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January Closure. Re-opening 24th January.

This years wassail has been a marvel of West Country tradition and theatre. We would like to thank all involved, volunteers, acts, family and guests.

The Ethicurean is now closed until Tuesday 24th January.

Vital enquiries to info@theethicurean.com

Toodle Pip.

 

West Croft Cider #Wassail

This is the real stuff. Small cask aged West Country Cider. Loved locally and perfect fayre for the winter event of the apple calendar.

Confirmed and chomping at the bit to thrill are Poppy Perez, Lori Campbell, Le Navet Bete, Pip The Human Jukebox & Hall the bee lady.

Vince Castellanos Chipolatas are made, Homewoods ewe’s halloumi is awaiting grilling, ham hock broth is made & winter veg broth just needs the pearl barley to finish.

We will be serving our legendary Hot Sticky Toffee Apple Cake, mulled apple juice, mulled cider and Lambs Wool.

Corks will pop from champagne method cider and the orchard will be blessed for another fruitful year.

Last few tickets remain for this exciting event

Toodle Pip.

#Wassail Cider bus.

Tickets for the winter event of the year are selling close to capacity. There are spaces available on our coach. Departing at 5pm from The Harbourside tickets can only be purchased by phoning 01934 863 713. Priced at £19.50 they include return at midnight, wassail ceremony toffee apple cake (who will find the bean?) and entry to the walled garden.

#instagram #instameet #competition.

To thank all our instagram followers we are holding a competition during the wassail. If you are on instagram and would like to enter find our chef by searching users @longdog or searching the tag #theethicurean.

Good tide.

The Ethicurean family.

Tickets Now On Sale For Our Wassail- Saturday 14th January 2012

Online Tickets

Barley Wood Wassail 14th January. Midday till late.    Good Tide. ‘Here’s to thee, old apple tree, that blooms well, bears well. Hats full, caps full, three bushel bags full, an’ all under one tree. Hurrah! Hurrah!’  It’s time, once again, to ward off those evil spirits, satisfy the green man and feed the robin. Building on last year’s sell-out event, The Ethicurean bring you an extended full day event with activities for all the family including storytelling, creative workshops, face painting & art.  Wassail Ceremony 18:00 Farm workers and west-country ruffians carrying lanterns, a pail and pitcher flagons full of cider, horns and one designated shot gun shooter will gather in-front of the oldest and most prolific tree. This tree is known as the Apple Tree Man and is feted as the guardian of the orchard. Cider is poured onto its roots and pieces of soaked toast or cake are put in the branches for the robins – guardian spirits of the trees. “Scamp” – our resident robin, no doubt, will make an appearance on the night.    Mummers Play performed by Le Navet Bete 19:00 Le Navet Bete- An International touring troupe of clowns whose high energy, spectacular and hilarious shows have wowed audiences in over twenty countries. They have created their own version of a Mummers Play. It will, without doubt, be incredible. Lori Campbell Live. Lori Campbell- With influences from Kate Bush to Burt Jancsh, Lori is weaving her own brand of soulful folk, which she has been cultivating from a young age in the valleys of South East Devon. With packed out performances at the Guardian Hay, Glastonbury, Womad and Larmertree Festivals already under her belt in 2011 you can expect to be hearing a lot more from this enchanting siren over the coming years. Acoustic, Folk & Tropical you say? - Absolutely divine we say! Headline act Poppy Perezz Poppy Perez- The four piece, hailing from Mexico, Trinidad and England but now resident in the suitably cosmopolitan city of Bristol. Described variously as pinball electro, chirp-hop or even electro-funk-folk pop, one thing’s for certain: you’re unlikely to have heard anything quite like it before. Imagine an exotic trip through Highlife-style guitar licks, Mariachi-band trumpets, percolating basslines, disco handclaps, soaring flute solos, crazy arpeggio synth lines and video game bleeps and bloops – and you’ll get the general idea. Resident artist studios are open 12 till 18.30 with demonstrations throughout the day. The first 500 advance tickets will include a free slice of Barley Wood Sticky Toffee Apple Cake for the blessing of the orchard ceremony. Who shall be chosen as the Wassail King & Queen? “Watch out for thar there bean me babbers” Have we mentioned cider and decent West Country Food? Limited coach tickets are available from Bristol. Contact the venue for more info.

Sherry and Game Tasting Menu- Thursday 17th November

This is the first of a series of evenings we will be organising at Barley Wood and we are delighted to announce that it has been sponsored by The Sherry Institute of Spain. Our Chef brothers Matthew and Iain Pennington have created six spectacular food matches to Manzanilla, Fino, Palo Cortado, Amontillado, Oloroso and Pedro Ximenez. Guests will be guided by our resident Sherry expert and wine writer Barley Blyton from DBM Wines. The evening will be relaxed and informal and offers a great opportunity to taste and discuss a wonderful drink at The Ethicurean.

