Does your Cooking Deserve an AA Rosette?

I'm very pleased to be able to tell you that 'A Slice of Cherry Pie' and the 'UK Food Bloggers Association' are sponsoring an exciting cooking competition from the AA in association with Galvin at Windows.

The competition, aimed at talented amateur cooks, is in two stages: first, participants create a recipe from a list of ingredients chosen by Chris Galvin and André Garrett of Galvin at Windows, second, eight finalists - selected by AA inspectors and Chris Galvin - meet for a final cook-off to be judged by Chris, André, Gary Rhodes and AA inspectors. The winner will receive an AA Rosette award plate, a break in France as a guest of Pommery Champagne, and the opportunity to cook with Chris and André. Interested? Find out more on the competition website.

Falling Leaves

Isn't Autumn the most wonderful time of year? It's so interesting, with so much change and something new happening wherever you look: on the trees; in the ground; in the weather; on the landscape. As sad as it is to say goodbye to summer there's a sweetness in saying "hello" to a new season and a new chapter.



There's a lot of newness about autumn. There's the new school term, with children changing classes or starting school for the first time with new books, new uniform, new pens and new pencils. Even now I love new stationery; there's something nostalgic and exciting about the smells of blank exercise books waiting to be written in, felt tip pens, new rubbers and pencil lead. Then there's a whole new wardrobe to worn, with new colours and new fashions for the season. Even if you're dusting off last year's coat, scarf and gloves they feel new, having waited patiently through the spring and summer until this time when they're pulled on once again. And new boots; I have to have new boots. All the better for kicking up the autumn leaves and splashing through puddles.

And, of course, there's the food. Oh, the food! The mushrooms, the nuts, the apples, the pears, the pumpkins, the game. The list goes on and on and on. How fortunate we are to be able to enjoy such a harvest. Now is the best time to be reaping the rewards of it in the kitchen.

I could go on forever about how I love autumn but instead I asked my friends on twitter what it is that they love about this season, and here's what they said:

@elleskitchen Everything! but always loved walking though piles of leaves. Love the swishing and crunching sounds.

@niltiac The best thing about autumn is that it's not winter yet.

@foodwinediarist Autumn faves - game + Pinot Noir, blackberry/apple crumble + Monbazillac, Thai pumpkin soup + Clare Riesling

@WC_Chicago RT @niltiac The best thing about autumn is that it's not winter yet.

@Wazzat The crispness of day, the chill of the night, and best of all - the fireside delights...

@Farctum all the fruits of the hedgerow

@JamesBrewer for me it has to be pumpkins & squashes, Autumn Lamb, Apples and Pears, Venison, leeks, parsnips. Just so much to choose from!

@markhammick autumn has to be the season of apple crumbles, pear chutneys, hedgerow food and deep earthy casseroles. light the fire and enjoy your labour

@cardiffbites #autumn means soup! butternut squash & chestnut, curried parsnip, sweet potato and chilli. serve with freshly baked bread

@ginandcrumpets The first, crisp coldness in the air that hints at the steamy kitchens and stews to come.

@Cherrapeno Autumn is apples and pears, crumbles and tarts - with lashings of custard!

@TheOrdinaryChef it signals time to get the stewpot out for slow cooked meals by an open fire. Or delayed trains due to leaves on the line...

@poorgirlgourmet crisp air, bright blue sky, wispy clouds, colorful trees, smell of fallen leaves & anything you could want at the farm stand.

@anyone4seconds I love autumn for all the wonderful fruits and berries that still are available to forage and get long into the autumn months

@wwwebbs Humidity and temperature drops simultaneously, encouraging my weight to do the same!

@Bluesky161 I love autumn because it is the season that makes my husband so happy he is bursting. Also apple cider and crisp air

@zubeme RT @Bluesky161 I love autumn because it is the season that makes my husband so happy he is bursting. Also apple cider and ...

Tell me: what do you love about Autumn?

Farewell Floyd: Food Blogging Event

In place of this month's 'In the Bag' I've teamed up with one of the newest bloggers on the block, James from Back to the Chopping Board, to bring you a food blogging farewell to Keith Floyd.

