Butchery & Charcuterie Courses in The Yorkshire Dales

Ever fancied a go at butchery, making your own sausages or curing your own bacon? Well now you can.  Paganum Artisan Butchery & Charcuterie run a series of courses in Pork Butchery, curing and charcuterie, Lamb Butchery and even beef forequarter and hindquarter.

The Butchery Grand Opening with Ade

Join us in the new Butchery.

Pork Butchery, Curing and Sausage making (Basic Charcuterie)

We start at the beginning with a tour of the farm, meet our Oxford Sandy & Black pigs, Blue Faced Leicester, Swaledale & Mule Sheep and Longhorn Cattle, coffee & Bacon butties are served.  We then tog up in our butchers gear and get down to the carcass, talk about the tools of the trade and then cut a side of rare breed pork into primals. Once into primals we can decide what we are going to make, all the pork cuts, your own recipe sausage, bacon cures, maybe some guanciale or pancetta, gammon, ham and much more. Refreshments included: Coffee & bacon butties followed by a local lunch and tea & cakes are served in the afternoon. You will take away a good selection of your work including pork joints/cuts, sausages and cured goods.

Malhamdale Oxford Sandy Black Pigs

Advanced Charcuterie

If you have already attended the Basic Charcuterie course or want to extend your knowledge of charcuterie then the advanced course can offer lots of insight.  Marc Frederic our lead Charcutier will guide you through the diverse selection of World charcuterie, including British, Italian, French & Spanish cured and preserved meats.

Pork Butchery Cuts Wildman Butchery

Lamb Butchery

A look at the different breeds of sheep stock followed by full carcass breakdown into all the Lamb joints and cuts.

Sausage Making

Great fun and an informative look at traditional sausage making, from pork belly and shoulder pork through to ingredients and method to filling the skins and traditional linking.  Take away your own batch of sausages made to your own recipe.

For More info and available dates please see www.paganum.co.uk

Sausage making demo at whitby war weekend with Rob Green

Cure your addiction – BACON CONNOISSEURS WEEK

Cure your addiction and celebrate everything Bacon, for one week only (until next year!) it is British Bacon Connoisseurs week from the 18th to the 24th March 2013.

I don’t just celebrate bacon for one week a year, our celebrations are weekly, nay daily through every month of the year! but for those looking for an excuse to eat more bacon, talk bacon, make bacon, try making bacon yourself – it’s not rocket science! read on and join in Bacon Connoisseurs week.  Sorry, had to pause this post just there and go and make myself a bacon buttie! I feel much better now.

Paganum dry cured streaky bacon

Traditional Dry Cured Bacon

Bacon can be made in various ways, my favoured method is the traditional dry cure where salts are massaged by hand into the pork, overhauled daily for 7 to 10 days, washed, air dried and this produces proper dry cure bacon.  Using this method the salts cure the meat by drawing out the moisture from the bacon thereby giving a dry finish, you can lose anything up to 30% in weight depending on how long you air dry but in my opinion this gives a superior quality bacon.  The image below shows a whole middle of bacon with the salt applied before it is massaged into every surface.

dry bacon curing

Wet Cure Brine method

Big producers prefer the brine immersion or injection methods as they are much faster and you are adding weight to the meat rather than taking it away! No surprise for efficiency and cost big manufacturers prefer this method!  The resulting wet cure bacon can shrink when cooked and the dreaded white scum appear in the pan.

Back Bacon

Mangalitza back bacon

This is some fantastic Yorkshire bred Mangalitza dry cure back bacon, just look at that pure white fat and the marbling through the meat.  Back bacon is made from the loin of pork.

Middle Bacon

middle bacon on slicer

Middle bacon as shown here rolled and ready to slice is the whole middle of the pig, pork loin and pork belly still connected and cured in one piece, you therefore get back and streaky together in one slice of bacon.

Streaky Bacon

streaky bacon on slicer

Streaky bacon is the cured pork belly, gives superb crispy bacon, great for butties or for dressing poultry, laid on the chicken or turkey breast protects and keeps your bird moist.

Pancetta

sliced pancetta

Similar to the streaky bacon and made from cured pork belly but this time with a different cure recipe with added herbs and spices and traditionally air dried for longer to give a drier finish.  Sold in slabs or sliced like the image above.

