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!

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

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.

Tuesday, 15 12 09 - 21:06

I'm Back

I'm finally back in circulation, but am playing "catch up"; I've only just done some ham for Christmas! It's a new recipe. Pauline decided she wanted something different; how different it will be, we'll have to wait and see. It has very few flavourings; I've cut the spices right down, but it's got a lot higher level of salt and uses all Muscovado sugar.

I've also been making bacon and have still got to do some smoked sausage for slicing cold. It'll make a nice addition to the bresaola, coppa, lonzino, chorizo and pâté that I hope to serve either as a starter or as a lunch sometime over the Christmas period. I should have made some salami as well, but I haven't got around to it.

I was too late to get a half pig from my usual source so the meat's from Morris's at South Kilworth; well worth a trip - buy their meat in 5 kg lots and you get a quantity discount that really makes the trip worth while. Probably nearly half the price of the supermarket on things like belly pork and brisket.

Their current special offer price list is online in the 'freezer prices' section of their website.   

Wednesday, 11 11 09 - 17:05

Lest We Forget

IF YE FORGET

LET me forget—Let me forget,
I am weary of remembrance,
And my brow is ever wet,
With tears of my remembrance,
With the tears and bloody sweat,—
Let me forget.

If ye forget—If ye forget,
Then your children must remember,
And their brow be ever wet,
With the tears of their remembrance,
With the tears and bloody sweat,—
If ye forget.

Geoffrey A Studdert Kennedy
Woodbine Willie

Sunday, 30 08 09 - 20:13

Excuses

I'm sort of busy at the moment so will post in a couple of days. In the meantime here's a few of the things you can find elswhere on the blog.

Wednesday, 22 07 09 - 11:10

Local Farm Shop Shortlisted for Award

Local farm-shop owner Ian Jalland has been shortlisted as one of three finalists for the Farmers Weekly Local Food Farmer of the Year.

Ian is the owner of Brocklebys Farm Shop, and also has a flock of 600 Hebridean sheep.

The shop is no stranger to awards having previously been awarded a number of Great Taste Awards for a variety of produce including its organic Melton Mowbray Pork Pie.

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, 03 04 09 - 17:05

Spend, Spend, Spend

It's been a week of spend, spend, spend. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining 'cos it's not been that sort of spending, you know the sort when things go wrong. No, it's been the pleasurable sort, but it still gives you funny pains in the wallet!

Some time ago a fellow forum member who lives in the US got in touch to say he was coming to the UK and was there anything I wanted bringing over? Why, you may think did he do this? Well sausagemaking supplies, not only equipment but ingredients as well, are so much easily sourced in the quantities used by non-commercial curers in the US. Obviously, we thought twice about him bringing any cures and powdered ingredients just in case UK Customs didn't see the funny side! So I settled on asking him to bring some large collagen casings (sausage skins), well very large actually, they're 90mm (3½") wide and about 680mm (27") long!

It turned out that my forum pal Laurence, known as This Little Piggy has an uncle in Loughborough and was visiting him, so it was great to go in person to collect my goodies. I also got him to bring some smaller 60mm casings, hog rings, and hog pliers. What are hog rings I hear you ask? They're those metal rings that seal off the end of cooked sausage in the supermarket. The pliers make it easier to use them. In all £50's worth.

I'm going to use the casings to make luncheon meats; not the cheap and nasty stuff that we all remember as children, but bologna, mortadella and some of the ones of German origin. The first one I'm going to try is a Ham Roll Luncheon Meat from the great sausage maker Len Poli's website. I've got a piece of ham curing and will hopefully cook it on Saturday and make the sausage on Sunday.

I also ordered sausage making and curing supplies from Sausagemaking.org and Weschenfelder's. Cure from Sausagemaking cost me about £16 and casings, vacuum packs, stockinette and a mincer plate from Weschenfelders, about £80. All-in-all the week was shaping up to be an expensive one!

To cap it off, last Friday was my birthday so I used this as an excuse to treat myself. Now, the luncheon meats and the hot dogs that I make are what are termed emulsified sausages. They're not just minced, but processed to an emulsion with a little water. Commercially they're done in a machine called a bowl cutter. No, I didn't buy one of those; the smallest ones are £1-2 thousand! The nearest we can get to this at home is a powerful food processor.

One of the best for home use is the Magimix with it's 1100w motor. The hairy biker's review of it can be viewed here. They don't come cheap though. The top of the range one cost me £240 but, if it's anywhere near as good as the ones I've owned before, it should last for years.

