All the pies from a pastry obsessive

Calum Franklin, executive chef at Holborn Dining Room, Rosewood London

Calum Franklin, executive chef at Holborn Dining Rooms, Rosewood Hotel, at The Twenty Six

Calum Franklin from Holborn Dining Room at Rosewood Hotel, London is guest chef at The Twenty Six on Sunday, 3 December. Calum’s pies - which have fair claim to the biggest restaurant Instagram sensation in London - are the work of a man obsessed with pastry and will be main emphasis of his menu at The Twenty Six. The menu includes White Pudding and Mangalitsa Scotch Egg; Rabbit & Bacon Pâté en Croûte; Lobster Thermidor Tart; Braised Octopus, Chorizo Aioli; Squab Pithivier; 50 day dry-aged Beef Wellington and for dessert, Lemon Tart.

Drawing on a wealth of culinary experience, Calum worked at a variety of renowned restaurants before taking the position of Executive Chef at Holborn Dining Room. His career began at Michelin-star restaurant, Chapter One in Kent. It was here he learnt the fundamentals of cooking and developed his culinary knowledge.

Calum has focused on British cuisine for the last eight years and in doing so, it has become his speciality. He is passionate about using the best produce the country has to offer and feels strongly that British food needs to be championed so that diners “can be wowed by ingredients as well as cooking.” In the industry Calum has become recognized for his work in pastry, crafting pâté en croûte, savoury pies and seasonal offerings at Holborn Dining Room. Rosewood London won Best London Hotel 2017 at the GQ Food & Drink awards and recently launched The Pie Room, adjacent to the main dining space, which will sell fresh pies to passers-by via an open street-side hatch. Calum is also launching weekly pie making masterclasses in April 2018.

Calum’s 6 course menu at The Twenty Six is £60 per person and will be served in one sitting for dinner on a long communal table to 26 guests. Guests to arrive at 7.30 for drinks to be seated for dinner at 8pm. Reservations are open on www.thetwenty-six.co.uk or call The Twenty Six on 01892 544607 to book. A deposit will be taken at the time of booking.

Calum’s event is the last in a series of guest chef events during 2017, which has also included Gareth Ward from Ynyshir Restaurant and Rooms, Wales and Luke Richardson from Wreckfish, Liverpool. A new series for 2018 will be announced in the new year.

www.holborndiningroom.com

Wreckfish at The Twenty Six

Gary Usher and Luke Richardson from Wreckfish, Liverpool

Luke Richardson, head chef of Wreckfish, is cooking an 8-course guest chef menu at The Twenty Six on Sunday, 19 November.  

Wreckfish is the much anticipated fourth restaurant in Gary Usher's Sticky Walnut group, a former derelict building in Liverpool, that was renovated with a £200,000 crowdfunding campaign. The restaurant launched in late October 2017, with dishes such as caramelised pork cutlet with chorizo; cashel blue arancini with port poached pears; pan roast skate wing with brown butter dressing and gin cured trout with pomegranate molasses. Desserts include salted caramel tart; marmalade sponge and a matcha tea mousse.

Luke began his career with Gary Usher in 2013, where he worked his way up to head chef of Sticky Walnut and now at Wreckfish. During Luke’s time at Sticky Walnut they were named the AA Guide’s Restaurant of the Year and are regularly listed in The Sunday Times Top 100 Restaurants.

Cooking alongside Simon Ulph, head chef at The Swan Wine Kitchen and Scott Goss, head chef at The Twenty Six, Luke’s eight-course menu is £60 per person and will be served in one sitting for dinner on a long communal table to 26 guests.

Baguette
~
Chicken wing and melon
~
Moroccan mackerel
~
Skate, brown butter, cabbage
~
Lamb rump, burnt onion and Shichimi Togarashi
~
Comte 24
~
Toasted Porter
~
Salted caramel tart

Reservations are open on www.thetwenty-six.co.uk or call 01892 544607 to book. A deposit will be taken at the time of booking. As this is a special dinner the restaurant is unable to cater for dietary requirements. Guests are to arrive at 7.30 for drinks to be seated for dinner at 8pm. Further events in The Twenty Six guest chef series include Calum Franklin from Holborn Dining Room, Rosewood Hotel, London on 3 December.

Toasted Porter

The Wine Kitchen goes west

Simon Ulph, head chef at The Swan Wine Kitchen in Tenterden, Kent

The Elephant restaurant in Torquay has announced the first date in its next guest chef series. The seafront restaurant, which has retained its Michelin star for a 13th year, will be hosting some of the UK’s top chefs over the coming months.

Simon Ulph is the first chef to take-over on Wednesday 22 November 2017. Simon is head chef at The Swan Wine Kitchen in Tenterden, Kent. Part of the I’ll be Mother family, The Swan is set in the award-winning Chapel Down vineyard and winery, one of the leading English wine producers in the UK.

Simon is cooking a 5-course menu, with each course paired with a wine or beer from Chapel Down. Chapel Down wine expert Freddie O’Sullivan will introduce each beverage pairing.