Guanciale

Guanciale pork jowel before trimming for curing

Guanciale you have to put on your best Italian accent and really say GUANCIALE to get the gist of this cured pork jowl delight. Pork jowl cured with juniper, thyme, bay and garlic to give an even richer style of pancetta, used in many classic Italian dishes including authentic Spaghetti Carbonara…

Sliced Guanciale

Pork Butchery & Curing Courses

If you want to find out more about pork butchery and how to cure bacon then you need to go on a Pork Butchery & Curing course at Paganum in the Yorkshire Dales.  More info on the courses here www.paganum.co.uk

Sausage making demo at whitby war weekend with Rob Green

cured pork cuts chart BPEX

The Good Food Guide 2013

The Good Food Guide 2013 app is out now, making sure foodie fanatics can hunt down hip cafés, pleasing pubs and of-the-moment restaurants from the palm of their hand.

Good Food Guide 2013 App Screen Shot

Whether searching for hidden gems, tracking down hot new talent or seeking out a seasoned old-timer, with The Good Food Guide 2013 app, finding the ideal eatery is simply a few taps of the finger away.

The Good Food Guide has long been the nation’s bestselling restaurant guide, and the latest version of the app continues to build on its outstanding reputation as the most reliable way to secure your culinary credentials.  Featuring over 1,300 of the very best restaurants, pubs and cafés from around the UK, alongside many other fantastic foodie features this app is a must-have on the iPhone or iPad of anyone who loves to eat out.

If you know what you are looking for use the app to hone in on your preferred place with the Nearby Places function.

•  If you are keen on a certain cuisine use it to seek out the very best on offer using the Advance Search.
•  If it’s inspiration you are after use the handy Editors’ Picks for great suggestions from The Good Food Guide experts.
• And, to stay ahead of the culinary-curve, read our Foodie’s Digest for epicurean news, chef interviews and lively articles.

Once you’ve found what you are looking for use the app to reserve your table, share with friends and get you there – and once you’ve eaten don’t forget to send your feedback and tell The Good Food Guide exactly what you think!

Rochelle Venables, Managing Editor of The Good Food Guide, commented: ‘Convenience is king these days, so with the latest app from The Good Food Guide we are delivering a fast, reliable way to tap in to the best of British dining.  It is ideal if you are on the move, travelling around the country, or want on-the-spot suggestions – and with our great reputation, whatever your culinary quest, with The Good Food Guide 2013 app you know you’ll be eating out in style!’

New in this version “Editors’ Picks” including

• Editors’ picks…Special Occasions
• Editors’ picks…Little Gems
• Editors’ picks…A Weekend in the Country
• Editors’ picks…Breakfast in London
• Editors’ picks…Pubs with Rooms
• Editors’ picks…Farm to Fork
• Editors’ picks…Cheap Eats (London)
• Editors’ picks…Cheap Eats (UK)
• Editors’ picks…Family Friendly

Other key features of the app include:-

• The Good Food Guide 2013 print edition reviews available in their entirety
• ‘Nearby places’ quick restaurant finder function wherever you are
• ‘Advance Search’ includes sorting by distance, price, cuisine and The Good Food Guide  cooking score
• Dedicated ‘Awards’ section to see the restaurants who have recently won accolades from The Good Food Guide, alongside top-rated and longest serving restaurants
• Book your table directly through the app and manage your upcoming reservations
• Send feedback about your dining experiences directly to The Good Food Guide
• Interactive mapping showing different types of entries
• Bookmark your favourite restaurants and make your own notes
• Share via Twitter, Facebook and email

About The Good Food Guide

The Good Food Guide is the UK’s bestselling restaurant guide.  The guide does not accept advertising and pays for every meal it reviews, ensuring it is completely independent and impartial.  It includes reviews of the very best establishments in the UK, from great-value pubs to fine dining.  Feedback from diners is used to shape future editions of The Good Food Guide – restaurant-lovers can visit www.thegoodfoodguide.co.uk/feedback to submit a restaurant review.

Serious Food Magazines

I love a good magazine, from Gadgets to Bushcraft to Rugby Union, Cricket and everything in between, basically I am a sucker for a good glossy magazine.  They are perfect for the holiday journey or simply as great coffee table candy and best of all a good mag is essential to keep on the shelf in the loo!

