Local Food Heroes Blog

Friday, 30 07 10 - 20:21

More Tea Vicar!

Contrary to popular belief, I don't spend all my life in scruffy trousers, shoes held together with gaffer tape and a tatty old top. Yes, occasionally, very occasionally, I'm put in the bath, dusted down and dressed up 'all posh', generally when I've been press-ganged by the kids into doing something to celebrate a birthday/anniversary or similar event that I'd rather not. Unfortunately, when it comes to Mrs Young's major milestones in life, ignoring them is not an option; well it is, but I don't like hospital food! This is how I ended up agreeing to go for a nice afternoon at Coombe Abbey Country Park followed by afternoon tea at the Coombe Abbey Hotel.

Now, having stayed at Coombe Abbey for my nephew's wedding last year I had mixed feelings about the place; the actual wedding breakfast and reception were superb and the staff super helpful in a non-intrusive way, but the breakfast was pretty poor with the worst black pudding I have ever had the misfortune to eat. That alone would be enough to put me off but the worst thing about the whole place is that it's as dark as the proverbial black hole of Calcutta! OK maybe in the public areas, but when it extends to the bedrooms it's beyond a joke. They're obviously trying to create a medieval ambience, but to me, it's just plain dark; if you've got a medieval characterful building then at least let me see it!

Fortunately, the teas are served in the Garden Restaurant, a large conservatory which is light and airy. The tea itself was superb, great service and superb food. The cakes were well made and the scones as light as a feather. I really couldn't fault it; small sandwiches of ham and tomato, smoked salmon, and cucumber were followed by almond and cherry cake, lemon drizzle cake, scones with clotted cream and jam, and millionaires shortcake. Granted, not the most 'delicate' of teas; no dainty éclairs, Mille-feuille or fruit tarts, but none the worse for that! It's a great way to spend an afternoon and if you don't fancy the full McCoy they also offer a cream tea of scones with clotted cream and jam.

On the subject of Coombe Abbey, I have to say how impressed I am with their adaption of the Grade 1 listed building for wheelchair users. Whilst there are obviously limitations to what can be done due to the nature of the building, which leads to access to certain areas being by convoluted routes, they have ensured that all the main facilities are accessible. Many other hotels will lesser constraints should take note.

Wednesday, 28 07 10 - 19:16

New Food Magazine

Leicestershire and Rutland now have their very own dedicated food magazine.

Enjoy Great Food Leicestershire and Rutland will be delivered free to 12,000 selected properties in Leicestershire and Rutland on a bi-monthly basis. Subscription, for those not lucky enough to receive it for nothing, is £15 annually.

The sample issue shows a professional approach with a wide variety of topics spanning both local produce and dining. My concern is that, with an advertising funded magazine, reviews may not be as 'honest' as they could be - only time will tell whether this is so. However, so far the magazine is well written with superb photography; Local Food Heroes wishes it a long and successful future.

For further details visit the Enjoy Great Food Leicestershire and Rutland Website

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.   

Monday, 20 07 09 - 17:03

Good Neighbours

I'm lucky enough to live in a small village community where people are generous, whether it be with their time or goods.

I've mentioned people like Bob and Maurice before, and in this last week alone Bob has brought me some beetroot (which he would take nothing for), and Maurice some Marsh Samphire from his visit to Norfolk. Dad brought some back a couple of weeks ago for for both Maurice and me; it's lovely and tender at this time of year and takes far less cooking than later in the season.

But the 'pièce de résistance' is this box of veg that Colin brought last week. I'm surprised he's not been mentioned by me before as this isn't the first box of veg he's brought me. I owe him some bacon and other goodies 'big time'!

The girl's organised a barbecue as Pauline celebrated her birthday yesterday; she's XX (censored by Pauline) years old. I'd like to say that all the sausage and beefburgers were home-made, but the girls wanted the party to be a surprise, so nothing could be prepared in advance!

We managed to 'get rid' of Pauline for an hour and a half before people were due to arrive. During this time they set everything up, including two gazebos. Pretty good work.

My contribution was to make a tandoori marinade for the chicken, prepare and cook a potato salad with home-made mayo/yoghurt dressing...

..prepare some of Madhur Jaffrey's Sour Chickpeas...

... and make a Broad Bean and Pancetta Salad.

