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Alexia

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    Exeter and area update

    in United Kingdom & Ireland: Dining

    Posted

    I  spent yesterday at Dart's Farm tasting ciders with the producer...The Fish Shed is superb....A pint of wheat beer with a pasty at the Bridge Inn...

    Hi Alexia,

    Dart's Farm for local and regional food and drink shopping; The Fish Shed for truly superior fish and chips; and The Bridge Inn, without doubt the best pub in the universe: three of my all-time favourite places. I'm glad you liked them as much as we do.

    In fact, a few of us from here (eG) have been discussing an informal evening get-together, possibly at La Petite Maison Restaurant, Topsham sometime in late Feb. Do PM any of us if you are interested in joining us. Anyone else, too, of course.

    Marc

    Yes, I'd like to try it.

    Exeter and area update

    in United Kingdom & Ireland: Dining

    Posted

    Marco, you'll be glad to hear that the ironic/heartfelt chant 'Ciiideeerrrr, ciiiiiiiderrrrr' has now become the most popular chant at Exeter, and on the food-related chanting front I did also hear someone singing 'I'd rather have a pasty than a pie' at Old Trafford'.

    As I read this I'm struggling to get over our tragic loss by sipping a cool glass of Green Valley 'Stillwood' a dry cider with a delicious woody tone. I spent yesterday at Dart's Farm tasting ciders with the producer, Chris Coles, as they bottled their latest batch beside us. What a find is Dart's, and only half an hour away from my house. The Fish Shed is superb. My griddled scallops with bacon were on the point of perfection and the lemon sole came close. We ate so much fish we could hardly leave the table. The chips were a bit disappointing as they buy them pre-chipped and you can tell from the texture, but they are working on finding a chipping machine and the fish is so damn good you forget to eat the chips anyway. A pint of wheat beer with a pasty at the Bridge Inn also helped me in this recuperation period.

    Cooking my Goose

    in Cooking

    Posted

    I don't know about unusual, but Potato Stuffing is traditional, maybe with extra chestnuts and/or fruit (apple, apricot)...Lots of recipes on the web.

    If you have a wood fired oven I guess you know that you need to let it cool from pizza temperatures. Alan Scott (builder of fine ovens) just sent a message to the Brick Oven List, another excellent resource (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/brick-oven/)

    You will get an amazing amount of wonderful fat from the geese, To prevent burning put the goose over a large pan with some water in it. Even so you will have to empty the pan half way through to stop it overflowing. This fat is like gold for roasting potatoes, confit and other delicious things.

    I quote from Alan's email, as it contains the key techniques and temperatures. A goose breast is much thinner than a turkey, so it won't take as long to cook, but the principle is the same, and if you cook it in a cool oven the danger of overcooking is less.

    I'll be the first to say thw out Thanksgiving turkey baked the best yet this year thanks to all the posts of late on the subject. I built a fire yesterday late and preheated the oven so that this morning it was

    375 degrees. At 10 am I put the turkey in well wrapped in foil with just a little olive oil on it to stop the foil sticking. I removed the bird at 3 pm and the temperature was down to 310 degrees (reading the probe in the dome set 1" deep in the first arch brick off the wall).

    Then I replaced a fire with fast burning soft wood and let this burn until 5:15 pm and raked it out with the temperatures now back to 485 on top and 660 on the hearth. I seasoned the now very tender turkey with herbs and salt and olive oil and put it back uncovered for exactly 30 minutes with beets, onions and sweet potatoes as well in separate dishes, plus a sprinkling of apple wood chips on the hearth for flavor.

    Right on 6 pm all was cooked to perfection and the turkey had a golden brown color all over and inside, the most tender juicy flesh imaginable.

    I hope everyone else enjoyed the feast and family time as much as we all did here.

    ALAN

    check my web site    http://www.ovencrafters.net

    Another contributor writes:

    The Thanksgiving feast was a great one and I, too, want to thank everyone who posted their thoughts on wood fired feasting. For us, this was the 2nd full firing of our oven. I started the fire Friday morning and invited the neighbors over for pizza and then to bake their Thanksgiving Day bread or rolls...that was a hit and as a result I am sure that everyone got a late start preparing the next day's dinner. After the pizza I shoveled out the coals and set them aside to bake bread. Once the breads were done I returned the coals to the oven and closed things up. We then brined our turkey using a recipe we found on line from Chez Pannisse and went to bed.

    Thursday morning the oven was around 375- 400 degrees. I started a small fire to create some coals and when it felt right I tossed in some mesquite chips, three 14 pound turkeys (loosely covered), and closed things up. Some time later ( I lose track of time, sorry)...I checked the internal temp of the birds and found them to be right about 165 but still needed some browning. I pulled them out, started another small fire that brought my coals back to life and reinserted  the birds. About 1/2 hour later they emerged golden brown and amazing. The entire neighborhood is having a great time with this oven. I thank this group for the discussion and dedication to great food and fun.

    Happy Holidays!

    Gary Jones

    THANK YOU, GREAT HELP JOINED THE GROUP

    donegal

    in United Kingdom & Ireland: Dining

    Posted

    Hi Natacha, welcome to the site.

    I'm not familiar with the area myself but I might know someone who is. I'll see if I can get some info for you.

    Thank you, Andy

    P.S. I really want to change my 'member profile name' but I can't find out how through the site, would you possible know where I should look to do that?

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