16 minute read
DRINK
A VINTNER’S TALE (ACT 2, SCENE VI)
Peter Law, Chairman and MD at Wine Wizzard in Castle Cary, continues with his fascinating tales of life in the wine trade…
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Firstly, a big thank you to all our many existing and new customers for all the support and custom over the last, difficult year.
I have always been interested in art and would like to have been an artist myself, but lacked the talent. However, I regard the making of good wine as an art form – another reason why I became a wine merchant in the 1960s.
My first wife is a painter and I met David Hockney who was sitting in the row behind me with a friend of mine, stroking my hair, much to the concern and annoyance of my wife. I hadn’t realised that the private cinema in Old Compton Street, Soho, was what today would be called a gay cinema! He is and was then a great painter. Amongst many others, I met Bridget Riley, John Hoyland, Barry Fantoni (Private Eye and That Was the Week That Was), and Patrick Procktor. At the time (60s) I shared a pub in Islington with Willy Rushton (That Was the Week That Was and co-founder of Private Eye). The pub was always great fun. For younger readers, this was the beginning of modern satire. There was much irreverence and mostly harmless fun followed by the hippy times when it really did look like ‘the times are a-changing’. This was the era when I was No.2 in the original Oddbins.
On a wine buying trip in the early !970s, I visited the Fondation Maeght in the hills above Nice where I met Joan Miro, a small man stepping out of a very large Rolls Royce, killing himself laughing. I don’t speak Spanish so we conversed in French and I asked him what was so funny and he replied that he couldn’t believe that people were paying so much money for his ‘arts plastiques’ phallic sculptures. Many works by Alexander Calder were on display and while a recent exhibition of Calder’s work at Hauser & Wirth in Bruton was good, it was even better in the sunshine and warmth of St Paul de Vence.
My sister who had moved to Crickhowell in Wales phoned to ask for help with a fairly large birthday party for one of her children. George Melly phoned her needing a lift as he had lost his driving licence (again); his moped wouldn’t start and he wanted to go to the pub. As my sister was too busy cooking, I went to collect him from his splendid twelfth-century house on the river Usk which he and his long-suffering wife, Diana, had bought along with the fishing rights (he was a keen fly fisherman) from the sale of some of his art collection – reportedly including a Matisse, Picasso and Paul Klee. On the way to the pub, we had a wonderfully eccentric, surrealist conversation for half an hour over a packet of biscuits!
In the 1970s, back at The Malmesbury Vintner, Howard Hodgkin (later Sir Howard) was a customer and I always enjoyed looking at his latest works when delivering to his nearby studio in Castle Coombe. In one of our many conversations he was explaining his success in the USA. I told him that I was contemplating opening up a business there and he actively encouraged me. At the time I was enjoying huge success in the UK with a particular chateau for which I was the UK agent and thought it ideal for the US market. As luck would have it, a customer who exported cheese to the US had a coast-tocoast distribution network in place, so we joined forces and set up a US company. Regrettably at the last minute, one of the sons of the chateau owner was sent to handle the US market. Unfortunately, he was a ‘chasseur des jupons’ (literally a skirt chaser) who neglected the business whilst pursuing his hedonistic lifestyle. Surprise, surprise, it failed – he must have cost his father a fortune. Luckily I was not financially involved. Last heard of, he was running a night club in Barcelona, but that was the end of a very successful business arrangement.
At the time of writing, the world is in a rather precarious place, but being the eternal optimist, I am looking forward (amongst other things) to drinking some very good wine in the future. I have greatly missed my buying trips to mainland Europe – the younger and up-and-coming vignerons are so passionate about their skills and I always like to hear the opinions of other nationalities. I hope to resume this, this year.
We are awaiting numerous samples, mostly from France as shipments from Spain and Italy still seem to be slow. Bureaucracy is increasing here in UK, and unfortunately has to be paid for. The government is considering increasing duties dependant on the alcohol level. This will further increase bureaucracy and cost, and as a trade we are already overtaxed. It will also lead to further inflation. It is nothing new, but honesty, common sense and politics have never been happy bedfellows.
We will continue to try to find and sell properly made, good quality wines at the best prices we can. SALUD!
