Last month saw my return visit to the Orangery dining room at Highgrove, the country residence of Prince Charles, His Royal Highness. Prince Charles is the patron of the Mutton Renaissance Campaign.
As one of the founding members of the Mutton Renaissance Campaign (which this year celebrates its tenth anniversary), I feel as if we have only just begun the rehabilitation of mutton to the culinary lexicon of the general public. Although all the members of the committee are clear that we’ve made great strides forward, we’re also clear we have a long way to go yet.
Before lunch, we were treated to a walk around the grounds and the gardens and although my wife is the gardener at home, I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was an eclectic mix of garden styles and the guide was funny and very knowledgeable.
We then went into the Highgrove shop to peruse the goods.... needless to say I didn’t buy anything (probably could have bought a cap but I have six or more already).
The starter was a simple goat curd, walnut and beetroot salad. The main course was a perfect simple treatment of the Lleyn - Highgrove home farm Mutton aged for five weeks. The cannon or loin fillet was cooked using the sous vide method then browned in the pan to finish it off, and served alongside a perfect mini pulled shoulder pie.
For desert we were treated to an apple and quince tart with Crème Anglaise. I do love a good dessert; in fact I could almost miss the main course and just go straight for it.
After our meal we went to Home Farm, where Prince Charles’s farm manager David Wilson gave us a tour of their organic farm - showcasing a field of mustard (which tasted like a very peppery rocket), the cull ewes on a reseeded clover field and lots more.
As we were walking to the tractor, it started raining even harder than it had been when we were walking round the garden and grounds..... I said to David all we needed was for the rain to be blowing horizontal and then I would feel really at home. It was a great testament to my old houndstooth Harris Tweed jacket and flat cap that I remained perfectly dry, not to mention the borrowed wellies as I had forgotten mine.
We then went to the milking parlour where we watched the Ayrshire cows walk in to be milked. This was great on so many levels, as the cows were up to twelve years old which is very unusual in this day and age. I then got a lift to Kemble station with Alan Bird who now runs his own Restaurant, Bird of Smithfield (opposite Poultry Street), which was very cool.
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