Ingredient Focus: Bergamot - Great British Chefs

Maybe your like

Recipes
Chefs
How To Cook
Features
Competitions
Search by ingredient, dish or cuisine
Popular
Search history
Chicken
Lamb
Salmon
Venison
Sea Bass
Duck
Michelin
Vegetarian
Dessert
Cod

Recipes

Everyday and easy
Main ingredients
Vegetarian main ingredients
Carbohydrates
Fish and Seafood
Meal Type
Diets
Courses
Cuisine
Michelin and Advanced

Everyday and easy

Midweek meal
Quick
Quick pasta
Easy cake
See all easy recipes

Main ingredients

Chicken
Beef
Lamb
Pork
Salmon

Vegetarian main ingredients

Cheese
Egg
Mushroom
Tofu
Vegetarian

Carbohydrates

Pasta
Potato
Rice
Noodle
Bread

Fish and Seafood

Prawn
Cod
Sea bass
Mackerel
See more fish and seafood recipes

Meal Type

Breakfast
Lunch
Main course
Snack
Cake

Diets

Vegan
Vegetarian
Pescatarian
Gluten-free
Dairy-free

Courses

Canapés
Starters
Mains
Desserts
Petits fours

Cuisine

Mexican
Italian
Indian
Thai
Chinese

Michelin and Advanced

Michelin star
Michelin star starter
Michelin star dessert
Challenging
Dinner party

How to Cook

Meat and poultry
Fish and seafood
Vegetables
Knife skills
Cakes and baking
Sous vide
Pickling
Chef tricks

Meat and poultry

Chicken
Beef
Lamb
Pork
Duck
See all meat and poultry guides

Fish and seafood

Monkfish
Haddock
Sea bass
Mackerel
Red mullet
See all fish and seafood guides

Vegetables

Beetroot
Butternut squash
Red cabbage
Sweet potato
Tomato
See all vegetables guides

Knife skills

Butchery
Fish preparation
Vegetable preparation
Chiffonade
Sharpen a knife
See all knife skills guides

Cakes and baking

Line a tart tin
Blind bake
Make macarons
Bake cakes
Make sweet pastry
Make biscuits

Sous vide

Sous vide meat
Sous vide fish
Sous vide vegetables
Sous vide fruit
Tips and tricks
See all sous vide guides

Pickling

Pickled asparagus
Pickled mackerel
Pickled gooseberries
Pickled cucumber
Pickled red cabbage
See all pickling guides

Chef tricks

Brining
Fish stock
Rib-eye steak
Chorizo crisps
Pomme purée
Crispy chicken skin

VISIT OUR SHOP GBC unlocked

Recipes
- - - Everyday and easy
    - Midweek meal
    - Quick
    - Quick pasta
    - Easy cake
    - See all easy recipes
  - - Main ingredients
    - Chicken
    - Beef
    - Lamb
    - Pork
    - Salmon
  - - Vegetarian main ingredients
    - Cheese
    - Egg
    - Mushroom
    - Tofu
    - Vegetarian
  - - Carbohydrates
    - Pasta
    - Potato
    - Rice
    - Noodle
    - Bread
  - - Fish and Seafood
    - Prawn
    - Cod
    - Sea bass
    - Mackerel
    - See more fish and seafood recipes
  - - Meal Type
    - Breakfast
    - Lunch
    - Main course
    - Snack
    - Cake
  - - Diets
    - Vegan
    - Vegetarian
    - Pescatarian
    - Gluten-free
    - Dairy-free
  - - Courses
    - Canapés
    - Starters
    - Mains
    - Desserts
    - Petits fours
  - - Cuisine
    - Mexican
    - Italian
    - Indian
    - Thai
    - Chinese
  - - Michelin and Advanced
    - Michelin star
    - Michelin star starter
    - Michelin star dessert
    - Challenging
    - Dinner party
- After something else? Take a look at what's new and get inspired.
  LATEST RECIPES
Chefs
How To Cook
Features
Competitions

Search by ingredient, dish or cuisine

Search history

Chicken

Lamb

Salmon

Venison

Sea Bass

Duck

Michelin

Vegetarian

Dessert

Cod

Ingredient focus: bergamotby Sally Abé19 January 2016 Smoked mackerel with avaocado and bergamot

Ingredient focus: bergamotby Sally Abé19 January 2016

A lesser known member of the citrus family, you may recognise the aroma from floral Earl Grey tea leaves. Sally Abé tells us everything you need to know about bergamot.

