Congratulations to the Chough bakery in Padstow on winning Pasty of year 2016.Again this year on the Pasty Run, our annual motorcycle ride to Cornwall, we visited the beautiful but busy Padstow. Padstow has four pasty vendors we tried all of them and my personal favourite was the Chough Traditional. You can now buy them mail order, online www.choughbakery.co.uk or call 0184153361 See the Cornish Pasty post http://www.protectedfoods.com/93-cornish-pasties-please/ ... continue reading...
Serrano Jamon £29.99 at Lidl
I bought one of these Serrano hams eight weeks ago and despite grazing on it every day there's still plenty left. I paid £40 and as that's the average starting price in Spanish supermarkets I didn't expect much from it. However it is extremely good quality, tastes wonderful and is actually better than hams I've bought for more money in Spain. Hams will last for a long time assuming you don't eat it all which is a posibility when it tastes this good. They're marked reserva and, unlike the one I ... continue reading...
Irish Whiskey The water of Life PGI
Irish Whiskey PGI 2008: the word Whiskey comes from "Fuisce" or "uisce beatha" which means water of life in Goidelic or Gaelic. Unlike the Scottish variety (Whisky) it's distilled three times and made from unmalted grain which is probably why I like it (see Glenkinchie distillery tour). As the story goes Monks brought perfume distillation (bit unusual for Monks) to Ireland from the continent in 1000ad and the naughty locals used the distillation to make alcohol. I'd say that was a story made ... continue reading...
Traditional Single and double Gloucester
Single (PDO) and Double Gloucester cheeses have a long history. It was produced on many farms within the County from as early as the 1500s. It's popularity grew throughout the land and even further afield, in the 1800s it was exported to the continent. So it's shocking to think production of traditional Gloucester cheese had almost died out in the County by 1950. Signs of Gloucester Cheesy history can still be seen in the architecture of some farms. The addition of a third floor with louvered ... continue reading...
What’s the best – Champagne or Sussex fizz?
Imagine the scene if you will, 14 top Champagne experts, several top bottles of Rheims' finest (Champagne) and a few bottles of Sussex sparkling, all gathered in Juveniles Restaurant, Paris to decide which was the better sparkling wine. Consider the obvious outcome while I explain a bit of Champagne history. It's English. Okay, the wine was produced in France for centuries but it was a still wine, the French wine producers saw the bubbles as an unwanted fault. In the 1600s English gentlemen ... continue reading...