Wednesday, September 10, 2014

50 recipes to go!


Well who would have thought I would make it to this landmark!?

I am three hundred and ninety-nine recipes in, and there is but fifty more to go before I complete the project. I’ve always found it a little annoying that there is 449 recipes and not 450, but then, Ms Grigson wasn’t counting them as she wrote.

My approach to food now is really a world away compared to when I wrote my first post #1 Smoked Finnan Haddock Soup all the way back in September 2007. I can now bake bread and cure meat, roast a woodcock and make a good stock. The blog has travelled two continents, and inspired me to start up my own food business. At the moment – and this explains why the number of posts have decreased of late – I am writing the business plan with will hopefully result in me opening a little restaurant next year. Fingers crossed on that one!

In order for me to complete the book, I need to track down some tricky-to-find ingredients, and so I’m going to list them below and if you per chance know how I can get hold of them, do please let me know. Here goes:

  • ptarmigan
  • calves’ brains
  • Harvey’s sauce
  • snipe
  • elvers (baby eels, sometimes called glass eels)
  • sea kale
  • roach (the freshwater fish, not the creepy-crawly)
  • a goose, capon or turkey with the head still on (surprisingly tricky to find!)
  • a cold-smoked chicken
  • gigots of primitive-breed lambs

7 comments:

Anthea said...

For the goose, turkey or capon you could try Johnson & Swarbrick at Goosnargh near Preston. They slaughter their own birds & will sell direct. I used to get my Christmas birds from them when I lived up there. For the smoked chicken, Cheshire Smokehouse? Perhaps they'd do a special request if all else fails. There's a game dealer in Lytham, they might know about ptarmigan & snipe.

Neil Buttery said...

Cheers for the heads up, Anth. I'll definitely be check out that poulterer iin Preston xx

onemorefoldedsunset said...

I'm a bit far away for this conversation, but have bought cold smoked chickens at several Polish delis in New York, so perhaps there's a Polish grocery shop somewhere in the north-west? And I second the Lytham game shop as a resource. They've been around for many years - I remember the place as a child in the 60s and 70s - and should be a good source of information.
Well done with the recipe count, and the restaurant plan sounds fantastic!

Anonymous said...

Good going on the -50 point.
Perhaps you already know all about this, there's a recording of Jane from Roy Plomley's Desert Island Discs from 1978 on the BBC website
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/desert-island-discs/castaway/d1d23b40

The lady speaks.
Mike Inkansascity

Jonathan Monk said...

Hi Neil,

Well done on your milestone, and very best wishes for the restaurant!

The links below may help in your search for elvers:
http://www.cefas.defra.gov.uk/our-science/fisheries-information/eels/eel-fishing.aspx
http://fishonfriday.org.uk/the-return-of-the-elvers/

Smoked chicken can be found here:
http://www.uptonsmokery.co.uk/catalogue_item.php?catID=1607&prodID=8261

Snipe will be an occasional treat from a game dealer, but the marshes around the south Cumbria, north Lancashire coastline are good habitat for them, so maybe seek out a game dealer or a shoot in those areas? The Wildfowlers' Association may be able to help. I have occasionally bought them over the counter from the shop of Teesdale Game & Poultry:
http://www.teesdalegame.co.uk/
Might be worth giving them a ring?

Anything else I think of, I will add later!

Campbell said...

If by Harvey's sauce you mean Harvey's ketchup it is available, or was about 6 months ago, in Sainsbury's

Neil Buttery said...

Thanks so much for all your help with my odd 'to do' list!

I feel that I am going to get a good few steps closer in the coming months to really finishing it!