Kingston Kitchen opened last night amidst the usual turmoil of starting up. It doesn't seem to matter how much time you have to ensure that everything is done - you run out!
It doesn't help deciding to launch Kingston with a new menu (for both stores) on the same day and why is it that it is only when you get to the last minute that you suddenly realise that it wasn't perhaps such a great idea to open Kingston at the same time as launching the new menu. Still - no problems, our first customers got fed on time and well! and we are ready for the next push.
On the back of some of the corporate contracts we have in the City we have found a site in Islington to open that will serve these business' - lunches and hard workers whom work late and to date have had to put up with Pizza as the only option. So come the new year we hope to repeat our opening frenzy yet again, but this time in N1.
Back to the kitchen now!!
Saturday 10 November 2007
Thursday 1 November 2007
Organic and Natural Food
In the light of this week's papers re Organic Food we thought it useful to describe our food philosophy as regards raw ingredient sourcing. It's a bit long winded because primarily there is no right or wrong answer (but plenty of bad practises that we avoid) so here goes.......
SCOFF Food Policy/Philosophy/understanding/thing
We have a philosophy that effectively means we use the term ‘natural’ food in terms of our raw ingredient buying policy. What does this mean? Essentially it means what you would understand by the term organic, but there is certified organic food and non-certified organic food. How do we know it is organic if it's not certified? We have visited the farms and seen for ourselves how the food is produced. We believe we have gone one step further than straight organic. The important thing to bear in mind is that an organic certification does not guarantee quality. We buy direct from the producer so we know exactly what we are getting. Also, because there is no middleman taking a cut, the farmer gets a fair price.
Getting your produce certified is a costly time consuming business making it impossible for many small scale producers to achieve. Instead they rely on their reputation and the superior taste of their food to convince the consumer that they are eating something great. Limiting ourselves to certified organic produce would mean we could not benefit from the fantastic produce grown organically but just not certified. We work directly with individual farmers (such as the ones you would find in Borough Market) whom are passionate about their produce and the environment it is grown in. As an example – our vegetable farmer in Somerset is not ‘certified organic’ partly because of the burden of paperwork and also the fact that some of his very old fashioned seed he uses is not organic certified simply because the expense could not be justified to certify it. Thus, even though he uses organic growing method (he is chemical and fertiliser free) , because the seed is not certified he could not use the organic certification for his produce. Because the seed is not certified however, does not mean it has been non-organically produced. In fact, his produce is superior to mainstream organic Veg because he uses tastier varieties. Supermarkets go for varieties that are more naturally pest resistant to keep yields high and hence profits up. Sadly, the real price you pay for this is less flavour. Nature is clever like that - she never let's you have your cake and eat it! We also believe that home grown produce from a trustworthy source is a preferable choice to certified organic from the other side of the globe.
There is also a lot more involved in producing great meat than simply ticking the organic box. It is a lot to do with breed as well as husbandry. All the meat we use is from traditional breeds of animal that are grass-fed and allowed to mature at nature's pace. These have fallen out of favour in modern times because higher profits can be obtained by using faster growing larger animals. But again the real price is in the flavour. The producers we buy from do not use growth promoting hormones, or routine administration of antibiotics. They allow the animals to wean at the correct age rather than the commercial practice of weaning early and then feeding antibiotics to keep infection at bay because really they still need the health properties of their mother's milk. Many commercial animals are not even allowed to graze because it's quicker to pump them full of high calorie (often GM ) feed. Using the traditional methods means it takes longer for the animals to reach slaughter weight but boy is it worth it - both for us and the animal. As an example, we know the woodland that all the Rare Breed Saddleback Pigs roam in Dartmoor for all our Pork products and we know the farmers feeding and management regimes.
For dry and store cupboard ingredients we use a Food Co-Operative whom only stock Organic and Fair trade goods. Lentils, rice, flour, sugar, butter, milk are all organic to list a handful.
To sum up – generally, we use traditional varieties (non GM) of meat and vegetables. Meat/Veg is sourced from farms we have visited and we understand their management of crops/livestock – and in all cases the farms are run on traditional lines – no GM, No Chemicals, no routine antibiotics, slow growing breeds etc. For everything else (spices, flour etc.) we choose organic first and then Fair Trade.
This is a huge topic and one that we can pretty much talk all the time about. The latest findings that Organic Food is better for you come as no great surprise. Although this sort of report is great for the industry in general and is true, that does not in our opinion dismiss food that is not ‘certified organic’. If we chose the organic route entirely we would not have access to the range of fabulous produce now available to us – and we choose on taste and flavour above all else.
Food quality and provenance just doesn't get any better than this. If you choose any of our dishes and include our Veg portion you will have done your body some good and supported some of the very best food producers in the country which has to be a good thing! If everyone still farmed the way they do we would have no need to even bother with an organic certification system - it could be taken for granted that all food was as nature intended.
