In which preparations for Yuletide begin, some fine Mâcon wines are tasted, and Hamblin and Landrace compare notes. Good afternoon everyone, As we get into the second half of October, in the world of food and hospitality, it's hard to avoid the looming spectre of Christmas. At Hamblin, the first big job is to get mincemeat production underway. The garden quince have been gathered in plastic buckets and their beguiling perfume fills the car as they're ferried to the bakery, the Somerset cider brandy is resting in the shed, and the best part of ten kilos of suet is arriving any day from Swaledale Butchers in North Yorkshire. It's happening.In the wine world the tastings come thick and fast this...
In which the feelings of nostalgia engendered by the seventh birthday of the bakery find expression in musings on, and pictures of, cheese, and details are shared of an upcoming bacchanal. Good afternoon one and all, First of all, with the Autumn season well under way and lots of new bottles on the shelves, we will be having our first tasting of the term on Saturday 25th October from 6 pm. For the uninitiated, this will be a very informal affair, lots of interesting wines to try, including a few rare gems, some bread and cheese to keep us going, and plenty of good cheer. Tickets are £40 and include as much wine as you can slurp, plus snacks. Places...
Good afternoon one and all, And just like that, with no itch, seven years of Hamblin has passed. Miraculously the oven is still intact, albeit battle-worn from the ravages of Oxford hard water, though we've been through more Sharpies, temperature probes and razor blades than we care to count. The sourdough starter is still the very same, from a nugget taken from that most bacterially vibrant of places, Coombeshead Farm. Seven years of working with John Letts and David Howell, and Aneta too of course. Seven harvests of wheat, from the driest of summers to the wettest of winters. Seven years of you all putting up with our strange opening hours, uncompromising bread crusts and Hugo's jokes, not to mention wines....
Good afternoon one and all, Another week and another stint for Kate at a London bakery, this time Quince in Islington with superstar baker, published author and dear friend Anna Higham, and her fab-u-lous team. It’s the only other bakery we know of to have Strictly Come Dancing magnets adorning the prover-retarder. The menu changes weekly and has a steadfast focus on seasonal fruit and vegetables. Highlights this week were the flakiest plum and vanilla custard pie (one to pay homage to on the Hamblin counter we think), almond layer cake with damson buttercream and roast squash and ricotta quiche. Anna is also making beautiful, characterful bread using flour from our mutual friends at Landrace, including an outrageously good batch...
Good afternoon one and all, A quiet Thursday this week was enlivened by a visit from archaeo-botanist, farmer and advocate of heritage grain, John Letts. John is possessed of irrepressible enthusiasm and a restless energy. Conversations can take wild turns and there is never a dull moment. This time around, as well as dropping off a dizzying array of pumpkins and squash from his kitchen garden in Buckinghamshire, he also brought a case of beer, the result of one of his many grain-related ventures. Did we know that before beer contained hops it was called gruit? That gruit referred to a mixture of botanical aromatics to flavour the beer and that often these would include psychoactive plants? Did we realise...
