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Archive for the ‘Gourmet’ Category

Another award comes to Midsummer House this year in the guise of the BMW Square Meal Award for Best Out-of-Town Restaurant 2005. Midsummer House is in good company, the previous winners of this award being Le Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons (2001), The Waterside Inn (2002), The Vineyard at Stockcross (2003) and The Fat Duck (2004). This award is particularly special as it’s decided not only by the Square Meal team of reviewers, but also by their readers, who provide Square Meal with their own verdicts on restaurants around the country.

Having also been awarded it’s second Michelin Star this year, Midsummer House has firmly established itself on the culinary map.
Midsummer House is the only additional two-star restaurant in this year’s guide and remains the only Michelin star restaurant in East Anglia. Midsummer received its first Michelin Star in 2002 and the team has been working towards receiving this second star ever since. Having recently undergone a major refurbishment and having new menus created, Midsummer House certainly deserves this prestigious accolade.
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By now we’ve all heard of green tea and probably even read about the health benefits that it has and lots of other information. I want to take amount and put all of this nonsense aside and tell you about a tea that is something to get excited about: Market Spice Tea.

Market Spice originated from Seattle’s Historic Pike Place market in 1911. Market spice is made from sweet huckleberries, which is what gives Market Spice it’s “unlike anything else” taste. Don’t be confused with Huckleberry Finn how ever I’m sure if Tom Sawyer was to drink tea it would be Market Spice. Only Market Spice packs the type of punch that an adventurer like Tom Sawyer would be satisfied with. I’ve heard it compared to Orange on Steroids. How ever you look at the Tea, The taste is something else and leads to a simply unforgettable experience.
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Although gastronomy has always been deeply rooted in Limeños’ idiosyncrasy, the last few years have seen a huge leap in Lima’s dining scene. Not only Peru’s capital has become tapped with restaurants, both stylish and unpretentious, but many of them seem to be at full capacity all week long.

One possible explanation for the boom, besides obvious food quality, is international recognition. The Economist magazine, for example, reported in 2004 that Peru could “lay claim to one of the world’s dozen or so great cuisines”. Norman Van Aken, one of Florida’s most gifted chefs, acknowledged that Peruvian cuisine was possibly the most enticing of those he had studied. And Patrick Martin, academic director of Le Cordon Blue, said that one of the reasons for having a branch of the school in Lima was the excellent quality of local cuisine.

“Better late than never”, believe most Limeños, increasingly proud of the exceptionality of their gastronomic heritage. However, notwithstanding general contentment, they are still demanding and hard-to-please, and expect the best from their favourite restaurants and chefs. This, too, contributes to gastronomic excellence. Indeed Peruvian cuisine, though hardly noticed abroad until most recently, is one of the World’s most varied and delicious.
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Pork is a staple food of the mountain regions of northern Italy, where it’s often said that a well butchered pig should leave ‘nothing but the oink’ behind. As a pig is typically around 30% fat, thrifty locals had to come up with a way to use and preserve this valuable source of protein, and the result is Lardo.

Lardo di Colonnata, to give it its full name, is a delicacy produced from pork fat in and around the Tuscan mountain town of Colonnata. Happily for fans of cured meat, it’s not only a frugal way of preserving pork fat over winter – it’s delicious too!

It’s made in large vats known as conche, fashioned from marble quarried at the nearby ‘white mountain’ of Cararra, which are first liberally rubbed with garlic. Next, layers of pork fat, salt, and a special mix of herbs and spices are added until the vats are full. The conche are then sealed with a wooden lid and left in cool mountain caves for 6 months or longer to mature in the clean air.

After the maturation time is over, the conche are opened to reveal a silky-smooth, meltingly tender ‘meat’ which can be eaten in much the same way as Parma Ham or other prosciutto.
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