Dingley Dell

Watch out! Some top-notch recipes coming your way!

Mark — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 15:56:45 +0000

We have some fantastic recipes coming your way from some serious big boy chefs.

Norfolk chef of the year and three time AA rosette award winner Eric Snaith of Titchwell Manor has kindly send us two beautiful new recipes from our sixth in series Flying Visit event (also hosted at Titchwell) so you can try some fine dining in your own home! I will warn you, these recipes are not for the novice!

We also have recipes from our local friends, Ross Pike and Madalene Bonvini-Hamel of The British Larder and Russell Bateman Head chef of Colette’s at the Grove who has sent us a very special Teriyaki sauce to try out with a variety of meats! (Not just pork.)

Expect recipes soon from Michelin star chef Mark Poynton of Restaurant Alimentum in Cambridge and many more!

Broadside Boys and more livestock than woodstock

Mark — Wed, 27 Jun 2012 11:26:27 +0000

Last week Matt and Eric from The Broadside Boys went live by satellite into breakfast tv as part of the RSPCA’s farm animal week. The lads have written and recorded the dingley dell song www.dingleydell.com/broadsideboys and I had the privelidge of recording a harmonica solo with them I however when asked to throw a few shapes ( dance ! ) rather let my kids down. ( witness the vid above) With thanks to Paddy and his listeners in the Isle of Wight on vectis radio we now bring you a piggy set…….. Gammon baby light my fire, Swilling me softly, oinkey tonk women, Twist and Snout, and the wonderful Chop in the name of love.

Spitted Hogs low n’ slow

Mark — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 10:23:39 +0000

As summer ( I use the term in its loosest sense ) begins there is a certain primality exposed in us as humans as the hog roasts begin. The sight and smell of a whole pig as it turns majestically on a spit is something to revere , strumming some distant chord aching back to caves, social groups , and presumably the pinnacle of the hunt. In the last 10 days we have roasted and carved 4 pigs and once again I am intrigued by peoples reactions to the whole cooked hog , its almost as if because it is clearly a whole animal as opposed to a highly packaged/ sanitised meat product there is a connect between what it is a pig ,an animal and food. This seems to bring out respect for the animal which lets face it laid down its life for us to eat and seems to engage those eating it with a determination to know more about it. So as ever when the hog roasts start so do all those interesting theories could we cure a whole pig and roast it ? Should we create a rub ? Should we buy an enamel bath and marinate the whole pig ? Could we cure and marinate one in a hot tub ? ( wouldn’t that be bizarre ) We are now using a newly developed roaster and the only answers I have at this point is cook low n slow and of course drink cold lager when cooking.

A little bit about our babes.

Mark — Wed, 09 May 2012 16:55:30 +0000

So how does it work and how much childcare do we provide. The sow (mum) has a gestation period of 114 days, when she ovulates she can release 20 plus eggs which can all be fertilised, then for a variety of reasons she can lose some in early pregnancy. During her pregnancy we will gradually increase her feed to get her in good condition and to increase piglet birthweight . A week before her due date she will be given her own hut to farrow ( give birth) in. Just before birth sows will make nests for themselves in the huts by neatly rearranging the straw. Birth can take from 2-4hrs and the average born alive is 11.5 although the extremes can be 1 or 20 born alive. For the first 2 days the sow will milk from all 14 teats then will only milk from those being suckled and each pig will have its own teat with the front teats being best and the back worst because her back legs are in the way. The piglet when born is around 2kg and when weaned at 5 weeks is around 11kg to achieve this growth the sow must produce huge quantities of milk for her greedy babes this is done by gradually increasing the feed from around 3-4kg a day (normal rations) to a massive 13kg a day ( like going large at Mcdonalds multiplied up) So there you have a few piglet baby facts.

Flying Visits ” The Big Smoke” menu revealed.

