+++SCOFF! - The free email newsletter on good food and drink. - ISSUE 21, NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2007. For a printable colour version of this newsletter, see: http://www.gastronomail.com/archive.htm . Please forward to all your friends and colleagues so they can register to receive their own copy by visiting: http://www.gastronomail.com . ++Issue 21 Contents: 01: Editorial: - Post-prandial prize: win a bottle of Port. 02: An A-Z of Scoff: the alphabet of food wisdom - ‘U’ is for ‘Unpasteurised cheese’: How risky is it? 03: Special News Report: Supermarkets ranked by the charity Compassion in World Farming. 04: The Drink Spot: Worth more than the traditional thimble - The wonders of Port, a much-misunderstood friend, by Tim Stanley-Clarke. 05: Recipe: Due South fish soup by Pat Timpson. 06: The food spot: Carnivore conundrum – eating meat and the environment, by Tom MacMillan. 07: Titbits and Crumbs: The Better Foodie – book and blog; Al Murray, the Pub Landlord, tells you how to cook your bird this Christmas; Vegetarian Society Christmas tips. 08: How to - Bake fabulous pies - by Paul Bloxham. 09: Friends of Scoff! - A Select Directory of Our Friends and Helpers. [Contents ends]. +01: Editorial: Post-prandial prize. This issue we feature a fascinating article on that most Christmassy of drinks – port. This fine drink is often much misunderstood, and long-time port expert, writer and enthusiast Tim Stanley-Clarke writes exclusively for Scoff! this issue to dispel some of the myths, and help you enjoy your post-prandial indulgence. In fact, so generous is Tim that he has donated a fabulous Christmas prize for three lucky Scoff! readers: a bottle of the award-winning Graham’s Crusted Port, bottled 2001 to the first three of you who email in correctly identifying the year that Portuguese bottling became obligatory for vintage port. So start researching, and email your answer to offer@gastronomail.com All that’s left is to wish a very merry Christmas to all our readers, and here’s to a scrumptious New Year! - Dan Jellinek and Jonathan Ray, Co-Editors. +02: An A-Z of Scoff: the alphabet of food wisdom - ‘U’ is for Unpasteurised cheese Unpasteurised cheese is a source of enormous pleasure to many food lovers. But to some it is also a source of concern. Is it always safe to eat? According to the ‘Babycentre’ website, pregnant women ought not to eat soft, mould-ripened unpasteurised cheeses, such as brie or camembert, and blue-veined cheeses, such as Danish blue and stilton (see www.babycentre.co.uk). However, the site also points out that cheese is an important source of protein and calcium for pregnant women, and certainly should not be avoided altogether. The truth is that the processes whereby bacteria may survive in various types of cheese — pasteurised and unpasteurised (many cases of food poisning are caused by pasteurised cheese) — is not yet that well understood. But this is set to change: this autumn saw the launch of a three-year project designed to test the safety of unpasteurised cheese led by the Campden Chorleywood Food Research Association (CCFRA). The study, funded by the UK Food Standards Agency (FSA), will assess the survival of pathogens in a range of raw cheeses. Whatever they find, it seems that Eurocrats are not the enemy. Rumours started circulating in the 1990s that all unpasteurised cheeses were about to be outlawed. However, the European Commission says this is a ‘Euromyth’ arising from the adoption of rules covering hygiene inspection of dairy sites, and there is “absolutely no intention to ban any traditional cheese,” the Commission says. So now you know. +03: Special News Report - This is not just animal welfare . . - by Dan Jellinek. Marks and Spencer have received the top award in this year’s biennial Compassionate Supermarket Survey and Awards from the charity Compassion in World Farming (CIWF). Sainsbury’s was dubbed ‘most improved supermarket’. “Supermarkets have enormous influence over . . . farm animal welfare standards,” the campaign says. “Their . . . buying power means [they] have the ability to impose stringent requirements on how food is produced. They also have tremendous scope for promoting one product over another, using mechanisms such as price promotions, in- store product positioning, labelling, and publicity.” Marks and Spencer and Waitrose both scored well overall, ranking just under 4 out of 5 points in the CIWF system. Next came the Co-operative Group (2.88) followed by Sainsbury’s (2.67); Tesco (2.63); Morrisons (2.36); Somerfield (1.89) and Asda (1.8), although Asda failed to supply updated figures for this year’s review. Specific areas examined by the survey ranged from poultry welfare to fish sustainability. In awarding Marks and Spencer its highest rating, CIWF cited its corporate responsibility policy, ‘Plan A’, placing animal welfare at the heart of its business. It praised the firm’s “clear and unambiguous policies” such as selling only free-range and organic eggs, using 100% free-range egg ingredients, and