Simon has previously worked at Morimoto in Napa, California where he developed a passion for Japanese and Asian flavours, which strongly influence his cooking today and most recently as head chef of Thompsons on the Isle of Wight.

Diners at Simon’s guest chef dinner at The Elephant can look forward to the following menu:

A glass of Chapel Down Brut on arrival
~
Cured halibut, Union Red and garlic purée, fermented mushrooms, kale
Chapel Down Union Red
~
Seared Orkney scallops, salt baked and pickled swede, burnt apple and thyme
Chapel Down Orange Bacchus
~
Roasted venison loin, miso braised haunch croquette, smoked pear purée, sauce grand veneur
Chapel Down Pinot Noir
~
Curious cider sorbet, granola and poached blackberries
~
Salted caramel tart, bitter chocolate sorbet
Curious Porter
~
The dinner is priced at £75 per person. As the evening involves the pairings being presented with each course, there will only be one sitting, which will begin at 7.30pm prompt. 

It will be the first guest chef event since Simon Hulstone and his wife Katy took over full ownership of the restaurant, following a management buyout from co-owners and business partners Friederike Etsemmi and Peter Morgan.

Simon commented, “By taking over taking the restaurant, we are putting down roots in Torquay, where we’re all very happy to live. It’s not just about fantastic local produce and the stunning location for the restaurant, Torquay is our home and we can’t see ourselves anywhere else.

Please call 01803 2000 044 or email info@elephantrestaurant.co.uk to book your table. 
 

Simon Hulstone, chef patron of The Elephant in Torquay, Devon

Meet me in the morning for Goatober Dublin

GOATOBER DUBLIN at Meet Me In The Morning on Saturday 21 October

Meet Me In The Morning, winner of Best Café in Dublin 2017 Irish Restaurant Awards, is launching its first dinner event on 21 October for Dublin’s only Goatober event, which uses billy goats that would usually be a waste product from the dairy industry.

The seven-course menu will use goat meat or milk in each course, paired with three natural wines from La Caveau. All ingredients are local produced, including goat meat from Broughgammon Farm, vegetables from McNally Family Farm, mushrooms from Ballyhoura Mountain Mushrooms and lots of home-picked foraged ingredients too. Tickets are 75€ per person, including wines. The full menu reads as follows:
 

Snacks
Goat sweetbreads and parsley
Goat butter and eye toast
Goat terrine and pickles

Goat kidney and liver taco
Goat croquettes and whey
Goat tartar, miso yolk, wild garlic
Goat belly, rose hip and damson, potato
Goat cecina, fig
Goat cheeses, apple
Apple, Tony's honeycomb, sweet chestnut, goat custard

Saturday, 21 October 2017
Meet Me In The Morning
50 Pleasants Street
Saint Kevin’s
Dublin 8
Dinner at 7.30pm

#Goatober UK has been launched by ethical meat champion and producer James Whetlor from Cabrito Goat Meat. The original #Goatober was launched in America in 2010 and was the brainchild of Heritage Radio Network Executive Director, Erin Fairbanks, and renowned New York cheesemonger, Anne Saxelby. It is now an annual campaign every year in October which sees Heritage Foods USA partner with goat dairies around upstate New York and Vermont to purchase their unwanted males. 

For full details of Goatober Dublin and other events visit www.cabrito.co.uk/goatober

For more information and images please contact Hannah Blake at The Dining Room PR
07730 039361 | hannah@thediningroompr.co.uk

Ynyshir Restaurant and Rooms at The Twenty Six

Gareth Ward, chef patron at Ynyshir Restaurant and Rooms, Wales

Welsh ingredients, landscape and locality

Gareth Ward, chef Patron of Ynyshir Restaurant and Rooms is cooking a nine-course tasting menu at The Twenty Six, Tunbridge Wells, Kent on Sunday, 17 September.

Tucked away between the golden sands of Borth Beach and the rugged mountains of Snowdonia National Park, Wales, Ynyshir is a Michelin star, four AA rosette restaurant with rooms, and is number 12 in The Good Food Guide 2018. Gareth’s menus reflect seasonal availability of Welsh and British ingredients from both sea and land, including Dyfi Valley Welsh lamb, wild deer, duck and partridge, foraged sea herbs at Ynyslas beach and wild garlic in the Cumbrian mountains. The kitchen garden provides a bounty of herbs and vegetables throughout the year.

Ynyshir is about landscape and locality and the driving force in Gareth’s food is flavour. His menus take the guest through clearings and forests, sea and beach, mountain and pasture. It is seasonal in the traditional sense - using ingredients when they are ready and pickling or fermenting, salting or preserving to carry the kitchen through winter and into Spring. Cooking at The Twenty Six, Gareth and his team will create a dining experience to showcase Ynyshir, that takes guests on a creative journey through Wales and the British Isles.

Gareth’s nine-course tasting menu at The Twenty Six is £60 per person and will be served in one sitting for dinner on a long communal table to 26 guests. Guests to arrive at 7.30 for drinks, to be seated for dinner at 8pm.

