We went "In Deep" at the Grapesense wine class this week, we went to South America. We tried Atlantico Sur, Marselan from the Garzon Vineyard in Uruguay. Then we started talking about Uruguay and how it's remembered for Fray Bentos meat pies. Fray Bentos is a large Uruguayan town where the Liebig Company produced tinned meats and beef oxo for export to the UK. The Fray Bentos brand was launched in 1899, initially for corned beef, then later pies. By 1961, when Fray Bentos Steak and Kidney was launched, pie production had shifted to Hackney. From the dozen or so of us at the wine class, no one admitted to having ever eaten one of the pies! I remember my Grandma always had one in her kitchen cupboard but I have never tried one, so for the sake of my Grapesense friends - here is the photo story of the Steak and Ale pie that I bought and ate.
I chose the Steak and Ale pie as it had the highest meat content (25%) and by the way the pastry is 24% so not sure what the rest is?! The smell of the pie still lingers in my kitchen an hour or so later, that kind of school-dinner, cheap chip-shop pie smell, like kidneys cooking, although the pie doesn't have any kidneys in it. The pastry looked revolting when I took the lid off the tin but had an impressive puffiness to it when out of the oven, which soon deflated leaving a soggy under layer. The gravy was very salty with scruffy small pieces of beef that were all on one side of the tin.
Interesting Fray Bentos Facts!
Sales of the pies plummeted during the Falklands War. Uruguay being the neighbour of Argentina.
Sean Bean (the actor) always has a Fray Bentos pie on hand when filming abroad, he loves them.
The empty tin makes a good dog bowl.
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Impressive looking puff pastry out of the oven
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Soggy bottom of the pastry lid
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Small pieces of beef
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Surprising choice of pies at Morrisons
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The deep fill steak and ale pie
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Slimy pastry when opened
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The Dark Horse in Stowlangtoft has re-opened. Anyone been? Please let us know via the comment link.
Amazing food stalls here at Chatsworth Market every Sunday morning. I regretted my big breakfast because I couldn't eat lamb with pomegranate from the Persian stall. Bought some lovely cheese though from this farmers son.
Terry Rayner came home from work one day in 2003 and announced to his wife Win that he was quitting work. Win asked Terry what he was planning to do, "Start up a seed business." "Where?" asked Win. "In the garden shed" replied Terry, and so Terwin Seeds was formed. (Yes. Terry and Win, Terwin!) Win told me she was a little nervous when several tons of seed potatoes arrived on their doorstep, but the business has grown and now they have an online shop and a small unit in Cockfield, Suffolk. I met them at last weeks Edible Garden Show. As I have predicted Buckwheat to trend I picked up a pack of the sprouting seeds to try.
I found Hudson and Hudson in Colchester when I parked in Williams and Griffin car park and walked through to North Hill. In the most surprising location(although I admit to not knowing Colchester very well, so it might be a prime location)you can actually walk through it, in one door and out of the other, if you are not superstitious. The in house chefs prepare everything that is on the deli counter and on the menu. I had eaten a full English breakfast before I discovered it so I decided on a coffee and a takeaway pork pie and black pudding scotch egg. They were both really good. But I wished I had bought a fish cake too. The deli is licensed and stocks all locally produced food and larder items.
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al fresco dining
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chef in the open kitchen
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deli counter
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larder shelves and it's all local
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Rosie the owner
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black pudding scotch egg
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Ely's Food and Drink Festival - 4th and 5th May 2014 .. an invitation to food traders
Written by Ruth
As part of Ely’s well established annual Eel Festival Weekend, we are introducing a new Food Festival on 4th and 5th May 2014 to be held on Palace Green under the gaze of Ely Cathedral. The event will consist of a variety of artisan food traders, cookery demonstrations, food trade exhibitions and workshops. If you would like to be part of this exciting new event please contact Tracey Harding, East Cambridgeshire District Council for more information – This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
I wheeled out my cocktail trolley last night and had a little go at a molecular mixology. For those of you that are non the wiser I mean chemistry with my cocktails. Cheeky Monkey had sent me a Cosmopolitan R-Evolution kit to try out and the neatly packed box had all the tools and mysterious substances to create "cranberry foam", "citrus caviar" and an "encapsulated cosmo".Instructions were easy to follow and really good illustrations and tips made sure that the finished cocktail looked like it did in the book. It was a little messy and took a little time to create the cocktails (citrus caviar needs to sit for 30 mins to let air bubbles escape) It all worked really well except for the encapsulated cosmo which I really couldn't get to work, but then I had just drunk three Cosmopolitans.
