Three Bird Roast

The plan for the three bird roast demo last thursday evening at the School of Artisan food was to use a small five kilo bronze free- range turkey, a two kilo free- range chicken and a three kilo free- range duck.

I got the train from King's Cross in the morning thinking all good but in passing on the phone, I had said that maybe I could do a second three bird roast if the game keeper had any birds about. I got to the Welbeck Estate where I checked in and thought I would have look at the birds, but going into the butchery room, I was confronted by some mallard ducks, a red legged Partridge and some pheasants. 

All good with that so far except I also had to pluck them so they could get into the oven and as the mallards were in place of the commercial duck there was a lot to do as I probably haven't plucked mallards since I was twenty (and I would like to say that twenty was only a few years ago but it’s more like thirty than five).

With some help from the lovely Lee-Anna, we got them all done in double quick time as they were still warm, and then rushed the two different roasts to the refectory kitchen as they had to be cooked for 8 o'clock. They were then stuffed and made ready for the oven. 

The stuffing was made for me by Gill in the refectory kitchen, with my instruction of no bread, cous-cous or anything like that as bread based stuffings absorb moisture and can make the birds dryer. If ewe want to have something like sage and onion stuffing, roast it in a separate tray a little on the side before your three bird roast is done.

Watch out for the video after xmas!

The noble, unmistakable and not-so-humble truffle

Those people who have had a meal scented with their pungent flavour will understand my excitement in anticipation of the new season. Whether in a risotto or with a duck egg, that unmistakable truffle flavour is indescribably fantastic.

The truffle is indicative of the whole seasonality of food and the pleasures one can derive from a new season product like truffle or asparagus.  Growing within the seasons (if maybe extending them a bit with modern methods like polytunnels) is recommended, as frankly this is the more sustainable system.

The truffle is a poster boy for two of the most blatantly political arguments, sustainability and seasonality, and, the not- so- humble truffle will if over used, not be there the next time we look for it - in my opinion, the perfect analogy for sustainability vs extinction.

Radio Sharpie - Passionate about pheasant

Roadkill recipe

My friend the egg man sent me a message recently saying that he’d knocked over a hare and did I want it.... erm, yes!

I was pleased to receive this fully grown leveret, really quite a young animal that wasn’t very strong (in flavour) as I’m personally not overkeen on extremely strong hare....

I kept it for a couple of days in the fridge then dressed it (gutted and skinned it), but was undecided on how to cook it..... 

I chopped it into joints and thought that maybe curry might be an idea and after looking up an American recipe which had all these multitude of spices in it (half of which I didn't have), thought I would just make it up as I went along...

So, 

• pan fried the hare, browned it and put it to one side, 
• fried some onions, some garlic, some ginger and whatever spices we had in cupboard in it’s juices, 
• braised it for not very long (about 1.5 to 2 hours) and in the end, it turned out to be quite tender.....

Young Farmer Sharp (Michael), along with his non-foodie mate (who thought it was a curried chicken), and even my little girl who doesn’t eat curry or spicy food ate it all up....my little lad Radek also ate lots of it and was very pleased even though he doesn’t really like spicy food either.....

All in all, roadkill can be quite good. To some extent, it is food waste and potentially wasted food,  so as long as you are sure where it came from and of the healthiness of the meat (i.e. that it’s not been on the road side for days and contaminated), if you’ve knocked something over by accident then why not turn it into an economically viable and bloody good meal?  Me and the entire family actually enjoyed it much more the day after too!

Sustainable farming

Sustainable farming is the only way for farming, fact. 

It all might feel a bit preachy and a bit "what a bad lot we all are" for not eating sustainably, but even the thought of change is a start.

The opposite of sustainable is Un-Sustainable which we definitely can’t afford, so everyone has to take the metaphorical Bull by the horns and see what can be done. 

The system can’t be changed overnight but at the heart of this matter are without doubt all the current issues - "pig swill", "meat free Mondays", and ironically from me Mr Meat, "eat less meat"..... All this has been voiced many times over and it does indeed start with education, but the conversation must continue within the day to day reality of food consumption and consequently food production.

I heard an agronomist (soil Scientist) say recently that arable soils are lacking in organic matter, and that the soil needs to be cared for and revered, not whipped like an ill treated dog. Good sustainable farming is in all our interests.

Radio Sharpie - Let them eat cake.....or horse