Sourcing of produce

[Charlene Leonard]

Where do you buy the weird and wonderful produce you serve? Do you go to a supplier and ask for 10kg of chickens necks once you have an idea for a dish or does the butcher keep back anything everyone else won't buy and you choose whatever takes your fancy? Do you think it is possible for the consumer to buy these items on a small scale?

[fergus]

In the case of chicken necks, we get ten beautiful chickens a week and preserve the necks in duck fat and then when we have amassed enough we put them on the menu.

As to sourcing ingredients, it's a treat and a joy that as well us tracking things down, delicious things seem to find us, the squirrel came to us via my mothers butcher for instance who said he thought he had something I would be interested in cooking, so it's incredibly encouraging how many well behaved producers and growers of rare breeds reared with flavour in mind rather than speed or intensisty are out there.

Obtaining such ingredients is possible, if you have a good butcher, fishmonger or grocer I'm sure that with a little notice they can procure many of the things we serve on the menu. Just plan ahead.

Thank you for your post.