Steve and Sarah Rushton
November 2007
SCOFF Food Policy/Philosophy/understanding/thing
We have a philosophy that effectively means we use the term ‘natural’ food in terms of our raw ingredient buying policy. What does this mean? Essentially it means what you would understand by the term organic, but there is certified organic food and non-certified organic food. How do we know it is organic if it's not certified? We have visited the farms and seen for ourselves how the food is produced. We believe we have gone one step further than straight organic. The important thing to bear in mind is that an organic certification does not guarantee quality. We buy direct from the producer so we know exactly what we are getting. Also, because there is no middleman taking a cut, the farmer gets a fair price.
Getting your produce certified is a costly time consuming business making it impossible for many small scale producers to achieve. Instead they rely on their reputation and the superior taste of their food to convince the consumer that they are eating something great. Limiting ourselves to certified organic produce would mean we could not benefit from the fantastic produce grown organically but just not certified. We work directly with individual farmers (such as the ones you would find in Borough Market) whom are passionate about their produce and the environment it is grown in. As an example – our vegetable farmer in Somerset is not ‘certified organic’ partly because of the burden of paperwork and also the fact that some of his very old fashioned seed he uses is not organic certified simply because the expense could not be justified to certify it. Thus, even though he uses organic growing method (he is chemical and fertiliser free) , because the seed is not certified he could not use the organic certification for his produce. Because the seed is not certified however, does not mean it has been non-organically produced. In fact, his produce is superior to mainstream organic Veg because he uses tastier varieties. Supermarkets go for varieties that are more naturally pest resistant to keep yields high and hence profits up. Sadly, the real price you pay for this is less flavour. Nature is clever like that - she never let's you have your cake and eat it! We also believe that home grown produce from a trustworthy source is a preferable choice to certified organic from the other side of the globe.
There is also a lot more involved in producing great meat than simply ticking the organic box. It is a lot to do with breed as well as husbandry. All the meat we use is from traditional breeds of animal that are grass-fed and allowed to mature at nature's pace. These have fallen out of favour in modern times because higher profits can be obtained by using faster growing larger animals. But again the real price is in the flavour. The producers we buy from do not use growth promoting hormones, or routine administration of antibiotics. They allow the animals to wean at the correct age rather than the commercial practice of weaning early and then feeding antibiotics to keep infection at bay because really they still need the health properties of their mother's milk. Many commercial animals are not even allowed to graze because it's quicker to pump them full of high calorie (often GM ) feed. Using the traditional methods means it takes longer for the animals to reach slaughter weight but boy is it worth it - both for us and the animal. As an example, we know the woodland that all the Rare Breed Saddleback Pigs roam in Dartmoor for all our Pork products and we know the farmers feeding and management regimes.
For dry and store cupboard ingredients we use a Food Co-Operative whom only stock Organic and Fair trade goods. Lentils, rice, flour, sugar, butter, milk are all organic to list a handful.
To sum up – generally, we use traditional varieties (non GM) of meat and vegetables. Meat/Veg is sourced from farms we have visited and we understand their management of crops/livestock – and in all cases the farms are run on traditional lines – no GM, No Chemicals, no routine antibiotics, slow growing breeds etc. For everything else (spices, flour etc.) we choose organic first and then Fair Trade.
This is a huge topic and one that we can pretty much talk all the time about. The latest findings that Organic Food is better for you come as no great surprise. Although this sort of report is great for the industry in general and is true, that does not in our opinion dismiss food that is not ‘certified organic’. If we chose the organic route entirely we would not have access to the range of fabulous produce now available to us – and we choose on taste and flavour above all else.
Food quality and provenance just doesn't get any better than this. If you choose any of our dishes and include our Veg portion you will have done your body some good and supported some of the very best food producers in the country which has to be a good thing! If everyone still farmed the way they do we would have no need to even bother with an organic certification system - it could be taken for granted that all food was as nature intended.
Steve and Sarah Rushton
November 2007
Friday 12 October 2007
We had a great review!
How exciting - our review in the Evening Standard!
Keeps us all focused & and we have found a site to open in Islington so we can continue with our City Scoff contracts -exciting times ahead!
Off for a celebratory drink now!
Wednesday 3 October 2007
Healthy School Meals
Sitting in my car on the way to our Kingston kitchen today listening to the news headlines…
‘Jamie Oliver’s School meals project crashes’
Apparently the number of kids eating healthy meals has declined since the launch of Jamie’s Healthy School meals project. Interviewed children were reported as saying that they didn’t like the food and that it was too expensive. Firstly – what do kid’s know about how much good food costs and in any case, when you are a kid you feel pretty invincible and so would good food really concern you?
