Archive for April, 2007

The State of Eggs

by Andrew on April 19, 2007 in Books For Cooks, In the Press with 1 Comment

Planet Chicken by Hattie EllisHere’s something I wasn’t aware of – battery egg production is to be banned across Europe but ‘enriched’ cages, a step-up from battery will still be allowed. There was a thought provoking article in The Guardian recently that explored the new choices and the reality of free-range and chicken welfare in general.

It was penned by Hattie Ellis, author of Planet Chicken: The Shameful Story of the Bird on Your Plate (Amazon.co.uk £8.99). Her Guardian piece highlights the problem with beak removal

“free-range systems do not eliminate other welfare issues. In crowded conditions, chickens can be aggressive; feather-pecking and even cannibalism can be rife. To counter this, many free-range birds, as well as battery ones, have the end of their beaks removed. Although technology has improved since the days when a third or even a half of the beak was cut off, animal-welfare campaigners still feel it is wrong, though admittedly better than the hens pecking each other to death.”

Onthe positive side there is a rise in sales of the Clarence Court range of Cotswold Legbar and Burford Browns (my regular choice if the local farm has sold out) despite a price premium. Sales have doubled in the past year.

Sadly though there are 30 million laying chickens in the UK with 860 million raised for meat. Only 4% of those are free-range.


Win a break in Badger Country

by Andrew on April 18, 2007 in Taste with No comments

Hall and WoodhouseDorset based brewer Hall and Woodhouse have just released details of a competition to win a break for 4 people in one of six ‘Innforanight’ locations across the South. One lucky winner and three of their friends and family will get to enjoy a week of free accommodation, breakfast and dinner.

The winner can choose from six locations across the South from the Isle of Wight, Devon, Hampshire and Dorset, where you could even come and visit us at the Brewery and take one of our renowned Brewery Tours.

To enter is simple – fill out the form and answer the question “In what year was Hall & Woodhouse established?” The competitions closing date is the 27th of April with the winner notified on Monday the 30th of April.

Delicious Features Travelers Lunchbox Blog

by Andrew on April 17, 2007 in In the Press, On The Web with 2 Comments

Delicious Magazine May issue 2007The May issue of Delicious Magazine is now available. A regular in their Foodie File section is a piece on food bloggers titled Blogstandard.

This months issue fetaures Edinburgh-based, Melissa Kronenthal of the world famous (at least in food blogging circles) Travelers Lunchbox. Note the American spelling. Melissa puts down her inspiration as

Even though I don’t come from a foodie family, I remember cooking from the age of 10 and holding dinner parties aged 12. But my main inspiration came fwhen I spent a year living in Spain, aged 16. This awakened my love of experiencing the world though food (the main theme of my blog), and inspired a love of simple, rustic dishes using high-quality products.

Melissa has been blogging since 2005, old-school in terms of the food blogging world, and is littered with great recipes, foodie thoughts and wonderful photography.

Delcious has previously featured The Passionate Cook and Delicious Days as their featured bloggers. There are nearly 100 dedicated food and drink bloggers in the UK, plenty of chocie for the editors in the future!

Fairtrade Cookery Competition

by Andrew on April 14, 2007 in On The Web, Tasting Events/Shows with No comments

Fairtrade LogoDK publishing and the Fairtrade Foundation are running a competition for amateur cooks.

Using at least one Fairtrade ingredient the recipe, if judged one of the best 150 will appear in the Fairtrade Everyday Cookbook. The recipe should serve four, and have a maximum of 10 ingredients in total with the cooking instructions coming in at under 200 words. Entries need to be in by the 30th April. Winners receive a copy of the book, to be published early in 2008, an invite to the launch party and are entered into a draw to win a Kitchen Aid mixer.

Details required to enter are listed online or you can use forms from the February edition of Sainsbury’s magazine or the Spring 2007 edition of Fair Comment. Full details are available on the Fairtrade website.

[Found via Eating Leeds]

Onions

by Andrew on April 13, 2007 in In the Press, On The Web with 1 Comment

Three Onions

Onions seem to be the ‘flavour of the month’ in the mainstream press. The Independent printed a recipe by Skye Gyngell for a Panade of slow-cooked onions with Emmental, which sounds delicious but it was Nigel Slater’s piece in the Observer that really inspired. And informed too.

Cooking onions is a task worth taking your time over – 10 minutes just isn’t long enough to get their crisp, watery flesh to break down into layers of honey-toned sweetness. Onions, whether small and whole or large and sliced, need a low temperature if they are not to burn and blacken, and plenty of stirring to prevent them colouring unevenly. The warmest of gold, evenly spread throughout, will take a good 25 minutes of an onion’s time.

So that’s the secret – long, slow cooking. The article provides three recipes – Shallots with raisins and cider vinegar, Onion rarebit and Baked onions. The latter I’ve tried several times and served with various different goats cheeses and can highly recommend it. Simply throw those torpedo shaped shallots in the oven until soft and deliciously aromatic and serve with goats cheese. His Kitchen Diaries also has a great recipe, Baked onions with Cream and Parmesan.

[Photo Andrew Barrow]

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