OUR “personal chef” (we wish!) has been back to the Highlands cooking for various grouse, partridge and pheasant shoots and in this Postcard Recipe she shows how to make the most of pheasant in season … I should quickly clarify the title as I have already had to dig myself out of trouble from the gamekeeper…
ON the first stage of our home-bound flight from Alaska, from Anchorage to Seattle in Washington State, I got into one of those unpredictable, expansive conversations you sometimes have on a plane. The passenger next to me was a courtly old man who clearly wanted to chat. He was in his late 80s and a…
If you were among the thousands of cheese lovers who headed to Sturminster Newton for this year’s record-breaking Cheese Festival, you probably bought a selection of the delights on offer, took them home and put them in the fridge. Wrong! Here’s how to do it … Dude, where’s my cheese? THE size of fridges has…
IBIZA hasn’t had the greatest press over the years. It’s not that the island isn’t lovely, with dramatic scenery and a glorious climate. It’s more to do with the notorious wild partying that tended to put off many who might otherwise enjoy this island in the sun. Philippa Davis says, forget your preconceptions: Let me…
SOME of the finest food and drink producers from Dorset and Somerset were at the 2015 Gillingham and Shaftesbury Show, offering sparkling flavours and warm feelings despite the wretched weather. For the first time, this year saw a Dorset Farmers Market marquee with several of the best-known market members selling their wares to crowds who…
by Simone Sekers MY father lost his sense of smell as he got older, and it ruined the considerable pleasure he’d had all his life in eating and drinking wine (spirits were a different matter, he said). I live in dread of inheriting this disability – for me it would be as bad as going…
JAMIE Montgomery is a big wheel in the artisan cheese world. His Montgomery Cheddar, made on the farm in North Cadbury, just to the north of Yeovil, is the byword for unpasteurised traditional West Country Cheddar, and now the “go to” variety for French epicures who are latterly discovering that the rosbifs can and do…
ONE of Dorset’s best-known farm shops celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. Udder Farm Shop at East Stour, on the A30 west of Shaftesbury, began as a diversification project for farmer’s wife Jane Down and has become one of the success stories of the area. Jane and husband Brian have won many awards for the shop…
IN the UK, we go crazy for blue cheese at Christmas. There’s something about the spiciness and sense of indulgence that we get from a rich, creamy blue cheese that helps lift mid-winter blues (sorry) and provides a fitting end to the feast, particularly when perfectly matched with port. Sales of Stilton spike to such…
HISTORICALLY, the Brits have been brilliant at producing ham and bacon but rubbish at charcuterie – which is why most of the best-known examples of classic charcuterie have French or Italian or Spanish names, saucisson, confit, salami, guanciale, lardo, pancetta, jamon iberico, chorizo et al. But there is a quiet revolution going on in farms…