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The Ledbury Ox Roast – come and hear more!

ox roastSixty years ago, on the 2nd June 1953, Ledbury celebrated the Coronation of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II by holding an Ox Roast in Ledbury High Street, close to the Market House. Sixty years later, on 2nd June 2013, an Ox Roast will again be held in Ledbury, coupled with a Food and Drink Festival and entertainment.

Norman Stanier, Chairman of the Ledbury Ox Roast Committee, will explain the history and introduce a film showing the original event at Putley WI on Wednesday 13 February at 7.45pm, in Putley Parish Hall. Everyone is invited to come and hear his talk, and to see the wonderful archive footage of the original event. admission is free and refreshments (in true WI style!) will be available.oxlogomini

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Now, that’s what I like to see…

I saw this in The Mill Race at Walford (http://www.millrace.info/) last Sunday and thought “that’s good”. millrace Six of us had a delicious Sunday Lunch, with three of the party having roast beef and the best Yorkshire puddings I have seen for a long while. My steak and chips were equally delicious and the two chicken eaters also thoroughly enjoyed their meal (although one of them, being not quite three, didn’t give a detailed critique of his food – he simply ate it all!)

I also noticed that on Monday 4 February they are having a ‘Supplier’s Night’ with Jo Hilditch from British Cassis. If you haven’t tried this, do so immediately! (http://www.britishcassis.co.uk/) For this event, the chef at The Mill Race has devised a menu using the cassis all three courses – interesting!

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From the Big Breakfast ….

Bill Wiggin MP with butchers Dave and Matthew Waller
Bill Wiggin MP with butchers Dave and Matthew Waller
Bill the Bell with Pork and Two Veg on the market
Bill the Bell with Pork and Two Veg on the market
Enjoying the Big Brunch at the Talbot Hotel
Enjoying the Big Brunch at the Talbot Hotel
Market House Cafe breakfasters
Market House Cafe breakfasters

More photos below:

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Sorry for the interruption …

Sorry for the interruption to our web site service over the last couple of days. We were hacked. Because of this, we have moved to a new hosting service a couple of weeks before we had planned.

It is in the nature of the world wide web that links take a little while to settle down again after being disrupted and you may still experience occasional strange behaviour. Please bear with us. We are fundamentally safe and sound and are back on track.

Please keep coming back to read about our local food in Ledbury.

 

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Breakfast…

…the name should give us a clue to how important the first meal of the day is. Unless we have been sneaking down for a midnight snack it is likely to be 10 or more hours since we ate anything when that alarm clock rings – we are allowed to be hungry! Dieticians and nutritionists have been saying for ages that we shouldn’t skip breakfast, not even if we are trying to lose weight – actually especially if we are trying to lose weight. How much more likely are you to reach for a snack mid-morning if you haven’t eaten since the night before? A good breakfast provides the energy we need to get us and our brains going.

As part of Farmhouse Breakfast Week a group of Ledbury businesses are offering everyone a really delicious breakfast on Friday 25th and Saturday 26th of January. For example at The Talbot there will be a special Ledbury Big Breakfast Brunch, recalling the days of railway dining and featuring anecdotes from railway historian Gareth Calan Davies. As with all the breakfasts in and around Ledbury this weekend each & every bit of food will be locally produced.

Our three fantastic butchers are offering local bacon, eggs and sausages, you will be able to sample them and I believe there are some specials offers on too. And if you have never tasted wild boar, then you can go to Llandinabo Farm Shop and have a Forest of Dean Wild Boar bap – I might see you there!

You don’t eat meat? Don’t despair, there are plenty of other things on offer. Handley Organics are offering their range of locally produced scotch eggs from The Handmade Scotch Egg Company in Bishops Frome. These include gluten-free, vegan and vegetarian scotch eggs as well as traditional ones, and they are all delicious. Just down the road at Four Oaks Delicatessen you can buy their own muesli and local fruit purée pots with a 10% reduction for the 2 days of the event. Also on offer are individual breakfast frittatas with local eggs, potato, mushroom and bacon.

And Ledbury’s cafes are offering a mouth-watering selection, from Eggs Benedict, Eggs Florentine and a Fisherman’s Breakfast (Smoked Mackerel and Poached Egg) with a free filter coffee at Sez to a continental style buffet breakfast with a twist at the Muse Café in the Homend. Choices will include Pimhill muesli, savoury filled croissants, savoury and sweet muffins, local breads, cold meat and cheeses, delicious fruit compote with local yoghurt.

