Venison and dark spices were made for each other. The richness of the game alongside the earthy, evocative flavours of black cardamom, star anise, and mace is a work of beauty. When you throw in the warming glow of the fortified wine from the Douro what evolves is a stew not…
There are few things as exciting in life as finding flavour combinations that work. I was chatting to Ruth Harris from Harris Farm Meats at the weekend about the very subject and it was great to discuss different ways of cooking with her free range produce. Ideas just come flooding into the…
Scottish cuisine is full of dishes with ancient names that seem fairly odd to the modern tongue; Cullen skink, skirlie, rumbledthumps, and clapshot all spring immediately to mind. However ‘festy cock’ seems to take this tradition to a whole new level, but what exactly is it? Whether celebrating Shrove Tuesday,…
When you think of so many classic French cookbooks coq au vin always jumps out from the page. The cockerel, jointed, marinaded and slow cooked almost ritualistically. It conjures up memories of dark photographs, mahogany tables and brown bowls. These days however the chances of finding a cockerel to actually…
I always enjoy when I’m asked to create recipes using Scottish produce, while we have many very traditional dishes in Scotland like stovies, and Scotch Broth, I generally think of the cuisine of Scotland being produce driven rather than flavour driven. Therefore it means that when cooking, the dishes can…
Pigeon is a meat which gets a very mixed reaction, for many they automatically think of the dirty grey scraggly ‘rats with wings’ which are so beloved of railway bridges, park benches, and statuesque poets. Not the most appetising of creatures. However wood pigeons are an entirely different matter, plump,…
Speyside is a place that I’ve always held dear, seemingly less rugged than the west coast where I spent most of my childhood holidays but at the same time majestic in its own way. I always loved coming to Coylumbridge to camp, the soothing sound of the river never out of…
Sumayya Usmani had the wonderful opportunity to teach a week of Root Camp in beautiful Bute on Scotland’s west coast. Here she shares her experience. Sharing a week, with a group of strangers is challenging, but when it’s a group of sixteen teenagers, the challenge is amplified. When I accepted…