Reservations are open on www.thetwenty-six.co.uk or call Jenny Cook on 01892 519882 to book. A £20 deposit will be taken at the time of booking.

Further events in The Twenty Six guest chef series include Nathan Eades, Simpsons on 22 October; Luke Richardson, Sticky Walnut on 19 November and Calum Franklin, Holborn Dining Room on 3 December.

Broughgammon Farm joins Goatober

Becky and Charlie Cole at Broughgammon Farm, Co. Antrim

Goatober goes to Northern Ireland

Broughgammon in Ballycastle, Co.Antrim is taking part in this year’s national #Goatober, the UK’s only month-long celebration of the dairy billy goat meat industry with Cabrito Goat Meat. With events in London, Bristol, Manchester, Somerset and Amsterdam, Goatober is now an international event.

Broughgammon Farm, run by the Cole family has its own artisan on-site butchery, run seasonal cookery, butchery and wild game classes and have a farm shop selling the best of Northern Irish and Irish produce. They have won many awards including Euro-tourques Food Award 2017 in recognition of traditional and artisan production methods, excellent quality standards and outstanding contribution to Irish food.

Charlie Cole comments, “When we set up the farm in 2011, there was no demand or route to market for kid goat meat in Ireland, forcing the farmers to put males from the dairy industry down as a waste product. Crazy! We decided to put a stop to this by buying the billy kids off the dairies and rearing themselves. We’re obsessed with providing the best quality, tastiest produce that is sustainable and ethical, so getting involved with #Goatober is a great thing to be part of.”

“The Cole family of Ballycastle, County Antrim, is at the forefront of the Northern Irish food revolution, producing cabrito (goat) and rose veal on their farm” Kathy McGuinness, The Sunday Times

GOATOBER N.IRELAND
Friday, 20 October 2017
Broughgammon Farm
50 Straid Road, Ballycastle, Co.Antrim, BT54 6NP

5:30pm butchery demo
6:30 farm tour (brief tour of the farm and meet the goats
7:30 dinner starts

Tickets are £38 per person and can be booked through Wefifo here. The full menu is:

Starter: Broughgammon’s award-winning Choriz-Offal Goat Taco
The Great British Street Food Awards 2017 Best Snack!
Served on a Blanco Nino taco with pea guacamole, beet salsa, raw goats milk cheese and goat bacon topping.

To follow: Cabrito a la Cruz
Argentinian style slow cooked kid over a hardwood fire, served with homegrown seasonal salads and local and homemade breads.

Pudding: Ballycastle Lardy Cake
Traditionally made with lard, the Broughgammon’s version uses the sweeter kid-goat suet and will be served with an autumnal compote. This is a West Country classic with a difference.

An early Autumn feast

I ate all of this in about 5 minutes.

Black treacle pork chop, black pudding crumble and pickled blackberries

When the lovely folk at Good Things magazine asked for an Autumn recipe from The Twenty Six, Scott Goss knew immediately what he wanted to cook. Being the dedicated publicist I am, I volunteered to help on the shoot. Anyone who knows me really knows that my dedication is a thin disguise for 'gimme that plate of food'. It's so good and easy to make at home and is already a firm favourite.

This is a hearty, family style dish with big flavours. Add a big bowl of mash (celeriac maybe?), a decent bottle of wine (Australian Pinot Gris for me please) or more of the Kent cider and this is a delicious and slightly different take on a Sunday roast.

Serves 2 (but can be easily scaled up)

2 bone-in pork chops, roughly 300g each. Ask your butcher to remove the skin
100g black pudding, cubed
75g cobnuts (or hazelnuts), roasted, skinned and roughly chopped
50g pumpkin seeds
5 or 6 large sage leaves
2 tablespoons black treacle
2 tablespoons wholegrain mustard
75g blackberries
50ml cabernet sauvignon vinegar
4 shallots, skin on, halved lengthways
300ml cider
Tablespoon of butter

Method:

The night before, or 24 hours in advance, mix the blackberries and cabernet sauvignon vinegar together and leave to pickle.

Rub the skin for the crackling in rapeseed oil and salt and blister in a hot oven at 210 degrees for 20 mins. Turn the temperature down to 120 degrees for a further 2 hours.

When ready to eat, season the chops and fry in a hot pan until golden brown on both sides. Put in the oven at 160 degrees for 12 minutes for medium.

Mix the black treacle and wholegrain mustard together and spread on the chops while still hot from the oven. Rest for 10 mins.

For a simple gravy, deglaze the roasting tray with the cider and reduce by two thirds and finish with a tablespoon of butter. Check seasoning and keep warm.

Leaving the skin on, cut the shallot in half lengthways. In a non-stick pan with a little rapeseed oil, char the cut side of the shallot until blackened. Flip over and cook for a further minute. Turn off the heat and let the shallot cook in the residual pan heat.

Chop or crumble the black pudding and fry in a little rapeseed oil in a hot pan until crispy. Add the chopped cobnuts or hazelnuts and the pumpkin seeds to lightly toast. Tear in the sage leaves, crisping in the black pudding oil for a further minute.

