Farmers Markets

[welsh wizard]

Hi Lance

You also sound very positive - well done you.

15kg a day, that is impressive. Do you sell anything else on the stand like hickory bacon? I think the expat angle is a VERY good one.

Re selling hot sausages, what you could do is invest in a hostess type product (see ebay) if you have electricity and cook them up and store them in the hostess until needed. I have done this on a number of occassions and it has worked well for me.


I for my part am very busy at the moment but not making enough money yet but it is still early days. I have had a number of enquiries about outside catering emanating from the produce I sell and have just invested in a catering size paella pan / burner and an now taking bookings for paella Q's - plesae let it be sunny for the rest of the Summer

Cheers WW

[Hobbitfeet]

How about giving out numbers like a cloakroom system? 15kg! Well done you.

[Lance Yeoh]

WW,
The downside of the place is I can't sell any pork products there. So that means no hog casings or any pork. I do tell my customers that I take orders for pork sausages and they can pick it up the following week, just that I can't display them on the table.
I'll check on your suggestion on the hostess thingy and see if I have the extra cash for it. And I definately have to start a numbering system real soon.

[welsh wizard]

Hi Lance

All I can say is keep going, it has taken me a few months to get known but now I can count as many locals coming on to the stall as holidaymakers and that is what is going to keep me going through the Winter months.......

I understand about the pork - do you sell mainly beef, chicken or lamb sauusages?

Cheers Mark.

PS I sell a lot of crab and smoked salmon pate as well as the sausages.....

[welsh wizard]

Hi all and help please.........

I have been doing the market now for some time and all is going well but now the holiday saeson in over my sales for smoked salmon are getting a tad less and I need some new ideas for produce to sell.

I have started making club sandwiches from smoked salmon, camambert, fresh salmon and Q and selling them for �2.80 a time. I sell c12 of these on a market day so I do quite well there.

The game season is coming into play soon (ducks are in) and I will be awash with pheasant and following a relpy from JPJ on another topic I think hot smoked pheasant breasts wrapped in smoked bacon will be one line I will give a try. Also I want to have a go at Pheasant, Port and Redcurrant pies. My daughter is going to make some smoked salmon quiche (is that how you spell it?) next week and we will see how that goes as well. However ALL ideas very gratefully recieved and if used I will let you know how they went.

Many thanks in advance - Cheers WW

[Ken Boy]

Hi WW
Ever thought about Pre- cooked Ready meals e.g Bangers & mash in an onion gravy keep them simple good wholesome food ( The old folk love them)

[welsh wizard]

HI Ken

Well we certainly have our fair share of the old folk here abouts so I may well give that a try - thanks.

To give you a typicial Sunday in our house preping for a Monday market:

Pack sausages (made on Saturday)
Make Smoked Salmon Pate
Make Crab Pate
Slice and pack Smoked Salmon
Slice and pack bacon

As you can see not a lot of time for church!

Cheers WW

[johnfb]

Hey WW

Saw this on sausagefans.com...might be of interest to you with the game season starting soon


Pheasant Sausages - Serves 4

Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Ready in: 60 minutes

Ingredients: 1lb boned pheasant, diced: include such fat from the breast as you can.
1/2lb open cap mushrooms, no stalks, diced
1/4lb butter, or less if the meat is fatty. Bacon fat is good, too, if you have it.
2 rashers smoked streaky bacon, chopped finely.
1 small onion, diced
2 teaspoons dried sage
1/2 teaspoon mustard powder.

Directions: Marinade the meat and mushrooms in just enough red wine to moisten them. mix all the ingredients together and mince into sausage skins.

But game sausages are rather more a matter of taste, and some people "dilute" the meat with pork, or even chicken. There is no "rusk" in that recepie - the texture improves if you add some, but it goes back to being dry if you add too much.



Cheers
John

[welsh wizard]

Thanks John,

That sounds very interesting. I will give those a go as they dont look too complicated (time consuming) to make and let you know how I get on. I will do these at the end of November / December when the pheasant prices drop down a little.

