Megabytes by John & Sally McKenna

George Perry-Smith was the Myrtle Allen of England. His inspirational restaurant, The Hole in the Wall, in Bath, inspired droves of restaurateurs and delighted thousands of customers who loved Perry-Smith's scholarly, original cooking. To mark the great man's passing, we are delighted to offer a version of his great signature dish, salmon in pastry with ginger and currants, as cooked by one of Perry-Smith's best known pupils, Stephen Markwick.

After his death, the Guardian wrote, in Perry-Smith's obituary, "His national significance was his modest, but effective, charisma as a teacher-performer. His best collaborators and students, such as Joyce Molyneux, and Stephen Markwick, first reproduced his style, then refreshed it with their own imaginations, and the eclectic style of cooking associated with the 1980s."

Mr Markwick was cooking in Good Things Café in West Cork during the '03 summer, and will return again next year. He came to our house, on George Perry Smith's birthday, to cook this classic dish.

Salmon in Pastry with Ginger and Currants

Ingredients

For the pastry:
1lb white flour
2 teaspoons salt
9oz butter, cold water

For The Flavoured Butter:
Half lb butter
2oz currants
5 pieces of stem ginger in syrup
salt and pepper

For Sauce Messine:
Handful of fresh tarragon and chervil
2 shallots
1 good dessertspoon Dijon mustard
Three quarters pint of cream
Salt, pepper
Juice of 1 lemon
1 egg yolk

For The Salmon:
1 large side of fresh salmon
1 egg plus a little milk to make an egg wash

Method

• First Make the Pastry
• Making the Flavoured Butter
• Making the Sauce Messine
• Preparing and Assembling the Salmon.

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text © John & Sally McKenna
illustrations © Ken Buggy