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
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