The One Thing That's Never Missing From A Royal Fridge, According To A Royal Chef - Exclusive

There are certain dishes that the Queen can never do without, her favorite chocolate cake for example. In fact, former royal chef Darren McGrady says that Queen Elizabeth would only give up chocolate for Lent. "Other than that," McGrady dished exclusively to Mashed, the Queen doesn't do diets. "She never gave anything up at all," McGrady let on. As for her other must-haves? McGrady told The Telegraph that Queen Elizabeth is also a diehard devotee of Special K. The royal liquor cabinet must hold gin – essential for her cocktail of choice, gin and Dubonnet — as seen on People.com. Twining's Earl Grey tea, if you chose to believe Town & Country, also has a place of honor in the royal pantry. 

As for the fridge? The Royal Family eats seasonally as per what McGrady once told Recipes Plus. For Christmases spent at Sandringham, that means a lot of apples and pears. "Because [they were] not only in season," McGrady explained, "but Sandringham also had a fruit farm that was started by King George, the Queen's father, King George the Sixth." In the hierarchy of ingredients needed to please the royal palate, however, there is one surprisingly simple product that can never go missing, as he affirmed.

Open up a royal fridge, and there are certain infallible contents. "One of the strangest things [that could never be missing from the fridge]," Darren McGrady told Mashed, "I would probably say cream." That's thanks to the Royal Family's preference for what McGrady described as "heavy, traditional French cuisine dishes that were laden with lots and lots of cream." By "preference," we mean "fascination." Even the Queen's menus, according to what the royal chef once told Hello!, are written in French.

McGrady also told Mashed that Christmas puddings are a royal fridge staple — and they don't just take up space around the winter holidays. Instead, Christmas puddings have prime royal fridge real estate six months out of the year. "We'd make them in the summer [before we went off to Balmoral]," he said, "and give them chance to rest and ripen up and then take them up to Sandringham where we'd actually have them ready for Christmas Day, [and] for New Year's Day where we steamed the puddings and did a brandy sauce."

You can order a taste of the flavors Chef McGrady used to cook up for the royal family through CrateChef. Visit Chef Darren McGrady's website for more royal recipes and culinary inspiration.