THE LUSCIOUS LEEK

Leek and Potato Soup – A simple classic.

1 carrot

2 medium onions

5 leeks

2 cloves of garlic

5 big potatoes

olive oil

2 chicken or Marigold vegetable stock 2.5ltrs

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

Peel and roughly slice the carrot

Peel and roughly chop the onions

Cut the ends off the leeks, quarter them lengthways, wash them under running water and cut them into 1cm slices

Peel and slice the garlic

Place a large pan on a high heat and add 2 tablespoons of olive oil

Add all your chopped and sliced ingredients and mix together

Cook for around 10 minutes with the lid partially on with room to steam, until the carrots have softened, and the onion and leeks are lightly golden

Peel the potatoes and cut them into 1cm dice

Pour the stock onto the vegetables

Add the potatoes

Give the soup a good stir and bring to the boil

Reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes with the lid on

Remove from the heat. Blend the soup in a food processor or use a stick blender, until smooth. Season with salt and lots of ground black pepper.

Serve with a sprinkle of parsley. Also good eaten cold with a dollop of yoghurt.

 

 

Elderflower Fizz and Cordial

In Summer I like to make elderflower fizz the simple, quick way with nothing but the wild yeasts of the air. The result can be volatile so the best way to bottle Elderflower Fizz is to use old plastic soda or lemonade bottles as you have to let the gasses out occasionally. I’ve done it with swing top bottles but you have to keep your eye on them. The resultant fizz has an alchohol content of 3-5%. If you want to make a finer version you will have to add champagne yeast, use a demi-john with a bubble trap and fiddle about with the bottles quite a bit after decanting. I’m too impatient.

I also make cordial but that is best drunk in the Winter. The fragrance is so redolent of warm summer evenings is seems more special when drunk in the chilly darkness of a winter’s eve.. I make it with lots of sugar so the resultant syrup makes larger quantities, as you need more water to dilute it, I find most recipes too thin. You will need citric acid to bring out the flavour or the sugar overpowers the scent. Drink it now but put some of the syrup in jars in the freezer for the colder months and add it to cocktails.

To make Elderflower cordial

30-40 elderflower heads

3 litres water spring water

2kg caster sugar

1 packet of citric acid (available from chemists)

2 unwaxed oranges, juice and zest

3 unwaxed lemons, juice and zest

Method

1. DO NOT RINSE the elderflowers or you lose half the fragrance, shake gently to remove any dirt or little creatures.
2. Boil half the water in a large pan, pour in the sugar and stir to dissolve it . Leave to cool. Add the rest of the water
3. When ready add the orange and lemon juice and zest and then the flowers. I usually bag them in muslin weighted with marbles as suggested in my cartoon above.
4. Leave in a cool place COVERED for 24-36 hours, stirring occasionally.
5. Strain through some muslin and add the citric acid to taste, probably a teaspoon a litre but test it out.
6. Bottle it or freeze it.

Other things to do with elderflowers:

Make the flowers into fritters

Use the cordial for drizzle cake

Mix the cordial through rhubarb and cream

Make fragrant jelly and entrap the flowers within it

Elderflower ice cubes

Store the flowers in your sugar jar

Powderham Food Festival 2014 – 4th October at Powderham Castle

The Royal Marines are bringing their ‘Field Kitchen’ to Powderham Food Festival. Watch them demonstrate their superb cooking skills.

Saturday 4th October 10am-5pm
At Powderham Castle, Kenton, Exeter Devon EX6 8JQ http://www.powderhamfoodfestival.com/
Admission £6 Adults, £2 for children 4-16, family tickets available too.

This year Powderham Food Festival presents the “Theatre of Fire and Smoke” – everyone will be cooking over traditional fire – fire pits, BBQs, wood fired ovens . . . . searin’ and smokin’.

Bring out your inner caveman or woman! Feast your eyes on our theatre of Fire ‘n Smoke and then literally feast on chunks of beautifully char-grilled Devon meat washed down with fabulous West Country ales and cider. The sparks will fly as our pit-masters cook up a storm. Expect delicious outdoor kitchen fireworks and some amazing BBQ food to guzzle.

It’s Autumn: think fire, succulent barbecued meat, hot chestnuts, slow-cooked pulled pork, roasted pumpkins, fish baked in corn husks, clams scattered onto hot coals, sizzling mussels, ravishing ribs. Outdoor cooking over traditional fire all served up in the beautiful surroundings of Powderham Castle.

