Infusing

Eton College has an Infusion Society, for final year students with an interest in infused beverages. This year I was lucky enough to be invited along to their monthly meetings. Each time, I took advantage of my fantastic suppliers to arrange a guest speaker to "infuse" and enthuse the boys with their specialist knowledge.  Each interactive session was as unique as the speakers and the questions kept coming long after the meetings should have ended.

Here are the audience write ups of the evenings, along with my photographs.

22nd January Mr Drew Barron

The Infusions Society welcomed Drew Barron of Drury Tea and Coffee Company Ltd. Mr Baron brought three different teas for the society to sample: a Dimbula and an Uva from Sri Lanka, and an Imenti from Central Kenya. The 12 boys who attended were able to try and describe these very different types of tea, as well as hearing about the different ways that tea is manufactured around the world. Finally, different ratios of tea were mixed in order to make an English breakfast tea blend. The evening was a huge success, with Mr Baron showing his understanding of tea through an incredibly interactive presentation.

12th March Mr Malcolm Ferris-Lay

The Infusions Society were introduced to Mr Malcolm Ferris-Lay, a charismatic tea consultant with a seemingly infinite wealth of knowledge from his career as a tea taster. Malcolm regaled his audience with fascinating anecdotes whilst introducing them to the art of tasting tea and the differing results obtained from different leaves. The evening ended with the unique opportunity to taste the last tea sold at the last tea auction in London. Thanks to Karen Phillips of Tastes Delicatessen and Karen Darville of Darvilles of Windsor for arranging the event.

30th April Mr Edward Grace

The Infusions Society heard from Mr Edward Grace of the Beanberry Coffee Company about his passion for coffee.  The audience was enthralled by Mr Grace’s enthusiasm and very quickly understood the need for absolute attention to detail when brewing coffee. The need for coffee roasted to the right degree, freshly ground and added at the right concentration (1.3%) to water at the right temperature (93 degrees) was emphasised. He explained the meaning of strength (nothing to do with the five-point scale marked on the side of packs of coffee) and also body. He also detailed the complex changes which take place as beans aged after roasting and grinding which impact on flavour. 

We were able to sample six coffees, one from Café Direct, one from Starbucks, and four which were sourced from Beanberry itself, coming from Brazil, Peru, Colombia  and Sarawak. Starbucks fell well short of pleasing our now highly discerning audience, but their opinions were equally split between the latter three coffees, which all attracted keen allegiances from the tasters. This was a stimulating talk at many different levels, and many of those who attended will have spent a sleepless night considering their love of coffee.

We are grateful to Mr Grace for making the time to share his passion for great coffee, and Karen Phillips, of Taste’s Deli, who stock Beanberry Coffee, for arranging the talk.

 (Note the cupping spoons in the waistcoat pockets!)

6th May Mr John McFarlane

The Infusions Society was privileged to have Mr John McFarlane of Norfolk Cordials talk to us about his wonderful fruit syrups, thanks to Karen Phillips from Tastes Delicatessen. Along with some delicious tastes, from the fantastically dry Blackberry cordial to the fascinating combination of Rhubarb, Orange and Ginger, he brought with him a real passion for his cordials that made all of us understand why he has spent six years working to create a product of such exceptional quality.

Baking with BakedIn

I baked something new last weekend: cinnamon swirls. As an experiment, I assure you, not because I quite fancied the idea of eating hot cinnamon swirls straight from the oven. And last night (as my twitter followers know) I baked a sticky toffee & date pudding/cake. To share with my customers of course.

It all started with a new range of home baking kits from BakedIn. We started stocking the kits at Tastes a few weeks ago. What appealed to me about the BakedIn products is their suitability to irregular bakers or those you don't bake the same thing repeatedly, but who want to bake from scratch.  These are not cake mixes, they are boxes of pre-measured ingredients. Which I've come to realise is a great idea. Here's why...

To make cinnamon swirls without the BakedIn kit you need strong white flour (approximately £2 for 1.5kg), icing sugar (£1.28 for 500g), dark muscovado sugar (£1.40 for 500g), caster sugar (99p for 500g), cinnamon (£1.99 for 33g), yeast (£1.15 for 125g) and salt along with the egg, butter and milk you need if you do have the kit.  I expect most people will have salt in their kitchen, and maybe one type of sugar. But unless you bake regularly you probably don't have the other ingredients, especially the strong flour and yeast which are mainly used to make bread.  So you'd spend about £7.80 on new ingredients assuming you had caster sugar and salt. Which is more than the kit costs. You would of course have enough ingredients to make multiple batches, so will save money when you make a second batch. But do you want to keep making the same thing, or would you prefer a sticky toffee pudding instead, or some chocolate brownies, or a lemon drizzle cake? In which case you'd need to buy a collection of other ingredients (self raising flour, dates, soft light brown sugar, bicarbonate of soda and vanilla beans for the sticky toffee alone). Then you'd be faced with where to store all the left over ingredients. Not to mention the baking tins.  I bake quite a lot, have a cupboard full of tins, but rarely the right one for the job! And it seems every new recipe requires an ingredient not already in the full-to bursting baking cupboard.