Serious Food Magazines

As my all-encompassing passion is everything foodie the emergence of some fantastic new foodie titles that are worthy of being referred to as “Serious Food Mags” has me immediately scrabbling for my credit card and hastily completing the online subscription.  Now these are proper good reads, with great stories, some factual, some fiction, interviews, cartoons, great photography (or food porn as I have heard it called), fascinating illustrations even diagrams and the odd recipe.  These magazines are at the forefront of a food revolution, somehow totally immersive media experiences but only in two dimensional print.  With a mix of retro, modern and futuristic design, displays of food art, or is that artistic food? They are a revolution in food literature, nothing like the recipe and advertisement filled efforts from the local newsagent that we may have been used to.  Seek one out, borrow, buy or even subscribe, just steal ten minutes to yourself and have a jolly good read.

So here is the run down of my favourites, in no particular order.  If I have missed any please keep quiet! I have not the time or the money for any more subscriptions!

Lucky Peach – Food Quarterly

Lucky Peach Magazine Issue 1

First published in the summer of 2011 and produced by Chef David Chang from Momofuku’s and Peter Meehan.  Lucky Peach is as quirky as it’s title,  an eclectic mix of food ramblings from our American Cousins.  Contents include surreal illustrations, cartoon strips, diagrams and even the odd recipe.  (Why Lucky Peach? Momofuku means Lucky Peach in Korean)

Fire & Knives – Food Quarterly

Fire & Knives Magazine Issue 1

A truly British retro food publication edited by Tim Hayward and best described here in his own words “Fire & Knives had to be about love of, enthusiasm for and fascination with food, in all its aspects.    It could never be about being a connoisseur – literally “one who knows” – it had to be about an amateur – “one who loves”  Everybody eats,  And a fundamentally elitist concept like “connoisseurship” is no longer appropriate in a country that’s finally maturing into a proper relationship with its food culture.  So we gave our writers a simple, one line brief: write as an amateur, about something you love.”

Contributors include Tim Hayward, Tom Parker Bowles, Matthew Fort and our own Josh Sutton.

Gin & It – 100% Alcohol By Volume

Gin & It Magazine Issue 1

A relative newcomer and sister publication to Fire & Knives and written in a similar style but more gin soaked & red wine fuelled! First published in 2013 edited by Kate Hawkings.  A collection of boozy muses on everything from cocktails, (the Gin & It of course and know it doesn’t stand for Indian Tonic) through to IPA’s and finally wine label articles that even manage to squeeze in reference to Yorkshire Chorizo!  Well done Josh & thanks that’s another pint of Grand Cru Bitter I owe you!

FOOL – Food insanity brilliance & love

Fool Magazine Issue 2

A quality find from Sweden, this is more, more how do I put it “Swedish” it has a suave swagger, clean minimalist lines with evocative black & white imagery  Oddly though it lacks the Swedish branding and design I knew in a previous live.  Not just for a Scandinavian perspective of food trends, restaurants and writing this magazine also incorporates world travel with exhaustive food research visits to China and France, its a hard job but someone has to do it, just wish it was me!.

meatpaper

Meatpaper Magazine Issue 1

“Not the first ever magazine about meat but Meatpaper is the only magazine about the idea of meat” Another import from the United States of Meat sorry America.  Everything to do with meat the same arty photography as the others but this time “RAW MEAT” includes everything to the new renaissance of traditional butchery in America through to Meat Art that is in the style of Damian Hirst Art made from dead animals or more specifically raw meat.  Can also get pretty deep touching on the philosophy and axiom of meat eating and the kosher debate.  Also looks at food history and hunting.

The Foodie Bugle

The Foodie Bugle issue 1

The new face on the block and just back from the printers, this little tomb of calm and tradition was first published in February 2013, edited by Silvana de Soissons.  As I’m a bloke! I can only describe The Foodie Bugle as the more feminine of this selection of magazines, it includes more than just food, everything from flower arranging, food history, baking banter and farm tours to laundering your kitchen linens.

The Gourmand – A Food and Culture Journal

The Gourmand Magazine

Another relatively new kid on the block, The Gourmand is a London based food journal that binds inspirational words, images and ideas with the humble and universal subject of food. Editors David Lane and Marina Tweed, first published 2012.  Part food diary and travel, part chef & restauranter interviews.  Some great articles and photographic imagery.

WOLF Magazine

WOLF Food Journal

Just found another!! WOLF - A NEW, FREE, QUARTERLY FOOD JOURNAL available only online and including some interesting articles on Fermentation, Wild food foraging and more from Noma, Simon Rogan and Fergus Henderson.

WARNING: the following links to websites may include options to subscribe to these publications!

