‘Smell the fat!’ Pierre insists holding out a slice to me. I do and can pick up notes of fresh butter, hazelnuts and fern. ‘Look at the colour, he adds. It is dark red, marbled with bright white fat. ‘Hold it on your tongue and let it dissolve!’ I do and it is quite superb, one of the best hams I’ve had this year, and believe me I’ve had a few.
British egg week recipes
As part of British Egg Week from 4th-10th October Clarence Court have teamed up with leading chefs and food writers to demonstrate that better quality eggs make better tasting dishes. Here you’ll find recipes for both kedgeree with soft-boiled egg and a classic chocolate mousse which prove the theory!
Ketel One’s London Cocktail Week Bloody Mary Recipe
London Cocktail week is fast approaching and there will be a host of shows, classes, tastings and pop-up bars for London drinkers to enjoy from 11th-17th October. Here’s a Ketel One Blood Mary recipe to get you in the mood.
Reidel wine glasses bring out the flavour
Each glass in Reidel’s extensive range is designed as a vessel for a particular grape variety. By working in collaboration with wine producers to create a unique glass that shows off the grower’s wine to maximum effect, Reidel are able to bring out flavours that are often lost when the wine is drunk from a generic glass.
Mien Tay launch their new wine list with a flourish
It was a little ambitious, inviting a bunch of food writers and bloggers for a meal with a view to their tasting some 11 dishes paired with their new range of 11 wines all in the space of two hours, but the people at Mien Tay in Clapham, did just that recently. We didn’t quite get through this potentially mammoth feast, but….
Exclusive Laurent-Perrier champagne masterclass at The Lanesborough
Diners will tuck into a decadent eight course menu created by the 3 starred Michelin chef Heinz Beck and each course will be lovingly paired with a different Laurent-Perrier champagne to enhance the flavours of the food.
Tim Adams. Aussie winemaker. Tesco’s lover
Tim Adams has the kind of face that looks like it should be located due south of a hat with corks dangling from it. It’s an Australian face, to be frank. It’s a face that speaks of working outside in the fresh air and doing an honest day’s toil for an honest day’s pay. And his ears stick out a bit, as if the tops are normally compressed by comedy headgear. Tim is a winemaker from the Clare Valley. His wines win medals and hearts. At the end of our lunch tasting a range of his products I’m ready to invest my small savings in a cellar full of his wines, they are that delicious.
Che Sera, Syrah…
Because of his website’s dim catchphrase, ‘It’s just booze – drink it!’ I anticipate Washington State winemaker Charles Smith might seem loutish. Rather than produce and promote anaesthetics, I believe his resolute coolness is actually his way of disarming drinkers paralysed by European jargon and pretensions…
Trinity, Clapham
Trinity is the second Clapham restaurant of chef patron Adam Byatt, with the first being the now defunct Thyme, and it works very hard to amalgamate fine dining with its friendly neighbourhood restaurant ethos. Soft lighting gently framed the windows with only a small discreet plaque revealing the restaurant within, Trinity.
Melito, Oxford Circus
Why are some cash machines located lower than others? In any row one will always be a couple of feet nearer the pavement than the rest. Is it like the special urinal in the gents, the one that allows small boys to relieve themselves without having to jump up and down, a procedure that tends to get a bit messy?