To plate:

Pile the black pudding crumble on top of the black treacle chop with the crackling, roast shallot and pickled blackberries on the side and a spoonful of cider roasting juices.

Japanese desserts

Smoked Chocolate Pave by James Campbell in Japanese Patisserie

Guest chef lunch with Japanese flavours
 

The concept of fusion in food can be magical - when cuisines and cultures collide, combining flavours, ingredients and methods from around the world, creating new classics, the best of which become staples in our everyday lives. Pâtisserie master, James Campbell will be cooking a selection of desserts and petit four from his new book Japanese Pâtisserie at The Twenty Six on Sunday 23 July. The book and menu is a stimulation to the senses with a range of delicious and contemporary pâtisserie with a Japanese twist using ingredients such as yuzu, sesame, miso, matcha and wasabi.

Michel Roux OBE, describes James as ‘a simply stunning pastry chef’.

James Campbell has worked as a chef in Michelin-starred establishments across the world. In London, he was Head Pastry Chef at Gary Rhodes’ Michelin-starred restaurant and the award-winning Mandarin Oriental Hotel. It is in his current position as Product Development Manager for Marks & Spencer, that James’ passion for Japanese culture and ingredients truly developed through research and in-depth visits to Tokyo and Osaka. James was recently a semi-finalist in BBC Two’s Bake Off: Crème de la Crème.

Tickets for James’s guest chef lunch are £45 for 6 courses including a glass of dessert wine and available online at www.thetwenty-six.co.uk or calling 01892 544607.

Summer salad

~
Poached salmon, cucumber and brined kohlrabi

~
Tea-smoked duck

~

Sancho peppercorn & strawberry eton mess with matcha meringues and yuzu

~

Smoked chocolate pave with yuzu, miso and chocolate soil

~
Sesame peanut cookies
Matcha madeleines with pink peppercorns and frais de bois
Caramelised miso and chocolate truffles

Desserts are served with a glass of Salice Salentino Aleatico Dolce (Candido, 2010)

Japanese Pâtisserie is by James Campbell (Ryland Peters & Small, £16.99) and photography by Mowie Kay.

Goatober 2017 launches

James from Cabrito with head chef George Wood at Temper and the rest of the team [credit Stephen Joyce]

#GOATOBER 2017 launches in London, Bristol, Manchester and Somerset

Events all over the country celebrating goat meat with chefs cooking from Duck & Waffle, Grafene, Hispi, HIX Restaurants, The Manchester Art Gallery Café, River Cottage, Roth Bar & Grill, Temper and The Jugged Hare.

#Goatober is the UK’s month-long celebration of the dairy billy goat meat industry. During the month of October, restaurants across the country will be putting a goat dish pride of place on their menus and urging diners to try this delicious but much under-used meat. Roasted, raw, curried, baked, skewered, stuffed into a sausage, goat meat is delicious and versatile. First launched in London 2016 at ETM’s restaurant The Jugged Hare in Barbican, #Goatober saw over 40 restaurants take part and the launch event raised £6,300 for charity Action Against Hunger. Due to the huge success of last year’s launch event, this year it will be hosted at The Montcalm Royal London House Hotel on Finsbury Square, which houses ETM’s rooftop restaurant and terrace bar Aviary and all-day café Burdock.

#Goatober UK has been launched by ethical meat champion and producer James Whetlor from Cabrito Goat Meat. The original #Goatober was launched in America in 2010 and was the brainchild of Heritage Radio Network Executive Director, Erin Fairbanks, and renowned New York cheesemonger, Anne Saxelby. It is now an annual campaign every year in October which sees Heritage Foods USA partner with goat dairies around upstate New York and Vermont to purchase their unwanted males. Over 50 New York City restaurants feature goat on their menu for the full month of October including Gramercy Tavern, Babbo, Spotted Pig and Bar Boulud and the campaign’s success continues to grow.

James Whetlor comments, “As an ex-chef myself, there’s nothing that delights me more than seeing top chefs prepping our goat in imaginative, inspired and delicious ways. It’s now possible to sit down in fantastic restaurants to a pile of harissa scented goat chops or goat Soulaki, goat tacos or Indian style pulled goat shoulder or a British classic of boned and rolled stuffed saddle. Britain has woken up to what the rest of the world has known for some time; goat meat is delicious!”

GOATOBER LONDON
Wednesday, 27 September 2017

The Montcalm Royal London House Hotel
22-25 Finsbury Square, London, EC2 1DX
Drinks reception sponsored by Black Cow Vodka at 7pm
Dinner at 7.45pm

To mark the launch of #Goatober, six competing chefs will each serve a goat inspired dish at a ticketed event at The Montcalm Royal London House Hotel, Finsbury Square, starting with Black Cow Vodka cocktails. Tickets for the event are £95 per person which includes a £10 donation to charity Action Against Hunger. Each savoury dish will be wine paired by ETM’s Head Sommelier Gui Mahaut, followed by petit fours and coffee. A charity auction, hosted by journalist and food writer, Joe Warwick, will follow dinner with all proceeds going to Action Against Hunger, an international humanitarian organisation committed to ending child hunger around the world.  Tickets can be booked here.

