Medjool dates evoke a few fond memories for me. My grandmother and mother both love dates; I remember how grandmother and I would sit in front of the fire on a cold winters day with nothing sweet to nibble on in the larder apart from a packet of dried dates. I remember holding them in my warm hands to soften them and then nibbling on them until I’m left with the stone in my mouth. It was sweet and meaty just like a fresh plump medjool date. The other memory I have is when I spent time in Israel working at a moshav in Hazeva near Eilat. I was working there with a few friends and we often took the bus to Eilat, en-route we’d pass large date palm plantations – gosh these palm trees were beautiful and usually covered with heavy ripe fruits ready to be harvested. These fond childhood memories of dates come back vividly, even now I’m sitting here remembering the days sitting in the air- conditioned bus en-route to Eilat viewing the beautiful date palm trees. Memories!!

The meaty rich and creamy texture of the dates compliments the duck pastrami, it gives the dish that luxurious velvety texture whereas the zesty blood orange cuts through the richness of the duck and dates. It’s a lovely combination, not only delicious but colourful enough to brighten up colder days.

Sadly last year I got so trapped in the glory and splendour of the Christmas whirlwind that I never managed to get a chance to post the recipe. Well with another season nearly done, I thought I had better post this recipe before another year would have come and gone again. To be truthful, our kitchen recipe book is suffering; it’s looking sad, fat-stained, losing pages and is very used. Good in one sense, however I’m concerned that we might lose these valuable recipes, hence I post them on the site and they will be preserved forever. It’s interesting how we here at the British Larder Suffolk we use our own website like a recipe book. I’m not entirely sure why I’m surprised at that fact, as it’s a good thing!

Last year, my puddings got the thumbs up from plenty of happy diners so I’m proud as punch. There are no real secrets apart from lots of passion and drive. To make this amount of Christmas puddings one must not lose momentum and drive. It can weigh you down as it’s a slow process but once you’re in the swing of things it’s easy. Time is of the essence and the earlier the puddings are made the better chance they have of maturing and developing those all important rich flavours. My belief is that the mix must sit in the fridge for two days to thicken, absorb and for all the flavours to develop.

My trademark, or best not well kept secret is that I use the best ingredients I can possibly buy. The ale is local, I use Adnams, and the breadcrumbs are sourdough; a bit pricy but then this is not a cheap pudding either. It’s your choice if you want to use whole or flaked almonds.

This recipe serves 4 people and fills one 1L pudding basin. Make the pudding at least 4 weeks in advance and feed it with one tablespoon of brandy each week (it’s never too late, two weeks will be fine, don’t forget to feed it!). This will keep the pudding moist and the flavour will be outstanding. I guess this is perhaps the most labour intensive part of the pudding, feeding it. As we have to unwrap each pudding, give it a drink and cover them again, doing that four times with 100 puddings is a bit of a mammoth task but definitely time well spent.

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and  Happy New Year!

For this recipe I combined floral rose water with the acidic and sharp taste of pomegranate. Rosewater is not everyone’s cup of tea and in my opinion and experience it should be used sparingly.  Once the yogurt cream cools the flavour magnifies and the taste of the floral rose water becomes more prominent and can easily be over powering. Rosewater is easily found in many supermarkets, cook shops and even in a chemist.

I served the cream with crushed pistachio nuts, this adds a extra texture and nuttiness to the dish. The pomegranate juice is turned into a delicious jelly set with agar. A seaweed based gelling agent with a slightly unusual texture.

Ever wondered how to remove pomegranate seeds? Well let’s face it, this is a messy job. Best tip I can give is to make sure you are wearing your oldest clothing; as I have many time stained my clothes with pomegranate juice trying to remove the seeds. The best way is to take the pomegranate in both hands and give it a bit of a squeeze to loosen the seeds, you can feel them moving about inside, roll it on the chopping board as you would do before juicing lemons and oranges. Cut the pomegranate in half, place a deep bowl in the empty sink, hold the pomegranate over the bowl and use a wooden spoon to slap it so that the seeds falls into the bowl. You might get splashed with the juice but this method is fairly effective. Once the seeds are out pick the white interconnecting bits out. Drain the juice using a fine sieve and the jewels of seeds are ready to be used in either this dessert of in fresh winter salads.

We have been fortunate enough this season to have been inundated with the most glorious varieties of apples from our lovely customers. It’s great, they come in spits and spades over the season, from Lottie Lin’s apples early in the season to Mrs. Sangster’s crop in the middle, and the most recent delivery came from Charlie, Darcy and Hector’s vet’s parent’s garden all the way from Kent. They are all different varieties – some local Suffolk varieties and some the more mainstream bramleys. We don’t mind as it’s an apple taste sensation and educates us, giving us the inspiration and ultimate cooking pleasure and we long for.

I have been toying with the idea of making apple snow for quite some time now. It’s a traditional recipe, one that is very simplistic however the quality of the apple is what makes this recipe a taste sensation. Choose your apple carefully, remember the apple must be the hero - I recommend a fairly acidic apple as the “snow” is sweet, adjust the sugar levels to compliment  your choice of apple’s natural sweetness.

