It's funny that just pontificating about food and doing a bit of bacon-curing opens doors to doing things that you'd never have thought of. The occasional product review has appeared before but I've never been asked to review whisky until now; more particularly the Drinks by the Dram service from online spirits suppliers Masters of Malt.
What's that? Well, It's exactly what it says it is, you can order drinks by the dram, tot, measure, nip, slug, snifter, or whatever you care to call a 30ml measure!
"But why", I hear you ask, and to be honest those were my thoughts initially, but the more I think about it, the more it makes sense. "Come-on, Phil", I hear you say, "You're only saying that 'cos they've sent you a freeby!". OK you cynical lot, I'll admit that I was sceptical at first, but given that in the past someone kindly gave me a bottle of Laphroaig, about £30 quids worth, that to me tasted like TCP - the idea's grown on me.
The drams arrived well packaged and I really like the 'sort of' retro style of the bottle labels:
They'd make a great present, either singly as a stocking filler, or as a tasting selection - Masters of Malt have a number of pre-chosen sampling sets just in case you have difficulty in choosing your own and also do sampling sets for rum and cognac. Drinks by the Dram also gives the whisky aficionado the chance to try something like a Glenfarclas 1952 Family Cask, that costs over £1500 a bottle, without ending up in the divorce courts!
With a unbelievable selection of whiskies of all types from all around the world, including Japan, Sweden, India and even England - there's over two thousand Scottish whiskies alone - it's well worth a look. They also stock a wide range of other spirits, champagne, and the widest range of bitters I've ever seen!
In a scene reminiscent of Jesse in the Fast Show the food blogging community seems to be writing en masse about Abel and Cole's new line of free-range chickens.
It appears that we've all been 'chosen' to receive one for comment! So what's so good about it, that firstly it merits sending it out free of charge to so many people, and secondly, that they all chose to write glowing reports about it?
Well, one reason is because it's fed on an environmentally friendly soy free feed; another that it is a damn good chicken!
Environmentally friendly? Well yes, if you believe in 'the lesser of the evils' - you're saving the rain-forest - but the fact is that the chicken's still got to get from the farm in Devon to where you live!
Would I buy it? A resounding yes - that is if I couldn't get superb dry plucked free range chicken, with the tendons removed, from Mrs Tomlinson at Stoke Golding (also sold online by Sealwood with free delivery) or another local supplier.
So what about the chicken? Well, I was going to do Poule au Pot, but that was too much like Jules's recipe, so I thought "a plain roast?", but Gluten Free Journey had already done that! So it's one of my old standbys - Lemon and Garlic Chicken, based on a recipe from Nigel Slater's book 'Toast'.
Cut the chicken into 8 pieces, chuck it in a roasting tin with a head of garlic (crushed up a bit) and some onion segments. Squeeze over the juice from two lemons and chuck the lemons in, glug with olive oil and stuff in the oven at 180°C for ½ hour. Then chuck a glass or two of wine in along with a handful of basil leaves. Cook for 15 minutes more and serve...
...dip ya bread in!
This is even nicer done with preserved lemons. Pauline can't have wine, so I used chicken stock instead. She's going to have to go!
I thought I'd better put a warning on this post, given that I read today that Cadbury's Dairy Milk contains milk and their Fruit and Nut chocolate bar also contains nuts! Apparently, the warnings that Cadbury have added to their products are to comply with legal requirements. The world's gone mad!
Anyway, back to fruit and veggie box that online organic supplier Abel and Cole sent me 'cos I'm an altogether nice guy - no, no you cynical lot, it's not 'cos they're running an SEO link building campaign! Anyway, what the heck, I enjoyed the contents and quite liked the mystery of opening the box and then cooking meals to suit. Although, given that the box contained mainly staple items, this wasn't exactly a challenge.
I could have posted about the Poule au Pot I made using the veg, or the roasted vegetables, and soups that we also enjoyed - but what with having the lousy cold that's been going around, I just couldn't be bothered. Instead you get this load of cods wallop.
So what did the box, that retails at £15.95, contain? Well there were leeks, mushrooms, white cabbage, parsnips, carrots, onions and potatoes along with bananas, oranges and small apples. Good Value? Well yes, if you want organic fruit and veg, the price compares very favourably with the leading supermarkets, and as a bonus, delivery is free.
Will I be signing up for a regular delivery? Well no, unfortunately this style of buying doesn't suit the way we buy veg. I'm sorry, but what I'm about is supporting local producers so if I wanted a regular box it would be from a local grower like those listed in the directory.
For none organic, but good local veg, I would buy from Sealwood Online - your own choice of fruit and veg and free delivery at really competitive prices.
Monday is usually 'leftover' day in our house: we demolished the pork joint from Heath Farm yesterday so decided to have the wild boar sausage that we bought from Langton Farm Shop on Saturday.
I served them with Duchesse Bubble. They were tasty, a slightly stronger taste than the home-made pork sausage that accompanied them.
The wild boar sausage are on the right.
The sausage was quite finely ground which I like in a thin sausage. They were lightly seasoned which let the wild boar flavour shine.
Local Food Heroes is owned and run by Phil Young a resident of Leicestershire in the UK. Here it is that I ‘ramble on’ about my interest in home produced food products with an emphasis on curing and charcuterie.
I thought I'd better put a warning on this post, given that I read today that Cadbury's Dairy Milk contains milk and their Fruit and Nut chocolate bar also contains nuts! Apparently, the warnings that Cadbury have added to their products are to comply with legal requirements. The world's gone mad!
