Newsletter June 2004
Modern Country Living - Domestic Bliss
Game On: Power to the People!
I went to an extremely interesting food conference
master minded by Raymond Blanc, The American Food Revolution.
Bravo M Blanc! What an amazing feat to produce the US’s top chefs
and forums every day covering many thought provoking topics such
as Should Gastronomy reinvent itself? and Agriculture: how will
we farm tomorrow? I was particularly interested in the “Agri-culture”
talks and what unbelievable things science is producing. Of course
GM came up quite a bit and although personally I am against it,
as one learned professor said, “Every question can be answered
with – It Depends”. Some of my fears about GM were confirmed and
in some specific discussions I must admit the “it depends” answer
seemed to fit. The one thing I am sure of is that when we discuss
food for the future whether it is in farming terms or cooking,
the future lies in educating and making knowledge available to
everyone from the cradle to the grave. I felt that the assembled
group at the conference (myself included) was a bit like preaching
to the converted and I feel that food writers, chefs, producers,
and the big boys (any supermarket you like to name) have a responsibility
to really get to the people – go to the state school gates or
the factory canteens and start there. As in everything in life
if “we the people” realised the power that we hold, and the power
is always with the consumer, then we would have a say in what
happens with our food chain for our children and maybe even the
rest of the world, and not just leave it to someone else to sort
out. Knowledge is Power use it wisely and with consideration to
humanity.
Recipe:
Venison Burger with Roquefort Cheese
Makes 4 medium sized burgers or 6 smaller ones
500g lean venison
120g pork fat
Fresh sage
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp Ketchup
1 onion, chopped finely
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
100g Roquefort cheese
Burger buns relish and pickles
Heat up some of the oil in a frying pan and fry off the onions
until they are translucent. Using a food processor, mince up the
venison, pork fat, 6 -7 leaves of sage, ketchup, Worcestershire
sauce, cooked onions, salt and pepper.
Shape the mince into flat burgers. Add a little
more oil to the frying pan and fry the burgers for about 2-3 minutes
each side. They want to be cooked all the way through and a little
charred on the outside. Slice the cheese and top each burger with
it and leave in the pan while you tend to the buns.
Split and toast the burger buns. Put a bottom of
a bun on each plate and place a burger on one half of the bun
and top with the other half.
Serve with a good relish, pickles and crisps.
Of course you can always Bar-B-Q them!
Tip:
Lyn Hall’s Cookery Course is the book no kitchen
should be with out! (Published by: Conran Octopus £25.00)
So many people don’t know how to cook these days and it is a shame
so this is the book to get everyone cooking well - buy this book
– the recipes are fantastic and the techniques are superbly explained.
This article by Amy Willcock appears
in The Shooting Gazette June 2004, and is reproduced here with
permission.
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