I remember when I was growing up and in my teens feeling pretty healthy. OK – I had no choice of school meals. Meat and 2 veg and I played sport every day. BUT – I also smoked and ate the usual rubbish (KFC/Burgers etc. though not in the quantity kids eat them today). Did it have an effect on me? – Not that I would have realised at the time. Your body at that stage in life is pretty good at working and so some abuse really doesn’t do it too much harm, as long as that abuse isn’t long term. Try keeping up the abuse until you are 40 and then apply for a slot on Channel 4’s ‘10 years younger’!
The issue we have now is that because kids are allowed choice of food at school they will normally in their masses choose (a) the unhealthy option because despite Jamie’s best efforts healthy food is not seen as cool and (b) choose the food they recognise. We cook everyday at home (well, we used to until we moved to a SCOFF delivery zone!) and don’t eat deep fried food. By comparison, out children have supper at friends houses and it does still amaze me how many smiley faces there out there. In my childhood days it was either a case of eating what was on the table or go hungry (I think the war and rationing was still remembered and with that now a long way away values have shifted).
So – in this PC world we live in we allow Kid’s rights and choices often in line with adults choices, failing to remember that these are just kids and that the point of education is to teach them the right from wrong, good from bad and impart knowledge so that they can make the right choices later in life. Perhaps with the healthy food question we should have also asked if the children valued Maths, English and Latin! I am pretty sure that the response would have been the same as that when questioned about healthy food – but does that mean that we then don’t teach them the basics anymore?
Why is good food a fundamental part of a good education?
The knowledge we learn in our youth sets us up for life. Independent tests have shown that children eating healthy food have a better attention span in class, less allergies and therefore stood a better chance of learning what they needed to know to go on and achieve the best they can.
The habits that children learn in their youth will set them up for life. Why we are obese as a nation, why do immigrants to this country achieve more than some of our indigenous population (see Jon Snow’s Channel 4 Despatches). Food – our fuel, has a part to play in answering some of these questions, if not in full, certainly in part.
The survival of our intelligence, our abilities, our countryside management, our animal welfare, our place in the world is dependent on what we eat – our fuel. I know that I always feel more content, balanced (not that I am unstable!), nourished and a better husband and parent after a good meal and that I make better decisions.
So – let’s not give up on this project. Yes – it’s difficult to produce food that kids will like who are more used to eating junk. It will take more than just putting the food in front of them – it will take class & home education as well. It’s of course difficult for the caterers to work within budgets and re-train their staff to cook properly. It’s difficult, so what, what things worth doing aren’t difficult in life.
For our part we have committed to supplying SCOFF to a local school from next January. No, it won’t make us oodles of money (or any really) and requires us to operate slightly differently. But on the plus side we can guarantee some children receive food produced ethically without the use of chemicals, cooked with care without any gunk and it will really nourish them. Let’s hope we have more success than the schools I am hearing of on the news this morning.
‘Jamie Oliver’s School meals project crashes’
Apparently the number of kids eating healthy meals has declined since the launch of Jamie’s Healthy School meals project. Interviewed children were reported as saying that they didn’t like the food and that it was too expensive. Firstly – what do kid’s know about how much good food costs and in any case, when you are a kid you feel pretty invincible and so would good food really concern you?
I remember when I was growing up and in my teens feeling pretty healthy. OK – I had no choice of school meals. Meat and 2 veg and I played sport every day. BUT – I also smoked and ate the usual rubbish (KFC/Burgers etc. though not in the quantity kids eat them today). Did it have an effect on me? – Not that I would have realised at the time. Your body at that stage in life is pretty good at working and so some abuse really doesn’t do it too much harm, as long as that abuse isn’t long term. Try keeping up the abuse until you are 40 and then apply for a slot on Channel 4’s ‘10 years younger’!
The issue we have now is that because kids are allowed choice of food at school they will normally in their masses choose (a) the unhealthy option because despite Jamie’s best efforts healthy food is not seen as cool and (b) choose the food they recognise. We cook everyday at home (well, we used to until we moved to a SCOFF delivery zone!) and don’t eat deep fried food. By comparison, out children have supper at friends houses and it does still amaze me how many smiley faces there out there. In my childhood days it was either a case of eating what was on the table or go hungry (I think the war and rationing was still remembered and with that now a long way away values have shifted).
So – in this PC world we live in we allow Kid’s rights and choices often in line with adults choices, failing to remember that these are just kids and that the point of education is to teach them the right from wrong, good from bad and impart knowledge so that they can make the right choices later in life. Perhaps with the healthy food question we should have also asked if the children valued Maths, English and Latin! I am pretty sure that the response would have been the same as that when questioned about healthy food – but does that mean that we then don’t teach them the basics anymore?
Why is good food a fundamental part of a good education?
The knowledge we learn in our youth sets us up for life. Independent tests have shown that children eating healthy food have a better attention span in class, less allergies and therefore stood a better chance of learning what they needed to know to go on and achieve the best they can.