With four exciting cooking demo areas:

The Main marquee, our “Theatre of Fire and Smoke” – with fire pits, smokers, wood fired oven, Kamado BBQ – and even a smoking wheelbarrow!
Amazing line up of open fire experts performing great culinary acts transforming simple ingredients into searingly, succulent meaty masterpieces, vibrant vegetables and flaming fish.
Area 2 – The Royal Marines from Lympstone Training Camp (subject of TV series right now) are also coming, bringing their Cooks Field Tent and Cook Van. They cook at any time anywhere in the world from the heat in Afghanistan to the cold of Norway, constantly raising their skills and team bonding while using limited rations and equipment. They have to think creatively while ensuring that they provide the nutritional content necessary to keep the guys going in the field. Watch our boys demonstrate their superior skills and drink a bottle of special chilli brewed Hunters Ale “Fire King” while raising money for the Marines C Group Charity with a donation from each bottle going to their fund inspiring business to support marines in need.

Area 3 is the sweet ’n pretty Garton King, AGA “Baking Perfection” marquee. Are your loaves leaden? Do you despair at your sagging sponges? Are your rock hard scones even rejected by the ducks? Help is at hand, here we’ll be serving up superb demos on how to faultlessly bake everything from the perfect meringue to the perfect pasty by a varied line up of expert cooks including AGA supremo chef, David Pengelly, who will be creating wonderful bread and cakes baked in the Dual control AGA, James Strawbridge cooking the Perfect Cornish Pasty and Saira Hamilton revealing Bengali baking secrets. Come along to see David and friends, ask lots of questions and get baking! And a new exciting news – ‘The Vanilla Queen’ is coming too. 

Area 4 – ‘Fun Kitchen” at Powderham Food Festival. Learn the art of cooking with a series of short, free, hands-on children’s sessions, run all day at Powderham Castle. Fun Kitchen will show children how to have fun creating fresh traditional dishes from scratch. And not only will children be able to taste the fresh food difference in the finished product they take home, they’ll also know just what’s required to make fun wholesome dishes when they get home. Fun Kitchen quick workshops at the Powderham Food Festival are a great way to encourage children to learn more about food in a fun way!

BBQ cooking is taking Britain by storm – chefs all over UK are installing fire pits in their kitchens, giving customers a simple but delicious alternative to more complicated offerings. At Powderham Festival 2014 we are reflecting this in our dazzling line up of guest cooks. From fire-pits to charcoal filled wheel barrows, via flaming tandoori ovens, the festival provides a bonanza of barbecued and char-grilled meats including venison from Powderham parkland, fish and shellfish from Exe Estuary, superb grass fed Devon beef and pork from Pipers Farm.

We will be reveling in all things fiery and smoky with over 100 producers exhibiting in the castle and grounds, fascinating demonstrations, talks and tastings.

Heading the lineup –
Jane Baxter – ex head chef Riverford Field Kitchen Jane Baxter is a chef and food writer. She trained at the Carved Angel under Joyce Molyneux before moving to the River Café. After a stint travelling and cooking around the world, in 2005 she set up the acclaimed Riverford Field Kitchen in Devon. She is co-author of the Riverford Farm Cookbook and Recipes for Everyday and Sunday. Currently based in south Devon, her latest book, co-written with Henry Dimbleby, is Leon: Fast Vegetarian.

Magdalen Chapter Hotel – The core ethos of the Magdalen Chapter Hotel is to create simple, seasonal and classic dishes, with a focus on local produce. Ben Bulger, head chef at the hotel will be demonstrating dishes that have helped to gain the hotel a reputation for excellent food.

Peter Greig co-owner with wife Henrietta, of Pipers Farm, produces award winning grass fed free range meat. Peter began by working in his father’s industrial chicken unit but was keen to change direction to traditional, slow growing farming methods. Heading down to Devon and establishing Pipers Farm, Peter then travelled continental Europe to witness very different butchery methods, teaching himself to butcher. The prime focus is producing contented animals, slowly, on the land in small groups to minimise stress – and to produce fantastic tasting meat. Today Pipers a Farm embraces 25 family farms who use traditional, sustainable values to produce healthy food. Peter is a master at the fire pits, famous for his smoked BBQ beef brisket.

