Food Independent food suppliers

A second box of tomatoes this week were even better than last weeks if that’s possible. I guess the extra sunshine has helped develop the sweetness whilst retaining the acidity in balance.

The truffled Tunworth really was worth the expense. The cheese was at a perfect level of ripeness and the truffles did their thing.
 
Raymond Tilney said:
This thread always inspires (costs) me so much.
A 50 mile round trip to a listed “Tomato Stall” supplier....
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I could have given you some of mine, Ray. We just got back from a week and a half in France and Switzerland and these were waiting for me on my allotment (I actually stopped picking all the ripe ones because it got a bit boring).Of course the journey time would have been a bit punitive.

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Ordered some Iberico pork cheeks from Basco but was mistakenly sent Iberico ribs instead. They of course dispatched the correct item when contacted but allowed me to keep the ribs too. Last night I cooked them:

Braised in a court bouillon of onion, carrot, garlic, chilli, bay and cinnamon for 3 hours at 130c until tender but not falling off the bone
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Then glazed - some with membrillo and cider vinegar (on the left), the others with gochujang, soy, honey and orange (on the right) - and finished at 230c for approx 20 mins
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Absolutely delicious - clean bones but just a little chew in the meat, great pork flavour, crispy fat, the glaze just a hint to enhance the pork rather than overtake it.
 
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Ian Russell said:
My apologies for the gratuitous food porn but the combination of Tomato Stall Heritage tomatoes, pan fried halibut from Birmingham fish market, crushed new potatoes and fried padron peppers from Riverford washed down with a delightful white burgundy from TWS was rather special all augmented by Wiltshire truffles, summer black trufflesView attachment 14060View attachment 14061
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All looks excellent.
Food nicely set off by the blue plates. Would you mind sharing name of plates and where to get them?
 
Raymond Tilney said:
This thread always inspires (costs) me so much.
A 50 mile round trip to a listed “Tomato Stall” supplier....
View attachment 14078
Click to expand...
Just to update,
These looked great but the flavour was decent supermarket standard sadly not in the league of the tomatoes that were in my local "Polish Shop" all season last year at a third of the price.
I have not checked back at the PS re this year's crop as it is a Zero social distance experience.
 
Raymond Tilney said:
Just to update,
These looked great but the flavour was decent supermarket standard sadly not in the league of the tomatoes that were in my local "Polish Shop" all season last year at a third of the price.
I have not checked back at the PS re this year's crop as it is a Zero social distance experience.
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That's odd. All the Tomato Stall toms I've had have been very ripe and tasty.
Wonder if yours had spent too long in a fridge at some point.
 
Andrew Stevenson said:
That's odd. All the Tomato Stall toms I've had have been very ripe and tasty.
Wonder if yours had spent too long in a fridge at some point.
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Andrew,
Thinking back I am sure your point is very pertinent.
Whilst I was selecting my haul the chap who was topping up the display stood aside and went to the store area and busied himself by wheeling in a barrow of Tomato Stall toms.They all looked a little misty and sure enough were cold to the touch so clearly significantly refrigerated.
I resisted those and selected from the display without thinking that my selections would have,at some time been through that situation.
It does now seem a bit of a parallel with my experience with the Rollright cheese from The Courtyard Dairy v’s Waitrose.
 
I was under the impression that the idea that tomatoes should never go into the refrigerator was a bit of a myth; it will certainly vastly slow the ripening process but they will come back to life at room temperature. How to Store Tomatoes (and Whether to Refrigerate Them) though while I am a great admirer of Serious Eats it is sometimes clear that produce over there is so different to what we get that their conclusions are not always useful here.
 
Thom Blach said:
I was under the impression that the idea that tomatoes should never go into the refrigerator was a bit of a myth; it will certainly vastly slow the ripening process but they will come back to life at room temperature. How to Store Tomatoes (and Whether to Refrigerate Them) though while I am a great admirer of Serious Eats it is sometimes clear that produce over there is so different to what we get that their conclusions are not always useful here.
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Thom,
Thank you for the link.
I had thought we on this forum took things to geekish levels but SE is another world.
Of course I have added it to my favourites bookmarks:)
In the case of these tomatoes I am wondering if I just expected too much or if the ones from “The Polish Shop” (their own branding) were just very good.
Again I should thank you as it was you who alerted me to go and explore that source.
 
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