TRY THIS SPICY PIE!
By Khrishma Preston, The Alternative Indian
The last few weeks have been busy for me planning the foodie year ahead. Last month I launched a mid-week curry club delivering to local villages around Crewkerne, along the A30 to West Coker. Where I can, I try and accommodate customers with deliveries or arrange a collection point. If you are interested in joining our mid-week curry club, please keep an eye on my social media and website pages or get in touch via info@ thealternativeindian.com. We use no plastic, we limit our containers and it is all biodegradable and recyclable.
If you are a reader of the magazine within our current catchment and would like a curry box, I can offer a 10% discount through March if you quote ‘ConduitBoxOffer’ when placing your order.
I’ve have also been working on a little foodie calendar project. This will be published on the website soon. March has some interesting food weeks which have inspired this month’s recipe.
7-13 March
• Food Waste Action week – www. wrap.org.uk/taking-action/citizen-behaviour-change/love-food-hate-waste/ key-campaigns/food-waste-actionweek • British Pie week – www.british-pieweek.co.uk • National Butchers week – www.nationalbutchersweek.co.uk
14-20 March
• World Salt Awareness week – www. actiononsalt.org.uk/awareness • Nutrition and Hydration week – www. nutritionandhydrationweek.co.uk Knowing pork pies, sausage rolls and scotch eggs are often a British party staple, I started spicing up my own at home. Here’s my recipe for spiced sausage and egg pies. The pastry recipe is fairly simple to make, but bought pastry is just as good. I would love to hear what you think of these, so please let me know by tagging us @thealternativeindian on Instagram or Facebook.
Spiced Fennel, Pork and Egg Picnic Pie
Prep time 45 mins Cooking Time 1hr 5mins, plus chilling Serves around 10
INGREDIENTS
Pastry
• Bought ready rolled puff pastry 2 x 375g
Or
• 260g unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small cubes
• 525g plain flour • Pinch of salt • 3-4 tbsp iced water
METHOD
Spiced filling
• 1 tbsp rapeseed oil, plus extra for greasing • 1 tbsp fennel seeds • 1 onion, finely chopped • 4 cloves garlic, minced • 2 inch fresh ginger, minced • 2 red chillies, chopped (keep seeds in for an extra kick) • 800g butcher’s sausage meat • 2 tsp turmeric • 4 tbsp cumin-coriander powder • 1 tbsp wholegrain mustard • Small handful of fresh coriander, chopped, (optional) • 1 tsp garam masala • 1 tsp salt or to taste • Freshly grated black pepper • 5 semi-boiled eggs, cooled and peeled • 1 pack local butcher’s unsmoked bacon
Egg wash glaze
• 1 egg, beaten • Splash of milk • ½ tsp turmeric
To make the pastry
Combine the butter in a bowl with the flour and salt using the rubbing method, then add just enough water to bring together and make a firm dough. Dust your surface with flour and roll out the dough away from you to make a rectangle about 1cm thick. Fold the two short ends into the middle so they overlap. Turn the pastry by 45 degrees and repeat process up to five times. Wrap the pastry in cling film or place in an airtight container and let it rest it in the fridge for 30 minutes.
To make the spiced filling
Heat the oil and sauté the fennel seeds then add the onion. Cook until they just turn translucent, then add garlic, ginger and chilli. Sauté for another minute or two (do not let them go brown) and then leave to cool.
In a large mixing bowl, add the sausage meat, turmeric, cumin-coriander powder, wholegrain mustard, chopped coriander leaves, garam masala, salt and pepper. Once the onion mix is cooled add this to the mixing bowl and combine well.
To make the pie
Preheat oven to 200°C or gas mark 6. Divide the pastry in half, if made as above. Roll out one half of the pastry on a floured surface to a rectangle 45 x 15cm (and about 5mm thick) that fits a baking tray. Flour the baking tray and lay the pastry on top. Add a layer of spiced sausage meat, leaving a little space around the outside. Put the eggs down the middle, making a little groove with your thumb as you go for added stability. Then carefully build the remaining sausage meat around the eggs. Roll out the other half of the pastry. Brush the edges of the first sheet with egg wash glaze and lay the other sheet of pastry over the top, pressing to stick and then crimp the edges. Now brush all over with egg wash glaze and make a few slits in the top. Between the slits, place the bacon. Chill in the fridge for 15 minutes to firm up the pastry again. Bake for 35-50 minutes. Check the sausage meat is cooked to temperature using a probe: it should be at least 71°C for 2 minutes. Once fully cooked, rest for a few minutes and serve hot, or leave to cool for a picnic. The pie can be stored in an airtight container for three days or frozen.