I have made the Chickpeas before so know they are popular, but was surprised how many people liked the broad bean salad. I was also surprised how many people commented favourably about the Cucumber Raita I had made as an after-thought; it was only peeled seeded cucumber, lightly salted in yoghurt with a pinch of sugar and a couple of pinches of powdered cumin - as Aleksandr says "Simples!"

...and blow me down, my next-door neighbour's just popped over with some surplus rhubarb.

Monday, 13 07 09 - 16:58

Busy Doing Nothing

"I'm busy doing nothing,
working the whole day through,
Trying to find lots of things not to do.
I'm busy going nowhere,
isn't it just a crime,
I'd like to be unhappy,
but I never do get the time."

So sang Bing Crosby in the film, "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court". I know how he feels because although I'm up and about I've still got to "take things easy" - even though I'm raring to go!

So, just to have something to moan and go on about, here's a picture of the brisket of beef Pauline cooked on Saturday:

She browned it in the frying pan in a little oil, then browned onion, carrot and celery in the same pan, adding water when browned. The meat was sat on top of the veg and liquid in a sealed casserole and cooked at 140°C for about 4 hours - superb.

Now to climb onto my soapbox. To all you people who are still buying your meat from the 'supermarkup' - we bought two pieces of brisket from Joseph Morris's weighing a total of 2.95kg, each piece being just over 3lb. The cost, £7.83; the same amount of brisket would have cost £14.75 at the supermarket where you pat your back pocket. At the same time I bought 4.67kg of Pork Loin costing £16.49 - £3.53 per kg. At ASDA this would have cost £34.93 - £7.48 per kg.

Joseph Morris £24.32: ASDA £49.68. It's what the kids call a 'no brainer'; meat at half the price that tastes twice as good.

On the subject of saving money, if you're planning a trip to a PYO farm, check the prices before you go. I rang around for my Dad and found that the prices of raspberries vary from £1.20 to £2.50 a pound between farms.

I won't embarrass anyone by naming names but if the customer picks the fruit and there's no dealer's or retail shop profit to add on, how come the berries are dearer than the ready picked ones in the shops?

OK, I'll give you a clue, if you want good cheap berries, start with the PYO farms at the North of my map. Oh, OK then, I rang all but Seldom Seen Farm - cheapest were Wymeswold Self Pick and Scaddows Farm, followed closely by Cattows Farm - the rest lagged sadly behind.

A map of PYO farms is here.

Other things that have 'caught my eye' over the last couple of weeks include:

Nationally...

Jackie Schneider in the Guardian making a very good case for the money currently being spent on 'food campaigns' being reassigned to provide free school meals for all children.

EU restrictions on wonky fruit and vegetables are being lifted. It's ludicrous that they will still remain for some produce - give the consumer the choice and chance to buy them. Talk about a nanny state!

The Telegraph has a five-minute video recipe of Xanthe Clay preparing Bruschetta of haricot beans, lemon and chilli. That's a five-minute video of someone making posh beans on toast ...and they actually pay her to do this?

Locally...

'Matti' at Hedgerow products has been busy picking wild cherries - so look out for his cherry jelly.

Northfield Farm have added a new attraction - a farm walk - see all the animals and how a farm works.

...and finally, Mark at Rockingham Forest Cider has been cooking with chorizo, a new product from Ashley Herb Farm. At the moment they're only making fresh chorizo, but according to Mark, a cured version is also promised later in the year. I look forward to trying that.

Friday, 20 02 09 - 13:58

Broccoli - A Cuckoo in the Nest?

It appears that a promotion by the UK cauliflower growers, to try and regain the third of their market that has been lost in the last decade, has ruffled the feathers of Italian 'broccoli' growers.

Now let's get something straight here - the bright green stuff from Italy, sold at a ridiculously high price for a few ounces, isn't broccoli. It's calabrese. When and where someone decided to change its name, who knows? My (conspiracy) theory is that is was to try and confuse people into believing that this boring non-entity of a vegetable is akin to its aristocratic relative, British grown sprouting broccoli, and by doing so, gain some form of kudos.

I hate to say it, but they seem to have succeeded. But why? Is it that the impostor doesn't come with the baggage of being part of that soggy mass of veg served by our grandparents, or because it needs hardly any preparation? Maybe it's because some pseudo scientific 'expert' decided that it's a super-food? Who knows? It makes you wonder whether if cauliflower was sold as a few pieces at a time, wrapped in cling film, and at double the price, its sales would be higher. Heaven forbid that the modern housewife has to cut the thing up!