Zimbabwean-born chef, Kumbirai (Kumbi) Gundidza, has just launched a range of truly delicious sauces, Kumbites,  largely influenced by his African childhood. Growing up in Harare, Kumbi spent holidays with his grandmother on her smallholding outside the city where she grew many different varieties of fruit and vegetables. His aunt too was a caterer and he remembers being in Victoria Falls and eating crocodile tail cooked over an open fire pit. Now living in Dawlish, Kumbi delights in sea air and the glorious Devon countryside. He will be working with Peter Greig of Pipers Farm, prepping some of that superb meat with his African flavoured sauces spiked with different chillis and fragrant with warming spices.

Patrick Fogarty, Bronx Bar and ‘Cue in Teignmouth – London restaurant entrepreneur, Patrick Fogarty is a Devon lad returning to his roots to open Bronx BBQ restaurant and bar to add to the emerging and exciting Teignmouth restaurant scene. Committed to using best local meat, serving killer cocktails and Devon craft ales, Patrick will be serving up a fiery storm with his Head Pitmaster, at Powderham Castle Food Fest this October.

Saira Hamilton is known for her gifts of packing flavour into every dish of delicious Bengali-inspired food. Saira has an intuitive ability to take everyday ingredients and create an extraordinarily good meal. She uses the best of British produce combined with the spices and cooking techniques of her Bengali heritage to create delicious fresh-tasting dishes which are achievable without specialist or hard-to-find ingredients. Her food philosophy is all about keeping it simple and is rooted in her love of good, home-cooked food which is made to be enjoyed and shared with friends and family.

James Strawbridge, proprietor “Posh Pasty Company”, grower, poet, environmentalist, eco-technologist, TV presenter and cook, brings along his “BBQ Smokehouse” serving home-produced pastrami sandwiches. A “Hungry Sailor”, together with his Dad, Dick Strawbridge, he has sailed the coast of South West Britain making landfalls to find the best locally produced food and appeared on his own show. They also appeared together on “It’s not easy being green” and “Saturday Farm”.

Masterchef winner chef, Mat Follas regularly runs courses on foraging and wild plants which he turns into delicious recipes- think elderflower tempura and wild garlic arancini. He is a regular judge for BBC Masterchef and Mat’s recipes are published in a variety of magazines including Good Food, Olive and Delicious magazines.

Patricia Rain, The Vanilla Queen, will be demonstrating with Little Pod in the Perfection Tent. Patricia is an author, educator, culinary historian, and owner of The Vanilla Company (www.vanillaqueen.com), a socially conscious, product-driven information and education site dedicated to the promotion of pure, natural vanilla, and the support of vanilla farmers worldwide. The Vanilla Cookbook established her as an authority on this exotic rainforest product. Ms. Rain is the voice for small vanilla farmers worldwide, providing information on growing, curing, packaging and shipping vanilla to the world market, providing a forum for networking and representing their needs and concerns through writing and speaking engagements. Additionally, The Vanilla Company is actively working with individuals and groups in vanilla-growing countries to establish projects and to get medical and other needed supplies into rural areas.

And that’s not all. Powderham Forge will be adding fire and sparks ringing out into the Autumn air and woodland crafts people, Running Deer, will be making charcoal and cooking over campfires.

Helen Hayes, PR manager of Helpful Holidays, the key sponsor, is looking forward to the festival “We can’t wait to celebrate a third year sponsoring this event. Fabulous West Country food is very much a part of our guests’ self-catering holiday experience and we are happy to be involved again.”

Family fun, live music and an abundance of fabulous food & drink – don’t miss it.
Powderham Castle, Kenton, Exeter Devon EX6 8JQ http://www.powderhamfoodfestival.com/

Admission £6 Adults Kids £2 aged 4-16 Family tickets available.

All photographs by Matt Austin.

Topsham Bacon and Beer Festival Sept 20th – 21st 2014

Hosted by our charcuterie friends ‘Good Game’, and The Beer Temple.  Come along to enjoy both beer and bacon at the very first event of its kind in Topsham. 

The event is aid of Hospiscare.

 Advanced tickets will include:

Your own Topsham Beer and Bacon Festival tasting glass to keep.

First drink free and £3 a pint

Live Music from local bands

Bar offering their own and guest draught beers form (Exeter, Hunters, Hanlons and Tophsam Ales)

Bottled beer ranging from small local craft brewers to foreign stuff.

Larger and Cyder as well as a Wine Bar from Pebblebed

Food –  food vendors selling Pork and BBQ based food. Expect some of the following: Pork Heaven Pizza, Slow Roasted Pulled Pork, A Hog Roast, Smoked BBQ Pork and Beef and La Cantina Pork special.

