Radek's Tudor meal

Cooking at the weekend I created a trio of meals using bits I had found in the freezer.

• Mutton hot pot which I made from cooked and trimmed mutton breasts.... using the biggest pan I have, plus 2kg of potatoes, 1kg of carrots, ½ kg white onions, salt, pepper, bay leaves from the garden and some stock. Unfortunately no black pudding for this but as with all the “let’s follow a recipe” it’s followed with “ what do we have in” so a bit of making it up as you go along seems to work well for me. 
• Then, unpacking the second bag of what I thought also held mutton breast, found some cooked chicken from some banty cockerels which I froze when I couldn’t use them all at once. What to do with the chicken? Why not put it in a chicken hot pot same as the mutton? 

Using my (no expense spared) mandolin to slice all the veg for both the pans, I made some lovely thin veg in no time at all, although I also ended up having to double the quantities of veg to do both hot pots.
Layers of potatoes, carrots, onions, meat, on top of layers of potatoes, carrots, onions, meat.... anyway you get the idea. Fill the pan up to the top with stock, bring to the boil then cook below simmer for a couple of hours or so, both for the mutton and for the chicken.
Everyone else was out of the house at this point so I had the kitchen all to myself, but the hot pot factory peace was shattered by the return of the family.... young Farmer Sharp Juniors (there are two of them) came in to ask what was I doing (“not sure” I thought.... as ever making it up as I go along with no plan and no meal ever the same twice).

• Third, I had four mutton shanks. I browned the mutton shanks until nearly burnt then proceeded to put them in a double oven size roasting dish on a bed of rosemary thyme and some bay leaves, all from the garden, plus whole peeled potatoes, whole carrots and whole peeled onions. For a change, there was no garlic in anything and the results are plain to see looking at Radek’s picture of him eating in the time-honoured style that would have made Henry the VIII proud.

Highgrove - The Mutton Renaissance Annual Dinner

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.   

Mutton

Read my most recent POST on Borough Market's blog

Farmer Sharp knife sharpening lessons

Seventeen century mutton and oyster sausages

Our culinary history is a fascinating subject and in food terms, a gold (or graphene) mine.

A few years ago, my friend, the world renowned food historian Ivan Day, and I decided that we would make an old surf and turf recipe - Mutton and Oyster sausages. 

The recipe, if that's how ewe would describe it, was in an accounts book of the kitchen in a Cumbrian Big house which was only able to tell us the kitchen purchases (the ingredients) and had no measurements or methodology. Ivan was able to extrapolate from the existing knowledge of future versions of this recipe so that we could make them. 

We used the best quality Herdwick mutton, the freshest Colchester oysters and some spices that I had never heard of like long peppers. 

It was the most amazing sausage I have ever tasted, and I have tasted a few sausages during my thirty seven years in butchery. The problem as ever with things like this, is that they were made to be consumed on the day and have no shelf life .....it’s a shame, as I am sure given a chance, that they'd be venerated in our high end Michelin star eateries across the world.

Perfect examples of high quality Herdwick meat

The pictures below are of Herdwick lamb (first pic) and Herdwick mutton (second pic).

You can see from the fat on the mutton that its got a nice creamy colour, and that the very deep colour of the muscle is almost 'beefy' both in the mutton and even in the very young lamb. 

There is a purpleness to it that isn't normally present in spring lamb (this lamb came very early in the season too, even for a Herdwick). The best bit is when you eat it, it'll have a robust flavour which also isn't normally present in spring lamb!

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.