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Monday, 22 December 2014 18:07

24 Pork Pies for Christmas

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Pork pies are much easier to make than you might imagine. Just a little time needed to prepare the filling and the pastry and some patience required with the crimping and sealing of the pies.Jelly or not? It does keep the meat moist and soaks in so you won't get a huge amount of jelly unless you keep adding more stock which is time consuming. I used 1 pint of pork stock with the equivalent amount of gelatine to set and poured it into the warm pies, no jelly layer but succulent meat.

Tuesday, 16 December 2014 11:05

Ready made as good as home-made? Hell yeah!

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Look at this excellent selection of ready made deli-products! I don't usually buy ready made salads and sandwich fillings but was sent these to review by Wolff-Evans and Sons after doing a little feature on them for our Dish of the Day.Their original Homeslaw made with savoy,red and white cabbage was dressed with a creamy mayonnaise and some onion adding a bit of punch. Looks just like homemade coleslaw and tasted as good as the one I make myself. Egg mayonnaise, well I am always dubious about pre-prepared sandwich fillings and expected at least a whiff of eggy sulphur to put me off when I opened the lid. Tah Dah! Nothing but fresh,simple and tasty free range eggs with mayonnaise and also very well seasoned; although I did add even more cracked black pepper to mine. The Tuna fraiche was the highlight for me. A set, light spread which was creamy and delicately flavoured with capers and onion and some texture of free range egg. It could pass off as a dinner party starter, reminding me in style of a salmon mousse. Far superior than I imagined and wolfed down by my family in minutes. Available at your local East of England Co-Op.

Sunday, 07 December 2014 12:15

Staff Christmas party anyone?

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A 16th Century dinner party held by Ivan the Terrible for 300 guests. To Start: Roast peacock in full plumage, spiced swan, cranes seasoned with ginger, guinea fowl with cinnamon, creamed ducks, followed by three consommés, followed by three thick soups. Main Course: a whole calf, a whole sheep, several quarters of beef, loins of a bear, loins of a reindeer. Dessert: A huge pudding moulded in the shape of Ivan’s palace, the Kremlin (borne by lackeys clad in white satin liveries edged with sable)
Wednesday, 03 December 2014 19:38

Canape Roulette

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We nipped into Bury St Edmunds last weekend to the Christmas Fair which was running throughout the town. Fancying a little street food, it turned out that we were too late at 7.30pm, with many outlets sold out. So the second plan was to nip to Bury's latest fine dining opening on Angel Hill called 1921(the one that used to be Graze)to try their bar canapes. Chef Patron is Zack Deakins, formerly from The Bildeston Crown and now heading up his own business.Canapes are £1 each but we went for the offer of all eight for £6.What a bargain!All were delicious and we played Canape Roulette. Spin the pen to see which canape to eat next. That kept us amused as did coming up with a cocktail. We tried for an Aperol Spritz, sorry no can't do that, Margarita? No, don't have the ingredients. So,we bought a bottle of Prosecco, a shot of Cognac and asked for a bowl of sugar lumps, all happily provided and made our own Prosecco Cocktails. A fun night out.

Monday, 24 November 2014 12:58

Meet Wolff-Evans and Sons- thoroughly good eggs

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 Meet Bill Wolff-Evans (far left) son Harry (far right) Harry's cousin Ella (next to Harry) and team member Hannah from Rendlesham based deli-company Wolff-Evans and Sons.They have created a proper hand made scotch egg and sell them to Fortnum and Mason, the original creators of the portable snack in the 1730's. Bill told us his secret to the perfect scotch egg. A free range egg from Havensfield Eggs of Hoxne, with a soft set yolk and no "rattle" of the egg within the Dingley Dell pork sausage meat.  Only lean pork shoulder and belly meat is used in the pork casing. Lucky for us "locals" they are also available in 40  East of Englnd Co-op stores in Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk. Look out for the Christmas special Cranberry and Turkey Scotch Egg. 

 eggs

Sunday, 23 November 2014 18:57

The Milk Shed

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This is the most fun I have had buying produce from a farm shop in ages. Driving past the Flixton Aviation Museum into Bungay, I came across the Milk Shed at Fen Farm Dairy. Being a sucker for raw milk(you can't beat that creamy layer that appears on the top after a few hours in the fridge) I stopped and was amazed to find inside, the milk dispensing machine and the self serve fridge packed with eggs and the delicious farm made, Brie style Baron Bigod cheese. Put a pound coin in the machine (there is a change machine if you don't have the coins) place the container under the spout and out comes a litre of milk. Better than playing a fruit machine any day, you win everytime.

 

Tuesday, 18 November 2014 22:30

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!

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At Suffolk Foodie we like a party and we recommend starting your festive season in the most delightful way with All Manor of Events in Henley, Suffolk.  Manor Barn are hosting a number of Mary Poppins inspired Christmas Parties.The supercalifragilisticexpialidocious themed nights will include arrival drinks, a mouth-watering three course meal, a disco and .... "drum roll"  .... they have a choreographer from Strictly Come Dancing working with them to create some fabulous entertainment for you. Prices vary from £40.00 to £45.00. The dates still available are Saturday 29th November, Friday 5th December, Thursday 11th December, Saturday 13th December, Thursday 18th December and  Friday 19th December. 

 


Friday, 14 November 2014 19:53

An Inspector Calls .. the figures

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For those of you that think that I have the dream job. Here are the figures. Last month I dined out 60 times, averaging 15 meals a week in either cafes, pubs, hotels or other dining establishments.  I ate belly of pork 6 times, 8 curries, 8 fish pies, a handmade burger on 9 occasions, 4 sausage rolls, 5 slices of cheesecake(assorted) 4 lemon possets and a selection of confit meats, fish and vegetables. I drove 1600 miles and consumed an average of 1,128 calories a meal, making that a total of 67,680 calories for the month. No wonder my trousers are tight! 

David Upson, together with his wife Rebecca run Stoke Farm Orchards in Battisford, Suffolk. The small Suffolk orchard has become internationally renowned for its award-winning Appletree Hill brand of freshly-pressed apple, pear and quince juices. David and Rebecca, originally started out as pig farmers in 1984. And even when they started to grow fruit, the idea to turn it into juice wasn’t sparked until 1993 as part of a BBC Radio Suffolk visit to the Battisford orchard.Today Stoke Farm is famed for using the quintessentially English, and notoriously juicy, Discovery and Cox apples. And the business still keeps the Upsons’ busy every day with the couple taking control of every stage of production - from blossom to bottle.Stoke Farm Orchards has been pressingly busy in the run up to Christmas 2014 creating a limited edition Spiced Apple Juice.Available in selected East of England Co-op stores in Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk at £2.49 for a 750ml bottle. It is delicious served warmed.

 

 

Spiced apple juicecropped

 

Monday, 27 October 2014 19:46

Keep your pound local!

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Shortlisted in the Farming Partnership of the Year category at the British Farming Awards is the East of England Co-operative Society "Sourced Locally" initiative.  Since launching in 2007 Sourced Locally has been helping local farmers and rural businesses build a more sustainable future. Check out our Dish of the Day to meet the producers. Check out one of the 250 Co-op stores in the regional centres of Norwich, Ipswich and Colchester to buy the goods.

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