The White Horse Inn at Easton

Mince Pies

2011-07-07T05:19:00.000-07:00

Calling all jam makers and gardeners of the village...

For my Christmas mince meat I need any gluts you might have this autumn of the following:

Plums - as many bags as you can bring me, 10-20kg but any welcome

Apples - Easton Cyder Cooperative, I look to you on this!

Jars of homemade marmalade, especially if you made some and weren't happy with it, it's all the same when used for cooking

Sloe Gin - again, if it needs using up, it would be ideal for cooking use

Please do let me know if you may have a glut of any of the above, I'm looking to make a very large batch of mincemeat around September. All contributions will be gratefully converted into Earl Soham beer or similar!

Christmas Day Lunch 2011

2011-07-07T04:04:00.000-07:00

After a hiatus last year we will again be serving lunch on Christmas Day. I have mixed feelings about this, I love the opportunity to 'roll out' all the elements of Christmas with as much of Mr Pickwick about me as I can muster. On the other hand it should be a time for families and working on the day does demand compromises. I think...yes, I think I shall decide here and now that we will serve food on Christmas day but not Boxing Day.

NOT Finding Nemo...

2011-06-23T05:33:00.000-07:00

I've always thought of squid and octopus as coming from the med, but found that UK Cuttlefish are in season from May to July. My chef was less than impressed at being asked to clean six large cuttlefish, so I had to roll up my sleeves and get stuck in myself.

In brief;

1.insert hand inisde main body cavity, get fingers around as much if internal organs as possible and pull the head and organs away from body as cleanly as possible.

2. Marvel at the eggs, sperm, ink and undigested food that comes away with it.

3. Assure self that it is worth it and that this will be wonderful food

4. Look cuttlefish in its cold, dead, reproachful eye, vow never to swim in deep water like that Blue Peter presenter 'lest vengeful larger cousins go on the attack

5. try to isolate ink sack, which is small but contains much thicker, more viscous ink than a squid's; squeeze ink from sack into a bowl

6. scrape outer skin from main body

7. make an incision by the bone and squeeze bone out of body cavity, think of happy budgerigar

8. cut main tentacles from head section

9. you can even cut around the beak and head to extract more meat but I found this just too unpleasant

It works well seared on a very hight heat with garlic, chilli and herbs; but we slow braised it in tomato and herbs as a base to add to cuttlefish risotto. I was dubious, but it does have a remarkably tender and meaty texture when cooked this way.

Squeamishness aside, I have yet to prepare a creature for the table without progressing from queasiness to a profound appreciation for the beauty of the natural world. I remember being astonished at the glistening translucent feathers or bones that emerge when cleaning squid; likewise the deep satisfaction of gutting some of my own chicken for the oven, horribly early one Sunday. And getting to grips with the Da Vinci-esque muscular beauty of a sinewy fallow deer, late one night last winter.

Feeling hundry yet?

The White Horse Inn....

2011-06-22T05:36:00.001-07:00

....is now a Free House.

I'm pleased to say that we have now become a free house, which will make an enormous difference in sourcing local drinks, with a wealth of Suffolk beers and lagers available to us.

This is great step forward in keeping the pub at the heart of the village and the local community.

I'll be planning a beer festival for later in the summer, so watch this space.

Tim

BBC Essex Iplayer link

2011-06-18T03:13:00.000-07:00

I got it wrong. The link should be as follows:

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00h7fw1

Some very exciting news coming soon,,,

2011-06-18T03:09:00.000-07:00

I have some really exciting news about The White Horse which I will post soon. All I can say for now is that it of the most excellent nature.

I feel a bit like Tim Robbins at the end of The Shawshank Redemption. More soon....

All a bit Alan Partridge...

