebone. Safe to say, he’s a giant in his field and we’re very lucky to have his expertise onboard.

Wine tasting? Someone's got to do it

Over the course of a long summer afternoon Xavier, Pip and Alys test each wine up for selection, imagining how it would taste in the snowy surroundings of a cosy chalet in the depths of winter. Did you know that wine has been scientifically proven to change taste depending on the circumstances in which it’s drunk? From the size and shape of the wine glass to the accompanying meal, to factors as obscure as the type of music playing in the background and the time of day, wine can take on different tasting notes at the drop of a hat. All our house wines are selected to appeal to a wide variety of tastes, so you can be sure there’ll be something to tickle your fancy. We’re assured that all the samples are spat out until the final selection has been made, at which point Xavier allows a celebratory glass (or three).

If you’re marking an extra-special occasion then a wine from our upgrade list could be the perfect addition to your evening meal. The selection on offer varies from resort to resort but tends towards wines made by established French houses, with the odd Italian or Spanish wine thrown in for spice and variety. Wines can be pre-booked before you arrive or, should you fancy, ordered during the week.

35,000 bottles enjoyed by VIP SKI guests

If there was any doubt about your enthusiasm for wine, the numbers speak for themselves. Last season VIP SKI guests managed to drink their way through 35,000 bottles of wine, which works out at a staggering 175,000 glasses. That’s enough to fill ten and half swimming pools. Hic. If champagne’s more your thing, we managed to pop over 3000 bottles of bubbles over the winter. That isn’t even counting the celebratory prosecco on a Friday when we hit our weekly sales target.

Our sales team are well-versed in wine and would be happy to chat through the wine list with you, as well as book any of our service or wine upgrades. Contact us on 0208 875 1957 to chat red, white or rosé.