Food: cooking and sharing

Although people still say they don't have time to cook proper food, there are many pleasures they miss.

Food shared is food loved, whether it be simple buttered bread or something a bit more adventurous. Having the crack around your meals makes the cook happy to share the fruits of their labour, and enables the others gathered round the table to talk, eat and share common bonds.I think that the more we can make it more fashionable, sexy or whatever it takes to push food, cooking and sharing further up everybody's list of priorities, then the better off we all will be. 

Sometimes it's just the fear of failure that some people see as a good and valid reason to keep going back to the ready meal or the take away. It's up to the Do's to do what we can to help the Won't Dos and Can't Do's.

It may have sparked controversy but Jamie's campaign is along the right lines: big screen TV's are always less important than Food.

5 Food Safety Rules

Luing Cattle

Luing is a small island off the west coast of Scotland and the farmers there have a breed of cattle second to none. 

The Luing cattle are a small, just above belt buckle, high breed of cattle, and, a cross between the iconic Highland cattle and the beef short horn. Both these breeds of cattle individually produce magnificent beef but the crossbreed is better adapted to the windswept Isle of Luing. 

One of the advantages amongst many is its carcass size - if ewe like your sirloin steak rare (as ewe should) a thick Luing steak won't break the bank. In comparison, to get a thick rare steak out of commercial cattle like British blue it would have to be at least 450g (about a pound in weight). Do the math.

Watch out for Luing in proper shops will keep ewe informed.

The Wild Lake District

It is assumed by tourists who come to the picturesque Lake District that it is a natural untamed environment  - not a bit of it! 

Within the UK, our environment has been shaped by centuries of food and forestry production and the Lake District is no exception to that - the hill sides were deforested to accommodate the iconic and stout Herdwick sheep. Some of the best lamb and mutton in the world (and as an expert I say that without fear of contradiction) is produced from the Herdwick sheep. In Elizabeth I’s time Herdwick mutton was known as the Queen’s mutton and was the best ewe could get!

Radio Sharpie - Passionate about Cheese

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Antibiotics resistance

There is an ongoing argument about the state of antibiotic resistant bacteria and as ever the overall picture is a complicated one. 

The worst kept secret in agriculture pharmaceuticals is that prophylactic antibiotics are widely used as a growth promoter and disease inhibitor mostly in pig and poultry production.

Consequently those antibiotics are passed on through the meat to us... not news to us insiders but it in my opinion this fact should be on banner disaster news headlines across the world! 

Can ewe imagine a scenario with your doctor saying “I am sorry that chest infection has no cure”? I can.

Even in the face of little hope, one major start would be to remove antibiotics from agriculture - a difficult thing to achieve, but not an impossible one. To start the change of antibiotic resistance, pork and poultry production would have to be more extensive. We would get lots of advantages from this, like better animal welfare and better quality of meat but it would cost more, so we’d eat less.... Eat less Eat better seems a win win to me.

Winner of Knife Sharpening (and other skills) course

The winner of the Knife Sharpening (and other skills) course is Martin Gott of Cartmel in Cumbria. 

For those of you that didn't get it right, take comfort in the fact that it took Martin 3 whole guesses to get there (Martin the Butcher....hmmmmm)

Stay tuned for the video of said course with "fair weather butcher" mein gott Martin!

Find him at Cartmel Cheeses. 

Passionate about Bread

My friend Mr. Jones who's all about the bread (and the brownies), is the most artistic man I've ever met. To quote the great man,  "With bread and confectionary, as with all good food stuffs, technique is one thing but passion, is everything".

Find him at Bread Ahead at Borough Market.

Mint Mint

Mint grows in my garden like a ruthless weed .....every year it gets cut and turned into the amazing condiment that is mint sauce - white malt vinegar, balsamic vinegar, light brown muscovado sugar and lots and lots of finely chopped dried or partially dried mint. 

At the mo, having a fine leg of Renaissance quality mutton slowly roasted with mature dry salted anchovies and fresh rosemary and thyme. After roasting, added a couple of major glugs of red wine into the roasting tin after removing the roast to rest..... this was all served with a liberal amount of horseradish mash and  roasted vegetables. 

All this is only improved by drinking some of the ten year old Barolo (not sure if this would be what you’d put in the gravy mind), and of course liberal helpings of fantastic mint sauce.

My Slow Food

I am very proud of my association with the Slow Food Movement. 

One of the most memorable highlights of my life was the first Terra Madre, which attracted 5000 farmers from all over the world including goat herders from Eritrea and llama farmers from the Andes. Mostly everyone was in national costume and my regional costume was of course a flat cap, check shirt and cords....no clogs though;-)

The venue was magnificent and was set in a former Turin Fiat factory and really, only in Italy could a factory be so beautiful! The event also boasted the attendance of Prince Charles, who recognised and acknowledged the continued campaign for proper farming, proper food and, pledged his support for our dedication to the ongoing promotion of mutton through the Mutton Renaissance.