The warm honey madeleine is a delicate but lovely touch to set this pudding off nicely. I love a madeleine, I think it’s the rich nutty flavour from the burnt butter along with almonds, honey and lemon that makes me go all googly eyed over these little cakes. I do refer to them as mini me, and while I do not think the world could cope with more than one Madalene, a freshly baked honey madeleine is a different matter all together.

They are simple and easy to make however do not make them if you are in a rush! The secret to the success of a perfect madeleine is that it must rest at least 12 hours. If you try and fast track this process you’re in for a disaster. This recipe is the proven practice and is the definition of patience as a virtue! To make a madeleine into a true madeleine not only involves the preparation of the batter, but it’s all about the all important shell shape. You can get different sizes, please note that I have used a standard size, for mini madeleines reduce the cooking time accordingly. The perfect cooked madeleine has a crisp, even, golden brown exterior with a fluffy fine crumbed interior. They are best eaten from freshly baked. I make the batter and cook them fresh every day for the best results here at the restaurant.

Tufted duck, Aythya fuligula, is a diving duck. Due to grazing on marshes and closer to the sea shore its meat has a dark red colour and has a stronger gamier taste than the rest of the wild duck species.

Davids recommendation was to boil the duck and then blend it into a pate. My thoughts turned to the chicken liver parfait recipe that we current make at the restaurant. So the inspiration for this recipe came from that. After a good look and prod and feel I realised there is not much to these tufted ducks, however the breast meat can be bulked out with items such as chicken livers, which in tow will mellow the overwhelming strong game flavour and make it more palatable.

I served this rich and flavoursome parfait with quinces poached in red wine and Professor Baker’s pickled walnuts, aka “wombats”. The textures and flavours works a treat. Do remember to serve small amounts of this parfait as it’s incredibly rich and provide plenty of toasted sourdough.

Another year has come and gone and we are near Halloween and Christmas once again. The Aldeburgh Food and Drink Festival took place at the end of September and as per last year, the British Larder contributed in many ways to the fringe events. One of my possibly maddest ideas was the Foodie Booty that we hosted in our car park on the 1st of October.

It’s all innocent and a bit of fun. Simple concept: I invited locals to come and sell their wares from the back of their car, van, horse and cart, tractor… It’s an awareness campaign and reiterated our values of buying local, involving the locals and just being us… slightly different.

We achieved all of that and saw a good turn out comprisig an eclectic mix of produce for sale, from Lottie Lin’s marvellous kitchen paraphernalia, cook books, garden produce, chutneys and wonderful baked goods, Pump Street Bakery’s bread, and Rob Sledmere from Suffolk Providore with his sweetcorn, to Professor Baker with his “wombats” (aka pickled walnuts).

We get plenty of wonderful glut delivered to the pub from our regulars such as the fantastic squashes from Mr. Atkinson, also know as the “Funky Squash Man”, pumpkins from Lottie Lin, quinces and apples from Victoria Sangster’s marvellous garden, to Dianna’s walnuts. We are grateful for these contributions and even more grateful for the fantastic friends we made due to our bartering system. We all have something in common and that is a great feeling.

The foodie booty kicked off at 6am whenDingley Dell Farmer Mark Hayward brought the pig for the hogroast, fired it up and a lot of coffee drinking and nattering took place whilst the piggy was roasting.

The stall holders arrived from just after 9am. It turned out to be a hot sunny day; finally the summer we have been waiting for.

All in all it was a good day. We had a good turnout of people buying wonderful locally produced foods and we got the chance to test drive our new concept of a foodie booty.

This pumpkin chutney is our recipe in celebration  of Autumn, after all I have been inundated this season with the finest pumpkins in East Anglia.

A huge thank you to:

• Mark Hayward,  Dingley Dell
• Roger and Pat, Pump Street Bakery
• Rob Sledmere, Suffolk Providore
• Lin Carter, aka Lottie Lin
• Richard, Sutton Hoo Chickens
• Professor Baker, aka the Wombat man
• Davind and Francess, Village Veg
• Emma, Nut Tree Farm
• Emmerline, Smy Chutney
• Wendy, Melton Cakes
• Richard Isaac, The Old Sweet Shop, Woodbridge
• Graham Owston, The Saxmundham Honey Man

These events give us the opportunity to prepare and create mouth watering dishes. The recipe opportunities are endless. Now that the game season has begun with autumn in full swing it’s time to bring back our show stopping game dishes.

This venison carpaccio is a twist on a classic beef carpaccio with the addition of a crispy venison shoulder lollipop and a delicious shallot and hazelnut vinaigrette.

I like cooking with game, the meat is lean hence being healthier, and for me personally it’s all about the fact that it is very seasonal. Another great friend of ours, David Grimwood has been incredibly kind by bringing us various bits of game and educated us about the amazing world of the wild ducks. This pan-roasted teal and pearl barley salad with damson vinaigrette is just one of many fantastic recipes we created with David’s gifts of wild ducks.



