Local Food Heroes Blog

Tuesday, 09 03 10 - 15:50

Monster Parsnips

I've mentioned my mate Bob before, he grows some superb vegetables, many of which are just that little bit bigger than the norm!

You don't get many of them to the pound!

Tuesday, 09 03 10 - 15:10

New Farmers' Market at Kibworth Beauchamp

Leicestershire Food Links are opening a new Farmers' Market on Saturday 8th May 2010 between 9.00am and 1.30pm at the Kibworth Beauchamp High School car park on Smeeton Road.

For further details see: www.leicestershirefoodlinks.org.uk

Monday, 08 03 10 - 17:36

BBC Program needs 'Shopkeeping' families

The makers of Who Do You Think You Are?, Edwardian Country House, and New Tricks are looking for a butcher, baker and grocer along with their families to take part in a unique living history experience for BBC ONE.

What is required? We are looking for bakers, butchers, grocers and their families to feature in a new, prime-time BBC ONE living history series. The programmes will chart the history of the British High Street from 1870 – 1970 by taking a group of skilled modern shopkeepers back in time. We are hoping to find lively, outgoing families with children aged between 8 - 18 years who can rise to the challenge of living and trading their way through 100 years of British history. We want families who can help bring this ambitious series to life and who will relish the opportunity to give modern customers a unique insight into the history of their trade.

How? The families will start by running their shop in the 1870s for one week. Then they will be fast-forwarded through time and spend a week running their shop in different key eras of British History - the Edwardian era, the 20s and 30s, the Second World War, the early 1960s and finally the 1970s. In each era, the shopkeepers and their families will have to live and run their shop as authentically as possible.

When? The series will be filmed during the summer of 2010 over approximately 9 to 10 weeks.

Where? The trades’ people and their families will relocate for the duration of the filming to a modern-day market town in the South West. We will be taking over 5 shops, dotted around a picturesque market square. It’s an ambitious and exciting way to stage this fascinating living history project and gives our shopkeepers an unprecedented chance to demonstrate to an entire town the challenges which their forebears would have faced on a daily basis.

Why? This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for a family to explore the history of their trade. It’s a chance to celebrate Britain’s rich history of independent trading and to showcase experts in their craft. Our butcher, baker and grocer will have the chance to learn old time skills in their shop, which will be meticulously decorated and fitted out. They’ll need to tempt modern customers with once-fashionable recipes and use traditional methods to create them. And they’ll grapple with the challenges of rationing and other rules and regulations laid down by history. It’s a chance to experience the evolution of the British High Street first hand.

For more details on this exciting opportunity, please contact Zara on 020 7241 9232, or email zara.margham@walltowall.co.uk   

Wednesday, 10 02 10 - 16:27

Leicestershire County Show

This event has been cancelled.

This year's County show will be held at Melton Mowbray Airfield on Sunday and Monday, 2nd and 3rd May 2010.

The Leicestershire County Show website says:

Showcasing the Best of the County

The focus point off the food hall will showcase the very best in produce from around the County. The region food and drink producers truly represent the ethos of Leicester Agricultural Society.

Working closely with Leicestershire Food Links this core area is a delight and customers can sample and take home of the finest gastronomic delights.

Tickets will be available to book online via the show website: www.leicestershireshow.co.uk   

Wednesday, 10 02 10 - 16:15

Leicester Summer Food and Drink Festival 2010

Leicester's Summer Food and Drink Festival 2010 will take place at Leicester Market on Sunday, 30th May 2010.

There will also be a Winter Festival on Sunday 21st Nov 2010.

Wednesday, 10 02 10 - 16:09

Melton Mowbray Country Fair

Organised by Leicestershire Food Links the Melton Mowbray Country Fair will take place on Sunday 27th June 2010.

It is hoped to include local entertainers, rural craft-workers and demonstrations, handmade crafts, local food producers and local businesses, along with veteran and vintage vehicles.

Wednesday, 10 02 10 - 16:00

East Midlands Food and Drink Fair – Melton Mowbray.

Get your diary out and book the date! This year's East Midlands Food and Drink Fair at Melton Mowbray will take place on Saturday and Sunday, 2nd & 3rd October 2010.

Wednesday, 10 02 10 - 15:53

Events at the Manor

Head South in the County, about as far as you can go, and you'll arrive at Manor Farm Shop & Tea Room, Catthorpe where there are activities for all the family:

• Every Thursday from 10.30 - 12.30 there are free arts and crafts workshops for children with different activities each week.
• Every Tuesday - traditional roast lunches using the farms own meat and potatoes for £6.50, including tea or coffee.
• Every Sunday - traditional Sunday Roast Lunch - booking advisable.
• Currently - Lambing is in progress - bring the kids and see the lambs in the covered barn

Further details of the farm shop and tea rooms, with a link to directions, can be found here.