Fire & Knives www.fireandknives.com
Gin&It www.ginandit.co.uk
Lucky Peach  www.mcsweeneys.net
FOOL www.fool.se
meatpaper www.meatpaper.com
The Foodie Bugle www.thefoodiebugle.com
The Gourmand www.thegourmand.co.uk
WOLF Food Journal http://issuu.com/wolffoodjournal/docs/wolf/15

 

Leeds Farmers Markets

Leeds has a fantastic calendar of Farmers Markets throughout the year, have you been to any or all of these vibrant local produce markets? If not why not? support your local farmers and producers.

Calendar of Leeds area Farmers Markets:-

• 2nd Saturday – Headingley Farmers Market, The Rose Garden, Headingley, Leeds, 9am-12.30pm
• 3rd Saturday – Oakwood Farmers Market, The Clocktower, Roundhay, Leeds
• 4th Saturday – Baildon Farmers Market, Clough Car Park, Baildon, 9am-1pm
• Last Saturday – Kirkstall Deli Market, Kirkstall Abbey, Leeds
• Last Sunday – Otley Farmers Market, 9am-1pm.

Kirkstall Deli Market, Kirkstall Abbey, Leeds

Kirkstall Deli Market is full of atmosphere with a great selection of producers and street food, usually accompanied with a little entertainment and all set in possibly the best location for a farmers market anywhere! The market takes place on the last weekend of the month actually inside the cloisters of Kirkstall Abbey a superb setting and very atmospheric.  Stalls include everything from spices to veg, Pies – The Little Pie Company, Fancy that from Wharfedale – Chutney & Jams, The Art of Mallow – Marshmallows, Local Allotment Veg, Curry Sauces, Deli foods, Blue Pig Pork, Yorkshire Dales Granola, Yummy Yank Cakes, Thislemist Farm Soups, Coffee, Cheese with hot food including wraps from Market Wraps, pulled pork and hogroast, fish and chips from Fish&, fresh curry and much more…

Headingley Farmers Market, The Rose Garden, Headingley

A small but vibrant and friendly farmers market brilliantly run by a dedicated band of supporters from Headingley Trust.  Set in the heart of Headingley in the Rose garden outside The Arc and opposite the Headingley Taps, sorry I can’t help but use pubs as landmarks!  Regular stalls include all the main food groups! Pies, Fish, Veg, Salt’s Deli, Venison, Charcuterie, Meat, Yorkshire Chorizo, Olives and Oils, Thislemist Soups, Eggs, Swillington Organic Farm, Mushrooms, Apple Juice, Honey, Bread and Cakes.

Oakwood Farmers Market, The Clocktower, Roundhay

Oakwood farmers market takes place on the 3rd Saturday of the month by the Clocktower in Roundhay Park. Friendly market with guest stalls and occasional entertainment, brassbands and all.

Baildon Farmers Market

Held in the lower car park and stocks area in the middle of Baildon. Nice busy market, don’t be put off by the photo it was a horrible day but still bustling !  Stalls include, Cheese, Swillington Organic Farm, Thislemist Farm Soups, Scotch Eggs, Bread and Charcuterie.

Kirkgate Indoor Market

Allegedly the largest indoor market in Europe?  Kirkgate market has an eclectic mix of stalls from buttons and ribbons to a South African Butchers and most things in-between.

If you run or know of a farmers market I have missed and think should be included here please get in touch.

Related articles

• Farmer’s Market in Leeds city centre: The guy sells the… (digital-diva.co.uk)

Coffee Masterclass – Taylors of Harrogate

Taylors of Harrogate est 1886

Taylors of Harrogate Tea & Coffee Specialists, a Yorkshire institution since 1886.  Taylors not only encompasses the Taylors of Harrogate Coffee brand but also the distinguished Bettys Café Tea Rooms and of course Yorkshire Tea.  With such iconic brands it is no wonder that this family owned company thrives.

Even successful traditional brands are now embracing social media and I was lucky enough to be invited along with an eclectic group of bloggers to a Taylors of Harrogate Coffee Masterclass.

This really was a coffee masterclass with topics covered including growing, harvesting, the provenance of the single origin coffee beans, the roasts, the blends and then the distinctive flavours and characteristics of the single origin beans and how the specific geography of the regions effects the flavour and characteristics of the coffee.  The main styles of bean are Arabica with smooth, quality flavours and the cheaper Robusta for a strong harsher flavour, the Robusta is often used to bulk out cheaper blends or give a stronger coffee hit.  Arabica is more expensive, grows at higher altitudes and generally harder to grow as more prone to cold and disease.  The Robusta as the name suggests is the hardier crop, grows at lower altitudes and hence easier and cheaper to grow.