The full line up of chefs and their dishes are:

Kid tartare with deep fried oyster and crispy seaweed
Gill Meller, River Cottage, Devon

Kid breast with celery, puntarella, anchovy & caper salad & farro pangratatto
Claire Thomson, author of 5 O’Clock Apron and The Art of the Larder (Quadrille), Bristol

Smoked goat taco
George Wood, Head Chef at Temper, London

Goat kofte with ezme salad and cumin spiced yoghurt
Tom Cenci, Executive Chef at Duck & Waffle, London

Goat Roly Poly
Lee Bull, Chef Director at HIX Restaurants, London

Roast smoked leg of Devonshire kid goat, braised shoulder pie, turnip, wild horseradish, cobnut jus
Stephen Englefield, Head Chef at The Jugged Hare, London

Further events at Hamilton House, Bristol; The Koffee Pot, Manchester and Roth Bar & Grill, Somerset. More information here www.cabrito.co.uk/goatober

Mother's Ruin

Botanicals of wild fennel and wood sorrel foraged around The Beacon

Still on the Move is the UK’s first ever mobile gin distiller. Affectionately known as ‘Ginny’, the authentic copper still on a vintage 1937 VW truck tours the country, packed full of different spices and botanicals, spreading the joy of gin.

The Garden Lane G&T is a favourite at The Beacon so the bar team were keen to experiment with flavours and botanicals to create a small-batch premium gin that is totally unique. All gin must have a dominant flavour of juniper, but the plan was to not just create a regional Kent gin, but something that has flavours and aromas specific to The Beacon in the 17 acres of woods, that surround the restaurant.

On the palate Mother's Ruin is a strong, well-rounded and balanced gin with hints of citrus, green cardamom and coriander seed with earthy undertones complimented by garden botanicals foraged in the grounds including wild fennel and wood sorrel.

Head barman Jim Harrison recommends the house serve with a slice of grapefruit, juniper berries and a few wood sorrel leaves, served over fresh ice and Fever Tree tonic water.

Raise a glass, the Ginaissance at The Beacon is well and truly here. Cheers!

Pretty as a picture

Wild, pretty, tasty. And free.

Wild rhubarb compote, lemon sorbet and wood sorrel

I can't resist sharing this recipe by Scott Goss, executive chef at I'll be Mother, which is in the June/July issue of Good Things Magazine. Wood sorrel is easily spotted in early Summer as it has beautiful, fresh green, heart-shaped leaves and delicate white, pink-veined flowers. It forms distinctive clumps in woodlands and shady hedgerows. Tasting of juicy green apples and lemon, it's mouth-puckeringly delicious.

Serves 4

Ingredients:
2 sticks of wild (or cultivated) rhubarb
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons water
100g ginger biscuits, bashed to a crumb

Lemon sorbet
250g caster sugar
4 lemons juiced
250ml water

Handful of wood sorrel and fennel fronds

Method:
Dissolve sugar and water in a pan, allow to cool and add the lemon juice. Add a little lemon zest for extra tang

Once the lemon sugar water is cool, churn it in an ice cream mixer or put in a shallow tray in the freezer and mix every half an hour for three hours

Lightly stew the sliced rhubarb, sugar and water for a few minutes until just soften. Blitz with a stick blender

To plate:
In each serving bowl, place a tablespoon of ginger biscuit crumb, just enough to sit a scoop of sorbet on. Spoon in a tablespoon of rhubarb compote and go crazy with the wood sorrel and fennel fronds. A few microplane thin slices of raw wild rhubarb will finish the dish with a lovely sharpness.

If you go down to the woods today...

Respect Mother Nature. She's giving you a free feed.

Scott Goss, executive chef of the I'll be Mother group is in the June/July issue of Good Things magazine sharing his passion and knowledge for foraging and eating wild food. 

• Top tips number one, two and three is to never, ever pick mushrooms. It’s too risky and can cause tummy upset or even worse. As a chef, Scott knows he is safe to pick very easily identified mushrooms such as morels, chanterelles or puffball, but really the best thing for anyone keen is to go out with a professional guide on an organised foraged walk. There are plenty in Kent and East Sussex such as ones run by wild food expert Miles Irving, who is based in Canterbury
   
• Invest in a good book, such as The Forager Handbook by Miles Irving. If you’re really keen, get an armchair book with recipes but also a pocket guide you can take out into the woods with you
   
• Only pick what you need and don’t pull the roots, or your newly found wild food won’t be there next year
   
• Always pick through wild herbs and vegetables for grit and insets and wash thoroughly
   
• Don’t pick for prettiness, pick for flavour. There are too many chefs at-the-moment using bought in edible flowers just because it’s fashionable and looks pretty. Nothing winds me up more - just because something’s pretty doesn’t mean it tastes good. Try everything, develop your own likes and dislikes and only ever pick what you need.  Wild Strawberries are flowering now and are very pretty, but leave the flower and wait until a tiny, jewel like wild strawberry grows. Pick the flower and you won’t get the berry
   
