The Butcher , The Baker…..and The Artisan Maker

Whatever version of the tale is told, the Stargazy Pie story is a story about Mousehole, the ship Inn and the village community.

An odd-looking, if not slightly intimidating creation. The cold fishy stare of the pilchard heads that poke through the shortcrust lid. Their bodies, meanwhile, are tucked under the pastry; a white sauce envelopes them. Salty and formidably traditional, it’s seasoned with coarse pepper and parsley.

Handmade artisan sausages in Hailsham East Sussex

The Sussex Larder is a traditional craft and family butcher offering a wide selection of gourmet sausages in addition to their Long Man Brewery signature sausage. Pork blended with seasonings and Sussex Best Bitter with Kentish hops.

Pastry Products; steak & chicken pies, sausage rolls.

Pasties and traditional suet puddings.

A Quality Food Company offering Farm Assured prime beef, free-range pork, lamb & fresh poultry from English farms delivered on a daily basis.

Over The Last 20 Years The Sussex Larder Has Built An Enviable Reputation For Producing Additive & Gluten Free Products Including Quiches, Pies, Sausage Rolls, Flour, Easy Roll Pastry, Pastry Shells, all low in salt and sodium

countrylife.co.uk/food-drink/praise-great-british-sausage-pick-five-best-bangers-can-buy-191235
qguild.co.uk

Food curing has been practiced for thousands of years. Originally to preserve and store meat, fish and vegetables but also to prevent disease.

Whereas today it is more about taste, experience and the value of traditional artisan foods and food making. Whilst parma ham and some authentic Spanish chorizo and Italian salamis are still cured with salt, more often a mixture of salt and potassium nitrate and sodium nitrite are used for curing.

The Hampshire Salami Company is an artisan maker of Salumi.

The Italian collective for salami and cured meats. All their products are based on Italian recipes, which have been developed over many hundreds of years. They cure it, they sell it, they eat it, teach it and write about artisan salumi and salami making.

Salumi include bresaola, which is made from beef, and also cooked products such as mortadella and prosciutto cotto (cooked), with salami being a specific type of salumi. Salumi can be broadly split into three groups:

The whole cured muscle – such as Pancetta, Prosciutto Crudo (Parma ham), Lonza (cured loin of pork), Capocollo or Coppa (cured collar muscle) and other smaller cuts.

Insaccato – anything that is chopped and stuffed into a skin, such as a natural casing or a synthetic casing which is then cured, dry aged and becomes what we call salami.

Cotto – any combination of the two above which is then cooked, such as Mortadella or Prosciutto Cotto (baked ham)

Real bread offers a flavour and freshness you don’t get when it is store bought. Straight out of the oven when its crisp, still hot and eaten with salty farm butter.

All the reasons one needs to learn how to bake traditional country fresh loaves in the comfort of your home kitchen. All it takes is a simple course such as those run by Stepping Stones in Lymington.

Their courses are taught in a domestic kitchen with a maximum of two people so its one on one, a hands on experience. Alan is a classically trained chef who takes the mystique out of bread making introducing you to some of the shortcuts and ‘tricks of the trade’.

[Edit] Too late. They have closed. Requires a trip to Petersfield

I forget what it was that first caught my eye when I ‘discovered’ Madelaine’s Kitchen in Midhurst.

They offer a Deli Counter packed full of freshly baked produce from their Bakehouse. Fabulous big fat deli sandwiches, a huge range of the best cheeses, local charcuterie and smoked fish, dry goods, cakes, pastries and serve a damned good coffee.

But if I remember it was cold and wet and despite there being no indoor seating I had to order not one but two of their very tempting pies on offer to takeaway with me.