Raffles and Competitions all in aid of Hospiscare.

Tickets are £5 for the day or £8 for both days, if purchased in advance.

 

September 20^th & 21^st  Saturday 4pm until Midnight, Sunday Noon until 9pm

at 

Topsham Rugby Club. Under 18’s free, family entertainment on Sunday.

For more details email steve@good-game.co.uk or rjenkins@thebeertemple.co.uk or call 07920 527691

Moretonhampstead Food Festival Round Up

My friend Amanda said, “It was the best day out I’ve had on Dartmoor for a decade” and despite a short downpour of rain, the town was packed. Well, you can’t get a better comment than that?  It was fun. The kitchen jumble was heaving and the variety of food stalls was magnificent. There was a great feeling of spontaneity and joy in the air and lots of live music to keep up the jolly tempo. I videoed (in the rain, someone kindly held an umbrella over me) ‘With Nell and I’ as they sang in the street, a moment that was caught by BBC Radio Devon and broadcast the next day. Here it is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2M7gXy0E5yU.     Street food abounded, here’s a few favourites:

Yes, for lunch, (see last post) I did have El Goucho’s beef “churrasco” style on a spit roast over a charcoal and oak BBQ.   They serve it in a fresh roll with ”chimmichuri” sauce which is made from finely chopped parsley, garlic and crushed tomato with oil, lemon, salt and pepper. The sauce made the dish, it was fantastic and they sold out.

El Gaucho

Of course, that was just a preamble to much more.

Bennett’s Seafood Sandwiches

Bennett’s Seafood Sandwiches were excellent. Pollock Goujons in a roll!

Sole and pollock in a roll

The hog roast was….

eaten to the bone.

Janice was on fine form with her Caribbean treats.I did try Oke’s Indian Curries which were the real home-made wonders.  Fresh, and full of flavour you only get when you make curry from scratch (sadly rare in these days of processed catering sauces slopped onto poor quality meat and sent out as authentic).

Oke’s curries

Lots for Vegetarians
Really excellent coffee, and I am very fussy

but it had to be washed down with Paul’s beer, small-scale produced in Devon and delicious. and not forgetting Ron’s Brimblecombe ciderCider produced in the ancient way on a 350 year old press

Brimblecombe Cider – still pressing the cider apples on a 350 year old press.

It was a great day out.

Crowds on Court street by Spencer Cobby Photography for Moretonhampstead Festival

 

 

 

Horsemeat and slurry in your ready meal! Buy local

 

We set up a pre-festival photo shoot for Moretonhampstead Festival of Food, Drink and the Arts, this week and managed to get on the front page of the regional paper. We wanted to stress the continuity of good local food being sold in Moretonhampstead, which was a Drovers town with 32 alehouses and a vibrant annual fair, so we persuaded the organisers to dress up to create some atmospheric pictures at the local hotel, The White Hart.

Three newspaper photographers came to the launch, one of them being Matt Austin – have a look at his site and make sure you scroll down to see  his beautiful ‘old master’ pictures

Matt Austin Images  – http://wp.me/p29IjA-Ky

Su Carrol, of the Western Morning News wrote an excellent article (below) which summed up exactly how we all feel, in these days when British people discover that the food trail of their ready meals leads to dubious horrors  (click food trail to see the map of how far and long the meat was moved around! And God knows what else is shoved in along the way, I believe rats are plentiful) Actually, I’ve eaten rat and it’s not bad when barbecued.

Moving on, here are Su’s words

Western Morning News Article by Su Carroll

The Dartmoor town of Moretonhampstead gets together once a year to stage a food festival which celebrates the local producers and farmers, as well as the businesses in this vibrant community.

Although last year’s event attracted a modest 6,000 visitors, a launch for this year’s festival underlines why this kind of shop window for local producers is vital.Food festivals like ours in Moretonhampstead encourage shoppers to buy local, to source meat bought directly from the farmer and producer,” said Alastair Wimberley, who farms welfare-friendly Red Ruby beef a mile from the town and is one of the festival’s organisers.

“Meat products such as pies, pates and sausages are made responsibly from meat bought from a reliable local source where its origins are known.

“As a farmer and a butcher I am horrified by the behaviour of processed food producers in purchasing horse meat as a beef substitute and the distance it had travelled.”