• Plants that grow together, eat well together. Wild Strawberries and wood sorrel are woodland companions and are beautiful together, sweet and tart
   
• When in a new city everybody says, ‘look up’. In the woods and the countryside remember to always ‘look down’! You’ll be amazed after a little bit of research and practice just how much good food is literally on your doorstep, under your feet. It’s tasty, wild and it’s free
   
• Wild garlic is everywhere and it seems to be a national Instagram competition who can get the first #wildgarlic hashtag up. Wild garlic is delicious but in my view whole dishes being almost slavishly devoted to it is a bit passé. Scott's big tip if you want to try something a bit different is Jack by the Hedge or Garlic Mustard as it’s also known. It’s a spring wildflower with elongated heart-shaped leaves that are similar in shape to nettles and tiny white flowers. It has a subtle tang of garlic, but much less so than its pungent wild cousin, and has a mild, herbaceous flavour. It’s such a versatile ingredient in the kitchen and goes brilliantly with lamb, kid goat, fresh pasta and sauces
   
• Lastly, always respect Mother Nature. She’s giving you a free feed after all. No littering, trampling and never pick more than you need

Billy Tannery smashes kickstarter goal in 6 hours

Billy Tannery is a new British leather brand founded by two entrepreneurs, Jack Millington and Rory Harker, both aged 28, from the Midlands, which makes products from kid goat leather tanned in their small-batch tannery or ‘microtannery’. Billy Tannery went live on Kickstarter on Wednesday this week and smashed its funding goal in just 6 hours. The campaign continues until 22nd June with special introductory prices in return for pre-orders.

Billy Tannery founder Jack Millington said,

“We have been staggered by the amazing support that we have seen for our crowdfunding campaign so far. With the initial target passed we are going into production, but there are still lots of rewards left so you can still get involved. It’s a great sign for the future of British kid leather, but this is just the start!”

Link to Kickstarter: http://kck.st/2ro5rPt

www.billytannery.co.uk

Billy Tannery began when founders Jack and Rory discovered that, due to the growth in demand for goat meat in the UK and the decline of the British leather industry, there were thousands of British goat hides going to waste. Now, having partnered with ethical goat meat supplier Cabrito, Billy Tannery use the leftover hides to produce premium vegetable tanned kid leather in their new tannery near Northampton.

Billy Tannery launched a range of luxury kid leather bags and accessories that are designed and handmade in Britain. It is the first leather brand of its kind in Britain, with a vertically integrated supply chain from hide to final product. Jack and Rory’s goal is to put an end to the waste of British goat hides by tapping into the rich leather heritage of the Midlands area. The first range of Billy Tannery products launched on the crowdfunding site, Kickstarter, on 24th May 2017.

Billy Tannery was founded by childhood friends Jack Millington and Rory Harker, both 28 and from the Midlands. They have worked in the marketing and design industries in London since university, but have always dreamt of starting a business together.

Even pre-Brexit, the increase in demand for British made products has been widely reported by The Guardian, Reuters and The Manufacturer.

Cabrito Goat Meat was founded by James Whetlor in 2012. Cabrito won an Observer Food Monthly Award (2014) for Best Ethical Producer, Good Housekeeping’s Champion Meat Producer (2016) and the Young British Foodies Meat Award (2016) and is a finalist in the Radio 4 Food Programme Food and Farming Awards 2017. 

Dr Kerry Senior of the UK Federation said, “UK Leather Federation is delighted that Billy Tannery, the first new tannery in the UK for many years, is now operating. This new venture highlights the great potential for growth and development of the leather industry and is a welcome addition to the high quality leather manufacturers in the UK.”

New Head Chef at The Twenty Six

Kent to California to the Isle of Wight. Simon is now back home in Kent.

Simon Ulph has joined the Kent based I’ll be Mother group as Head Chef of The Twenty Six.

Originally from New Romney, on the West Kent coast, the 26-year old’s career has taken him to London, California and the Isle of Wight, where he was most recently Head Chef of Thompson’s, Robert Thompson’s eponymous restaurant.

Simon has been connected to the I’ll be Mother group since he starting as commis at The Swan in West Malling, which was co-owned by Pete Cornwell, founder of I’ll be Mother. Working alongside Andrew Clarke (Brunswick House, London) and Scott Goss as sous chef, Simon can trace his cooking style back to those early years.

A meeting with Masahura Morimoto at the 2012 London Olympics during a three-week pop up led Simon to Napa, California for a year at the celebrated Morimoto. Here, Simon learnt the art of Japanese precision, patience and discipline. It also brought a love of Japanese and Asian flavours, especially sake and miso, which is now strongly evident in his cooking.

Back in the UK, Simon returned to Robert Thompson, first at The Hambrough, Ventor and The George Hotel and then at Thompsons, where he was Head Chef for 18 months.

