Winter on the Farm

As we all know, summer did not really happen. Bad news for sun worshippers & good news for grass grazers. The dull, rainy weather ensured a plentiful supply of grass for the beef herd & our flock of Poll Dorset sheep. The real bonus was the opportunity to build up a really good stockpile of great quality silage, the cattle’s winter feed. So, however severe the winter weather & however late the spring, you can rest assured that all the Rofford livestock will be well nourished.

BEEF:
Once again, Simon Cannings, the Farm Manager, has produced some truly superb Pure Aberdeen Angus meat. The quality this year has surpassed itself, lots of marbling & tender cuts. It is extremely important that animals are not stressed when they are sent to be processed – so they are personally delivered by Simon in pairs for a night’s relaxation before they meet their maker. Minimum stress equals tender meat.

The first beef arrived at Quod, the Old Parsonage & Gee’s at the beginning of November & will continue through until end of January. Bertie Wright, head chef at Quod has been producing some amazingly good recipes such as Flank and Oyster Pie and a Whole Ox Tail to share with braised root vegetables, whilst Alicia Storey & Jonas Lodge, the Head Chefs at the Old Parsonage & Gee’s respectively, have created dishes such as Braised beef, wild mushroom & kidney pudding & a Salt beef stovie (recipes below). Maybe you have already tried them. If not, then hurry hurry, you know where to go to find great cooking!

On Monday the 26th November, in the early evening, there will be a beef tasting dinner at Sophie’s Steakhouse, Wellington Street, Covent Garden, London where our Aberdeen Angus fore rib and rib eye steak will be compared with beef from Scotland, Ireland, USA and Australian Wagyu. The different breeds to be compared will be Longhorn, White Park, Belted Galloway, Dexter or Hereford. We’ll let you know how Rofford fared in the next newsletter.

Along with the Oxford restaurants, we do regularly supply our beef to both Sophie’s Steakhouses in London (Fulham Road & Covent Garden). Just to say that Sophie is my daughter and if you happen to be in London, naturally without any bias, I think they are both well worth a detour!

Bertie Wright, Head Chef, Quod – Flank & Oyster Pie and Whole Oxtail to share with braied root vegetables & mashed potato

Alicia Storey, Head Chef, the Old Parsonage Braised beef, wild mushroom and kidney pudding

Jonas Lodge, Head Chef, Gee’s Salt beef stovie

LAMB AND PIG NEWS
Our flock of Poll Dorset sheep produce superb early Easter lamb. This means that the first lambs will be born close to Christmas & will be ready for our customers around next Easter. Recently, Simon Cannings had the whole flock scanned to get an idea of the success rate of the ram’s summer visit. The result was 160%… which means that at least half the flock of 60 sheep will, all being well, be expecting twins. A good result for this particular breed. So, enough technical stuff, once again our lambs are going to be sensational, definitely superior to the early, milk fed French Pyrenean lamb which the French arrogantly reckon are the best. We know better!

The next group of rare breed Oxford Sandy & Black piglets are installed in their straw filled, free range barn. They have such a beautiful colouring of rich tan & black markings. Expect them in our restaurants from early March 2013.

Jeremy Mogford