The habits that children learn in their youth will set them up for life. Why we are obese as a nation, why do immigrants to this country achieve more than some of our indigenous population (see Jon Snow’s Channel 4 Despatches). Food – our fuel, has a part to play in answering some of these questions, if not in full, certainly in part.
The survival of our intelligence, our abilities, our countryside management, our animal welfare, our place in the world is dependent on what we eat – our fuel. I know that I always feel more content, balanced (not that I am unstable!), nourished and a better husband and parent after a good meal and that I make better decisions.
So – let’s not give up on this project. Yes – it’s difficult to produce food that kids will like who are more used to eating junk. It will take more than just putting the food in front of them – it will take class & home education as well. It’s of course difficult for the caterers to work within budgets and re-train their staff to cook properly. It’s difficult, so what, what things worth doing aren’t difficult in life.
For our part we have committed to supplying SCOFF to a local school from next January. No, it won’t make us oodles of money (or any really) and requires us to operate slightly differently. But on the plus side we can guarantee some children receive food produced ethically without the use of chemicals, cooked with care without any gunk and it will really nourish them. Let’s hope we have more success than the schools I am hearing of on the news this morning.
Monday 20 August 2007
Farmer's Markets - the way forward for farmers?
Having lived in rural Devon for the last 7 years and building up a network of farmers to supply our business we have become very familiar with Farmer's Markets. While they act as a great way of the public being able to gain access easily to farmers direct - cutting out the middleman, they do realtively little to help the long term future of farmers in this country. I would argue that the likes of WholeFoods and other retailers whom support good farming ethics are more likely to do good in the long term by paying a fair price to farmers.
We came across Barnes Farmers market in South West London the other week. A fairly lively market with a good number of stalls including: a hog roast from Somerset, a fishmonger and a couple of London organic bakeries. It was actually a lot better than some we have found in smaller market towns in the west country. It does always strike me though - as a commercial person, that farmer's, being natural producers, should concentrate with exactly that - producing, rather than selling. Retailing in itself is an art form (as is producing) and the most successful retailers in the country are the very reason why these farmers markets have sprung up so rapidly (because the retailers are too powerful and in many instances run by people with no understanding of the food chain/industry). So - we have a situation whereby as if farmers have not got enough to do making sure they farm responsibly, they now have to take time out of their week to retail their products, essentially because very little exists in any retailing format to support their efforts.
We had thought that we could attend a farmers market as a way of 1. helping our suppliers (the small farms that make very little money out of their produce and find it vital to have a market for their produce when available) & 2. letting people make the connection between what we do at SCOFF and farmers in the UK. It turns out this is not achievable because the rules governing farmers markets in the UK are in danger of stifling the very people the markets were set up to serve. An article appearing in the OBSERVER interviewed Richard Counsell of Somerset Organics. I reproduce below part of the article (for the full article click here):
"The whole idea (of only being able to sell ones own produce ast farmers markets) is a nonsense that will put some farmers out of business,' argues Richard Counsell of Somerset Organics, a partnership of West Country farmers which sells regional produce (organic meat, cheeses, apple juice, poultry, salmon, game) through a mail-order outlet near Cheddar. 'We used to do a lot of farmers' markets,' he adds, 'but now we only do Barnes [an affluent riverside suburb in south-west London].'
The problem is mainly one of economics. 'Say you are a sheep farmer with a couple of hundred acres in the West Country,' Counsell explains. 'At a farmers' market, you are literally going to sell only two lambs if you're lucky - so the most you will get back is £200. You can't sell a range of meats, you can't sell specialist cheeses. By the rules of the farmers' market, you can only sell your own product - and in my opinion, single-product sales just don't work.'
In the past few months, Counsell insists, some excellent producers have lost faith in farmers' markets 'because they can't get them going; they don't have the variety in what they sell'. The solution, he believes, is to follow America's lead - learnt from bitter experience - and set up 'micro-producers' groups' representing four or five local farmers. 'You would have, for example, a North Somerset stall selling a range of local produce,' he says. 'On market day, one farmer sells for all the others - and you do that on a rotation basis. That way, you don't lose valuable time at the farm; you always have a presence at the market. Each knows about the others' produce: they can talk about the farms, the food, the methods of production. To me, that seems like the best way forward.'
Counsell is similarly unimpressed by the proposed geographical limits, which to him seem arbitrary. 'The 100-mile rule for London is especially ludicrous,' he says, 'because it doesn't strike me as being any different from 200 miles. In market towns, people are more clued-up about the local environment - but London is so far removed from that. Frankly, they wouldn't care if the stuff came from Azerbaijan.' Add to this the odd 'local farmer' who is actually a large-scale, metropolitan baker or a suburban housewife baking quiches in her Aga, and certification is a travesty. 'With all that going on,' says Counsell, 'why persecute people who have set up a mini-producers' group and are helping the rural economy? We've now got small farms in Somerset with new barns, better stock, better hedges, putting money back into the land. Just because we have a viable business model, we shouldn't be excluded from passing on benefits to farmers.'
