Fred's Newsletter: 13.10.20
Good morning,
I am a bit late with this week’s newsletter. I did say that a menu for this week would be published yesterday, so let me apologise to you all.
Before I move on to the menus this week I want to say a few words about terroir, or soil to plate.
Buy the best, cook the best and serve the best without compromise, as I have expressed many times. I can never say it enough. Last week I visited the students at Queen Margaret university to give a talk and answer questions - I also cooked them a meal (see above). The subject was ‘soil to end consumer’: who can achieve this, and how? Of course looking after the soil carefully and properly will help the supply of healthy food. Look after the soil and it will look after you.
A great example of this is what’s known in the wine world as terroir. Read a few words from Lewis of l’Art du Vin wine merchants. He expresses the similarities in the way we look after the soil and how we support each other.
Dealing with another closure has been a hard blow, and with only 24 hours’ notice! And right before what would have been a busy weekend. We had to deal with all the food in the fridges that would have been used over the weekend, and look after our staff and bookings, and everything else that is causing chaos and issues, one after the other.
It has all been very hard to swallow and this morning I am still struggling to comprehend the full extent of the damage caused to our business. I do not want to get into the discussion of who should or shouldn’t be trading. I am like most people, very confused. As we say at home: I am losing north – losing track of what’s going on. One thing that will keep me going is cooking as I am finding it relaxing and it helps keep my brain occupied and focused on something other than this whole business.
Moving on. This week, we have some Shetland seaweed lambs arriving, also some heritage Hebridean mutton from my friend Jack at Ardoch Farm, and some rosé veal from Peelham. I am cooking cockerels from Linda Dick in red wine today. Yesterday I left some beautiful Dexter beef feather blade and brisket to simmer overnight, that will be ready to serve this evening. Also, some langoustines from Skye will arrive early on Thursday morning. They will jump in the pot straightaway and will be available same day (on our new daily specials menu). Fresh crabs will land in Broughton Street from Eyemouth on Thursday too and they will join the langos on the Thursday menu. I have probably forgotten something, but I am sure this will get your taste buds excited for the week ahead. Keep an eye on our website, and make sure to refresh the page as we will update as we go.
The weekly menu is available every day until Friday. Collections are welcome, and whilst we will deliver, it is hard to guarantee a time as traffic around Edinburgh can be dreadfully slow, so it might be easier for you to uplift your order between 2 – 4pm. As usual, Betty along with our daughter Matilde will be taking orders and payment over the phone.
Every morning we will add the specials of the day to our website and social media. There will be limited numbers available, so it is first come, first served - a bit like the blackboard at the restaurant. Remember the menu will change so if you want something, it might not be available next day.
If you click through to the menu you will see that I have reduced the price of our table wine selection from Chateau de Millet, and have dramatically reduced the price of our beers to take away. I think you will like the ones from Orkney.
As usual, please share your pictures and email us with any comments or requests. And one last reminder to refresh our take-away web page in your browser before ordering as we will be updating the menu every morning.
À bientôt
Fred