Monday, 01 02 10 - 21:05

A 'Modern' Bacon Cure

I've written before about curing bacon and given a recipe for what is a fairly low salt product. Whilst there is nothing wrong with this bacon, I increased the salt slightly when I wrote a tutorial on 'beginners' bacon curing for the sausagemaking.org forum. I have subsequently increased the salt level I use in my own cures again and realised that I haven't even mentioned doing so on this blog. So, here's an updated version of the tutorial I posted, including an online calculator for the cure posted on the sausage making forum, with the optional addition of vitamin C which minimises any risk from the cure...

Monday, 25 01 10 - 17:18

At Last - A Fridge!

What a bloomin' lousy week! I said in my last post that the fridge in the kitchen had died; well, now the drying fridge has come out in sympathy! That's two fridges and a microwave in a couple of weeks.

We ordered a new fridge for the kitchen from a very large high-street retailer's website, along with a new microwave. The fridge arrived on Wednesday and, lo and behold, there was a dent in the door. An hour of navigating a labyrinth of the "push button one for..." variety finally got a replacement delivered on Saturday morning. Surprise, Surprise it had two dents in it! We finally got a new fridge today.

As you can guess, going from three fridges to one has meant that not much curing or sausage making has happened in this house recently. Fortunately, the jinx hasn't extended to the garden so my smoker is still working satisfactorily as these pheasants and partridges can testify; at least they could if they were alive. Oh, silly me - and able to speak!

Friday, 15 01 10 - 17:21

There's always something!

Finally the snow seems to have cleared. I've not bothered venturing further than the pub while it's icy, not because we couldn't, but it seemed a bit daft to venture far when we didn't have to. I'm getting to be even more of a grumpy old man and the TV set is in grave danger of flying through the nearest window if I have to listen to any more news reporters tell us that the few inches of snow we've had are unprecedented, or other such exaggerated terms. The only reason our roads weren't as clear as they should have been is because our penny pinching council couldn't be bothered to stock up with salt in time; they promised they would ensure adequate supplies last time they got caught out. It's a pity that all the hot wind that comes out of their mouths when they're caught with their pants down yet again couldn't be used to melt the snow.

I'd have gone out today to get more meat as I need to make sausage and ham and also want to try to make the Italian spreading sausage called Nduja, a fiery concoction full of chilli. It needs a particular type of chilli to be at its best and one of my sausage making chums, John from Quiet Waters Farm in Devon, has kindly sent me some. If you're ever down that way, be sure to pay him a visit and buy some of his superb charcuterie. Regrettably, there was no point as I haven't the fridge space for anything else as our kitchen fridge decided to give up the ghost, so everything's in the curing fridge at the moment. To add insult to injury the microwave came out in sympathy with the fridge so we need a new one of them as well. Neither of these items are old and the microwave has hardly been used. We bought an 'all singing and dancing' microwave with a grill and normal oven - neither have ever been used and the microwave has only been used to heat milk for sauces, heat baked beans and the like, and to defrost the occasional piece of meat. I'm sure these things have obsolescence built in nowadays!

On a more cheerful note it's great to read that my writings are appreciated by some, even if you have to go to Canada to find them! Barbecue specialists The Black Pig Competition BBQ Team recently featured my soft bread rolls on their blog, Les Noiracochon. Thanks for the plug guys.

On the cooking front things have been quiet. I know that others write about their everyday meals and the like, but I won't insult you by giving you a recipe for the slow cooked belly pork that we had last night. I won't insult your intelligence by giving a list of ingredients but here's what I did: grab some slabs of pork belly and just season it with salt, cook at 120°C on a grid above water for about 5 hours then blast with heat to crisp up - superb, melt in the mouth meat and crispy crackling, what more could anyone want?

What I will do though is give you the recipe for the hot water crust pastry that my mate Maurice used for this game pie:

Pastry: 9oz Plain Flour, 3oz Lard, ¼ pint water, ½ level teaspoon salt. Heat fat and lard until lard is melted then bring to a boil and mix with the flour and salt. This makes a pastry that's as good as any I've had. Some of the quality is no doubt due the fact that Maurice has got it just the right thickness to be crisp but not hard. He's from Yorkshire. They know a bit about pies in that neck o' the woods! He's now got his own cold smoke generator, so I look forward to posting more about his exploits in future.   

Sunday, 03 01 10 - 19:23

RIP Monster Bresaola

With nothing better to do because of the snow, I had a trawl through my past posts. I realised that I never posted the outcome of the monster piece of beef that I was making bresaola with here and here.