I agree wholeheartedly with Richard. Let's not pretend we don't live in a market economy. It is not only innefficient to have farmers only being able to represent themselves but it drives certain farmers away from the market. Why? because the market is not supported by the local people - WHY? because there is not enough choice at the market - WHY? because of the following rules taken from the London Farmers market website:
What's a farmers' market? How do I qualify?
Only Farmers can sell their own fresh produce directly to the public. You may not purchase and resell another farmer's produce. You must grow or produce the ingredients in processed foods, such as cheese, apple juice, or sausages. You must also make the cheese, juice, or sausages yourself (with one or two exceptions). You or a family member or someone who works on your farm must run your market stall.
It seems absolute madness that the idea of farmers markets to enable farms to get the full price for their produce (and actually be able to sell it to the public) has a set of rules that disallows true 'retailing' What's more, the food miles that 5 producers clock up travelling to Barnes Farmers market from Somerset directly contradicts the idea of 'local produce and minimal food miles'.
We came across Barnes Farmers market in South West London the other week. A fairly lively market with a good number of stalls including: a hog roast from Somerset, a fishmonger and a couple of London organic bakeries. It was actually a lot better than some we have found in smaller market towns in the west country. It does always strike me though - as a commercial person, that farmer's, being natural producers, should concentrate with exactly that - producing, rather than selling. Retailing in itself is an art form (as is producing) and the most successful retailers in the country are the very reason why these farmers markets have sprung up so rapidly (because the retailers are too powerful and in many instances run by people with no understanding of the food chain/industry). So - we have a situation whereby as if farmers have not got enough to do making sure they farm responsibly, they now have to take time out of their week to retail their products, essentially because very little exists in any retailing format to support their efforts.
We had thought that we could attend a farmers market as a way of 1. helping our suppliers (the small farms that make very little money out of their produce and find it vital to have a market for their produce when available) & 2. letting people make the connection between what we do at SCOFF and farmers in the UK. It turns out this is not achievable because the rules governing farmers markets in the UK are in danger of stifling the very people the markets were set up to serve. An article appearing in the OBSERVER interviewed Richard Counsell of Somerset Organics. I reproduce below part of the article (for the full article click here):
"The whole idea (of only being able to sell ones own produce ast farmers markets) is a nonsense that will put some farmers out of business,' argues Richard Counsell of Somerset Organics, a partnership of West Country farmers which sells regional produce (organic meat, cheeses, apple juice, poultry, salmon, game) through a mail-order outlet near Cheddar. 'We used to do a lot of farmers' markets,' he adds, 'but now we only do Barnes [an affluent riverside suburb in south-west London].'
The problem is mainly one of economics. 'Say you are a sheep farmer with a couple of hundred acres in the West Country,' Counsell explains. 'At a farmers' market, you are literally going to sell only two lambs if you're lucky - so the most you will get back is £200. You can't sell a range of meats, you can't sell specialist cheeses. By the rules of the farmers' market, you can only sell your own product - and in my opinion, single-product sales just don't work.'
In the past few months, Counsell insists, some excellent producers have lost faith in farmers' markets 'because they can't get them going; they don't have the variety in what they sell'. The solution, he believes, is to follow America's lead - learnt from bitter experience - and set up 'micro-producers' groups' representing four or five local farmers. 'You would have, for example, a North Somerset stall selling a range of local produce,' he says. 'On market day, one farmer sells for all the others - and you do that on a rotation basis. That way, you don't lose valuable time at the farm; you always have a presence at the market. Each knows about the others' produce: they can talk about the farms, the food, the methods of production. To me, that seems like the best way forward.'
Counsell is similarly unimpressed by the proposed geographical limits, which to him seem arbitrary. 'The 100-mile rule for London is especially ludicrous,' he says, 'because it doesn't strike me as being any different from 200 miles. In market towns, people are more clued-up about the local environment - but London is so far removed from that. Frankly, they wouldn't care if the stuff came from Azerbaijan.' Add to this the odd 'local farmer' who is actually a large-scale, metropolitan baker or a suburban housewife baking quiches in her Aga, and certification is a travesty. 'With all that going on,' says Counsell, 'why persecute people who have set up a mini-producers' group and are helping the rural economy? We've now got small farms in Somerset with new barns, better stock, better hedges, putting money back into the land. Just because we have a viable business model, we shouldn't be excluded from passing on benefits to farmers.'
I agree wholeheartedly with Richard. Let's not pretend we don't live in a market economy. It is not only innefficient to have farmers only being able to represent themselves but it drives certain farmers away from the market. Why? because the market is not supported by the local people - WHY? because there is not enough choice at the market - WHY? because of the following rules taken from the London Farmers market website:
What's a farmers' market? How do I qualify?
