11 May 2024
Elena Hogg, founder of local culinary company FOOD by Elena, extols the virtues of the most indulgent of mealtimes.
My absolute favourite meal is brunch. It’s a rare indulgence, rather than one of the staple daily meals, which already affords it elevated status.
Then there’s the fact that, if you’re having brunch, it’s probable you’re having it with family or friends, which also scores it points in my book. Brunch is synonymous with relaxation, and who doesn’t love a lazy weekend scoff?
Although we think of brunch as an über-trendy and fairly recent socio-gastro phenomenon, I was surprised to learn from my brief research that the term was first coined as long ago as the late 19th century. So perhaps the modern vibe we associate with brunch is because there’s always something new on the menu, rather than any chronological factor, especially with the various food influences from other countries we’re so greedy for.
Indeed brunch has quite the international backdrop, from New York pastrami bagels and Spanish tortillas to Danish pastries, French crêpes, Belgian waffles, Italian… well, coffee (because no brunch is complete without a foam-art-adorned cappuccino and I can’t think of a single Italian brunch food). One of today’s trendiest brunch offerings that is standing the test of time (unlike the poor bulletproof coffee) is the protein powerhouse that is the Scandi brunch.
Staples like avocado on rye, and salmon with dill-flecked cream cheese and pickles all hail from the typical Swedish brunch menu. The soused herring has
perhaps not quite made the top spot here in the UK, much to my husband’s chagrin, given he lives for all things briny.
So why is brunch such a popular choice? To my mind, it’s because there’s something indulgent and yet saintly about brunch food that offers up the perfect balance.
You have the light and healthy fruit-based fare, whether it be a vitamin- packed smoothie, a steaming bowl of berry-strewn porridge or some creamy natural yoghurt sweetened with stewed stone fruits.
Alongside these, and also in the saintly category, are the sourdoughs and seeded rolls with nut butters, goji berries and smashed avocado. The halo is yours. If, however, you’re feeling a little diabolical, there’s something for that too – crunchy granolas dripping with honey, plump eggs Benedict blanketed in thick hollandaise, or a pancake stack squidged together with Nutella. The halo may have faded, but the chocolatey grin is real.
My all-time favourite brunch item has to be French toast. The kind with the bacon and maple syrup. It thoroughly scratches my sweet-and-salty itch. Ask any of my friends and they’ll tell you the number of hours spent on Saturdays in London, or the rare weekend away, googling places that serve French toast. It’s
even become something of a tradition on my birthday to go on a brunch-hunt (a ‘brunt’?). I can think of no better way to obliterate the misery of another passing year than with a mug of silky latte followed by some French toast.
There was in fact a short period not too long ago when almost nowhere in St Albans offered it on their menus, and I was obliged to make my own at home instead (as pictured). This then led to a spate of hosting brunch for friends, which was very good fun, because brunch food is just that: fun. I would experiment with slightly quirky muffin recipes (because blueberry seemed so dull), from plum and pink peppercorn to beetroot and pumpkin seed.
I’d also lay out bowls of granola, yoghurt and berries for people to help themselves to, and I would thread bagels onto my kitchen roll stand (very space- efficient on a crowded table) for people to slather with cream cheese and top with salmon and capers.
As something of a centrepiece, I’d offer an extremely simple mushroom omelette with chorizo and dollops of mascarpone, which is fine served at room temperature and so can be made before everyone arrives, leaving the obligatory ‘relaxed’ approach to brunch intact.
I owe a lot to these brunches, because they gave rise, conceptually, to my brunch grazing boards.
Grazing boards need not be limited to charcuterie, cheese and olives. They work very well bedecked with a colourful hodgepodge of delicious brunchy morsels that, again, require minimal effort for high visual impact. In fact, the only true struggle is not to snaffle all the cinnamon swirls before they make it onto the board.