I'd like to tell you how brilliant it was - but I can't! After a while hanging in my drying fridge it started to smell like a tramp's underwear - take it from me, I know from personal experience what a tramp's underwear smells like and it isn't pleasant! There was nothing to do,other than bin it. As one of my forum colleagues has as his signature "It's Not a Sin to Bin". We all get occasional failures but it's all the more galling when the meat has cost a lot of money.

That's the last time I come up with a hair brained-scheme like injecting cure into meat that I'm aiming to dry out! If I'd used my head, I should have realised it was a daft idea in the first place.

Sunday, 03 01 10 - 18:54

You can't tell Stork from Butter?

It's the middle of Pantomime season so you're all allowed to shout "Oh, yes we can", but how about making your own butter? This time of year is great for picking up double cream that's near its sell by date from the Supermarkup [sic], or you could even buy local cream specially. Just after Easter or Wimbledon are also good times.

I make butter using my Kenwood mixer, you could also use an electric whisk, or even make it by hand.

I put the cream in the mixer with a pinch of salt and a small pinch of sugar for every 300ml. I've no idea why I use the sugar it's just that I saw a lady who had made the butter for Chatsworth house for about 50 years do it; who am I to argue with her experience!

Using the K beater on the mixer, start 'churning' the cream

Nearly there!

If you don't have a bowl cover use a tea towel, or when it 'turns' it will splatter everywhere:

Turn it off quickly when you hear the butter slopping around in the butter-cream.

Now the important bit, rinse and work the butter in very cold water to get rid of as much of the milky stuff in the butter as you can, then put it onto a board and pat (beat) it - water will come out of it. I don't have butter pats so use my hands and a rolling pin.

I flatten it, then roll it like a Swiss roll to shape it.

You can see from the photo that it needs more work to extract water - I'm going to be using it quickly so it's not so important. This butter will freeze well, so there's no excuse for not making plenty.

The taste reminds me of the creamy Normandy butter you get in France; far better than shop bought and for about half the price. You also get the buttermilk; it makes great scones or can be used to dip chicken into before coating in breadcrumbs or flour when making fried chicken.

Thursday, 31 12 09 - 23:03

Review Of The Year

It's today that most 'proper' bloggers troll through their posts and do a review of their year. Me? I went to the pub instead! There's links to each month on the right below: pick your own 'cos I ain't doin' it for ya!

I hope that you all have a great 2010 and achieve everything that you would wish for yourselves.

Monday, 28 12 09 - 19:22

Pauline's Ham

I hope you all had a great Christmas and got all the pressies that you asked for. We had a superb turkey from Clump Farm, a farm that's only about half a mile from here. That along with home-cured ham and bacon, home-made sausage and home-smoked cheese made for some great food.

Now, the ham was one of the best flavoured I've made, even if it did nearly cause a divorce! You see, whilst you may think that saying that my 'bread rolls are just like the supermarket's' is a compliment, most cooks will not. Likewise when Pauline said: "Can you cure a ham to taste like the supermarket's". Well, I ask you, what would you think? Anyway, when she got back from the hospital we discussed the ham further and I came up with a revised cure. Funnily enough it has a lot more salt; something that the family had always said they didn't want when I suggested it before regarding my bacon! Sometimes I think that I can't win, but with just me in the house and three women, I guess I can't!

The post-Christmas remains of 6 kg of ham:

Anyway, here's the new cure:

Pauline's Ham

Water 2810gm
Salt 680gm
Muscodavo Sugar 405gm
Cure #1 105gm
Juniper Berries 2
Cloves 2
Black Pepper Corns 4
Bay Leaves 1
Coriander seeds 4

Method

Weigh the spices then bash them about a bit. Put the water, salt, sugar and spices (in fact, everything except the Cure #1) into a pan and bring to the boil. Stir to dissolve the salt and sugar. Leave to cool.

Using water, make the weight back up to the original amount - that is the original weight of the water, salt, sugar and spices, added together. That's the total weight of everything except the Cure #1.

Mix the Cure #1 into the cooled brine mixture stirring to ensure that it is dissolved.

Weigh the meat and calculate 10% of its weight. Inject this weight of brine into the meat ensuring that you get brine into all areas of the meat.

Now put the meat into the remaining brine and put it in the fridge for around 5 - 7 days, turning the meat every day or two. My meat weighed 6kg so I gave it the full 7 days.

The meat was then rinsed, dried off, and left to dry further in the fridge overnight. You could smoke it at this stage if you wanted.

The other change I made was to the cooking method. I steamed this ham, keeping the temperature above the water to 80°C. The ham is cooked when the temperature of the centre of the meat reaches 75°C. I have found that this method results in less flavour loss and also less weight loss in the finished ham and that by cooking to 75°C, as against 72°C, it gives a more tender product. An alternative would be to cook it in a vacuum bag or boil-able 'roasting' bag in water at 75 - 80°C.