Mr Wimberley also criticised supermarkets for encouraging the sale of ready-made meals, hoping that consumers would now turn away from that kind of product.

One of four main organisers of the festival, which is aided by over 60 volunteers, Mr Wimberley said the event was important in helping to educate the public about the provenance of food and the value of quality.

“Our food producers tend to be ethically responsible people on a mission to make the best product they can,” he said.

“With our cooking demos we hope to inspire people to go home with local produce and cook themselves a delicious healthy meal.”

This year’s food festival, on Saturday, March 9, will reflect the area’s food heritage.

Drovers would herd thousands of Ruby Reds and other cattle to moorland grazing in summer – known as the “red tide”.

At the height of this trade, there were 32 ale houses in Moretonhampstead and the local serving ladies who kept them in check were renowned for their Amazonian attributes, according to local legend.

The food festival will have cookery demonstrations, a market, bread-baking workshops, a cookery trail, kitchen jumble and a local artists trail. There’s also a festival drover’s pie, made with Alastair Wimberley’s beef and ale from Hunter’s Brewery in Ipplepen, lovingly cooked by Matthew King, head chef at Moretonhampstead’s White Hart Hotel.

 

Moretonhampstead Food Festival 9th March 2013

I’ve been going to this festival since it began, five years ago, and there is something absolutely vibrant and inclusive about it.  The whole thing is run by the people of the town, for charity, and it shows – there’s always loads going on, they cater for all ages and there’s plenty of free entertainment, art and music, with the added bonus of excellent food.  I’m proud to be promoting it this year, so here is some more about it.  See you there.   Moretonhampstead Festival of Food, Drink and the Arts is on Saturday 9th March (Free entry 9.30-4.30 ).

“THE PEOPLES FESTIVAL”

Moretonhampstead is a small moorland town of character, in Dartmoor National Park, Devon, which dates back over 1000 years to Saxon times. Moreton, (as the locals call it) is known for its friendliness and sense of community.

For the last four years the town has run an increasingly successful and popular event celebrating the best of local foods, drink and local arts. It has a growing reputation for the strength of its organisation and the friendliness of volunteers who run the festival as a non-profit making venture, everyone giving their time for free – a community run festival for the wider community. Any surplus cash is given to a local charity. The whole town turns out to welcome visitors to this highly enjoyable event – 7,000 last year.

Highlights this year include:

History, pie and ale

In the thirteenth century, King John granted Moreton a charter to hold regular markets and a great fair once a year. They are carrying on this tradition with our increasingly successful food festival.  The town boasted 32 pubs in which drovers drank fully after profitable sales of their animals. Truly a cattle town, drovers roads (still in existence) brought hundreds of cattle onto the moor, coming from as far away as London to graze the rich uplands.  When the cattle were being moved onto or off the moor it was described as the ‘Red Tide’ because most of the cattle were of a red colour and there were so many of them in the droves.

To celebrate Moreton’s long connection with cattle The White Hart Hotel are making a special Drovers Pie made with local beef and Hunters Beer, their chef, Matthew King, will be doing a demonstration of how to make it and the hotel will serve it too. http://www.whitehartdartmoor.co.uk/dartmoor-hotels

Historian, Paul Cleave, will be giving a lively talk on the history of Moretonhampstead as part of the festival. Paul is specialist in the history of food and tourism in Devon having completed a PHD on the subject at Exeter University.  He has gripping stories to tell. Amongst other things Morteton was a tourist town catering to travellers journeying from East to West, London to Plymouth with a long history. In an 1859 travel guide, the women of Moretonhampstead  “were noted for their Amazonian qualities!”

Kitchen Jumble Sale

They are encouraging visitors to contribute their unwanted kitchen items with all proceeds going to ‘Farms For City Children’ a local charity set up by Michael Morpurgo that gives city children a chance to experience country life – working with animals, cooking and outdoor fun.  All unwanted kitchenalia in addition to a cookbook swap.

Bread Workshops

Kids will make a little loaf to bake and take home.