Only Farmers can sell their own fresh produce directly to the public. You may not purchase and resell another farmer's produce. You must grow or produce the ingredients in processed foods, such as cheese, apple juice, or sausages. You must also make the cheese, juice, or sausages yourself (with one or two exceptions). You or a family member or someone who works on your farm must run your market stall.
It seems absolute madness that the idea of farmers markets to enable farms to get the full price for their produce (and actually be able to sell it to the public) has a set of rules that disallows true 'retailing' What's more, the food miles that 5 producers clock up travelling to Barnes Farmers market from Somerset directly contradicts the idea of 'local produce and minimal food miles'.
Monday 13 August 2007
Why Real Food Tastes Better - keeping pigs
Following on from my talk with our Scoff customer over the no excess salt in our food (see previous BLOG entry) it occurred to me that Sarah and I had discovered this for ourselves whilst living in Devon.(Porky left and Fizzy with Tom at feeding time) 
We were inspired by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's River Cottage series. We had 3 small kids and Sarah and I decided one day that as we had some land on which to keep some pigs (and Hugh said it was easy) this would give me something to do and stop me getting bored!
We bought two weaners from a local rare breed producer http://www.smallicombe.com/ where we had attended a day's training and tuition in how to keep pigs- a British Lop the children called Fizzy Dizzy (pictured here with Tom at feeding time) and a Berkshire named Porky.
Retrospectively this became a defining time in our lives and really it was this first hand experience of 'real farming' - albeit on a small scale that has developed part of our SCOFF ethos.
Our two new family members were duly collected (with some help from our friend Alan - who was rather more experienced at handling the noisy additions than me
We reared our two pigs - Porky leaving first as she was the 'porker' (a pig bred for Pork rather than bacon) and Fizzy a little later on as he was to be for Bacon, Pancetta etc. We bought our Pig Sty over the internet at http://www.pig-arks.com/ and when it was delivered the guy said to us:
"Ever kept Pigs before?"
"No" we answered
"Best leave it a few weeks before eating them - you can get very attached ot pigs and it will probably stick in your throat if youb eat them too quickly"
"No" we answered
"Best leave it a few weeks before eating them - you can get very attached ot pigs and it will probably stick in your throat if youb eat them too quickly"
Great we thought - and the kids have named them - this will be an interesting exercise!
The End Result
Well - the end result 
was astonishing. Amy and Tess even made sausages in our Devon Development kitchen from their own pigs (Amy refused to eat sausages up until she made her own from her own pig and now orders sausage and mash on every occasion possible - and compares it to her own!)
was astonishing. Amy and Tess even made sausages in our Devon Development kitchen from their own pigs (Amy refused to eat sausages up until she made her own from her own pig and now orders sausage and mash on every occasion possible - and compares it to her own!)The quality of meat from an animal that is bred to mature slowly is amazing. You don't need to add anything to bring out the taste (or to mask the lack of taste as it so often the case with commercially bred meat). We ate Porky within a few days of her being slaughtered and the kids never battered an eyelid. We froze the meat and even 12 months on it tastes better than any you can find from commercial breeds.
Commercial manufacturers of Pork products ofetn have to add excessive amounts of salt because the meat they use - cheap, intensively reared pork is tasteless. It seems like a no brainer to us what we should choose.
Sunday 12 August 2007
No Added Salt or Sugar
I have just spent the week in our Devon Development kitchen working on the latest Special for our ‘blackboard’ – really pleased with the results even if I do say so! Organic salmon, poached to order with a warm cannellini bean salad. The best thing about this dish for us is that because of the technology we use for delivery of our hot food the salmon arrives in perfect condition to the customer. It is also incredibly healthy but tastes great.
I was in the Fulham shop on Friday night having trained the guys on how to prepare the dish. I met a customer early on ordering his 'Bangers and Mash'. Turns out we have now become a great alternative to his usual convenience of 'Simply M + S' - just what we set out to do! What he did mention to me was the thing he liked (other than the taste) of our meals was that unlike lots of other convenience food he did not wake up in the middle of the night all thirsty because of the excess salt in the food - in fact, I told him, there is very little salt used in our food and hence a discussion on why the food then tastes so good and how this is acheived - when other ready meal options fail.
The simple answer is great ingredients - cooked properly. Simple as that. It is amazing though what some chefs add to dishes. I have found some we have employed over the past few years to be very partial to adding sugar and over seasoning food. It is very important to us for people to recognise the quality of our food as well as it being a ‘convenience option’. We don’t add excess salt or any sugar (unless it is a pudding and the recipe calls for it). I am a self trained cook and so I have been lucky enough not to have anyone showing me poor cooking skills in catering college (see Oliver Peyton’s latest rant on catering colleges). So we do things the old fashioned way, with great ingredients grown the old fashioned way.