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If you enjoy a glass of wine and want to learn more about the fascinating subject whilst enjoying a sip or two then try a Laithwaite's Wine Evening. I was excited to be invited to the Ipswich event last week and to hear that there were going to be 36 wines to taste. 11 tables showcased a range of wines from the across the world and the evening proved to be a fun and really good entry level wine tasting, with helpful notes on how to taste wine and even some producers and wine buyers to chat to. My highlight of the night was chatting to Christine Weingut, Laithwaite's German wine buyer. Obviously passionate about her job, each wine on her German and Austrian table had an interesting story behind it. So I came away with an order for Moselgold Riesling aus Steillagen Trocken 2012 from the steep, slate slopes of the Mosel and produced by a chap called Achim. Achim follows the family tradition started by his grandparents of creating the wine entirely himself from the grape to the bottle, in his garage.
A charity dinner last month in the training restaurant Zest, at West Suffolk College saw the return of former student Des Artiss who worked with the current students(pictured) to create a fabulous dinner. Des recently won the Restaurant Associates Award for Culinary Excellence and came back to thank the college for his firm grounding in the industry. We ate:
Salmon. Cured Loch Duart Salmon, Miso Creme Fraiche, Cucumber and Salmon Crackling
Goats Curd. Goats curd, Heritage Beetroot, Chicory, Golden Raisin and Toasted Walnut Dressing
Beef. Slow Roast Fillet of English Beef, Braised Cheek, Salt Baked Carrots, Horseradish Mash and Braising Juices
Rhubarb Cheesecake. Vanilla Fromage Blanc, Poached Yorkshire Rhubarb, Rhubarb Sorbet, Ginger Crumb
If you want to go all "molecular" with your cookery then look at infusions4chefs, based in Rougham, Suffolk for your ingredients. I bought a Sosa Candy Floss aroma to use in a food trends workshop that I was running. Now my car smells like a sweet shop.
More...
I was hunting for microcress, pea shoots and edible flowers and found the most amazing selection grown right here in East Anglia.
Allan Miller at Nurtured in Norfolk in Dereham invited me to take a tour of his glasshouses and I was hit by a sea of green, mini micro leaves of every variety, some which I had never even heard of.
Allan and his wife Sue gave up their jobs as chefs and started growing microcress in a greenhouse in their back garden. Now they supply the likes of Ollie Dabbous and other Michelin acclaimed chefs.
Would you want to cook for 40 plus Hotel Inspectors at their annual conference? We can be a fussy lot. However year after year The Farncombe Conference Centre do a sterling job. We should really take a couple of days off from eating but not when you see food like this!
Fancy a drop of camel milk in your coffee? Well head down to Taylor Street Barista's at 125 Old Broad Street, London this week and 28 Queens Street, Brighton next week and you will find the United Arab Emirates produced camel milk "Camelicious" on the menu.
We are not ones for advocating produce that has travelled half way around the world, but this is in aid of Farm Africa, with customers encouraged to give a £1 donation for each coffee purchased.
Camel milk is very popular in the Middle East and North Africa and has five times the Vitamin C and half the fat content of cows milk. New rural enterprise anyone?
Pratik cooked us a mean burger, topped with Kiddertons Ash Reserve Goats cheese and a fabulous tray of chocolate brownies. My idea of a perfect guest.