prohibiting calf exports. In awarding Sainsbury’s the ‘most improved’ label, the campaign cited a rise of more than 25 per cent on the supermarket’s 2005 scores. Sainsbury’s has also become the first of the big four supermarkets to commit to going cage-free on all shell eggs by 2010, and cage-free on all own label products containing egg by 2012. In addition, Sainsbury’s has significantly increased investment in farm animal welfare research. For the full survey results, see: http://www.ciwf.org.uk/supermarkets/ +04: The Drink Spot: Worth more than the traditional thimble by Tim Stanley-Clarke. There can be no more delicious and seductive wine in the vinous spectrum than a glass of fine Port. Rich, satisfying, complex and nourishing, it is one of the greatest wines in the world. Port also comes from one of the most beautiful and improbable wine-producing regions in the world. The Douro Valley has an unspoilt, peaceful beauty that has few equals. I am very lucky to have been a frequent visitor there for most of my life and I rejoice in it every time. I am to be seen on the magical train journey up the Douro hanging my head out of the window like an exuberant Labrador, absorbing the wonderful sights and smells of this unique place. Of course I would say that, wouldn’t I, having spent most of my wine trade life in the Port business. However, apart from the joys of the Douro and its wines, I suffer from acute depression over a number of glaring misconceptions and myths surrounding the consumption of Port. The first is that Port is a dying wine, consumed only by retired octogenarian brigadiers with expensive complexions, falling asleep in a dyspeptic haze after lunch in a St. James’s club. I am happy to report that nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, Port sales in the UK have increased by 15% over the past ten years and last year 47% of all Port in the UK was consumed by females. Happily, the archaic custom of inviting ladies to leave the room when Port is offered is now a dying one. My next area of depression concerns the ghastly thimbles in which, all too often, Port is served. Port is an exuberant wine with magnificent colours and aromas that should be enjoyed and appreciated in a large wine glass. So, if you are in a restaurant or hotel and the Port arrives in a thimble, strike a blow for freedom and ask for a proper wine glass. However, to do this at a dinner party requires great tact and you may not be asked back! The last and most acute area of depression for me is the ridiculous suggestion that Port is the cause of hangovers. I have done extensive research into this over many years and I have discovered it to be a complete myth. Consider a normal dinner party: on arrival you will be offered a glass or two of something as an aperitif and with the first course, a few more glasses of white wine, which so often these days is far too high in alcohol and oak. Then, with the main course, possibly a bruiser from the Southern Hemisphere, weighing in at 15%. If you are lucky, at the end of the evening you may be offered a glass of Port, all too often in an over-cut wedding present thimble. On awakening the following morning, with an 18 inch spike through their heads, all people seem to remember is that poor little glass of Port at the end of the evening and not the forest of high alcohol table wines that has preceded it! - Tim Stanley-Clarke is UK Ambassador for Symington Family Estates, the leading producer of premium quality Ports including Graham’s, Dow’s and Warre’s. For a chance to win a bottle of Graham’s excellent Crusted Port (Decanter Trophy 2007), courtesy of the Symington family, by answering one simple question, see the editorial column, page one. +05: Recipe: Due South fish soup by Pat Timpson This soup is based on a bouillabaisse, the classic fish stew originating in the port of Marseille. Purists are welcome to argue amongst themselves as to what constitutes an authentic bouillabaisse; for the rest of us, the fact that it began as a fairly rough and ready fisherman’s stew, made from whatever was in the day’s catch, means we should feel happy to throw in a mix of whatever fresh seafood we can get our hands on. For the stock: - 1 kg bones from fish such as sole or bream - 2 onions; - 2 fennel bulbs - 200g celery; - 200g carrots - 50g mushrooms, sliced - two sprigs fresh thyme. Chop the vegetables and place with the fish bones in a heavy-based pan with 4.5 litres of water. