Occasionally we get an e-mail that reminds us just why rare breeds and free range farming are worth all the effort. This week, amongst the snow and ice we were treated to a meal by meal account of how our meat was used over Christmas by one customer.
We’d love to hear what you do with our meat, so please drop us an e-mail next time you’ve been busy in the kitchen.
In the mean time, here are those christmas reviews to whet your appetite:
Beef mince for hamburgers and chips- Really delicious beef- great flavour- some of the best burgers we’ve had and I’m American!
Sausage meat for Xmas stuffing (cranberry, cornbread and much else)- Very good and with a beautiful natural colour.
Roast shoulder of lamb coated in mustard- Sensational flavour and incredible succulence- one of the best roast lambs I can remember in many years. I noted that the neck fillet was still attached underneath the shoulder. Is this a West Country practice? In any case, it was handy to discover extra meat as my daughter produced an additional 3 people for dinner at the very last minute. As an aside, I feel that in the distant past, almost all British lamb was at least very good but this seems to me to no longer be the case. Is this because lambs are produced several times per year?
Marinated grilled rib of lamb chops- one version in spicy Indian style & another in Southeast Asian-style marinade. Both very good.
Pork chops with wild rice- Good flavour though we slightly overcooked the dish so it was a bit dry and probably not at its best.
Feather steak used in grilled Vietnamese beef with green mango salad with peanut, chilli and shallot dressing- This was OK but a little dry. I find it a bit hard to believe this is feather steak as I know it (though British butcher’s terminology can be strangely varied and I never quite understand it). Your beef had almost no marbling whereas feather steak is very marbled and although classed as braising steak, is very tender if cut across the grain, marinated and grilled or sauteed.
Chipolatas cut up and served on cocktail sticks as part of our joke Bridget Jones ‘turkey curry buffet’ (complete with bad jumpers wrapped as presents for all guests). Very good and with a natural pork flavour.
Hanger steak- Fantastic flavour and quality. This looked just like the cut we wanted (the French ‘onglet’) though it strangely did not taste of kidney as is usual since this cut is quite close to that organ. None the worse for that, however. A really terrific steak- leftovers made a great hot steak sandwich another day.