By the by we ordered from a competitor on Thursday and the hummus and tzatziki seemed loaded with sugar (to the point they did not actually taste at all like they should). The kids rejected them (usually our final test on any menu item), and even Tom, whom likes most things sweet left the hummus (he noshes SCOFF hummus) and said he liked it, left it. (Note: Tom is not 3 yet so his comments should always be taken lightly, though not his taste buds!)
I was in the Fulham shop on Friday night having trained the guys on how to prepare the dish. I met a customer early on ordering his 'Bangers and Mash'. Turns out we have now become a great alternative to his usual convenience of 'Simply M + S' - just what we set out to do! What he did mention to me was the thing he liked (other than the taste) of our meals was that unlike lots of other convenience food he did not wake up in the middle of the night all thirsty because of the excess salt in the food - in fact, I told him, there is very little salt used in our food and hence a discussion on why the food then tastes so good and how this is acheived - when other ready meal options fail.
The simple answer is great ingredients - cooked properly. Simple as that. It is amazing though what some chefs add to dishes. I have found some we have employed over the past few years to be very partial to adding sugar and over seasoning food. It is very important to us for people to recognise the quality of our food as well as it being a ‘convenience option’. We don’t add excess salt or any sugar (unless it is a pudding and the recipe calls for it). I am a self trained cook and so I have been lucky enough not to have anyone showing me poor cooking skills in catering college (see Oliver Peyton’s latest rant on catering colleges). So we do things the old fashioned way, with great ingredients grown the old fashioned way.
By the by we ordered from a competitor on Thursday and the hummus and tzatziki seemed loaded with sugar (to the point they did not actually taste at all like they should). The kids rejected them (usually our final test on any menu item), and even Tom, whom likes most things sweet left the hummus (he noshes SCOFF hummus) and said he liked it, left it. (Note: Tom is not 3 yet so his comments should always be taken lightly, though not his taste buds!)
Monday 30 July 2007
Why John Rowswell has the hard job!
On my way down to Devon on Friday morning I popped in to see John at his Veggie Farm in Barrington Somerset. A bit bleary eyed - John had only got back from Covent Garden at 3 the previous morning and was already up supervising the picking of the Veg for the days deliveries.
Fantastic mixed salad leaves, green and yellow beans, runner beans, courgettes of all different types and colours, pink and puple beetroots, elephant garlic, delicious carrot bunches and the first New Season Yokon Gold potatoes. John is delivering 300kg of mixed leaves every week to top restaurants in the West Country - all hand picked/cut - backbreaking work as all is planted in the earth. It is his passion that maintains his strength in this gruelling time of year when the mix of cropping means that John is at his busiest. As a 'natural' farm - no use of pesticides or chemicals the weeding alone is a full time job for many of the workers. Why do his crops taste so good? Well, John only uses traditional varieties grown for flavour and then grows them in the ground - you will see many pick your own growers having grown the likes of strawberries in grow bags off the ground - while this helps the weeding issue it does have a corresponding effect on the taste - veggies and fruit - in much the same way as wine, rely on 'terroir' for their depth of flavour.
Fantastic mixed salad leaves, green and yellow beans, runner beans, courgettes of all different types and colours, pink and puple beetroots, elephant garlic, delicious carrot bunches and the first New Season Yokon Gold potatoes. John is delivering 300kg of mixed leaves every week to top restaurants in the West Country - all hand picked/cut - backbreaking work as all is planted in the earth. It is his passion that maintains his strength in this gruelling time of year when the mix of cropping means that John is at his busiest. As a 'natural' farm - no use of pesticides or chemicals the weeding alone is a full time job for many of the workers. Why do his crops taste so good? Well, John only uses traditional varieties grown for flavour and then grows them in the ground - you will see many pick your own growers having grown the likes of strawberries in grow bags off the ground - while this helps the weeding issue it does have a corresponding effect on the taste - veggies and fruit - in much the same way as wine, rely on 'terroir' for their depth of flavour.
Sunday 24 June 2007
Things you should know about our Scoff.
Scoff is all about great tasting food, professionally cooked using the best traditionally farmed ingredients.
We opened our first site on the Fulham Road in May 2007, near to Parsons Green Tube.
The Journey
We have a passion for real food and own two dining pubs in the West Country, taking full advantage of the abundance of good, local produce available. Suppliers have been personally selected for the quality of their produce and the traditional methods by which it is farmed.
We have applied exactly the same principles to the food at Scoff, so for the first time it is possible to enjoy the convenience of a take away meal with out compromising on the quality of the food. At the very heart of the whole business and the whole process is the relationship with producers. Buying directly from the farm gate has the double benefit of full traceability and the farmer being paid a fair price for his quality product.
All our meals are prepared from scratch by our own chefs, including all the stocks and sauces.
We only use real, natural ingredients. We never use artificial colourings, flavour enhancers, preservatives or cheap bulking agents.