I think I will add some fatty pork and a tbs of redcurrent jelly to the recipe, as well as a little rusk.

Cheers Mark.

[harterz]

I found myself in Ludlow on Monday this week, so took the chance to look over the market, and found WW's stall. It was great to see his operation after having read so much about his exploits in getting to this stage in his "career".

It was interesting to taste someone else's recipes - I had made 5kgs for a bbq we had for my daughter's birthday. One of them was pork & apple with cider, and WW had his version for tasting. Two very different, but ultimatley tasty variations.

But the piece de resistance was the smoked salmon... the best, most succulent I have ever had.

Congrats, WW. Ludlow really is a foodie town and to be a success there speaks volumes!

I now feel inspired to have a crack at smoking some myself now.

harterz.

[saucisson]

Sounds great, how did you work out which stall was WW's ? Other than the clear excellence of his produce that is

Dave

[welsh wizard]

Thanks Harterz, very kind of you

Smoked food for some people is a real issue because of the taste being so strong. However I often get people to try my smoked salmon and because I only lightly smoke it, you can taste the fish as well as the smoke and people who otherwise may turn their nose up at smoked food actually dont mind it, sometimes even like it!

It is a sad fact that a lot of peoples experience with say smoked salmon is at various functions where lower quality salmon is served, which in all probability has been sprayed with smoke liquid rather than actually been smoked. The supermarket chains buy a lot of this becuase it is cheap, and equally it is c**p. Interestingly the most favoured smoked cheese in the UK is Applewood, and surprise surprise this has never seen the inside of a smoker either, yep sprayed on smoke............

I have the same problem with game. People say to me "oh no game is far too strong" and this is mainly because at some point they have been fed a pheasant that has been hung for two weeks. Game is only as strong as the length of time you hang it. Some game, like wild duck has a strong flavour but not unpalatable. Pheaseant for example hung for 2 days is about as close as you would get to a proper old fashioned chicken..........where am I going with this???? Sorry I will stop!

thanks once again for your kind remarks and you of course are welcome anytime, and if you come again lets do a sausage swap?

Cheers WW

[harterz]

Hi WW

Soss Swop sounds great... I will make some appointments for next week!!

I agree with you on the game front. I frequently "come by" pheasant by the brace, and as my wife is not into gamey foods, I never hang the birds for more than 2 days and she is happy with that. Also I make a game pie with whatever comes to hand, and as long as I know when the animals were killed I can ensure the pie has sufficient flavour without upsetting t'other half.

Re smoking, the same point stands. The (very generous) sample you offered me was so moist and tender, like you say with just enough smoke flavour to enrich, my missus should be delighted with it. She loves salmon after all.

Saucisson ... identification was easy - quality produce laid out invitingly with someone (WW) stood round the front looking interested and ready to engage with his public.

I will be back.

harterz

[Lance Yeoh]

Hi WW,
Glad to hear that you're doing more stuff to sell. What about selling some spaghetti with a carbonara sauce? I'm about to start doing that myself actually. I'll use leftover sausage meat and also the edges of the bacon that I make into bacon bits for extra flavouring.

Btw, my business here is getting on pretty well now. I sold out everything I brought to the stall for the past 3 weeks. Last week I think I sold a total of 23kg of sausages. I'm just starting to sell bacon as well and it seems to sell really well too.
Cheers
Lance Yeoh

I was not around for a while coz my dad passed away early this month.

[welsh wizard]

Hey Lance - Really sorry to hear about dad, you have my sympathy.

Thanks for the tip ref the spaghetti - do you sell it cooked as it were in a reheatabe tray?

23Kg!!! WOW that is impressive, well done you. I sell a lot of bacon so I guess that will pick up for you as it has for me. What sausages do you make? Do you change variety each week? Are they repeat customers?

I am about to start putting out my Christmas order forms next week and I am decing on what to put on it - are you going to do this?

I know questions questions - Cheers WW