Chef Wise

This year, celebrate the 200th anniversary of one of Britain's best loved brands, Colman's, with its three limited edition mustard jars. The new jars have been inspired by a stunning collection of vintage adverts used by Colman's throughout the past two centuries and highlight the proud history and rich heritage of the brand. The unique designs include slogans and images from Colman's iconic advertising campaigns. The polar bear image signifies the medicinal properties that were traditionally associated with mustard, from relieving tooth-ache to curing colds, whilst the 'Meat needs Mustard' and butchers image communicate the historic link between Colman's and meat. Colman's was created by Jeremiah Colman at his Norwich factory in 1814.  Subsequently granted the Royal seal of approval in 1866 - when Jeremiah was appointed mustard maker to Queen Victoria, it's no surprise the iconic English mustard has earned pride of place on the g...

Food historian, Seren Evans-Charrington will be giving demonstrations of Shakespearean food on both days of the Stratford Food Festival on the 14th and 15th of September at the Stratford Racecourse. The cookery displays in the evening on Saturday and in the morning on Sunday will include dishes quoted in Shakespeare’s plays such as Warden Pie from The Winter’s Tale and Date & Quince Pastries from Romeo & Juliet and will be conducted by Seren in full period costume. Seren is a professional cook and enthusiastic educator on period cooking and was recently delighted to take part in filming for ITV1's series “Country House Sunday”. She appears in four episodes and covers Frugal cooking, Victorian cooking, Georgian cooking and Victorian cleaning. She runs a business called Bubbling Stove, in Bwych-llan, near Lampeter. Her work is based on a real passion for British historical food that she has researched and practiced for many years. She said: ”I particularly...

Many of the things that we eat today we have been around for a long time but some of them have changed here is a little list of things that you might have seen if you was having a Tudor Christmas dinner. Boars head . A impressive dish of a boars head roasted with a apple or lemon in the mouth crowned with holly, ivy and rosemary . At Queen's College, Oxford they serenaded the boar's head with its own carol. 'The boars head in hand bear I, Bedecked with bays and rosemary And I pray you, my masters, be merry Quot est is in convivio' A Christmas pie This was a large pie, to  represented the manger of Jesus,  containing  meat, game, spices, fruit and suet . Christmas or plum porridge This is the first sort of Christmas pudding more like a thick soup. Served at the beginning of the feast it was maid form something’s that you would not find in a Christmas pudding today .Boiled beef or  mutton broth, breadcrumbs, rai...

Now being British we do not really have a thanksgiving day or that is what I thought. In fact if you asked people in the street do we have a day of thanks giving, they probably would say not. If you asked them who does have a thanks giving day then, like myself, until I did a little research into the subject, that only Americans have a thanksgiving day. But you would be wrong. Thanksgiving Day is celebrated mainly in the United States and Canada, but not on the same day. In Canada it is on the second Monday of October, and in the United States on the fourth Thursday of November. But other places around the world celebrate thanks giving days in Germany they have an  an early October festival “ Erntedankfest”  or “Harvest Thanksgiving Festival”.   Grenada, Japan and Liberia, Norfolk Island and The Netherlands all have thanks giving days. Mind you most of them are in some way linked to some kind of American connection of the Pilgrims who migrated to the Plymo...

Absinthe is nothing more than an alcoholic drink that is all but if you look at the history of this drink then you realise just what a special drink it is. It is said that it can send you mad, a hallucinogenic and had the dubious honour of being banned in a number of countries and still is in some. But not in Briton as it never really caught on.   So why did this drink get the reputation that it has and why. The temperance movement who was against anything alcoholic along with a number of professional body’s and associations publicly stated that, absinthe was associated with violent crimes and social disorder.   It was said that “Absinthe makes you crazy and criminal, provokes epilepsy and tuberculosis, and has killed thousands of French people. It makes a ferocious beast of man, a martyr of woman, and a degenerate of the infant, it disorganizes and ruins the family and menaces the future of the country.” In 1905 a Swiss farmer called Jean Lanfray murdered his family ...