Always a Kent boy, Simon was lured back to the mainland by his long team mate and friend Scott Goss. Scott, previously Head Chef of The Twenty Six, will be developing his role as Creative Director and Executive Chef at I’ll be Mother, bringing on talent in the other restaurants in the family, The Beacon and The Swan at Chapel Down.  Doug Sanham, recently promoted to Head Chef at The Beacon, has just won a prestigious Acorn Award 2017.

Simon will stay true to the values and ethos of The Twenty Six, but will bring his own style and personality to the menu. His new menu will see modern techniques, bold flavours, Asian influences, a new tasting menu and a series of high profile guest chef nights including Michael Bremner from 64 degrees, Brighton and Gary Usher from Sticky Walnut, Chester.

Dishes being developed include Pigs Head, Smoked Eel, Garden Radishes and Pickled Apple; Steamed Plaice, Courgettes, Sumac and Yoghurt; Mackerel Ceviche, Tomato Jelly and Muscovado Panna Cotta, Pineapple, Lime Sorbet and Dark Rum Mousse and what will surely become a signature at The Twenty Six, White Chocolate and Miso Fudge petit fours.

For images, interview or more information please contact Hannah Blake at The Dining Room on 07730 039361 or hannah@thediningroompr.co.uk

Cabrito Sunday Lunch Club at The Twenty Six

James Whetlor from Cabrito Goat Meat

Roast Leg of Kid for Sunday lunch

Each month, the I'll be Mother group hosts the mother of all roasts, with the menu reflecting the quality and provenance of one beautiful piece of meat.

On 21 May, James Whetlor from ethical goat meat supplier Cabrito, is hosting the Sunday Lunch Club at The Twenty Six. Former River Cottage chef James has won an Observer Food Monthly Award for Best Ethical Producer, Good Housekeeping’s Champion Meat Producer, is a finalist in BBC Radio 4’s Food and Farming Awards and recently appeared on Channel 4’s Hidden Restaurants with Michel Roux Jnr.

On the table, head chef Scott Goss has created a menu full of new spring ingredients and roast leg of kid goat. Kid is similar to spring lamb and has a delicate, sweet and musky flavour. It is a strong enough flavour to stand up to the spice and heat of Middle-Eastern and North African recipes, but subtle enough to respond brilliantly to the herbs, garlic, wine and lemon of European cookery.

Snack

Kid faggot, artichoke and wild garlic crumb

To start

Kent asparagus roasted on Kentish cherry wood
Morels, cured egg yolk, aged parmesan

To follow

Leg of Kid goat, broad beans, confit shallots and lemon
Ratatouille, kid pomme anna, thyme gravy

To finish

Flavours of sherry trifle
Pistachio sponge, panna cotta, raspberry and sherry ice cream

Coffee and Chocolates

Places are £40 each and also include wine paired with the goat. Call 01892 544607 to book or visit the website. Sign up to I'll be Mother's Sunday Lunch Club newsletter to be the first to know about new date #SundayLunchClub

Kingdom, woodland retreat and cycling hub

Kent's leading cycling hub, Kingdom, is in a 13 acre woodland retreat in Penshurst

Kingdom is coming

www.thiskingdom.co.uk

Kingdom is a bit of a new one for The Dining Room, but a really exciting one, none the less. It's a woodland retreat and cycling hub with a 1.1 mile road track in a 13 acre plot in Penshurst, Kent. The club house, four gorgeous floors of wood and glass with an open air roof deck, is at the heart of Kingdom. The 9,500 sqft space is beautiful, and will be hugely popular for weddings, parties and corporate events. The cafe is run by Tunbridge Wells' favourite Basil Wholefoods, but this time you'll be able to eat a slice of their infamous carrot cake looking out into the woods or the 360 degree views of the surrounding countryside from the roof deck. Kingdom will be an amazing addition in Kent, with yoga and bike rental from Wyndymilla, all available on site.

Launching today, Kingdom is offering friends and family of the I'll be Mother group an opportunity to invest in the project, crowd-sourcing £360,000 for an equity share of 10% plus a range of rewards. Full details in Kent Business here. After two weeks the campaign will go live to the public. Want to switch off from the daily grind and own a piece of the adventure?

Following the crowdfunding, Kingdom is due to launch in Summer 2017. Have a peek at the video below for hint of what's to come.

Billy Tannery partners with Cabrito to launch kid leather microtannery

Jack Millington and Rory Harker, founders of Billy Tannery, the first kid leather microtannery in the UK

Billy Tannery to launch the first ever British kid leather products using goat hides left over from the UK food industry

www.billytannery.co.uk

Billy Tannery is a new British leather brand founded by two entrepreneurs, Jack Millington and Rory Harker, both aged 28, from the Midlands, which makes products from kid goat leather that is tanned in a small-batch tannery or ‘microtannery’. The Billy Tannery website goes live today ahead of a product launch on crowdfunding platform Kickstarter in May 2017.

Billy Tannery began when founders Jack and Rory discovered that, due to the growth in demand for goat meat in the UK and the decline of the British leather industry, there were thousands of hides going to waste. Now, having partnered with ethical goat meat supplier Cabrito, Billy Tannery use the leftover hides to produce premium vegetable tanned kid leather.