More from this series:

Ingredient focusIngredient focus: bergamotby Sally Abé19 January 2016

A lesser known member of the citrus family, you may recognise the aroma from floral Earl Grey tea leaves. Sally Abé tells us everything you need to know about bergamot.

View more from this series:

Ingredient focusSally Abé

After a five-year stint in the kitchen at two Michelin-starred restaurant The Ledbury, Sally is now head chef at The Harwood Arms in London.

When Sally came to London to cook as part of her culinary arts degree, she never went back to college in Sheffield.

Sally began her career at the Savoy Grill, before moving on to a two year stint at Gordon Ramsay's Claridges restaurant. After this, she spent five years at two-Michelin-starred restaurant The Ledbury as sous chef.

Sally is now the head chef at the Michelin-starred Harwood Arms in London, where she makes the most of Britain's fantastic game meat and seasonal produce.

Bergamot is a citrus fruit hailing from Calabria in Italy, where eighty percent of the world’s stock is still grown. The trees were originally brought over from Persia by traders in the 1700s and have been grown there ever since. The rind of the bergamot (in the form of an essential oil) is widely used in the production of perfume and also the aromatic Earl Grey tea.

The very bitter flavour of bergamot is caused by the natural compound citrus polyphenol, which has been shown to benefit the cardiovascular system when taken in high doses. Due to this bitterness, the fruit of the bergamot itself is not generally used directly in cooking, but rather the rind or the juice as flavouring.

Flavour profile

Bergamot has an almost overwhelming perfumed flavour and a high acidity which means it is normally mixed with milder citrus fruits such as lemon or orange to make it palatable. It is also sour – similar to that of a grapefruit – and only a little of the juice is normally needed.

The primary aromas in bergamot are that of citrus, which splits into two distinct categories; citrus with citrus peel and citrus with coriander seed. The secondary aromas in bergamot are that of pine and floral notes, especially rose.

Food matches

The flavour of bergamot lends itself very well to herbs with an obvious link to coriander, but also works with basil, thyme and sage. However, the ultimate flavour pairing has to be rosemary; combining those two flavours in a custard tart perfectly offsets the richness of the eggs and cream.

Bergamot also stands up to bold spices such as coriander seed, cardamom, cinnamon, nutmeg, cumin and star anise. Other strong flavours that complement bergamot also include gin, lemongrass, ginger and chamomile.

Citrus fruits match well with bergamot, such as lemon and grapefruit, but also lesser used varieties such as yuzu and kumquat. Peter Coucquyt’s take on a classic Cosmopolitan links bergamot with Citroen vodka and the floral notes of Mandarin Napoleon, a brandy similar to Grand Marnier, while David Everitt-Matthias pairs his Bergamot parfait with orange and the strong flavour of liquorice for a distinctly different dessert.

This Smoked mackerel with avocado and bergamot recipe works so well thanks to the similar floral notes in the bergamot and mackerel. The green aromas that are also present in the mackerel also match with the avocado and olive oil, while the peppery taste of the radish is in stark contrast to these aromas, and adds a great flavour boost.

Mandarine Napoléon, vodka, cranberry, bergamotMandarine Napoléon, vodka, cranberry, bergamotby Peter CoucquytGreat Italian ChefsOrecchiette with watercress purée, bergamot and musselsOrecchiette with watercress purée, bergamot and mu...by Lorenzo Cogo

Did you know?

Bergamot essential oil is used in over fifty percent of all women’s perfume.

100 bergamot oranges will produce just 85g of essential oil.

Bergamot was named after the city of Bergamo in Lombardy, Italy.

Subscribe to the

Great British Chefs Newsletter

Join an ever-growing community of food lovers now by subscribing to our newsletter and get all the latest recipes, features and much more to your inbox

SUBSCRIBE Terms and conditions