7pm for 7.30. Thursday 17.11.11

Tapa

White crab meat, cucumber ceviche & smoked paprika butter emulsion.
Paired with Manzanilla Pasada, Cuevas Jurado.

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Tasting Menu

Oyster & Clove Beignets.
Paired with Puerto Fino Sherry.

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Barley Wood rabbit loin rolled in English hazel. Lovage confit leg.
Paired with Palo Cortado, Vides.

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Partridge with smoked bacon, prune, cinnamon & bread sauce.
Paired with VORS Amontillado, 30 yr old.

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Roast pigeon breast on white beet pearl barley with a Bordelaise sauce.
Paired with Oloroso, Pata de Gallina

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Eccles Cake, Dorset Blue Vinny & sherry sauce.
Paired with San Emilio Pedro Ximénez
Tickets are £45 per person. Advanced bookings only.

Jess Trethowan tells us about Toast and The Ethicurean

Jess Trethowan.

Almost exactly a year has gone by since I wrote the first Diary of a Cheesemaker and so once again, I am sitting, looking at a beautiful autumn-scape of trees on the turn, berries and beautiful sunlight. I can see the cows munching away on the rough ground. It won’t be long before they go inside for the winter months and begin their silage diet, which produces that lovely creamy milk we so value for our Christmas cheeses.

We have had an eventful year at the farm. Kim gave birth to Rufus, the newest generation of cheesemaker. And so the dairy has had to find its feet somewhat as Kim was such a linchpin in the cheese-making and maturation, in talking to customers and organising for the cheese to go out to our buyers.

We also won our first award for Gorwydd Washed Rind. Essentially our classic Gorwydd, but once made, pressed and brined, Maugan washes it with a salt solution once a week, every week for three months. This develops a mould called B-linens that takes on a golden orange colour, a stark contrast to the usual velvety grey of the original Gorwydd. The taste and texture of the washed rind is also distinct – being slightly more pungent in flavour and silkier in texture. The Irish washed-rind cheeses such as Ardrahan, Gubbeen and Milleens have always been held in very high regard so to be placed in amongst some of the most established and beautiful of these cheeses means a great deal to us.

Maugan and Kim only make one of these cheeses a week as we struggle to make even enough of our mainstay, Gorwydd Caerphilly. At the moment the only place we are selling the Gorwydd Washed Rind (GWR) is in our Bristol shop, though this has been a great place to sample it and gauge regular customers’ reactions. Perhaps in the New Year we’ll begin to make some more, once the Christmas rush is over…

The other opportunity we get to see what people think of our cheese (and of the other cheeses we sell in our shop) is at the tastings we hold throughout the year. These take many different forms and ‘pop up’ in a great many inspiring venues. This year, we’ve run them in a beautiful church, a wine cellar, a cookery school, on a boat and in the Bath Toast shop!

Our next event, Autumn Cheese School, is going to be in a vintage marquee and a cider barn in an orchard at the foot of a wonderful Somerset walled garden. Cheese School brings together cheese lovers and cheesemakers, brewers, bakers, wine experts and, in this case, apple experts too. We spend a whole day, tasting, talking, learning, eating, drinking and having fun. It is about reminding people where real food comes from, how it’s made, and by who. It is also about giving people the confidence and the tools to taste and understand flavours and textures in a way they may not have done before.

The Walled Garden is a magical place, with a restaurant run by The Ethicurean, a group of extraordinarily talented people. We love the fact that we will be surrounded by produce and, most particularly, by apples. Most of the apples will have been picked and pressed by the end of October, but their fragrance will linger in the cider barn, where we’ll be demonstrating how cheese can be made at home in the kitchen. We’ll also spend a lot of time looking at how the cheese and British apples – such as those grown in the walled garden: Peasgood’s Nonsuch, Laxton’s Epicure, Tom Putt, Ashmead’s Kernel, Blenheim Orange – make the perfect pairing.

These events are important to us because they reassure us that our slow and artisinal product and approach is still highly valued. A great relief in these increasingly technologically-focused times… Join us sometime?

Trethowan’s Dairy also be hosting an evening of cheese and beer tasting with Bermondsey’s brilliant Kernel Brewery at Toast’s Notting Hill shop on Thursday 27th October, 6.30 – 9pm. Tickets cost £10 and include all cheese and beer samples. To purchase your ticket please call the shop on 020 7229 8325 (Mon to Sat 10am – 6pm, Sun 11am – 5pm).