Tuesday, 24 03 09 - 17:26

Online Food Hygiene Certificate

A couple of weeks ago I was offered the chance to study for an online food hygiene certicate by the Virtual College. Completion of the course and test qualifies for a level 2 (basic level) qualification and certificate.

I found the course content good, simple to understand, and to use. Whilst I already new most of the content from my past jobs and sausage making antics, it was good to sit down and draw all the loose threads together.

I have to say I was somewhat surprised by the qualifying test though; the questions had mainly common sense answers that you wouldn't need to do the course to get right. I expected far more technical questions about the different pathogens etc. I have since checked with my local Environmental Health Department, and this is common to all courses whether online or in a classroom setting, so cannot be classed as a fault.

All in all this seems like an excellent option for people who find it difficult to find time to be out of the workplace in the daytime - farmers with farm-shops, publicans etc - and it offers a low cost (it's only £25) solution to meeting the necessary legal requirements of running a food business.

Wednesday, 18 03 09 - 13:40

Rubbish Roe Revisited

Well it's been a funny few days. On Saturday I made the best beefburgers yet - the recipe's from a fellow Sausagemaking.org member, Oddley.

I've always been a "don't use anything other than chuck steak, ground with salt and pepper" man, but he's converted me. The spices aren't discernable in the taste, but it wouldn't be as good without them.

Things were going so well, that is until the element went in the fan oven on Sunday. £50 later and it's up and running again.

However, things are looking up again. Maurice rang me yesterday lunch-time to say that the fishmonger had replaced the roe that wasn't very good, free of charge. So yesterday evening we dry salted them for 8 hours, and they're in the cold smoker as I speak.

They certainly look more promising than the last lot.

Oh, and yesterday I took an online Food Hygiene Course, but more of that later...

Saturday, 14 02 09 - 16:38

It could only be in England - part 2

You know you're in England when...

A worker from a security firm fits a tracking device to an offenders false leg - The Yorkshire Post.

What a plonker!

Thursday, 12 02 09 - 19:47

It could only be in England!

You know you're in England when...

A 59 year old man using a walking frame is refused service when trying to buy cigarettes in TESCO, because he has no proof of age! - The Daily Mail.

People are that lazy that John West are introducing a tin of tuna that doesn't need draining - The Telegraph.

A pub turns away two marines on leave from Afghanistan, as their only proof of age is their military ID cards that they've used successfully all over the rest of the world. - The Daily Express.

Where foreign meat can be labelled British, and it's legal! - The Telegraph.

Or,

Where it takes celebrity endorsement to get people to buy British Pork from British producers - The Telegraph.

Makes you proud, doesn't it?

Wednesday, 28 01 09 - 17:37

A Busy Day

Hot Dog Sausages

Smoked Partridge

Pork Liver Pate

Traditional Faggots

Recipes to follow

Monday, 29 12 08 - 20:20

Never Look a Gift Horse...

I'm sure all of my friend [sic] think that all the produce I get is showered on me by grateful producers. He can't seem to accept that people will actually do something for nothing nowadays.

OK, I admit that in the 4 years or so I've been running this site, I have received 1 pot of Strawberry Jam (Thank You Sandra's Husband), and very nice it was too.

Anyway, you can imagine my surprise when I got an email from Abel and Cole asking if they could send me a complimentary organic fruit and vegetable box - I thought that it must be Christmas! Then I realised, It is!

There I am thinking I'm the luckiest blogger alive, when I pop over to Jules's Domestic Goddess in Training Blog and read this:

My love of Baileys, is well known. Not just for drinking it, but also cooking with it...

...Last week Baileys contacted me asking if I would like to try some of their new Baileys with a Hint of Coffee plus have a go at some of their recipes created by James Martin. Me being one to rarely pass on the opportunity to try a new alcohol or dessert recipe I jumped at the chance. It came at the perfect time as I had just finished my most recently bottle of Baileys and was trying to work out which Supermarket had the best deal for a bottle of it.

Talk about One-Upmanship, or One-Upwomanship in this case!

To any other major drinks manufacturers out there; I don't want to (Famous) Grouse 'cos I can't see the Woods (Navy Rum) for the trees. You know I promote local Lambs (Navy Rum) and (Black) Sheep (Ale). Come to think of it lots of this rings a Bell('s Brewery(or whisky - I'm not fussy)). And whilst I'm thinking of it, let's mention the Great British Generals - Gordon(s), Booth(s) and Grant...

To all at Abel and Cole - A Big Thank You - I'll write about your generous gift later.