The BakedIn kits contain exactly the right amount of each ingredient. The things you add to the kits are the things most kitchens will have in them anyway for non-baking uses; eggs, butter, milk etc. So not only does it mean you don't need to weigh everything (in fact you don't need scales at all as the kits come with a handy butter measure so even the ingredients you add don't need to be weighed), it also means no spare ingredients to store or waste. They also come with the correct sized baking tins. I've made many sticky toffee puddings in the past, but was surprised by how much quicker it was to make with the BakedIn kit. That time saving came from not having to hunt through over stuffed cupboards to find the ingredients and tin! All I had to do was open one of the small packets right in front of me.

No left over ingredients. No collection of baking tins. No scales. All the ingredients to hand. Pretty much perfect for the erratic baker in a small kitchen.

The added beauty of the kits are they are not a packet mix cake. They don't contain dehydrated dairy products or any weird-sounding ingredients. They require more than adding liquid and mixing. So you are still baking. You can see exactly what ingredients are going into your bake. You carry out all the vital steps such as creaming butter and sugar. You can adapt the recipe to suit your taste, substitute ingredients if you want to (for example using dairy free "butter" and milk to make a dairy free version). They are also perfect for beginners and children.

And the results taste great! These are tried and tested recipes. No risk that you are buying a bunch of ingredients to make a recipe which fails to impress. Most people who have bought these kits in the three weeks since we started stocking them have returned to buy more. The proof really is in the pudding - here's mine:

Haddock & Pak Choi with Tomato & Cashew Sauce

I knew I needed something quick and easy for Friday night's dinner and spotted a recipe on Bim's Kitchen's website which seemed perfect. So I ordered some Haddock (it is better value than cod at the moment) from my fish supplier and some pak choi from my vegetable supplier, and took home a jar of Bim's Kitchen Tomato & Cashew Curry Sauce. Along with a sprinkling of salt and a splash of rapeseed oil, I rustled up a delicious curry in a matter of minutes.  It was so easy, I even had time to take photos as I cooked and tweet a picture of it simmering.

Black Truffle Potato Crisps / Patatas Fritas Torres (Trufa Negra)

Last week Daniel* came to deliver a new batch of fabulous Puremiel organic honey from Spain. He also had a box of new things to show me, which included Torres Selecta Premium Potato Chips from Barcelona. I tried to say that we didn't need any more crisps. I tried to say we were very happy with Piper's Crisps. I tried to say that I'd find it difficult to justify the price of premium premium crisps.

Daniel simply opened a packet and made me try them. Long story, short, I bought a case! These are no ordinary crisp. Yes, they are thin slices of potato fried in oil. In fact these are exceptionally thin, translucent slices of potato, fried to a bright golden colour. But they are also flavoured with black truffle. In a wonderful way. The flavour is strong, but not unpleasantly so, fills your mouth and dissipates, leaving you wanting another. On their web site they are described as unique and I have to say, I have never tasted a crisp like these. Definitely one for adults. A perfect nibble with drinks, and surely a talking point.

Torres have been making potato crisps since 1969. They have worked with the same potato growers for more than 35 years and seem to have found exactly the right ingredients and technique to make an amazing product.  They even have a recipe on their web site for Fried eggs with Torres Selecta Black Truffle potato chips!

Ingredients:
•1 bag of Torres Selecta Black Truffle potato chips
•2 eggs
•2 slices of chopped Spanish ham
•olive oil, and salt

Preparation:
Put a base of Torres Selecta Black Truffle potato chips on a plate. Put aside 2 eggs. Heat the olive oil in a pan. Once the olive oil is hot, fry the eggs to your liking. When cooked, place the eggs over the potato chips and add the chopped ham on top. Now we can enjoy a quick, simple, and exquisite dish.

*If you have been diligently following my blog for more than 3 years you might remember Daniel did a very similar thing almost exactly 3 years ago!

Web Site Re-do

So, aside from buying and selling fabulous food, what have I been up to recently?