2011-06-18T03:04:00.001-07:00

I was at BBC Essex yesterday for my regular wine phone-in programme. A bit stilted (even more so than usual) as not with regular presenter Steve Scruton but his holiday stand-in. Anyway here is the BBC Iplayer 'listen again' link, which will be on for the next 7 days:

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p007hfw1

Music at The White Horse Easton

2011-06-03T05:50:00.000-07:00

Do have a look at the events pages on the website, where we have links to the peformers who have been such a success here in April and May. Dana and Susan Robinson peformed their thoughtful and soleful American folk in April, supported by the wonderful Barbara-Ann Spencer. Matt Andersen and Suffolk artist Lucy Sampson joined us last Saturday and were again amazing.

Enormous thanks to Paul Spencer for arranging this. We hope to have Lucy Sampson back at the pub soon but in the meantime I'll be contacting all the performers to arrange for their CD's to be on sale at the pub, by way of thanks for bringing such amazing quality of music to Easton.

Here she is....

2011-01-05T13:57:00.000-08:00

So very proud....

2011-01-04T15:19:00.000-08:00

To the farm this evening, late and guilty, feeding the animals in the dark (again), to be greeted by the farmer calling out 'congratulations!'. Fatty (sow no. 1) has given birth to eleven piglets. We (the children and I) tip-toed over to her shelter, to see eleven wriggling little bodies suckling at her enormous belly. And there was me thinking she was just overweight. On the contrary, she did all that work on her own, piglet after piglet with no help at all. She really is the MOST marvellous pig. Pictures first thing tomorrow but safe to say they are too cute (...tiny, frail) to mention.

First Monday Wine Club Wines of 2011 and a new arrival...

2011-01-03T14:20:00.000-08:00

The first Monday Wine Club of the year; a small group, we opened...

Cahors 'Solis' Matthieu Cosse 2004 13% abv >£10 rsp
100% Malbec; organic (Cosse has also apparently practised biodynamic viticulture as well). 'Solis' ie the sun. The domaine is in the elevated village of Prayssac, overlooking the river Lot.

Chateauneuf-du-Pape Domaine Font Michelle 2006 Jean & Michel Gonnet >£22 rsp
70% Grenache, with 10% each of Syrah, Mourvedre & Cinsault, matured in large oak casks for 6-12 months. A 30ha family owned estate (aforementioned brothers Jean and Michel), I've sold this CNDP for years through various merchants I've worked for, and have a feeling I have always underrated and been slightly dismissive of it.

No detailed tasting notes this evening, just recording the wines for Wine Club posterity. I will discipline myself back into full MW system tasting notes (using the dreaded 'grid' et al) from next week.

...oh, and about the visitor....

Very exciting. I have a 250kg saddleback boar coming to stay on my smallholding. The same chap who took care of Fatty (sow no.1) and more recently Pamela (sow no.2). Pamela has weaned her last litter, and I think big girl no.1 might be feigning pregnancy in order to be pampered. Today she had a bag of carrots, apples and a Savoy cabbage, as well her sow cubes. But no sign of 'bagging up'. So, our regal visitor will be spending a week or two with the girls. Quite trepidatious, I haven't had to handle a full grown boar before, and I quite expect to be found half eaten (or worse!) if I inadvertently trip while filling the water trough. Will post pictures but hear he is an unfeasibly magnificent beast.

Diaries, blogging and New Year's Resolutions, Bakewell tarts

2011-01-02T00:55:00.000-08:00

In bed with both the dogs curled up at my feet, and the sounds of chef downstairs in the kitchen preparing Sunday lunch (I usually get up and start this at half seven on a Sunday morning, in case I sound too lazy, but have been in bed writing new January menus). Joan Bakewell is giving her thought for the day on Radio 4, on the subject of keeping a diary. I am annoyed with myself for not resolving to keep a daily diary from yesterday. Instead I resolve to ignore my OCD tendencies and begin from the second, i.e. today.

On the subject of Joan Bakewell, we made some wonderful Bakewell tarts last night, for the pudding menu.

As opening entries go this is modest, but my laptop battery is about to fail, so this will have to stand.

'' ...but some of us are looking at the stars''

2010-08-24T13:36:00.000-07:00

A big (not to mention odd) moment, I have just purchased some cows horns from the Biodynamic Agriculture Association. I used Paypal. How bizarre.