Children will be taught to make dough and bake their own perfect little loaves to take home. Adult Master Classes will also be running with Roger Birt of Red Dog Bakery throughout the day. Booking essential. Sharon Davies, successful owner of Midfields Granola is so keen to get children cooking she has opened up her catering kitchen unit for the festival.  Book your workshop on our website or contact Sharon on 01647 440462 or email sharon.midfields@btinternet.com

Made on Dartmoor Short’ Film Competition

Sponsored by Bovey Castle, the Made on Dartmoor film competition is new to the 2013 festival, promising to highlight the talent and creativity of local filmmakers, whose focus will draw heavily on the iconic rural backdrop of the moor. Potential film makers are being invited to write, shoot and edit a video of no more than 90 seconds that features food related people, animals or products, all of which either work, are grown or produced within the confines of the Dartmoor National Park. The winning entry will be forwarded to Regional TV, all food & drink producers and tourist organisations in Devon with a request air it at their convenience and there are £200.00 worth of prizes up for grabs! Entries in by 4^th March.  http://moretonfestival.com/made-on-dartmoor-film-competition/

Art

Green Hill Arts centre will be hosting the Local Open Art Show, which will run from Wednesday 13 February 2013 to Saturday 9 March 2013. There will be an Arts Trail, a great way for those interested in art to explore this lovely little Dartmoor town, and a chance to visit local artists in their studios and houses. The local Blacksmith, Greg Abel, will be demonstrating throughout the day.

‘With Nell and I” providing entertainment

Music in the Church From 10.00 a.m. – 4.00 p.m. hear live music in the Church performed by local musicians including ‘Nell and I’; The Crooked Roots, a folk trio; Exeter’s Global Harmony; and Moretonhampstead’s Female Community Choir, The Moorhens.

There will be over 100 stalls, cooking demonstrations will be taking across the festival, and there’ll be lots of activities for children from face-painting to dedicated entertainment. The festival will be opened by Michelin starred chef, Michael Caines, a long-term friend and supporter of the event.

Sharon Davies of Midfileds Granola with Michelin starred Chef, Michael Caines, at last year’s festival.

For more info – http://moretonfestival.com/ and look up the facebook page.

The Cook, the Baker and the Archivist.

The Cook, the Baker and the Archivist.

I had a great day last week at Powderham Castle, setting up a photo shoot in the renovated Victorian kitchen, to promote Powderham Food Festival (6th Oct).

The castle employs a wonderful woman called Jill, who dresses up in costume and transforms into the Victorian Cook, Mrs Louisa Cop, who worked for the 13th Earl.   Jill has created a fantastic Victorian learning day at the castle. She leads a children’s workshop in character with passionate enthusiasm and many children leave asking if they can “please come and work for her when they leave school!”

Photographers and a journalist came from local papers, so I propped the kitchen with some fruit and vegetables, got Shaun, a master baker, to make Chudleighs (an early form of scone) and I took a series of little videos for the Facebook page. During her workshop, Jill trains the kids to be kitchen maids, explains about life in kitchen service and gets them to make griddle cakes.  The iron range, (brought down to the castle on The Great Western Railway in 1891) is still in working order and is lit before every session. Here’s the video of Jill talking about it.

Felicity, the archivist (video) found the invitation to the flamboyant third Viscount’s three day 21st birthday party, supplied by “ten wagons of provision from London and supplemented by delicacies from Exeter and the adjacent towns” that cost hundreds of thousands of pounds in 1790.  Peaches, then rare and exotic, were brought down from London and each of the 600 guests was served a perfect, perfumed fruit at the extravagant price of £2 each.

 

According to newspaper reports of this extravaganza “the lateness of the hour at which these entertainments generally commence precluded us from speaking fully of it as it deserves….The ball began at eleven o’clock, in one of the temporary rooms of canvas… The supper tables below were as handsome as taste and money could make them.  The tables were covered with allegorical decorations and every dainty the town could afford. Green peas (then eaten like a sweet fruit), cherries, strawberries, grapes and pines, were almost as plentiful as if they were in season. The house was not cleared until six o’clock on Saturday morning.”  

It is interesting to note just how late they ate. In another news report they mention that, on Friday “at about one o’clock the supper rooms were opened.” Then on Saturday the supper rooms were “opened at two o’clock” with the company retiring at four a.m. and they were still partying on Sunday when they began their refreshments at one o’clock after which “several songs were sung, and all present  seemed to enjoy the pleasures of conviviality. The company retired about five.”  Locals assembled in the park to watch the fun from afar but were not forgotten as ‘His Lordship… also had an eye towards the amusement of the populace, who was assembled in great numbers…to please whom, some prizes were rowed for at Starcross; wrestling, cudgel-playing &c., were exhibited, a bullock was roasted whole; and liquor was distributed in abundance.” What fun.

 

Come along and see on Saturday the 6th.