CHEDDAR, PICKLED WALNUT AND PENNYWORT SALAD
By Mark Hix
You can forage all the year round, and currently I’ve been picking pennywort and hedgerow garlic right next to my house. When I’m foraging on the beach I often get stopped by walkers who want to know what I’m picking - it always turns people’s heads and educates them somewhat.
When you have great ingredients you need to do very little to them. I’ve used pennywort here which is a delicious and abundant wild leaf that has everything about it that makes a great textured, attractive and flavoursome simple, winter salad, with a bit of my local Black Cow cheddar, made by Barbers where the whey byproduct is turned into Black cow vodka. Pickled walnuts are a great accompaniment to cheese and are not used enough in my opinion being regarded as an old man’s kind of ingredient – like gentleman’s relish. My larder is never without a jar or three of Opies pickled walnuts as they are a luxury but accessible culinary ingredient, even if you are wondering ‘Oh, I’ve never tried them before’. If you want a bit more of an insight into what to pick for free then come and join me and John Wright on the 6 April at The Fox inn.
Black Cow cheddar, pickled walnut and pennywort salad Serves 4
120-150g Black Cow cheddar cheese, broken into small chunks 4 pickled walnuts, quartered (reserve the juice) A handful of pennywort or small salad leaves, washed and dried A few chive flowers
For the dressing
1 tbsp pickled walnut juice 4 tbsp extra virgin rapeseed oil Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Mix the ingredients for the dressing together and season to taste. Arrange the leaves and pickled walnuts on serving plates then scatter the pieces of Black Cow in amongst them. Spoon the dressing over, and break up and scatter the chive flowers.
TALES FROM THE TRADING POST
By Kate Forbes
Last year we erected two marquees in the latter half of 2021 to house our Christmas stock. Now we have decided to make use of the extra space all year round.
The larger of the two marquees is erected over our garden centre area to protect the new delivery of plants that are arriving over the next few weeks.
For the smaller of the two marquees we opted to increase our ranges of food and drink throughout the shop and create a ‘pantry’ in the new marquee area housing all the everyday items that our customers are looking for, thus opening up the shelves in the rest of the shop to even more exciting new products.
The new Trading Post Farm Shop Pantry has made a huge difference to how the shop flows and allows us to display some of our previously hidden products that were lost amongst shelves overflowing with temptation. Not much has changed in the front shop area (so far). As you come in you are welcomed by the delicious smell of freshly cooked loaves and the colourful seasonal display on our Covent Garden barrow. The zero waste refill room, toiletries and gin remain where they are.
However, when you hit the back shop everything is so much better!
On your left as you enter we now have a wall of apple crates entirely dedicated to breakfast; jams, marmalades, nut butters (so many nut butters!), syrups and cereals. Next to these are our full range of flour for every baking occasion, gluten free, spelt, rice, stoneground and your everyday basics too.
Our chutneys, pickles and antipasti ranges grew dramatically at Christmas and as many of the new products have been so popular they are now part of our permanent range.
Our world food area, touched upon in my article last month, suddenly took on a life of its own and we now hold a vast selection of everything you could possibly need to whip up a foreign feast!
And then in to our pantry… it is so important to us that no matter how excited we get about Christmas, Easter and all the high days and holidays that we remain grounded about where we started – we are a local shop supplying our local customers with locally grown organic veg and fruit and a wide selection of everyday foods. We are somewhere that you can come along, have a natter and do your weekly shop.
Our pantry is full of all the everyday essentials, tins of pulses, tomatoes, ready meals and fish, alongside condiments such as ketchups, mayonnaise, salad dressing and marinades. All our pasta and rice have been popped into the pantry too alongside the wide selection of oils and vinegars, mustards and sauces.