Encouragingly they also have the forms for biodynamic conversion, making the whole process seem attainable. I've read about wineries being 'in biodynamic conversion' for years but now I can actually aim to start the process myself.

If you're completely at a loss as to why I'm buying cows horns and what biodynamics is, you could have a look at www.biodynamic.org.uk

National hive

2010-07-07T14:28:00.000-07:00

Am the proud new owner of a National type bee hive.

A bit raggedy at the seams but a good clean up should make it a suitable home for bees.

I plan to keep them on the pub roof, where they will be undisturbed and have marvellous access to the flora around Easton.

Any local beekeepers with swarms, do please let me know as I am dying to get started.

So, if you see me in a beekeeping suit, scaling the rooftops of the pub, please don't think I have gone mad.

Or maybe I have.

Piglet football

2010-05-27T04:53:00.000-07:00

PS piglet update, I bought them a football yesterday. I swear to god they have either eaten it or one of them has chipped it out of the pen and into the adjacent fields.

'We need a bigger football'.

The cod issue

2010-05-27T04:47:00.000-07:00

Ahh, the cod issue.

I spend a lot of time thinking about, talking about and cooking cod.

Some day I will write a post on this very complicated subject, but for now here is a piece from The Times. Please bear in mind that (as with most journalism in my opinion) this is just a bunch of hastily regurgitated research, and the journalist really doesn't know a great deal about the subject.

That said, the alarmist tone he strikes does at least convey the direction we are heading in.

And the comment about prawns farmed in warm climates in ponds is very true. So, do enjoy your next 'value' prawn sandwich from the supermarket!

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/food_and_drink/article7137323.ece

Fair weather smallholder

2010-05-20T02:11:00.000-07:00

Agreed with the farmer that I will take on daily tending to the animals at the smallholding. I feel bad I haven't been doing this over the winter and tell myself that I was busy running the kitchen; but I think the bad weather may just have been a factor.

Driving over there is itself a pleasure and I am trying to keep the landrover at a leisurely pace, to enjoy the whole experience. The piglets are displaying huge character (a shy one, a curious one, a bold fellow who nearly ate from my hand...). After the Mangalitza experiment this litter is much more practical, and look like they will turn into superb baconers. With the temperature rising I filled a large water trough and the whole litter instantly crowded round showing great curiousity. I'm slightly worried one might jump in and dr0wn - so spent some time looking for some old wood or such to fashion a 'pig bath escape mechanism'; but with no success.

The four remaining hoggets are also rather likeable and I'm looking forward to fattening them up a bit (for their delectation, and mine). That might sound a grim sentiment but there is real satisfaction in seeing them hoover up food, hopefully becoming happier and healthier in the process.

I'll have to try and post some pictures on them soon.

Home made ice cream with my new Kitchen Aid ice cream attachment

2010-05-18T12:12:00.000-07:00

Have just made a batch of vanilla ice cream with my new kitchen Aid ice cream maker attachment, with help from the children. Recipe from River Cottage. Four eggs (satifyingly, from the hens, laid this morning). 500ml cream (used whipping cream, 33% fat vrs double cream at 35%), only had vanilla essence to hand (random amount) plus 130g caster sugar. I didn't cool the cream fully so it didn't quite set in the bowl; however the mixer attachment seems to work very well. Ob b****, just writing this I've realised I doubled the cream in the recipe but forgot to double the rest. Oh well, the first results were passable, will take more time over batch number two. Snail ice cream here we come.

WSET wine courses

2010-05-18T07:09:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning to start a blog for the pub since the very morning I arrived here, so here at last is a start.

A word about the WSET. A little known fact - I am registered as a tutor for the Wine and Spirit Education trust. Have just been updating my details on their website, http://www.wsetglobal.com/- well worth a look if you are interested in learning about wine in a more formal, structured way (which, if truth be told, is the only way to really learn anything about the subject). I can offer tuition leading to the exams up to Advanced level. Course dates planned for this autumn, but in the meantime please contact me for more information, Tim.