Let's cast of the image that cauliflower can only be served plain or in a cheese sauce. Don't over-cook it, leave it al dente, and it's superb. Follow the Indian lead; they use it in a variety of dishes including pakoras, aloo gobi, or the indo-chinese gobi manchurian. You could of course follow the advice of Harry Phibbs in The Guardian instead:

Another awfully modern thing to do is not to cook the cauliflower at all but break it up into little flowers and offer them to your guests alongside dips.

I love the fact that this is 'awfully modern'. I ate this at the Tewkesbury Hotel and Country Club in the late '70s, and have served it regularly ever since! I'll have to stop now; I wouldn't want anyone to think me 'awfully modern'!

It's British grown and available all year; let's restore the cauliflower to its rightful position, it deserves it.

Monday, 08 12 08 - 15:02

www.Free Range Birds.co.uk

You can't mention Geese in Leicestershire without the Botterill family's name coming up in the conversation.

Their company G. B Geese is situated at Lings View Farm, Middle Street, Croxton Kerrial, on the Leicestershire and Lincolnshire borders where they have been tending the farm for over 70 years. It is now run Gerald and Ann Botterill with their son, Richard, and his wife, Jo.

Their geese being herded through the streets of the village has been featured in several newspapers and TV programmes and their free range turkeys, geese and chickens can be seen freely grazing in the surrounding fields.

They now offer Free-range Christmas Goose, Turkey and Chicken, and have recently started producing chicken for sale throughout the year which can be ordered from their new website....

www.freerangebirds.co.uk

Saturday, 01 11 08 - 16:30

Slow Food & the Electicity Monitor

When we changed to a new electricity tariff a couple of months ago, we were given a free? electricity monitor; the effect has been amazing. We now have the alpha male (me!) running around like a headless chicken turning everything off!

Part of the current economy drive (lousy pun) has been to buy a slow cooker, or crock pot; I like crock pot best 'cos crock's what I am!

So far we've had beef casserole, chicken casserole, and as I speak a chunk of brisket is happily chugging away in it. The only problem is that when food takes 8 - 10 hours to cook, you have to be up far too early in the morning to turn it on. However, casseroles are great cooked one day: eaten the next.

Now, without wanting to upset the millions of people who think Jamie Oliver is God - when he says that there is no need to brown the meat for stews, he is just plain wrong; I tried it and there was nowhere near the same depth of flavour, the same also applies, almost more so for some reason, to the onions and stewing vegetables. It's like using water instead of stock, you'll make a nice stew - but it won't be as good... When you start telling people to cut corners, it's OK if they just cut one, but when they have heard loads of corner cutting tips, someone is bound to cut them all at once... better not to start in the first place.

Now, don't get me wrong, I know what Jamie's trying to do, and commend him for it; if people cook 'proppa' food 'cos they don't have to brown the meat, instead of eating ready meals, then I'm all for it. However, in my experience people, once introduced to good home cooking, become almost evangelical and will be quite happy to brown the meat etc.

Looking again though at his recipe, he actually says that it tastes better not browned; mind you his recipe looks highly flavoured in other areas - I prefer to let the flavour of the meat shine through, that's probably why we probably differ - as if he cares what I think anyway!

Saturday, 11 10 08 - 17:11

Chelsea Buns

I made these this afternoon using a recipe from Leith's Cookery Bible. They're fine, but I need to tweak the recipe before I'll be 100% happy with it, so I'll post it another day.

Thursday, 09 10 08 - 21:14

Festivals and Pork Pies

The East Midland's Food Festival

The UK's Largest Regional Food Festival was held at Brooksby Hall, near Melton Mowbray, on the 4th and 5th October and, of course, you could expect Local Food Heroes to bring you all the most up to date news from the event - well you could if I'd actually visited it!

Now, a clever journo would just write a piece pretending to be there - but remember, this ain't the News of the World, it's me, a thick git who pontificuts pintificoats writes this stupid stuff.

I did get a mention in dispatches though. All around 'good egg' Jules over on The Domestic Goddess in Training blog went to the event, and more importantly thanked me for reminding her to go! Apart from her obsession with Farrington's Rapeseed Oil from Northamptonshire, rather than Leicestershire's own Welland Valley Oil, she's brilliant.

Melton Mowbray Pork Pie

This week also saw Melton Mowbray Pork Pies getting the accreditation they deserve; the interim PGI issued by the EU in April has, I understand, received no objections and so will be made final. Cor Blimey, it's almost like a divorce, they'll be calling them Decree Nisi and Absolute next.

