FLOWER POT KITCHEN: GREAT UN-VEILING OF HOME CURED JAMMON 10 MTHS IN THE MAKING

4 Jul 2013

GREAT UN-VEILING OF HOME CURED JAMMON 10 MTHS IN THE MAKING

WIND DRIED JAMMON

There is always a sense of anticipation when I hang a newly cured leg of pork in the porch to dry in the wind, I get excited about the salty sea air and wonder how will my jammon taste, will my months of waiting reward me with a beautiful cured meat or will I be greeted with a rotten mass of mould and bacteria? It is exciting and so far, this being my 3rd time, all have been successful.

I am lucky to live a few roads back from the seafront, this gives my hanging jammon the advantage of gusty salty south west winds to help dry it out.

HERE WE GO...

Anticipation...here comes the great un-veiling, 10 months in the making, I still remember the first time I un-veiled my mummified jammon, it was terrifying, I nearly had kittens seeing all the mould and the way it looked, I thought you cant possible be able to eat this without giving yourself some serious food posining!

But following River Cottage's guide to the letter, I first used my nose not my eyes! There was no smell at all and it was not black or rotting, so I scrubbed the outside with a few litres of white wine vinegar with a nail brush and all the mould came off and left a gorgeous clean jammon.

Now for the exciting bit, is there a jammon in there? Only one way to find out, drum roll please...and Wahooo there she is a perfect jammon ready to be enjoyed and well worth the time and little effort required to making her.

BEAUTIFUL JUST BEAUTIFUL

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LIFE MY PASSION

Welcome to my daily life of cooking, one winters day many years ago my family and I were all inspired by a back to back rainy day of River Cottage this got us to stop talking about and start actually doing, suddenly three weeks later eight vegetable beds were dug, greenhouse erected and our first vegetables were propagating, this was the start to raising and growing our own food, our fabulous son Oscar changed our path in life which lead us to sell our small thriving restaurant of 10 yrs and to start our new life (Terrifying!) a life of the self sufficient in touch with nature and seasons, taking a step back and looking forward to a slower change of pace and making the most of every moment.

My passion for cooking was stronger than ever and having time at home with Oscar I found I had a new direction and I was no longer striving for perfection, I was suddenly very passionate for the enjoyment of the other side of food, something I had not realised, being the Chef/Cook and every other duty of your own small restaurant made me see that I never actually took time to cook what I wanted!

So there I was muddy boots and hands digging deep in more than one sense and I found myself transported back in time to where everyone grew some of their own food, it is a wonderful world with a real sense of achievement and loss, Slugs Snails and Caterpillars! But thats another story! Childhood memories of summers when I lived with my grand parents reminded me of so much that I had learnt about the make do and mend generation that I had forgotten.

Now as a family we love our free wild food days where we gather what nature has provided, have gone from being mini mini garden urban small holders, who did raised pigs at home because we could not wait to find land and supporting ourselves from our garden to now owning a very small farm that allows us to grow more vegetables for the whole of our family and neighbours, raise our own gorgeous Gloucestershire Old Spot pigs, (Sausages!) and pets! Dorset Down sheep, chickens for eggs and pet goats! Suddenly having large quantities of produce started to wake up the Cook in me!

The Cook was awake that part of me that wants to cook for the masses and I found myself setting up Flowerpot Kitchen, a Farmers Market Stall, I wanted to use our honest raised meats and make old fashioned pork pies, rabbit pies and game pies from the local game keeper along with old fashioned techniques and the best hot water crust pastry. This in turn grew to a small cottage industry from home weekly supplying three farm shops and a deli along with also attending three farmers markets A few years later there came a time when my son Oscar's health changed and it was an easy decision to stop.

I still hold the occasional pop up 40 seater restaurant or gourmet lunch which we do for local charities for the love of sharing food and to remind that Cook in me why I love our go slower self sufficient life!

So here I am sitting amoung the vegetables watching the chickens loving that every season nature teaches me something new and that nature is in charge! She has taught me to just go with it and grow. Give it a try from a tray of salad on your windowsill to a few tomato plants it all counts.