Our seasoning and baking section has also had a bit of an overhaul and not only can you now see what we actually have in stock we have also added some fantastic new lines.
There’s only one thing for it…visit us and see for yourself!
PUTTING THE CITRUS ZING IN GIN!
GIN
By Carl Hankey
@viper_gin
Carrying on from my previous article concerning botanicals used in gin, today we look at a very important botanical in almost all gins across the world, citrus.
Worldwide, more citrus fruit is grown than any other type of fruit. Citrus production surpassed that of grapes in 1991 and has never looked back. In 2008, nearly eighty million tonnes of citrus fruit were grown, representing over 65 per cent of worldwide fruit production.
Citrus has always been important in a gin’s botanical signature. The fruits are prized for their aromatic, oil-rich skins. Their inclusion in gin often adds a bright top note. These days we use citrus fruits often, whether in cooking or enjoyed on their own. This makes them the more easily recognisable note in a gin’s aromatic character. Most citrus fruit’s primary aromatic constituent is limonene. However, the variation in the other trace components between different citrus fruits make them distinctive in a spirit.
The citrus used in the botanical recipe for gin distillation is nearly always only the peel. This is because the fruit’s oils are concentrated in the peel. These days, distillers have taken inspiration from the diversity of citrus fruits and have a wide range of these fruits to add to their gin. We use lots of different citruses across our range of gins, from orange, lemon and lime to more specialist citrus fruits such as bergamot. Bergamot is widely used in perfumes and cosmetics and is used to flavour tea to create Earl Grey. Bergamot has a warm, floral and slightly spicy character it can impart to a gin.
We also use yuzu thought to be a hybrid between Ichang papeda and Satsuma mandarin. Yuzu is sour, tart and very fragrant citrus that imparts a flavour reminiscent of bitter mandarin, orange blossom and sweet Amalfi lemon and grapefruit. However, it has its own very unique fragrance and flavour which is a bit more sour and floral then you could obtain from using lemon, mandarin and grapefruit peel in your botanical recipe.
A more unusual and not so often used citrus note for one of our gins comes from the Szechuan peppercorn which originates from northern China. We actually grow them in our garden as they are relatively easy to grow and maintain. It may also surprise you to learn that Szechuan peppercorn isn't really a pepper at all. In fact, the peppers are the dried red-brown berries of the prickly ash tree belonging to the citrus family of plants.
The Szechuan peppercorn brings a fresh, zesty and aromatic character to a gin with a grapefruit/lemony scent and flavour with warming spiciness. Brilliant to use for a gin that’s interesting and different from many others in the market.
If this has sparked your interest, why not try our Viper Szechuan peppercorn gin or Viper Yuzu citrus gin?
The Mitre Inn
Sandford Orcas Nr Sherborne, DT9 4RU 01963 220271
FREEHOUSE
Allen and Cheryl welcome you with a cosy bar and great food.
Wed to Fri - Senior Citizens 2 course lunch £12.95 Sunday Roast - £11.95 Adult, £10.75 OAP and £8.25 children 2 En-suite letting rooms and Shepherds Hut
@viperlondondrygin
info@viperspirit.co.uk www.viperspirit.co.uk
WE ARE HIRING!
HEAD CHEF | SOUS CHEF | CHEF DE PARTIES
As our current Head Chef is relocating, we are looking for a suitable replacement to take over the reins. We are also recruiting for other positions to complete the kitchen brigade as we enter the busy spring/summer period.
Working with renowned chef, food writer and restaurateur Mark Hix, this is an amazing opportunity to work with an experienced, loyal and friendly team, with plenty to learn along the way.
Our menu changes regularly using the best of seasonal produce from farmers, foragers, fishermen, or even grown in our own kitchen garden.
If you have a passion for food, drink and hospitality and looking for your next chef role, then The Fox Inn could be for you.
In return for your hard work, we are offering a competitive wage and staff benefits to include: 28 days holiday | Staff food | Service charge and tips Employee discount and complimentary meals | Pension
Send your CV to jo.harris@coastalmarks.co.uk or apply online at thefoxinncorscombe.co.uk