All our meat comes from farms in the West Country. We have personally selected producers who farm in the traditional way to produce a better quality, healthier product. This means animals that are reared in a non-intensive environment and allowed to grow at their natural pace. They are not subjected to growth hormones or routine administration of antibiotics. This makes for a healthier animal which we believe is healthier for us.
Our main vegetable supplier is based in Somerset and farms without the use of chemicals or pesticides and chooses his varieties based on flavour.
Our eggs are from a free-range poultry farm in East Devon
We only use organic milk and butter.
Our dry goods come from essential trading.
We opened our first site on the Fulham Road in May 2007, near to Parsons Green Tube.
The Journey
We have a passion for real food and own two dining pubs in the West Country, taking full advantage of the abundance of good, local produce available. Suppliers have been personally selected for the quality of their produce and the traditional methods by which it is farmed.
We have applied exactly the same principles to the food at Scoff, so for the first time it is possible to enjoy the convenience of a take away meal with out compromising on the quality of the food. At the very heart of the whole business and the whole process is the relationship with producers. Buying directly from the farm gate has the double benefit of full traceability and the farmer being paid a fair price for his quality product.
All our meals are prepared from scratch by our own chefs, including all the stocks and sauces.
We only use real, natural ingredients. We never use artificial colourings, flavour enhancers, preservatives or cheap bulking agents.
All our meat comes from farms in the West Country. We have personally selected producers who farm in the traditional way to produce a better quality, healthier product. This means animals that are reared in a non-intensive environment and allowed to grow at their natural pace. They are not subjected to growth hormones or routine administration of antibiotics. This makes for a healthier animal which we believe is healthier for us.
Our main vegetable supplier is based in Somerset and farms without the use of chemicals or pesticides and chooses his varieties based on flavour.
Our eggs are from a free-range poultry farm in East Devon
We only use organic milk and butter.
Our dry goods come from essential trading.
Friday 22 June 2007
Technology - online ordering and the rest!
Oh the joys of setting up a business. Having watched the latest Gordon Ramsey advert where he is depicted trying to fix a computer with some company saying he should stick to what he knows and let them take care of everything else - if only it was that easy!
Online Ordering
Nearly there! Our online ordering facility was supposed to go live at launch. However, it has proved far more difficult to be able to get the software to accurately work and enable users to be able to order over the net. Our friends at Ordertalk have been working hard to make this happen and we really should be able to have a site up and running very soon!
Having had a meeting with our till supplier yesterday (to move along the errors we keep getting that stop our ste from going live) I have now discovered exactly how they program dishes into their system (the system that Ordertalk software 'talks to' to be be able to facilitate web ordering). I now understand that on the ordering page on the website the fact that the dish says Thai Chicken Curry but the description says Dublin Bay Prawns is a Till system programmer error rather than the online software code error, and only affected the look rather than the actual ordering - confused - I was, but hopefully not anymore and means that I am able to sort this out as the techie guys don't seem to know the problem.
TELEPHONES
It seems that that modern phone systems have now outstripped certain software so that now new phone systems (that cost many thousands of pounds) can't work with old software systems (i.e. customer tills in shops)that are not TAPI compliant. So - the really exciting bit of my computer system that was supposed to enable any phone call to be recognised and automatically bring up the customer details - does not work! No doubt there will be a monetary solution to this but for the time being it is very frustrating.
So - who thought we were just about cooking. In order to have a modern gourmet food delivery business - that we hope to grow we have online ordering software, delivery software in store, an online stock control program. Who said chefs only know about cooking!
Steve R
Online Ordering
Nearly there! Our online ordering facility was supposed to go live at launch. However, it has proved far more difficult to be able to get the software to accurately work and enable users to be able to order over the net. Our friends at Ordertalk have been working hard to make this happen and we really should be able to have a site up and running very soon!
Having had a meeting with our till supplier yesterday (to move along the errors we keep getting that stop our ste from going live) I have now discovered exactly how they program dishes into their system (the system that Ordertalk software 'talks to' to be be able to facilitate web ordering). I now understand that on the ordering page on the website the fact that the dish says Thai Chicken Curry but the description says Dublin Bay Prawns is a Till system programmer error rather than the online software code error, and only affected the look rather than the actual ordering - confused - I was, but hopefully not anymore and means that I am able to sort this out as the techie guys don't seem to know the problem.
TELEPHONES
It seems that that modern phone systems have now outstripped certain software so that now new phone systems (that cost many thousands of pounds) can't work with old software systems (i.e. customer tills in shops)that are not TAPI compliant. So - the really exciting bit of my computer system that was supposed to enable any phone call to be recognised and automatically bring up the customer details - does not work! No doubt there will be a monetary solution to this but for the time being it is very frustrating.
So - who thought we were just about cooking. In order to have a modern gourmet food delivery business - that we hope to grow we have online ordering software, delivery software in store, an online stock control program. Who said chefs only know about cooking!
Steve R
Friday 11 May 2007
Wednesday 2 May 2007
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