Regular readers will know that I have always had issues with the area defined for their manufacture; to include Wellingborough about 38 miles away, but not places only 12 miles away, and to include Northampton, but not the whole of Leicestershire, is just plain stupid. The area, defined in the application, is justified by all sorts of clap-trap about history, tradition etc; they then chose that great historical and traditional road, The M1, as the western boundary - that's historical since 1965 then lads eh! The reason for all of this was to satisfy the demands of large commercial producer Saxbys, who ironically stopped making Pork Pies virtually as soon as they got the concession!

I also think that they were foolish not to include both Melton Pork Pie and Melton Mowbray Pork Pie in the application to avoid any confusion.

It seems to me that leaving groups of producers to apply for these protected status areas is fraught with problems. Not least the commercial rivalry between the companies involved. There's got to be a better way.

There, I've got it off my chest. At the end of the day though, it's great that people buying a Melton Mowbray Pork Pie should be guaranteed that it's authentic - but it doesn't mean that other pies aren't good. In other parts of the Country some fine raised pork pies are being made, Eley's for example; one of my informants tells me that Eleys have a letter from Dickinson and Morris admitting that their pie is actually better than the D & M one, fact or urban myth?

P.S. The picture of the pie above is labelled Melton Pork Pie. I live to the West of the 'historical' M1 so can't call it a Melton Mowbray Pork Pie; it's better than any you'll buy there though.

Saturday, 16 08 08 - 19:41

Norfolk's Bounty

I'd heard of samphire a long while ago but have never had chance to get any. This changed last month when my mate Maurice, who has featured on this blog before, brought me some from Cookies Crab Shop in Salthouse.

Cookies is becoming a bit of a place of pilgrimage among the regulars at my local. John has visited a couple of times and Maurice invariably visits when down that way. It's a seafood shop with a few tables where you can eat, by no means haute cuisine but then you are getting a half lobster salad dressed with loads of other smoked and shell fish for under a tenner.

Samphire grows on the marshes and although it can be eaten raw, it is best lightly steamed or boiled. John saw it for sale on a table outside a house while he was driving to Cookies for lunch. At £1 for a good bag full, it was a steal. It's anything up to £14 a kilo in London!

Thursday, 14 08 08 - 16:22

The Inflation Busting Pig

No, not a comment about a successful Chancellor of the Exchequer! Instead, the news from the BBC that food inflation is up a record 13.7% in the past year with reports from The Morning Advertiser that the rate for meat and bread is around 16%.

This gives even more reason to try and save on food costs, and what better than if you can do this and also eat better food. Ignore the advice to buy cheaper Supermarket brands and make your own.

The half pig I bought recently has been processed and at a conservative estimate has saved me & my family £63 on Supermarket prices, that's a massive 41% saving.

So what has it made?

Sunday, 03 08 08 - 17:29

The Half Pig

Oh how I wish I could come up with clever titles for my posts.

Well I'm back in circulation and am doing the jobs that have been put 'on hold' whilst dad's been so ill.

The first thing was to get some more pork in to cure, and make sausages, so I ordered half a pig from Don at Warwick Bridge Farm Produce, Littlethorpe. In spite of supermarket pork prices rising by about 50p per pound across the board, Don's price was very reasonable and the pig obviously larger than the one I had last time. This suits me as I cure most of the meat and larger pigs are much better for this.

Wednesday, 04 06 08 - 19:56

ASDA 2p Sausages

Blimey, ASDA are really getting hammered in the press for selling sausages for 2p each - much of the comment's about the quality of the product (why do we now have to say 'two pee' instead of good old 'tuppence'?).

Now, I'm not going to defend a 2p sausage with only 34% lean meat content. If people want to eat them whatever I say is unlikely to have any effect. I imagine the people who eat these things, either through defective taste buds, or shortage of money, are mighty grateful for what ASDA are doing.

Funny how no-one has taken a pop at Sainsburys who are selling a sausage with an even lower percentage of meat (32%) and have the gall to charge 8p each for them.

Obviously, it's quite allright to sell rubbish as long as it's not cut price!

Tuesday, 22 04 08 - 16:40

Sainsbury's - Jamie Oliver

Now, I accept that Jamie Oliver is that famous he can just be referred to as Jamie or JO, just like Delia really. He is apparently the most iconic British chef. Don't mention that next time you see Gordon Ramsey! He's only got 10 (and counting) Michelin stars!