Coffee Beans

Emily our expert coffee buyer explained and demonstrated coffee tasting including the “brew” the “slurp” the nosier the slurp the better, the “swill” & finally the “spit”!

Slurp, Swill, Spit!

All the single origin and blended coffees were laid out complete with the full beans so we could smell and taste.  The cups or bowls were brewed for about 4 minutes, the coffee allowed to cool slightly and then the floating coffee ground scum spooned out before we were let loose with our spoons and are childlike attempts at spitting, that must be what the aprons were for!

The Coffee Tasting Room

Emily and all the staff we met on out tour were infectiously enthusiastic, very knowledgeable, super helpful and really do love what they do.

Coffee Tasting Masterclass

Taylors and Bettys whilst independently run family businesses have been part of the same company since the sixties when Victor Wild purchased Taylors Tea. Therefore the Taylors coffee and tea empire is actually owned by Bettys!  This connection was not overlooked when it came to feeding hungry bloggers and luncheon was served.  A fantastic spread of delectable food the very epitome of English afternoon tea goodness, sandwiches, quiches, sausage rolls, fat rascals and of course the handmade cakes Bettys tearooms are famous for.

Coffee and Bettys Cakes

Coffee Beans growing in Yorkshire!  Yes these are real live coffee beans growing in the research and development greenhouse in Harrogate, Yorkshire.

Yorkshire Coffee Beans

Whilst the company is steeped in tradition, technology and sophisticated automated production is very much in evidence.

Coffee Bean Roasting

Automated roasting, grinding and packing lines in the purpose built facility here in the very centre of Yorkshire’s elegant spa town and set amidst handsome historic buildings, a perfect location as Harrogate has always had that Café culture vibe.

Coffee Packing Line

I was a guest of Taylors of Harrogate, Pagoda House, Plumpton Park, Harrogate, North Yorkshire, HG2 7LD.

A follow up post on the secrets learnt on “How to brew the perfect Cafetiere” to follow.

Taylors of Harrogate http://www.taylorsofharrogate.co.uk

Bettys Café & Tearoom http://www.bettys.co.uk

Queen Scallops with Yorkshire Chorizo – Bonnie Gull, Foley St, London

The Bonnie Gull Seafood Shack “A seaside restaurant in the city…”

Born from a pop-up Seafood Shack in Hackney the guys  from The Bonnie & Wild and the Bonnie-on-Sky projects have opened a bricks and mortar restaurant.   Head Chef Luke Robinson has sourced the best ingredients from British small suppliers to ensure fresh and seasonal produce.

Queen Scallops and Yorkshire Chorizo

Bonnie Gull Seafood Shack is a clarion call to British Seafood; a nostalgic journey to the seaside holidays of our youth; a showcase of the best produce from British shores; a seaside restaurant in the city.

Highland Wood Pigeon Breast with Yorkshire Chorizo

The menu changes as you would expect depending on the catch of the day but includes Starters, Isle of Lewis Mussels with Aspall cider & Cumbrian bacon, Scottish langoustine, pickled apple, roasted pork belly & endive salad, Queen scallops with Yorkshire chorizo, lemon puree & baby spinach,  Smoked rainbow trout with beetroot, potato pancakes & horseradish  Mains, Whole Devon cock crab with shack mayo, West coast Scottish lobster with shoestring fries & garlic butter, Lemon sole with white grapes & crispy shallots, Highland venison leg steak with roasted English carrots & juniper sauce.

Bonnie Mary – Seafood Bloody Mary! 

The Bonnie Gull Philosophy: On this little island we call home we’re lucky enough to be surrounded by some of the finest seafood in the world. Wester Ross Lobster and Langoustines, Devon Brown Crab, Mersea Oysters, Isle of Mull King Scallops, Morecambe Bay Shrimp as well as stunning local fish such as mackerel, grey mullet, wild salmon and gurnard. As far as we’re concerned with produce this good you don’t need to do much to it to bring out its incredible flavours so we keep things simple but with a little touch of creativity. At Bonnie Gull Seafood Shack we’re offering a new approach to seafood in London – accessible, affordable, educational, simple, fresh, responsibly sourced and 100% British!