Billy Tannery is launching a range of luxury kid leather bags and accessories that are designed and handmade in Britain. It is the first leather brand of its kind in Britain, with a vertically integrated supply chain from hide to final product. Jack and Rory’s goal is to put an end to the waste of British goat hides by tapping into the rich leather heritage of the Midlands area. The first range of Billy Tannery products launches on the crowdfunding site, Kickstarter, in May 2017.

Billy Tannery founder Jack Millington said, “Despite the clear link between meat and leather, the topic is often uncomfortable and rarely discussed. In a time of increasing interest in provenance, our partnership with Cabrito allows us to trace our leather all the way back to the farm.”

More information can be found at www.billytannery.co.uk

- Billy Tannery was founded by childhood friends Jack Millington and Rory Harker, both 28 and from the Midlands. They have worked in the marketing and design industries in London since university, but have always dreamt of starting a business together

- The first range of Billy Tannery products will include notebooks, a card holder, a briefcase, a tote bag and a backpack. Product images coming in mid-April 2017

- Cabrito Goat Meat was founded by James Whetlor in 2012. Cabrito won an Observer Food Monthly Award (2014) for Best Ethical Producer, Good Housekeeping’s Champion Meat Producer (2016) and the Young British Foodies Meat Award (2016) and is a finalist in the Radio 4 Food Programme Food and Farming Awards 2017. (www.cabrito.co.uk)

The first range of Billy Tannery products will include notebooks, a card holder, a briefcase, a tote bag and a backpack

A tart for March

Served with sour cream and a glass of Jurancon 2014 Clos Thou, a small-batch sweet wine made from super-late harvested grapes. Perfect.

Hazelnut and sour cream cake

A few weeks ago I was at a really wonderful event in Bristol, a wine dinner with chef Matt Williamson and Vine Trail, a specialist in small domaines in France. A review of the evening, hosted at Hamilton House in Bristol is in the March issue of the brilliant South-West food magazine, Crumbs. Matt's wife Claire Thomson (of 5 o'clock Apron fame) made the most delicious tart for pudding and here is the recipe...

Hazelnut and sour cream cake (serves 8-10)

Ingredients
120g light brown sugar
120g plain flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
65g cold butter, diced
120ml sour cream, plus extra to serve
1 egg
120g hazelnuts, skinned and chopped
4 plums, chopped into bitesize pieces
3 sticks pink rhubarb, chopped into 2cm pieces, tossed in 2 tablespoons of light brown sugar

Method
- Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4
Line a 25cm cake tin with grease proof paper
- Mix the sugar, flour and cinnamon together and rub in the butter until you have a sandy mixture
- Spread half of this mix into the cake tin and press down slightly, forming an even base
- Whisk together the sour cream, baking powder and egg. Add the remaining half of the flour mix to the sour cream, then pour it over the base of the tart
- Tip the fruit on top and sprinkle over the chopped hazelnuts
- Bake for 40 minutes. Serve with extra sour cream or creme fraiche

Goat, Fire, Feast

The fire pits at Durslade Farm, Somerset

Cabrito meets the Roth Bar & Grill Fire Pits

Bank Holiday Monday, 1st May
Lunch served from 12 noon - 2pm

Following the first show of Channel 4’s Hidden Restaurants with Michel Roux Jnr, Cabrito is teaming up with the Roth Bar & Grill in the small, ancient town of Bruton in Somerset for a Goat Feast over Fire. 

Led by husband and wife team Steve and Jules Horrell, Roth Bar and Grill is housed in the old cowshed of Durslade Farm, on the site of Hauser & Wirth, a pioneering world class arts gallery and multi-purpose arts centre, situated on the River Brue. Durslade is a working farm with livestock including Aberdeen Angus and Hereford cattle, Lleyn sheep and Oxford Sandy and Black pigs. The beautiful Kitchen Garden was created by world-renowned herb expert Jekka McVicar and supplies the kitchen with year-round seasonal vegetables and edible flowers.

Tickets are £25 per person for two courses and can be bought on eventbrite here. They're going to go fast!

www.rothbarandgrill.co.uk

5 Things to Savour

The Rialto fish market, a stone's throw from Alle Testiere, Venice

The best food and drink I've had this month

1/ A dozen scampi crudo, with oil and lemon, fresh from the lagoon in a tiny seafood restaurant in Venice www.osterialletestiere.it

2/ Rhubarb, plum and hazelnut tart by Claire Thomson at a Bristol supperclub with WeFiFo

3/ A very special and rare bottle (only 300 produced!) of Cotes du Jura 2012 Savagnin 'Intime Conviction' les Grange Paquenesses with Nick Brookes of Vine Trail, specialist importers of small domain French wines www.vinetrail.co.uk

4/ A deceptively simple but luscious baked potato soup from the new 10 mile menu at The Beacon www.the-beacon.co.uk

5/ Goat, goat and more goat. This time a Kid Goat Shawarma BBQ with sunshine and prosecco . And have a read of what Fran at Graphic Foodie, one of Brighton's best food blogs had to say, too.

Shawaaaaarma