Chef’s Gratitude For N.Z. Surgeon’s Work

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29767, 9 March 1962, Page 2

Chef’s Gratitude For N.Z. Surgeon’s Work

[From the London Correspondent of "The Press”] Occasionaly royalty patronises the Savoy Grill in London. But behind the scenes this celebrated restaurant has its own particular monarch the maitre chef de cuisine, Mr Silvino Trompetto. The English-born head of the almost legendary cuisine is of Italian parentage. He speaks Italian, as well as English and French, fluently.

Aged 48, Mr Trompetto was appointed to his present position on the recent retirement of Mr Abel Alban, a Frenchman who had been in the service of the organisation for 40 years. “I have a great affection for New Zealand, though I have not visited the country, and for New Zealanders,” he said. In fact, I think I would like to say that I owe my life to a New Zealander Sir Harold Gillies, the plastic surgeon. “Had it not been for his work, for his wonderful encouragement and friend ,p, I would not be in this position today. I looked upon him as my second father. I am sorry that he is not alive to see me in this position here.” Facial Disfigurement

Mr Trompetto said that in his very early years he suffered through an accident a facial disfigurement so bad that he felt he had to hide himself from the public. Then,

as a patient at Guy’s Hospital, he came under the care of Sir Harold Gillies, who was then plastic surgeon to St Bartholomew’s.

One has to look very closely today to detect evidence of plastic surgery and to see where facial skin was grafted from the chest “My nose is the best part of my face; the rest of it is awful,” said Mr Trompetto. It was his nose mainly that was “reconstructed.” Married to a Frenchwoman and with a son, Michael Anthony, aged 14, who wants to become a doctor, Mr Trompetto is, in his field, an artist. His work today is mainly administrative (he has a staff of 80' but he will take charge of a particular dish, a vital sauce or some subtle garnishing. French is the language of Mr Trompetto’s cuisine, and he said the French were “the cat’s whiskers in food.” Busman’s Holiday

One of his holiday pursuits is visiting the Continent and studying at first hand the hotels and restaurants there. With confused coli'-quialism, Mr Trompetto said: “I make a beehive for the best places, where I study the presentation of food, the difficulties of the waiters and of the clients. I decide what may be done, what might be eliminated, to assist in better service.”

Mr Trompetto joined the Savoy staff eight years ago.

Among the places where he was previously employed are the Princess and Oddenino Restaurants, the Dorchester Hotel, the Grand Hotel, Brighton, the Albany Club, and the Glyndebourne Opera House in Sussex. He supplied the following recipe for the dish which is his speciality. LA MOUSSELINE DE SOLE NANTUA Ingredients: 11b fillet of sole 2 whites of eggs 2 pints of double cream 1 tablespoon of salt (approx.) Method: Take the raw fillet of sole, mince very fine and then pass it through a very fine sieve. Place in a saucepan and keep it on crushed ice. Add salt and mix thoroughly until a firm consistency is obtained. Add the whites of eggs, one at a time stirring continuously and slowly for about three minutes. Add cream slowly and stirring in until all the cream is used (all this still being done on crushed ice).

When the substance has hardened, scoop it out with egg-shaped spoons, put it in either water or fish stock so it is covered completely, and cook very slowly just simmering for 10 to 15 minutes. This dish is favourably served with a Lobster Newburg or Nantua (shrimp) garnish.