The one ingredient Queen Elizabeth refuses to eat
Queen Elizabeth’s former chef, Darren McGrady has revealed the one ingredient he wasn’t allowed to use in his cooking at Buckingham Palace.
The chef spoke about his time cooking for the head of the monarch during an online Q&A on his YouTube channel.
"The Queen doesn't like garlic; we could never use it at Buckingham Palace," he said after a viewer question about which foods the royals dislike.
"There're foods the Queen does love though and it's all the produce off their estate, especially Balmoral Castle," he added.
McGrady expanded on his answer on what Her Majesty enjoys eating, saying she loves Morecambe Bay Potted Shrimps – a dish she usually eats on toast.
"They're little brown shrimp harvested from Morecambe [in Lancashire] and they're cooked and marinated in this secret spicy butter.
"The Queen would have it with warm toast and when you spread it the butter melts and you have this beautiful shrimp as well. You need to look them up to try them."
The Royal Chef (self styled), also cooked for Princess Diana and Princes William and Harry, admitting it took months of cooking for the staff before he was allowed to cook for the royals.
When asked how different cooking for the royals is compared to working in restaurants, the cookbook author who trained at the Savoy in London admitted, "It was more about cooking dishes that the Queen liked".
"You could do a Beef Stroganoff – if she didn't like paprika in there, then suddenly Beef Stroganoff became a dish that didn't have paprika in.
"You're just cooking for that one person, whereas in a hotel you're cooking your food for all the difference clients coming in."