James came up with the brilliant idea of us all cooking a meal in tribute to the much-loved chef and so between us we've come up with this event, which we hope you'll all want to be a part of.

So, here's the idea:

Cook up either:

- a classic Keith Floyd recipe
- an adapted Keith Floyd recipe
- a recipe of your own design inspired by, and in tribute to, Keith Floyd

then blog about it, with a link back to this post and James' post, then we'll do a round up at the end.

Email: farewellfloyd@googlemail.com
Closing date: 17th October 2009

UPDATE: Closing date extended to 25th October and the best 3 entries will receive a copy of the newly re-printed 'Floyd's Food', courtesy of Absolute Press.

Have lots of fun and don't forget to raise your glasses to Keith.

A Final Farewell to Keith Ffloyd, Legend of the Culinary World

I was very saddened by the news today that Keith Floyd has died of a heart attack at the age of 65. Back in the 80s the flamboyant, one-of-a-kind television chef breathed new life into cooking shows with his fantastic, somewhat eccentric, personality, taking the stuffiness out of cooking and making it fun and accessible. He was much loved by the culinary world and will be sorely missed, but never forgotten.

Here's a clip of classic Floyd in action, courtesy of the BBC:

The Tail End for the Cook

Despite the name, these days oxtail doesn’t necessarily come from an ox, it can come from any beef cattle. The name is, however, reflective of the part of the animal it comes from: the tail. But don’t let this put you off; it’s incredibly tasty and meaty and if you didn’t know what it was and you ate it off the bone you’d think it was no different to any other cut of beef, except perhaps more flavoursome.

I’d never cooked oxtail - never even come across it as far as I can remember - until the other night and now I can’t wait to catch my next tail. It has the most deliciously intense, beefy flavour that you wouldn’t believe and the gelatine in the bone gives you a wonderfully gelatinous broth full of heart and soul. If you’re looking for comfort food when you’re feeling under the weather this is the real deal.

I started off making a stew with my oxtail but the broth was so good I decided not to reduce it down and turn it into a soup. All it took was some slow bubbling on the hob with classic stew vegetables and beef stock for 3 hours. Then I just served a piece of the oxtail in a bowl surrounded by all the glorious broth.

This may have been my first encounter with oxtail but it will by no means be my last. I can see this being made throughout the winter when it turns bitterly cold. I have a chapter in my cookbook on winter cooking and I feel it would be a crying shame to leave this out; in that one meal it earned its place.

In the Bag: Cooking the Month of August, the round-up

In August we turned up the heat with chicken, chilli and garlic. Here are your entries.

London Foodie in New York:



Yum in Tum:



Going with my Gut:



Gin and Crumpets:



Gastronomical G-spot:



Back to the Chopping Board:



Apple Crumbles:



Thanks so much to everyone who took part.

Ship Ahoy!

When I was invited to the inaugural celebrations on board a new cruise ship I was somewhat hesitant. Cruises have never appealed to me; the thought of being ‘stuck on a boat’ for weeks has never been my idea of a good time, particularly as I can barely swim (and even then only in shallow water) and I have an, let’s call it uneasiness on rather than outright fear of, the open sea when I can’t see land. Especially at night (shudder). So not exactly the ideal candidate then.

Nevertheless, I saw this as a good opportunity to leave my preconceptions behind, get a grip on my irrational nervousness and see just what these cruise ships were like. And I was intrigued by the invitation to dine at the chef’s table; just what would this floating restaurant be like? So with blow up life belt packed in my overnight bag and scenes from ‘Titanic’ pushed firmly from my mind I stepped on board for an overnight sail.



The first thing that struck me was the sheer size of the ship. With 16 decks, ten restaurants, three swimming pools, a theatre, and occupancy of 2,850 this is no small boat. And the rooms are much more luxurious than I imagined they would be, with large, comfortable double beds, nicely fitted bathrooms, small lounge areas and balconies with sun loungers. Hmm…perhaps being stuck on a boat wouldn’t be such a bad thing.