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer for about 20 minutes. Remove it from the heat and pass it through a chinois, taking the stock from the top so as to leave the sediment at the bottom of the pan. For the soup: - 2 medium onions; - 2 carrots - 4 sticks of celery; - 1 medium head of fennel - 8 cloves garlic - 175g tomato purée - 5g saffron - half bottle white wine - 2 bay leaves - Fillets of in-season fish; - Shellfish, if desired - Butter and parsley, to serve. Finely dice the onions, carrots, celery and fennel. Sweat these together for around six minutes then add the garlic cloves, puréed, with the tomato purée and saffron. Add the white wine and reduce a little. Then add the stock and bay leaves and bring to the boil. Simmer for 20 minutes and season to taste. Meanwhile, cut the cleaned fillets of in-season fish into small chunks and prepare any shellfish you want to add. You could use mackerel and sea bass, mussels and langoustine. Add the seafood to the soup base and bring to the boil for a few minutes. Finish with a knob of butter and chopped parsley and serve with a chunky slice of garlic toast. Pat Timpson is Executive Chef for Due South Restaurant, Brighton: http://www.duesouth.co.uk +06: The Food spot: Carnivore conundrum by Tom MacMillan. For Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, the great granddaddy of gastronomes, meat was central to a decent meal. Of three menus he designed, even the most frugal has four different meat courses. He quipped: “It is difficult to conceive of a people subsisting merely on bread and vegetables. If such a nation existed it would certainly be subjected by carnivorous enemies . . . If not it would be converted by the cooks of its neighbours.” This outlook could scarcely be further removed from that of Sylvester Graham, the pioneering vegetarian who was ordained as a Presbyterian minister the year Brillat- Savarin died. Graham campaigned for moral restraint, preaching vegetarianism alongside temperance, chastity and cold baths. Today our meat habit faces some testing dilemmas and they would be easier to solve if we, in rich countries, ate less of it. Yet, when it comes to finding solutions, we may be better off looking to the Frenchman than to the preacher. What are the problems? Some are down to how our meat is produced. The most eye- catching is climate change: the livestock sector, which as well as meat produces dairy, eggs, leather, wool and more, accounts for some eight percent of UK greenhouse gas emissions. Globally it is around a fifth, which says more about how much else we spend money on in the UK than it does about the efficiency of our production methods. The environmental toll extends well beyond climate change to water scarcity and biodiversity loss from clearing forests to make way for pasture or feed production. The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) is worried because it expects global meat demand by 2050 to be more than twice the 229 million tonnes we put away in 2000. Poor animal welfare is also a problem. Most of the near-to-a-billion animals we slaughter globally each week lead lives we would not want to witness. Meat consumption is an influence on these production problems but also comes with problems of its own. The 218 grams a day of meat we eat on average in the UK – 342 in the US – isn’t good for us, as several reports have spelled out this autumn. In particular, eating lots of red, intensively farmed and processed meats is linked to higher risks of heart disease and some cancers. So, it seems we should eat less meat. For the climate it also matters which meat you’re eating, how it was produced and what else you might eat instead. Whether animals eat waste food, oil seed-based feeds, cereal-based feeds or grass – and even the type of grassland – can tip the balance towards one production system or another. Ultimately, the challenge is not only to eat less but also to eat better meat – produced in more humane and environmentally sound production systems. Yet that also makes meat cost more, raising food access issues. Here are three suggestions. First, mixed farming: mixed systems can combine high animal welfare with good environmental performance. Second, international governance: well-financed multilateral agreements covering livestock and feed trade. Finally, urban abattoirs. There are all sorts of reasons to bring abattoirs back into town, and what better time to start than this Year of Food and Farming. That way more meat might pass the transparency test: that we’d still eat it if we knew where it came from. - Tom MacMillan is Director of the food Ethics Council. This article is adapted from the latest issue of Food Ethics, the council’s journal. The issue focuses on meat production, with the help of some of the UK’s leading food academics and analysts. Scoff! readers can receive a 20% discount on an annual subscription to this excellent quarterly publication, plus free copies of all printed reports produced by the council in the course of the year, by visiting: http://www.foodethicscouncil.org/supportus/subscribe Use the discount code ‘Scoff’. +07: Titbits and crumbs. - The Better Foodie: Scrabbling around for a last minute Christmas present for a foodie? Sudi Pigott’s book ‘How to be a better foodie’ could be just the thing. Log onto her blog first to sneak a taste: http://thebetterfoodie.blogspot.com/ - Al Murray, the Pub Landlord, tells you how to cook your bird this Christmas: “Whatever happened to the traditional British Christmas, eh? We used to sit down and eat a wonderful turkey dinner, all the trimmings, brandy and cigars, all washed down with nine cans of light ale, as