Bonnie Gull Seafood Shack 21a Foley Street, Fitzrovia, London, W1W 6DS Tel 0207 4360921

Book online or drop in as they do hold tables for walk ins…  http://www.bonniegull.com

Blessed are the Cheesemakers – The Courtyard Dairy, Settle

The Courtyard Dairy, specialist cheese refiner and purveyor….

I popped in to The Courtyard Dairy near Settle to meet Andy Swinscoe and Kathy Bull this week and was delighted with the company, the cheese and the knowledge, a fantastic gem of a foodie shop and just on my doorstep.

We chatted all things cheese, charcuterie and discussed the general foodie scene probably for more than an hour, our conversation pleasantly interrupted by enjoying some of their fine cheese, these two characters cannot help themselves but be passionate about everything they do and its infectious…

Andy has managed to obtain a lovely Baby Berkel manual slicer and uses it for his pancetta and salumi, a very similar model to my Baby Berkel bacon slicer of the same ilk.

Of course I tried a few of the wonderful cheeses on offer including the Sparkenhoe Farm Red Leicester, a vintage 18 month matured cheese made with unpasteurised milk, which was delightfully earthy with a flaky texture..

Dale End Cheddar, Made by Alastair Pearson in Bottom, North Yorkshire must be our own “local” cheddar, a traditional unpasteurised, cloth bound 15 month matured cheddar and simply like no other cheddar I have ever tasted.

Hafod Cheddar, made by Sam & Rachel Holden in Lampeter, Wales a buttery, smooth cheese with a long but mellow cheddar finish, I can still imagine the flavours.

From the Gott family in Cumbria Martin Gott produces “Brother David” an unpasteurised cows milk cheese which is also a washed cheese with a meaty taste, made using milk from a small herd of Dairy Shorthorns, creamy with a smoky mildly tobacco flavour.

Langres, Champagne, this classic French cheese washed in Marc de Champagne brandy, this really was on top form, ripe and ready to eat, you can see it trying to escape the slate in the picture above, like eating “clotted cream custard” but cheese!

If your visiting The Dales or travelling near Settle do call into The Courtyard say hello to Rob at Buon Vino for a browse of his top wines and of course try some of Andy’s cheese.  The Brasserie on site also offers more substantial victuals or a good cup of coffee for the weary traveller.

Andy Swinscoe

Andy Swinscoe fell into cheesemaking at an early age working for Paxton and Whitfield. He then did a cheese affinage apprenticeship at Mons cheesemongers in France and was awarded a Queen Elizabeth Scholarship for ‘Cheese Maturing’.  After his time in France Andy became quality manager at The Fine Cheese Co. in Bath before setting up his own cheese shop, The Courtyard Dairy, in Settle, North Yorkshire in 2012.

The Courtyard Dairy website: www.thecourtyarddairy.co.uk or follow him on Twitter: @CourtyardDairy

Meat Mission, Shoreditch

A view of things to come…

Belted Galloway Steak

Meat Mission Entrance

Meat Mission Drinks

 

http://www.meatmission.com/

BBC Food and Farming Awards 2012 Winners & the Reception food

These prestigious awards are now in there 12th year and celebrate all that is great and good in the British Food and Farming industry,  I was lucky enough to be invited to the reception and presentation of the awards at the NEC Birmingham during the BBC Good Food Show at the end of November.

After a puncture & seemingly endless fight against the tide of the M6 motorway we arrived at the NEC and conducted a whirlwind tour of the stands at the show before heading to the super-theatre to enjoy the awards presentation and hospitality.  My initial impression of the BBC Good Food Show was how incredibly commercial it appeared to have become, with lots of big brands in attendance and less of the more interesting small artisan producers, a sign of the cost of attending me thinks.  I was also surprised to notice how dedicated some of the visitors have become, arriving with shopping buggies and trolleys to ease the burden of all those purchases!  They even sell BBC Good Food Show shopping trolleys!

BBC Food & Farming Awards – The Winners

Best Producer category: Too tight to call therefore Joint Winners, Westcombe Dairy – Tom Calver, who produces a traditional cloth-bound cheddar cheese, described by the judges as “like eating a slice of the Somerset landscape”; and The Pump Street Bakery – father and daughter team Chris and Joanna Brennan.