Powderham Food Festival 6th October at the castle in Devon

The archivist in the music room at Powderham Castle ph. Matt Austin

I’m thrilled to be promoting the very first Powderham Food Festival, on 6th October 2012, (sponsored by Helpful Holidays). The event will celebrate West Country food producers in a spectacular location – Powderham Castle: a 600-year-old stately home, set amidst a beautiful deer park with breathtaking views across the Exe Estuary. The historic setting not only serves as a stunning background but will be at the heart of the festival, linking the food of the past with producers in the present. The festival will take place inside the majestic ground floor rooms and outer courtyard, with stalls, food demonstrations and tastings by artisan makers.

Some Highlights:

The Courtenay Family’s Golden Age – Food Accounts of the 1700’s by Powderham archivist Felicity Harper, the Powderham Castle archivist will discuss the Castle’s culinary stories such as the flamboyant third Viscount’s three day birthday party, supplied by “ten wagons of provision from London and supplemented by delicacies from Exeter and the adjacent towns” that cost hundreds of thousands of pounds in 1790.  Investigations into kitchen purchase ledgers and account books (see a video of the book by pressing the blue words) have raised fascinating questions of diet and custom during the period, from why they bought such quantities of lemons to the unexpected popularity of estuary cockles? The records will be on display and Felicity Harper will discuss their contents and share her knowledge.  There will be a Q&A session after the talk and she will be available throughout the afternoon to chat to the public about life in the castle in the eighteenth century.

James Crowden – The Renaissance of Westcountry Cider

James Crowden is poet and renowned cider expect.  He is the author of Ciderland, which charts the development of cider making in the West Country, from the sixteenth century monks to the diverse industry of today. Crowden will discuss the beautiful and fragrant West Country orchards, describing how the best cider makers translate their passion into the process and treat each different batch of cider like winemakers would a vintage.

Shaun and his family took over the management of the Farm Shop at Powderham Castle eighteen months ago.   Ryder’s Homemade Bakery, is part of the shop, and he has campaigned for many years to make loaves without any additives or improvers.  Ryder bakes rustic loaves (the farmhouse cobs have no less than a 32-hour fermentation) which develop a wonderful crust and flavour.

Fishing in the Estuary at Powderham – Talk, demonstration and tastings

Clovelly fisherman, Dan Garnett unapologetically fanatical about fish and fishing, Dan conducts his own one-man crusade for the North Devon fishing industry. He’s committed to sourcing and selling the freshest local fish of the finest quality, straight off our local boats.  Dan will be demonstrating, creating a recipe and talking about Westcountry Seafood (Powderham had huge fish bills – crab, lobsters and cockles).

Wine in the Devon area from the Romans to today.

Pebblebed Vineyards have been proudly producing Devon wines, just south of Exeter, for the last ten years. The first commercial vintage of Pebblebed Rosé 2004 caused a stir when it was a surprise winner of a prestigious Gold Medal in the English and Welsh Wine of the Year Competition, one of only a handful of Gold Medals presented.  They now also produce red, white and a particularly fine sparkling rosé.  They have just opened a new winery, run regular vineyard tours and do tastings with local tapas at their wine cellar bar in Topsham. His ‘Partner Vineyards’ scheme was on the BBC Dragons Den, successfully gaining the support of Duncan Bannatyne. Partners invest in the vineyard, join events and get their money back in wine (with their own label) over ten years. Geoff will be talking  about the history of winemaking in Devon

Gabrielle Jackson making Chocolate Teatime Goodies

Gabrielle is a cook, TV producer and winner of “Best Chocolate Cake in Britain”. She produced three series of “Rhodes Around Britain”, and has worked with Heston Blumenthal among many other noted chefs. She champions British food and will be bringing her historical knowledge and culinary expertise to provide a fantastic chocolate demonstation and tasting of teatime treats. She will be demonstrating with Midfield Granola

Shute Fruit talk on fruit vinegar and jams

Shute Fruit and Produce is an established family farm run by Lori Reich and David Lamboll. Lori’s award winning jams, jellies and pickles are based on our own grown produce which she makes in her farmhouse kitchen stirring up over twenty different delicious varieties of preserves using plenty of love, traditional recipes, family secrets and contemporary innovations. They also do pick-your-own at the farm see their website for what is in season http://www.shutefruit.co.uk/ Lori will talk and demonstrate the making of fruit vinegars and discuss their huge popularity in the past.