Raymond Blanc has asked British citizens to stop using sliced white bread in their bacon sandwiches, and instead make their own loaves.
The Michelin star cook, 72, who is originally from Besançon, but now lives in Oxford, explained that he finds the thought of processed white bread ‘frightening’ because it stays fresh for so long.
Speaking to The Sun the acclaimed restaurateur said: ‘Everyone should start doing their own sourdough or focaccia — because white sliced bread is a stain on Britain’s food heritage.’
Raymond Blanc, Michelin-starred chef and celebrity baker, appealed for Brits to make their own bread for breakfast. Photo of Raymond Blanc with his croque monsieur, which he made in the Village Enclosure during day three of Royal Ascot 2019.
He has received two Michelin Stars previously for Le Manoir aux Qaut’ Saisons, his restaurant at Belmond Hotel in Great Milton. Also, he was awarded a Michelin Green Star to promote ‘gastronomy sustainability’.
While hitting out at shop-bought loaves, he said that they can never have the complexity and flavour of a homemade batch – claiming that sliced pan has no flavour.
He added that he’s horrified by the number of additives, referring to The Bread and Flour Regulations 1998, which requires industry brands to add iron, calcium, thiamin and niacin to all wheat flour except wholemeal flour.
Raymond stated further that packaged bread has long-lasting properties.
Restauranteur Roberts does not like the inclusion of any additives into white bread. He also feels that freshly baked sourdough could enhance the flavors of the bacon sandwich.
It is a mystery what it contains. It’s just poor food.
Additionally, he said that Britons are not only putting their health at risk but also missing out on a wide variety of flavors for their bacon sarnies. He suggested a homemade loaf of sourdough to be a good alternative.
Baking our bread at home would, in the end, be an acknowledgement of British “heritage”. The chef states that it will be twice as good as store-bought alternatives.
Last year, the celebrity chef took aim at hospital food when he was treated for Covid at the John Radcliffe Hospital.
Although he waxed lyrical about the excellent care he received, he was unimpressed by the culinary offerings at the Oxford hospital, describing the food as a ‘shock’.
There was one saving grace, however — the pudding. The pudding was the only thing that saved him. He also said the icecream and the plums and custard were both ‘excellent’.
He refused to go on a ventilator because he was afraid he would not survive.
He later treated 50 doctors and nurses for a slap-up champagne lunch at his two Michelin-starred restaurant, Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons, where diners usually pay around £250 a head.
The secret thank-you is estimated to have cost more than £12,000.