Well, all depending what you think and how you feel the big question is why do we think of France as the place in the world that has given more to the world of food than nay other.   Why is French “cuisine”, a French word that has become to mean the embodiment of all that is fine in food, got such a good reputation? Why has the knoledge of French cooking contributed so much to Western cuisines and is so widly taught all over the world. Well I think you have to look back at the history of the country and how it used to conduct itself on the world stage. Food obviously play a big part in the country and to the people but it was one person who I know of that really use food as a statement of power and opulence. He was king Louis XIV, The Sun King.   It was he and his Chef François Massialot who wrote Le Cuisinier roïal et bourgeois, you could say the first real cook book ever. It was at this time that France was such a powerful country and everyone who came to the co...

This is a good question that I have just been asked and if I think about it is have been asked a number of time before. The truth is a it is a religious one , they are eaten at the start of lent. They can be made from things that you have a round the kitchen to use up before the fasting associated with Lent. It used to be sugar, fat, flour and eggs consumption during this time was traditionally restricted. Now  Shrove Tuesday is the day preceding Ash Wednesday and in , most English speaking countries, Ireland , the  United Kingdom ,  Australia ,  New Zealand ,  Canada  and the  United States  it is a tradition.  Also you will find it in other countries as well such as the  Philippines  and  Germany . The reason why it is not on the same day every year is because it is part Easter and for reason that I do not wish to start explaining it changes every year. Now it used to be know once upon a time ...

Now it does not matter what you want to say about the chef of to day probably will not archive what this man archived in his lifetime. But having said that if he lived today he would have lived a lot longer than he actually did , just think what he could have achieved . The strange thing is that I did not get to here about him until I saw a television detective show called “Pie In The Sky”. It was a show about a detective who wanted to retire but could not and he wanted to open a restaurant . Who you would thing retirement would be a relaxing thing and work full time in a restaurant kitchen I do not know but that is the wonder of T.V.  However, he had a hero chef who he quoted in the first couple of episodes, Alexis Soyer.  In some of the cuff monologue, his career was delivered and then never referred to again.  So out of curiosity I started to see if I could find out more. Alexis Benoist Soyer was born in france in a place called  Meaux-en-Brie...

A jock that I remember is that two men go to Italy and decide that they would like to go to a bar and drink what the locals drink.  But they have no idea what to have so they ask eth bar man what you drink around here . The bar man say all sorts of thing but one thing that he knew the pope drank was Benedictine.  So the two men set about drinking the Benedictine. The next day they were not feeling at all well and one turns to the other and say if that is what the pope drinks, I can see why they carry in around in a chair. The history of Benedictine goes back to 1510 when it was made by the Dom Berardo’s monastery at Fécamp in the Normandy region of France .  That was up until 1789 when the monasteries were forcibly closed and production was banned . Benedictine was not made until 1860 when a descendant from the monastery layers found a secrete recipe in a bundle of old papers. He built a very gothic distillery and went in to production. Benedictin...

The humble potato is one of the grates things that you can use in the kitchen. It is with out doubt the most versatile and inviting of foods. Every one has a potato dish that they like and warm to. Some thing that reminds them of days gone by. A roast potato with your Sunday lunch crispy on the out side and fluffy in the middle. A baked potato in its jacket, on a cold winter night, as the fire works light the sky on November 5th. The first of the new potatoes fresh from the ground with a skin that can be rubbed away with your finger revealing a White flesh, boiled and tossed in butter and a Little mint. Each one of these images invokes a memory in me of what was a grate meal or time, and that is what is so good about the potato. It is a food that feeds the sole as well as the belly. And what an interesting history behind it, some things that it holds in its past is the stuff of legends and that is no small thing. From the far away shores of South America the potato first c...

Whisky is the king of all spirits. But as a king there are many pretenders to the throne .Like all good family disputes that go back years it depends on your name . Whisky is Scottish and stands for scotch whisky . Whiskey is from another part of the world. And with that you have many different houses all looking to what they are and calming that they are the true heir to the thrown . But the real king has to be scotch malt whisky . Yes out of them all you have to say that the scotch malt is the best and the clam out of them all . Who first came up with the drink I think is a Scottish invention . The truth is that you would have to go a long way to prove that it was not .It is said that the malts from the Glenlivet are the best of them all . I do not know as if this is the case but they are pretty fine to me. The thing is that Whiskey is made in a few country no from Ireland Japan America and Canada . Each has its own particular style and are unique to that place. The malts of Scotl...