Best Takeaway or Streetfood:  Moroccan Soup Stand, Mohammed and Ibrahim Sitari, cooking soups, tagines and great street food out of a trailer parked on Golborne Road, west London.  Great Merguez sausage in fresh tomato sauce!

Best Food Market: Sutton Bonington Farmers’ Market, University of Nottingham a group of students set up their own farmers’ market, with great producers, inside a university’s grounds.

Best Drinks Producer: Once Upon A Tree, Ledbury, Herefordshire.

The Radio 4 “You And Yours” Best Local Food Retailer: Eurospar, Dolgellau

Best Public Caterer: Excelsior Academy, Newcastle upon Tyne

Best Big Food Idea: Growing Communities, Hackney, East London

BBC Farmer Of The Year: Guy Watson, Riverford Organics, Buckfastleigh, Devon

The Derek Cooper Special Award: Mike Duckett for twenty years improving food served in the Royal Brompton Hospital.  Hopefully his experience can be rolled out across the NHS.

Reception Menu

Arthur Potts Dawson, chef and of Peoples Supermarket fame cooked up some great regional food for the reception, the buffet tables were split by British geographic region so we had some fantastic eclectic mixes of food.  I didn’t get to try everything as much as I tried! but my favourites were the delicious shin of beef ragu and the spicy Shalham Gosht washed down with The Kernel IPA.

South East Table: Moroccan Murgehr Sausages with a fresh tomato sauce, Pork Balchao with green apple curry from Inder’s Kitchen, Cambridge, Shalham Gosht, a Kashmir dish with diced lamb, shallots & turnips in a tomato paste and breads from Pump Street Bakery.

South West Table: Cornish Coppa di Parma with fresh horseradish, crème fraiche, capers and warm salad potatoes. Candy Beetroot Salad with aged unpasteurised Westcombe Cheddar & Gwenen Apiaries honey dressing. Cornish shin of beef ragu with smashed parsnips and mustard mayonnaise.  Westcombe Dairy Cheeses, Westcombe unpasteurised Mature Cheddar, Ducketts Caerphilly. Freshly baked breads from Emma’s Bread of The Real Food Store, Exeter.

Midlands: Melton Mowbray pork pies with plum chutney.  Smoked mackerel with golden beetroot and horseradish.  Cropwell Bishop Stilton, Sparenhoe Red Leicester. Bread from Hambleton Bakery.

Wales: Porthgain crab cakes with lobster tail and melted chilli butter. Roasted shoulder of Welsh lamb with roasted vegetables.  Local cheeses and freshly baked breads provided by Eurospar, Dolgellau.

Desserts: Didn’t see many of the desserts but the light pastry Eccles Cakes were divine and these chocolates from the Bittersweet chocolate company superb, chilli & lime.

Drinks:

The Kernel IPA (C.S.C.) [Centennial, Simcoe, Chinook]  7.1% abv.  American hops meet English malt. Burnished golden colour. Aromas of tropical fruits, hints of grass. The sweetness of the malt gives them the impression of fruit salad on the palate, juicy, then followed up with a big bitterness, with some pepper and spice.

The Kernel Export Stout (1890 London) 7.8% abv, Based on a recipe from a London Brewery in 1890.
Simple recipe ­ massive taste. Dark, dark black. Oily texture. Loads of rich dried fruit and alcohol warmth ­ rum and raisin. Then a herbal hop bitterness on top of huge lingering espresso. Hints of leather, tar, smoke, vanilla and chocolate. Roasty.

The Kernel TABLE BEER, 3.2%

Once upon a Tree, apple juice, 0.0%

You can listen to the Awards online or download the podcast.

BBC Radio 4 food programme - A Winning Meal – The BBC Food Awards menu

Judges: This year’s judging panel was chaired by Angela Hartnett – chef, restaurateur and broadcaster – and features: Arthur Potts-Dawson – chef, restaurateur and food writer; Adam Henson, farmer and broadcaster; Kath Dalmeny – Policy Director, Sustain, the alliance for better food and farming; Valentine Warner, food writer and broadcaster; Charles Campion, food writer; Pete Brown, beer and cider expert and author of numerous books on British drinks; Victoria Moore, wine writer for The Telegraph; Dr Helen Crawley, public health nutritionist and Director of the Caroline Walker Trust; Christine Tacon, MBE, former head of Co-operative Farms; Simon Parkes, food journalist, broadcaster and former Michelin inspector; and Sheila Dillon, food journalist and presenter of Radio 4′s The Food Programme.