And so to the Murano restaurant. I, along with fellow food bloggers Liz, Douglas and Andrew, were invited to dine with Jacques Van Staden, Vice President of Food and Beverage Operations for Celebrity Cruises. In other words, the man behind the restaurants, from design, décor and crockery through to menus, wines and food sourcing. There have been some mixed reactions to the food served at the restaurant but I have to say, if you don’t compare it to the top end on shore restaurants (and really how can you when you think of the logistics) and consider that this is a floating restaurant with meat and fish that has to be frozen for the long cruises, you may be pleasantly surprised. I think perhaps the problem though is that the team are asking you to do precisely that in aiming for on shore restaurant standards, even reaching for a Michelin star, were it not to be restricted to on shore establishments.





Michelin star quality or not, I enjoyed the food I sampled and would be quite happy dining in Murano. This restaurant, along with the spectacular décor and facilities on board the ship and the friendly, impeccable staff, would almost be enough to tempt me to book a cruise. I said almost. Visions of Leonardo Dicaprio’s last heat-wrenching moments (ahem) with Kate, along with memories of the sea sickness I unfortunately experienced at the end of my otherwise very pleasant evening are enough to keep my feet on dry land, thank you very much.



I’ll leave you with an exclusive interview with Jacques including some rather impressive stats about the food on board.

How is the food stored?
We have a large provisions area in the aft section of the ship, over two decks. In order to maintain the cooling chain and keep the process consistent we have separate cooling boxes for a wide range of fresh vegetables, as well as other fresh produce, such as dairy, cold cuts, cheese and eggs. There are a further two separate coolers for seafood, and similar to restaurant kitchens, we have separate coolers where we store cooked or raw seafood.

For frozen foods our coolers are divided up so that poultry and meat are separated. We are very conscience not to mix produce, so also have a separate freezer for ice blocks, and one for Ice Cream.

Our provisions system ensures that we can keep fresh foods for 10 days whist catering for 4,000 people daily. We simply do not carry for any fresh food longer than this and for those voyages that exceed 10 days we always have "Top Off" loading in order to maintain the freshness.

Can you share some food statistics?
We carry approximately 4,000 people on each sailing – this means we have to provide breakfast, lunch, dinner, as well as afternoon tea, room service and snacks which means were are providing around 12,000+ meals on a daily basis.

The average loading for a ship the size of Celebrity Equinox is 330 pallets of foods for 7 days, which is equal to around 30 metric tonnes a week.

330 standard Euro pallets would look like something like this:

4 Trucks with Fresh Produce 88 Pallets.
1/2 Truck with Baking Potatoes 11 Pallets
1-1/2 Truck with Dairy 33 Pallets
1/2 Truck with Fresh Eggs 11 Pallets
1/2 Truck with Frozen Eggs Whole, Yolk, whites 11 Pallets
2 Trucks with Meat, Poultry Proteins 44 Pallets
1 Truck with Seafoods 22 Pallets
2 Trucks with Dry Foods 44 Pallets
3 Trucks with Ice Cream and other Frozen Foods 66 Pallets
1 40" Sea Container with Speciality items 20 US Pallets.

So just how much food is consumed on an average cruise?
45,645 pounds of beef
2800 pounds of lamb
4000 pounds of pork
3600 pounds of veal
2000 pounds of sausage
8250 pounds of chicken
2000 pounds of turkey
12650 pounds of fish
250 pounds of crab
1800 pounds of lobster
39898 pounds of fresh veg.
16000 pounds of potatoes
36895 pounds of fresh fruit
105000 liters of milk
850 quarts of cream
400 gallons of ice cream
5000 dozen eggs
6500 pounds of sugar
5000 pounds of rice
1250pounds of cereal
300 pounds of jelly
1950 pounds of coffee
1200 pounds of cookies
2,450 tea bags
200 pounds of herbs and spices
18450 bottles of assorted wines
155 bottles of champagne
180 bottles of gin
200 bottles of vodka
260 bottles of whiskey
220 bottles of rum
30 bottles of sherry
450 bottles of assorted liqueurs
16000 liters of beer

Wow. Bottoms up.