All in all, fifteen local businesses are offering a fantastic range of locally produced food, details will be on the website shortly. So whether you fancy the monster Breakfast at Nice Things or the smoked salmon and scrambled eggs at Blue Fuchsia there will be a breakfast for you in Ledbury that weekend!

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The Mayor’s Christmas Hamper

Mayor Phil Bettington asked the Ledbury Food Group to create a couple of Christmas hampers using local food and drink for St Michaels Hospice and to raise money for the Christmas Lights. I shopped up and down Ledbury high street on behalf of the Ledbury Food Group looking for the sort of goodies I would like to receive as Christmas presents. The Three Counties Cider shop sells hampers so you can make up your own – and choose cider and juice at the same time.

I found mulberry jam and blackcurrant leaf (yes leaf) cordial from Handley Organics. They are made from Caroline Handley’s own fruit bushes. The cordial tastes of blackcurrant but is lighter and slightly herby. Kaye at Four Oaks makes chilli jam and chutneys and Wallers Butchers sell Three Counties Gourmet mustard. I bought pickled onions from Jenkins the Greengrocers and honey from Gladwyn James. At Llandinabo Butchers most produce is local, they have lots of game at the moment and their eggs and pork pies are excellent, but perhaps not for a hamper. The Cider shop supplied some of Frank’s fabulous biscuits as well as pear juice.

Of course we have our own chocolatier at Celebrations and I chose chocolate covered mandarins with a Chrismassy taste. Gurneys Butchers has lots of fine local meats and Spar sells local drinks, cakes and vegetables. Hay Wines have an excellent range of local beers, ciders and wines and gave us some Dorothy’s Christmas Ale as a festive addition to the hamper. Ceci Paulo deli is of course continental, but their bread and several cheeses are local. They provided Tyrrells crisps for us.

So think about shopping in Ledbury and making up hampers for food loving friends.

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Christmas is coming ‘someone’s’ geese are getting fat…..

Before the popularity of the turkey goose was the Christmas celebration bird of choice. Easy to rear for anyone who had a piece of land or easily purchased from the many butchers that abounded on our high streets. That’s before freezers made their appearance – both commercial and domestic! Now it’s out on our butchers’ shelves again, albeit sparsely. More of a ‘niche’ buy. Probably because people are wary of cooking it and for a one off piece of meat it doesn’t have the versatility of the turkey when it comes to post Christmas dining……

So this is the brief tale of a local farming family who have a history of rearing – alongside the main farming activities – and supplying our local butchers with the Christmas goose – and what that entails….. It all starts around the end of May. At one time the eggs were hatched on the farm but now it is more practical to buy the goslings at around four days old from a supplier. They purchase around one hundred in number. To begin with they are kept under lamps and artificial light and fed on poultry crumb for four weeks. During this time there is a natural wastage of around 10% – survival of the fittest! Once ‘in feather’ they can be released on to the fields and for seven months they are free to roam. Protection is all important. Predators abound. A watchful eye is kept and the birds come in every night…. At the beginning of December the birds are brought into the sheds, corn fed, and on the 20th they are ready for dispatching. Until recently that was a hands on affair but to make life easier a professional gang is now hired to perform the task as well as the plucking.

An interesting note was that now ‘wet’ plucking makes feather removal ‘cleaner’ but when ‘hand done’ the down from the goose could be retrieved and sold for eiderdowns and pillows. A lucrative by product. My friend made me laugh when she said she was educated on those proceeds! Now her ‘by product’ is goose fat. The fat inside the bird once removed, she renders down and ‘jars’. A local friend makes the labels… Our local butchers market it and we get the benefit of making great roast potatoes…!

So the 20th has arrived and this labour intensive season is coming to an end for another year. The geese are individually dressed and made table ready. Giblets included – so important for that meaty gravy…! All that is left to do is the delivery of the birds to butchers – around Ledbury and Bromyard. I say ‘all’ ‘cos it’s an early morning call for the driver…..

So that’s it folks. My first blog ever and, hopefully, if you enjoyed it, not my last. So go on. Order that goose from Wallers or Gurneys – I’ve ordered mine! A merry Christmas and a happy New Year to one and all.

PS As a footnote from my source – always remember to slice the cooked goose thinly. And another great tip – the unused and usually discarded ‘feathered wing’ from the bird is great for sweeping down the back of the aga or getting in those cobwebby corners!…..she’ll have some to spare…. !

© Ledbury Food Group 2014-24