Vodka is one of the most drank drinks in the world. It is a true drink of the people and of the elite. It has come from humble roots to the pinnacle of sophistication and there looks to be no stopping it. It is also the purest of all the alcohols, as not has no real distinguishable tastes. Now if you want to start a real argument then all you have to ask is who made the first vodka. The word is a Russian word meaning "little water" But most of the early distilled spirits were attributed to be the water of life. All depending on who you are in a room with at the time would depend on who I would say made vodka first. Russia has the name but Poland looks like it has a stronger historical clam to have made it first. Also there are another load of Baltic country's that all calm the same so we will let it go and say it was from the east of Europe. Vodka of old was not as clean tasting as it is today as it seemed that any old berry grains or other flavourings were use to ad...

Rum is and always will be associated with the sea and pirates and every thing nautical. The reason for that is that it is a history of the is steeped in the trade of sugar the West Indies and the British navy as well. The word rum is attributed to a West Country word "rumbullion" meaning hard spirits or drinking .Also this is the image of the Cornish coast and smuggles getting rum ashore and pirates' settings sail to treasure islands. Well it comes from distilling molasses a brown stick substance you get from boiling down the first pressing of sugar cane . Now most of the sugar cane came from the west Indies . The island that were grate for growing sugar cane , sugar was a very expense product and much sort after. The Spanish were the first to land and try growing cane . The British not one to be left behind by any rival in the colonial stakes at the time went after them and a little triad war started seeing who could command the whole economy . Now us Brits also had...

Brandy strictly speaking is any spirit that has been distilled from wine or grape based spirit. There are other spirits that are called brandies but are produced from other fruits and they are another thing . The word brandy is a English word . Well it's a Dutch word "brandewijn" meaning burn wine, but the English called it brandy. Brandy are made all over the world , in fact were you grow grapes you can make a form of brandy but the most famous of all must be the cognac brandies of France. Cognac is a town in the Charente region of western France. It is a very complicated and easily confused area to figure out, so I will try to explain as simply as I can . The cognac region covers two areas or departments, inland Charente and costal Charente. This is then split in to six areas that range from Grande champagne to petite champagne, Grande being the better of them all. Now to know what is what it is very easy to under stand unlike French wine. All you have to know are...

Gin is one of the most important spirits in a bar that you can have. It is a stable of all the spirit world and a base for many a cocktail. It is a dry tasting spirit infusion. The main flavoring in it is that of juniper berries. Other things that you will find in the making of are angelica, liquorice, orris-root, dried citrus peel, caraway seeds and coriander to name a few. If you were like me, you properly thought that gin was as British as you can get a product of the empire and all that. The image of colonial type sipping gin and watching the sun set in some far part of the empire. Well that is what you would think but to start with it is probably not British at all . According to my research it looks like it original came from Holland . It would appear that it was first made as a medical drink like most spirits. The berries of the juniper plant in Dutch is called "Genever" and the British shortened that to get "Gin". It was probably soldiers coming home from...

To talk about chocolate you first have to clarify what exactly what chocolate is. All chocolate is a blend of chocolate liquor and cocoa butter in varying quantities to make different kinds of chocolate. Sugar, milk, vegetable oils and emulsifiers are all added all depending on the recipe and the chocolate that you are trying to make. Out of them you get the three basic types of chocolate. Milk chocolate white chocolate and dark chocolate. Milk chocolate is the most popular form of chocolate in the world. It was invented by a Swiss confectioner called Daniel Peter. He Worked with Henri Nestle and latter they formed the world famous Nestle Company. Now it is used in almost every form of confectionary, sweets and candy bars. It is normally made from sweetened chocolate and has milk powder and condensed milk in it. White chocolate on the other hand has cocoa butter sugar and milk but no cocoa solids. And that is why it does not really qualify as a true chocolate. Dark chocolat...

For a cook book, or any book, to be more than what it is it must convey some thing to a individual that is beyond what it is intended to be. To me a cook book can be more than a cook book. When it can communicate in a way that things are in a country, reign or a city. It is a cross over from just a collection of recipes to a story of a set of events that are behind the food. For me a person who influenced my early views on food drinks and well a lot of things was Keith Floyd. I remember seeing him for the first time on BBC2. He was like a breath of fresh air. He did not stand in a studio on a set cooking. He was in a kitchen, a farm, on a boat. I remember the thing that I got most was he seemed excited about what he was doing and that came over the screen. As he began to take of on the television his books began to come out along with the series. He went round France, Briton and Ireland. His book developed like his television personality in to a full blow exasperation of the c...