Mark — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 14:25:24 +0000

So with just under a week to go we can reveal the pork tasting menu for next Wednesdays Flying Visit hosted by Paul Merret at the Victoria in West Temple Sheen London. After some film and a talk about Dingley Dell Pork and Freedom Food , a butchery demo by John and Tom from Direct Meats highlighting how the cuts are arrived at, it will be down to the serious business of the pork tasting menu. The canapes are Black Pudding Sausage rolls, Crispy Manzanilla Olives in pork meat with oregano & parmesan, and smoked Ham hock croquettes with green peas. The first course by Paul Foster is Pigs trotter Carpaccio, charred broccoli, smoked garlic, peanut and burnt onion. The second course by Mark Poynton, Pork rillette, braised jowl, acorn praline, with pineapple and chickweed. Course three by Ross Pike and Madalene Bonvini-Hamel, Crispy pigs head, ham hock scotch egg, salsify & cauliflower & shallot piccalilli and nasturtium leaves. The main course by our host Paul Merret is Asian Dingley Dell pork: 12 hour belly vindaloo with coconut sambal, jungle style cheeks with soured mango noodles, and Dim sum with blood orange & fennel. To finish our pork feast dessert by William Curley, Amedei dark chocolate entremet centred with a smoked bacon caramel & served with apricot compote & lemon thyme ice cream. I am seriously excited about my evening meal next Wednesday !

Dingley Dells Flying Visits at The British Larder

Mark — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 05:22:19 +0000

: Ross, Maddy, (piggy) Mark, (chef) Mark and Paul.

What a night! A packed British Larder rocked to the tune of the first flying visit , the evening kicked off with a butchery demo from masterbutchers Jim Craig and Wayne Lemon as they both deftly cut up a side each of Dingley Dell Pork illustrating the cuts used by each of our 3 chefs. We then had 3 amazing courses each course matched with wine from James Stoddart at Enotria wines. The evening rounded off with handmade piggy chocolates from Roger Carter of Foodbizz and an auction of the butchered pig by Leslie Dolphin of BBC Radio Suffolk which raised £250 for the East Anglian Childrens Hospice. The Flying Visits farm on the road tour officially started.

The amazing pork tasting menu

Mark — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 14:51:49 +0000

Trotters down for February 29th a leap year day and the first of our Flying visits at The BritishLarder Suffolk. Hot off the press today is our chefs definitive pork tasting menu.

To Start- Slow cooked Dingley Dell pork neck with scratchings,chicory,Walberswick sea vegetables and beer pickled sweet potato. Cooked by chef Paul Foster.

Intermediate course- Spiced pulled pork shoulder,slow roast fillet,celeriac “slaw”,and pickled apple. Cooked by chef Mark Poynton.

Main- Dingley Dell Belly, swede, date puree, pigs ear and puffed Pork rice. Cooked by chef Ross Pike.

Now how about that for a pork tasting, bring it on next wednesday !

A Passion to Inspire Norwich City College

Mark — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 09:56:06 +0000

On Wednesday I had the privelidge of attending the first regional heat of ” A Passion to Inspire ” at Norwich City College where five of Norfolk’s top professional chefs guided seven teams of student chefs working in the college kitchens before judging their dishes. The teams went head to head in a Masterchef style competition as they each prepared a two course meal in just 90 minutes. To see the skill, professionalism and confidence and dedication of these young chefs as they worked was a real pleasure and I wondered where these young men and ladies would end up in their careers. For my lunch I had an amazing duck dish followed by creme brulee cooked and served by George who not only was the youngest chef but also a year 1 student so has only been learning for 4 months as opposed to the others who were year 3. Congratulations to Connor Carway and George Dack for their panfried Dingley Dell tenderloin and Tom Frost and Nathan Rackham for their sous vide chicken breast who have made it through to the final on 24th April.

Lightly chilled trotters ?

Mark — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 18:26:03 +0000

Now I realise that its all about temperatures and water baths, cooking times, steamers and smokers all of which contribute to that final nirvana the perfect dish, but how far down the process shall we go for the ultimate gastro experience, a little light chilling of the piglets feet in early February the result the perfect trotter experience in fine dining around July when our man above reaches maturity and hits the plate on a balmy restaurant terrace. Maybe this is the start of the porcine answer to massaged Kobi beef , a little frosting of the toes to begin, a little wind around the cheeks and a touch of light tanning early June, all terribly natural and enviromentally sound. Let the revolution in prepping begin.

Mr Nutter visits

Mark — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 10:29:52 +0000

Tuesday started much like any other day in early Jan fairly wet and windy, and with me thinking I knew what lay ahead. Around noon the rain turned into a sort of Sri Lankan monsoon and the call came from Mr Nutter I’m not very far away can I visit. Now this is where things get eerie its the mother of all rain storms now and no sooner do we hit the pig site and as you can see in the photo, blue sky and sunshine. After showing Andrew around we decamped to The British Larder for some dingley dell pork belly and the first drink of what turned out to be quite an evening ! Andrew it was a pleasure to meet you and a magnificent afternoon but you never did explain how you changed the weather.