Mainly beavering* away on the shop web site: www.tastesdeli.co.uk

It still looks, pretty much, the same. But there are now more than 500 items available in the online shop. I've replaced a lot of the product images. The postage rates have decreased, as Royal Mail have now increased the size limit for small parcels. A new Parcel Force postage option has been added, which is more cost effective for larger parcels. I re-enabled the review product feature having eventually managed to adjust it to show only the last initials rather than surnames of reviewers. The entire "back end stuff" which makes the shopping cart work has been updated (mainly to improve security) and because that took hours and made no difference to how the site looked, I have also changed the buttons and added a lightbox to display the larger product images. Just to prove I had done something! Then because I was feeling confident (perhaps overly so) I added a new feature: a little button that enables you to save things from your cart for later. So you can checkout with just what you want today, and the other items you were interested in will remain in your cart for next time. Seems to be working!

Fingers crossed it will encourage more people to buy fine foods online from us. If you've enjoyed any of our products please do register online and post your reviews. Other shoppers would love to hear your opinions.

*Assuming beavers spend many hours frowning at computer screens while occasionally inhaling deeply, crossing their figures and pressing buttons!

Return of the water

What a week! Since I posted photographs of the receding water levels after the flooding in January, they rose dramatically, and fell again, and then the winds came. Unfortunately, my journey time to Eton also increased dramatically so I've not had much time to explore and photograph. But here is what I have seen. Meadow Lane, South Meadow and the Brocas taken on 11th January, 1st, 12th, 13th and 15th February. The most dramatic change over night last night was the collapse of a large tree on the edge of South Meadow, which somewhat obscures the view of the football pitch I have been photographing.

Revisting the Isle of Eton

Since my photos of the floods on the 11th January, the water has subsided, risen and subsided again. Three weeks after taking the first set of photos I went back to the same locations. I wasn't planning to do this and had neither the correct footwear, or time to do it properly. But I did take a few snaps, in roughly the right places, here they are for comparison. I'd like to think that in a few more weeks I will be able to return on a bright and sunny morning and take more pictures. But I'm not promising anything!

The Brocas 11 Jan

The Brocas 1 Feb

Barnes Pool 11 Jan

Barnes Pool 1 Feb

Meadow Lane 11 Jan

Meadow Lane 1 Feb

South Meadow 11 Jan

South Meadow 1 Feb

River Thames 11 Jan

River Thames 1 Feb

Valentine's Paper Chain

Today I have been harnessing my inner Blue Peter presenter and have created paper chains for the shop window!

I've also shown a few customers how I made them. So I thought I'd share it here.

Not that it's tricky. 

Not only are they encouraging people to stop and look at the goodies on sale, they brighten up the view from inside on this grey day!

A new vegetable

When was the last time you were introduced to a new vegetable? I can't remember, myself. I know there are vegetables that have been new to me. Turnips for example. Strangely, I'd never cooked one of those until recently. But I'd seen them. I knew they existed (apparently since 2000BC according to selfsufficientish).

Earlier this year, I met a vegetable that I didn't even know existed. Which is because, until recently, it didn't! It is a brand new vegetable. Which I find pretty amazing. The culmination of fifteen years of work by Tozer Seeds, in Surrey, using traditional plant breeding techniques.

And so, appropriately in the season of good intentions, and eating more vegetables, may I introduce to you The Flower Sprout......

It looks like tiny cabbage, on a sprout stalk, with green frilly leaves and streaks of purple. It tastes like a subtle sprout with the nuttiness of kale. And its extremely versatile - steam, stir fry, boil, blanch or mircowave. It even has its own web site with plenty of recipes. It is also packed with vitamin B6, C and E.

Available now at Tastes Delicatessen!

 













Update: I've now added some recipes to our pinterest board.

Isle of Eton

Eton is now an island.  Upstream of the high street, water is overflowing the bank of the Thames, flowing across the brocas, and over south meadow. The stream through Barnes Pool contains water for the first time in many years and Baldwin's Bridge is once again a bridge over water. The water is meeting up with tributaries of the Thames and flowing back into the river down stream of Eton high street. It is quite incredible. Huge volumes of water. Meadows and playing fields becoming lakes, roads turning into rivers and Romney weir is barely visible. To witness the change in the landscape is quite incredible.

Yet the water level is well below what is was at the time of previous floods (some four feet lower than the 1894 level under Baldwins Bridge). Some flats have been flooded, some basements are filling with water and some residents are moving possessions upstairs. Horrible as that is, it could be far worse. So far, Eton appears to have been let off lightly. The high street is open for business as usual. Even Cote Brassiere, situated right on the river in what was the House on the Bridge, is open, despite their lower dinning room being below the current level of the Thames. 

Barnes Pool
There is a bench in there somewhere

Meadow Lane
currently resembles a river

South
Meadow

Looking downstream from the
Windsor Eton Bridge