“Fred has been a wonderful and loyal customer of ours, and of our veal which is of course organic and pasture-for-life; but it is unusual for beef farms like Peelham to produce it.” by Denise Walton, Peelham Farm

I just had breakfast. I finished last night’s dinner with bread and butter and a cup of tea. You won’t believe it (but the ones that know me will) I scoffed a whole choux-farci from last week’s take-away menu. God it was tasty. I might have another one tonight.

“I always learn something in a food chat with Fred. Who knew that in France eating young male turkey is a norm? We rear about 200 turkeys for Christmas and for the last few years he’s taken a few young male turkeys from us.” by Sascha Grierson

A year ago this weekend we welcomed Albert Roux to l’escargot bleu along with some famous names from the hospitality sector. I cannot tell you how stressful this was, and it took a few sleepless nights for me to come up with a menu that would not only please, but be realistic to produce. I ended up cooking a very simple menu and it all went very well - the man was smiling and was extremely thankful!

“Thirty years ago we started keeping chickens for the simple reason that we wanted good-quality healthy food to feed our growing family. Over the years this grew into the small business it is now. Our chickens are reared with lots of space to roam and scratch. We feed a ration which contains no antibiotics or additives, specially mixed to promote slow growth, relying on good husbandry to keep the birds healthy and growing well.”

I had a long chat with one of our young chefs last week - the kind of chat that comes up often. “Passion” he said. He mentioned passion a few times in our chat. I’ve heard that word so many times in the past - from chefs both young and old. “Do you know what passion means?” I asked. “Do you know what passion can do to a human being?”. It can destroy relationships, ruin your common sense, and make you lose sleep! I’m old enough to know what the word passion really means, and lucky me, I must have accumulated a fair bit of it to still be here today. The rewards are immense and intense. Not many people understand the feeling of satisfaction you get when your job is not only well done, but appreciated by others. The sensation of overcoming a complicated situation, flying over the obstacles, is one that no words can describe.

“My wife Morna, the kids and I breed and rear Hebridean sheep on the edge of the Ochil Hills in Kinross-shire: a real family-farming adventure. Our flock began in 2011, with just a handful of Hebridean sheep, and we now number in the hundreds. We keep the sheep for conservation grazing, breeding stock and meat production.” by Jack Cuthbert of Ardoch Farm

I was correct last week when I said we wouldn’t see our doors open this week. I’m not sure we will see them opening next week either. It’s all a bit up in the air and many of our neighbours in Europe are going back into serious lockdowns or restrictions. Whatever happens, we are continuing with our l’escargot at home menus for the foreseeable future. So let me tell you what you can expect this week.

“Fred and I are both big supporters of the Slow Food Movement, which champions good quality, from clean provenance, produced in a manner that is fair to welfare and the environment. One of their projects is the Ark Of Taste which documents foods from around the world produced in a traditional manner that tend to be side-lined because the production is not suitable for industrialisation. The objective of the project is to encourage consumers (Slow Food calls them “co-producers”) to buy these products to support biodiversity.” Richard Briggs

As mentioned last week, we are receiving cracking deliveries from around Scotland. We have some extra-large fresh scallops for us to shuck all the way from Orkney. These will be served with garlic butter, and whilst they will keep a couple of days in your fridge, I highly recommend you eat them same day for quality reasons.