Farmers Markets

[welsh wizard]

Thanks for all your comments

Bang on Paul - get em young, teach them well and they are there for life - just how I started fishing.

Sorry the first photo is too small - on my computer it is enormous - dont know why that is - will repost.

Talk went well thanks and the audience seemed to like the finished product. What I wanted to do was to drop the sausages from the Reeber straight into the pan but the gas cooker was on the wrong side as it were. Therefore I made 5lb the day before and got the girls to cook them in batches during the presentation which lasted about 40m. One of the audience commented how different they tasted (in a good way) and she hadnt tasted sausages like them since she was a child. The main message I wanted to get across was "have a go yourself" dont be held to the whims of the larger producers. in retrospect I should have had a number of the �60 mincers to sell I am sure I could have sold at least 20 - honestly.

Ref the Pork pie cake, it was made for quite a presteigous (if thats how you spell it) wedding here in Ludlow. Basically after the wedding they had a live band and about 8pm when a few beers had been consumed and people got the munchies (getting the "munchies" evidently is now a term used for drug taking acording to my son!), they decided to have a go at the cake. A large salad was put out, a sharp knife employed and it fed about 40 people. I took two orders from the wedding and an order for a Game Pie wedding cake at the food festival, so even more people with good taste!

Has this photo come out more reasonably?

<a href="http://s423.photobucket.com/albums/pp317/welsh-wizard-photos/?action=view&current=pressphoto-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i423.photobucket.com/albums/pp317/welsh-wizard-photos/pressphoto-1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

[Zulululu]

Well done WW! I called the OH and we were both impressed both by the idea and the way you carried it through.

[TJ Buffalo]

That's a really nice job, WW, your cooking looks great!

[jenny_haddow]

Great stuff WW.

Jen

[wheels]

WW

Seeing your post on the Pork Pie thread this moring reminded me how much I enjoy reading about your business venture.

I know you must be very busy, but any chance of an update?

Phil

[welsh wizard]

Hi Phil - jee whizz where to start!

Time just does not seem to by my own now, I am taking on (at last) another person to assist me on various ventures especially the work I am doing with a local cider producer to produce pork & cider soaked apple pork pies. I am trying to develop a range of pies that use local ingredients according to the season, so things like free range chicken and wye vally asparagus, pork and smoked bacon, pork and gin soaked damson (i know but it does work) - the list is endless.

AS things have progressed I have had to go bigger as my kitchen was taking a hammering and the family didnt see the funny side of never being able to get in there to cook tea. So I took the plunge and converted a room in our house to a more commercial style kitchen (will do some photographs soon) and that is my big boys toy at the moment.

Still doing the farmers markets but I now also cook at the markets as well as sell my produce, so it is getting a little like a takeover bid but it does add variety (again I will try and post some photographs) to the venture and it gets my creative juices flowing, if you know what I mean.

Sales of smoked salmon into the resturants is slowing down mainly because the resturants are not doing the trade they used to and people are byuing more specialist food and eating it at home, therefore I have just started a complete meal range - similar to a take away but a bit more upmarket. This has led to more outside catering work and also dinner party catering in the drop off form for the customer to heat through.

Anyway I expect you get the picture, busy, busy, busy............

I will be doing another cookery demonstration this Sunday at the Ludlow mid term festival www.springevent.org.uk as well as catering for a do I have arranged with the local brewery this Saturday night with two live bands.

If ANY member is this way I would be delighted to see them and if you are coming over this weekend and want a free ticket to the bash on the Saturday night just let me know and I will comp you in.

Also if anyone is looking to go down the same path that I have trod, I now feel I can offer advice, as well as taking it if course, so I would be more than willing to asist a fellow member should he or she require it.

So therer you are - I will try and update more often with a few pic's, honest

Cheers WW

[wheels]

Wow, I bet you never envisaged all that when you started out.

Thanks for the update, it makes some of the most interesting reading on the site. At least for me it does anyway.

Phil

[Zulululu]

Well done and looking forward to the pics. so that I can drool again.

[Lance Yeoh]

Hi WW,
Wow! You're really doing a wide range of products. I can imagine you don't even have time to sit down for a nice cup of tea or something. I totally understand your situation as I'm kinda in one like that myself. I don't do so many different products but I make quite a few different types of fresh sausages every week. I actually have to give up making bacon on a regular basis coz I can't spare the space in the fridge for that long a time. I'm finding that making sausages is taking over most of my time and sometimes I think it's taking over my life. My electricity bill is off the chart with 2 huge fridges and 2 freezers running 24-7. Looking back, I sometimes ask "What have I gotten myself into?" But then again the joy of watching people enjoy those sausages makes it all worth it.

[welsh wizard]

Hi Lance

Great to hear from you and really pleased you are doing so well. I understand exactly what you say about bacon it takes up too much room in my chiller as well, so like you I tend not to do it or wait until I have a quiet fortnight and then fill it. As I said before I have started cooking on the farmers market and before I make lunch I make a breakfast bap which includes my bacon and sausage, a free range egg and a goodly slice of tomato, so I have to keep on making the bacon but in large batches and then I freeze it in batches of 20 slices.

Purely out of interest my most popular sausage at the moment is a pork and sweet chilli sausage which is extreemly simple:

Per Kg of meat:

10g Salt
2g Pepper
2 Tbs Sweet chilli sauce

While we are on the subject of cooking, I have to cook a main dish for approx 50 people each farmers market and I am wondering if anyone has any suggustions or ideas on future foods? The situation is I have a VERY large paella pan and a rice cooker that will make a 100 portions. So the last 4 markets I have done the following:

> BBQ'd chicken with rice and peas (made by a fellow member who kindly came to give me a hand)

> Chilli con Carni and a Chilli non Carni for the veggies

> Chicken in a rich tomato and pepper sauce

> Pork, chick peas and apricots with a minted cous cous

Does anyone have any one pan meals they cook? Unfortunatly I cant make curries as the is already someone there selling take away curries and I dont think he would see the funny side of it!

Thanks....WW

[Paul Kribs]

Last year we had her teacher friends over for a meal and I made seafood and meat paella, and mushroom and pea rissotto for the pastey people. The rissotto was just as popular with the carnivors as the paella. Accompanied by a very large homemade vegetable tart/quiche and 2 varieties of focaccia. Oh, and washed down with copious amounts of vino.

So my suggestion.. mushroom and pea rissotto.

Regards, Paul Kribs

[welsh wizard]

Thanks Paul - I did have a cogitate on rissotto but I wondered if it would stay good for up to 2 hours? This is the time I need to serve as I start lunch a little before 12 and finish at 2pm

If it will hold it is a great idea and I will certainly give it a try, but I have almost no experience of rissotto as my family are not great rice lovers.

Cheers WW

[Franco]

WW,

For big family parties both here and in Italy we often make a very large pan of meatballs in tomato sauce, they can be easily served on rolls or with rice or pasta.

the meatballs and sauce are easy to make and very unlike anything you would be offered in Engalnd!

I can send you the recipe if you like.

Regards

Franco

[Batman]

WW, not sure if you make any home made chorizo, but a chorizo and white bean stew is very easy and filling, though may be more a cold weather dish.

[welsh wizard]

Hi Franco

I have been looking for a good meatball recipe for a long time and as yet have not been able to make anything close to what I have tasted in hotter climbs - so if you are offering me a recipe I can only say YES PLEASE.

I think that would be a vey good dish to put before the fair people of Ludlow.

Thanks WW