a traditional way to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ our saviour.” This year, get your turkey safety tips from Al Murray, the pub landlord, and hear him waxing lyrical about “sausages wrapped in bacon – a lovely combination of British pork”: http://almurrayturkey.notlong.com - Vegetarian Society Christmas tips: Don’t tell Al, but this is the site for excellent recipes and gift ideas for the not-so-pork- loving among us. And there are some fun online games, like ‘Pudman’, for whiling away those post-dinner hours: use your arrow key to eat the sprouts, and watch out for the Christmas spirits: http://www.vegsoc.org/christmas/ +08: How to: Bake fabulous pies - by Paul Bloxham. A fabulous home-baked pie is unquestionably one of the culinary wonders of the world and indeed the epitome of comfort food. Fortunately, there are so many delicious varieties of pie, it’s easy to find one to complement any menu and please any appetite be it sweet or savory. If you've ever hesitated to make your own pie crust from scratch, well you owe it to yourself to try. Pie pastry is really very simple to make. While it could quite possibly take a few goes for you to understand all the nuances of reaching the peak of pie perfection, just think of all the fun you'll have creating your very own pie icons. Here are five tips to help you along the way: 1: Temperature is the key to a perfect pie crust. All of the ingredients used should be cold. Chill everything beforehand, even your hands. 2: The flour should be a plain flour, not bread flour as you need a lower gluten content to produce a tender crust 3: Lard, margarine or butter? It’s got to be all butter for the perfect pie preferably unsalted, always cut into the flour with a knife. Bonus tip: my secret weapon for crisp, light pastry is an egg, added as part of the liquid content. 4: Add just enough water to hold the dough together, too much and the pastry will be tough and chewy. 5: Follow your preferred recipe to the T, pastry certainly shouldn’t be measured by eye. - Paul Bloxham is Chef Patron at the award-winning The Tilbury in Datchworth, Herts (www.thetilbury.co.uk), and a regular TV presenter and broadcaster. Look out for one of his wonderful pie recipes in our next issue. +09: Friends of Scoff! - A Select Directory of Our Friends and Helpers. - Averys, one of the UK’s most respected wine merchants, is offering our readers a £10 discount on all new orders over £49.95: http://www.averys.com/scoff - All About Wine is a seminal book covering all the basics about enjoying wine from our Drinks Editor Jonathan Ray. Scoff! readers benefit from a special price of £17.99 inc. p&p: call Macmillan Direct on 01256 302 692 and quote GLR D47. - Planet Chicken, the well-received expose on the state of the modern poultry industry from our editorial consultant Hattie Ellis, is out now from Hodder & Stoughton. For discount offers buy online at Amazon.co.uk. - The Handmade Loaf by Dan Lepard, “contemporary European recipes for the home baker,” is published by Mitchell Beazley. Special Scoff! price £16: call 01903 828503 quoting PUB195. - Wendy Brandon Handmade Preserves is a small company making a very wide range of jams, marmalades and chutneys: http://www.wendybrandon.co.uk/ - We are grateful to Oregon Wines for providing us with our October competition prize. For more information on the wines of Oregon visit: http://www.oregonwines.com - Another generous prize came courtesy of New Zealand Winegrowers. To find out about New Zealand tastings in your area email info@winzuk.com And for more on NZ wine see: www.nzwine.com - Try the ‘Curious Brew’ beer brand from award-winning wine producer Chapel Down. Curious Brew Brut, Cobb IPA and Admiral Porter can be ordered with online discounts from: www.chapeldownwines.co.uk NOTE: Inclusion in this directory is free, but you must help to increase our readership! To find out more contact Jo Weatherall on jo@gastronomail.com . ++End Notes: +HOW TO RECEIVE YOUR REGULAR ‘SCOFF!’ To subscribe to this free monthly bulletin, Send a blank email to scoff-subscribe@gastronomail.com Please encourage your friends and colleagues to subscribe! To unsubscribe at any time, email: scoff-unsubscribe@gastronomail.com For further information on subscription see: http://www.gastronomail.com . +ACCESSIBILITY NOTE: This newsletter conforms to the accessible Text Email Newsletter (TEN) Standard, which makes email publications easier to access for people with impaired vision using text-to-speech devices. For details see: http://www.headstar.com/ten . +COPYRIGHT 2006 Gastronomail Ltd. If you would like to reproduce stories from this newsletter, we generally allow this as long as a full credit is included, with our web address and a description of our newsletter. For permission please email jo@gastronomail.com . +PERSONNEL: Food Editor - Dan Jellinek dan@gastronomail.com Drinks editor – Johnny Ray johnny@gastronomail.com Consultant Editor – Hattie Ellis hattie@gastronomail.com Marketing Director – Jo Weatherall jo@gastronomail.com [Issue 21 ends.]