Have a look at these mouthwatering game recipes for further inspiration on cooking with game:

• A Tasting of Game
• Partridge, Fig and Salted Caramel Walnuts
• Venison Haunch Steak with Spelt Grain and Red Wine Sauce
• Venison and Smoked Pnachetta Meatballs

These small individual lemon meringue pies not only look great but we have the advantage of being able to serve them in the restaurant. We prepare them to the pastry and lemon filling stage and then on the day, when needed we then top them up with the meringue topping and bake them before each service. It keeps them fresh and easy to manage, as well as reducing wastage.

They are also perfect for our bar counter; they look great on a glass stand with a big glass dome lid perfect for that Sunday afternoon cup of tea and the taste of something sweet.

We have a perfect location for walking, especially dog walking. There are several routes that can be followed from our pub front door, one route goes past the fishing lakes, the other over the bridleway passing the golf club and then another one goes through a mini nature reserve, Bromeswell green and can be followed all the way to the river. All these walks are safe, some of them are fairly taxing as the hills can be quite steep and some parts the soft sandy soil makes walking a bit harder. All this hard work requires a pleasant reward at the end and these lemon meringue pies are just the thing for a post-energetic walk.

The beauty about lemon meringue pies is that they do not really have a season; we get lemons all year round. These individual pies are perfect for any occasion from a picnic to a sophisticated tea party.

We hand on heart support the Farm Animal Welfare Week. It’s important that we offer high welfare food items on our menus and tell everyone that we genuinely do what we say we do, and to highlight this, we have joined the Simply Ask Campaign.

The Freedom Food Food Simply Ask campaign is a unique UK assurance scheme run by the RSPCA; not only are all standards mandatory, the standards also cover every stage of the animal’s life from birth until slaughter in a dedication to improving animal welfare. Meat products, dairy and eggs are sourced ethically and locally at the British Larder Suffolk, reinforcing its commitment to animal welfare.

Once we started asking our suppliers about their credentials and “digging” a bit deeper into the rearing and welfare standards they follow we discovered that nearly all of them were either organic or freedom foods approved. I’m not entirely sure why I was a bit surprised, it was a good surprise after all. We realised we are “shopping” at the right places and buy from the right people. We urge chefs and restauranteurs to join the scheme. It’s good for business and if you already fit the criteria why not join the scheme, sign up and get the seal of approval.

Staff food at the British Larder does not consist of dishes from the menu but it’s cooked fresh every day using trimmings and leftovers. It’s also a great opportunity for the all the chefs to experiment, think outside the proverbial box and be creative. Most day’s it’s a bit of a “ready-steady-cook” affair as we might end up with a bit of pig trim, a couple of potatoes and a few hen’s eggs. This Pig Hash is one of Steve’s creations which started off as a staff meal recipe and turned into a “real”dish that we cooked as a lunch special on the menu. It’s a great brunch/ breakfast dish.

Pork is one of the best sellers on our menus. As we are approaching the one year anniversary mark we were talking last week about the amount of pig we have used so far here at the British Larder. Well we are none the wiser as we have no idea…unless I do some serious research…nevertheless we guess that each staff member must have eaten the value of a whole Dingley Dell pig by now! No… that can’t be right, surely…. now that is a scary thought!

There is a very true saying that all good things take time to create and nurture. Well these two recipes will certainly test your patience - and they did test mine! I’m a bit impatient and want everything to have happened yesterday. Well I had to wait two weeks for these pickled eggs to be pickled and the pork scratchings also need 5 days salting before anything else can be done with them.

To create and complete these two recipes required a lot of reading, testing and eating. The fact of the matter is that there’s not much written word about pickled eggs; hence us making up our own, whereas on the other hand pork scratchings had a lot of references. The panel of tasters, developers and testers consist of James who lead the project and did the most of the doing, Tall Dan (he boiled the eggs), Skinny Dan (mainly eating the pickled eggs), Steve, Ross and myself (the three wise ones). Actually I just do the delegating, talking and eating and the rest are doing the deed! Well I’m a girl who knows what I like so they had to do it until we liked it! Simples!

We tried and tested several versions of the scratchings - 8 month’s worth to be honest. However, finally the literary word that won the taste test was the incredibly well-written Pork Scratchings, A Version Of by Fergus Henderson & Justin Piers Gellatly from ‘Beyond Nose To Tail’. We did however put our own twist on this well created recipe as one does, but the principle of the recipe remains the same.

The pickled eggs are kept in a pickle laden with spice so the pork scratchings had to follow suit.

We highly recommend both these recipes and sell the dishes with pride at the British Larder, however it must come with a health warning. “Consume responsibly in small quantities as sensitive teeth might suffer and a slightly tired heart and well-lived body might feel the strain if consumed in large, lavish quantities.” Or if you have a life motto like mine, “eat and enjoy, you only live once!”