There's no better sight than a field full of cattle

After a miserable winter and one of the diciest lambing seasons we've known, a late spring is finally here and the farm is teaming with life - hurrah!

We took a drive over to Duncombe Park where we keep a herd of 16 young Longhorn heifers; 11 daughters of our prize bull Dynamo and five recent new editions, from herds in Settrington and Derbyshire. Having never been sprayed with pesticides or chemicals, the parkland has very rich pasture and is rife with wildflowers - and at this time of year, wild garlic. 

Wild garlic, dutifully picked for our Askew Road chef Gemma

Wild English bluebells, which form a thick, beautiful belt around the pastureland

The gardens at Grange Farm are also looking lovely, with the shrubbery, flowers and vegetables starting to flourish (and just look at that sky!). 

Aubretia, Dierama, Berberis, Angelica, Black Elder...and so on 

Leeks, cabbages and cordoned apple saplings

It seems a shame to keep our magnificent breeding stock under wraps, and so Jim and Sarah have been busy preparing some of our Longhorn ladies for the Yorkshire Show in July. We're showing four heifers in three classes; the two-year heifer class, yearling heifer class and a pair of animals by same sire. This is the first time the Ginger Pig has entered into an agricultural show, but Jim, our cold room manager, has been showing cattle for six years and is leading the way for us newcomers.

Show preparation is essentially Britain's Next Top Cow Model, involving halter training, learning to walk, learning to walk amongst other cattle and then a lengthy grooming process. The girls get a thorough brush, shampoo and condition, blow dry (with a special cow dryer), curry-comb to remove all the dead hair, and are then clipped to make sure they're neat and tidy. 

Sarah leads Maisie out on a halter, Jim's in the background with Medlar

Maisie tied and ready for a brush

Hey, good looking!

Poshpants, real name Tanfield Lace. Gorgeous animal but more attitude than Beyonce...

Beauty regime

Showing livestock isn't just a vanity project (though we're definitely after a ribbon or two); it also paves the way for selling some livestock. While we've sold the odd good bull in the past, most of our livestock is either for breeding or meat - we've not really sold heifers before. In a bid to open up the Longhorn bloodlines a bit, for the first time we're looking at selling some of our Levisham herd, which will diversify bloodlines around the country and preserve the breed for a while longer yet. They're not called rare breeds for nothing, and we'll do what we can to keep Longhorns robust and healthy.

And while there's no better sight than a field full of cattle, this has to come fairly close - our sheepdog Nell and her four six-week old pups. 

Blackface mutton

A speedy post about the 16 legs of Blackface mutton arriving in the shops tomorrow, Friday 31st May. From three to five year old Blackface cull ewes, the meat is quite lean but incredibly tasty - with all that time grazing out on the North Yorks Moors, these legs are very robust and flavoursome, almost herbal due to a diet rich in heather and gorse. A long, slow braise or pot roast with plenty of stock vegetables and liquid is ideal (like us, older mutton needs a bottle of wine or beer for company, otherwise it could be a bit dry and tough). The shoulders and breasts went into our pies, sausages and sausage rolls, so they'll be extra-tasty this weekend too.

We'll have a few legs in each shop tomorrow - first come, first served, a rare treat not to be missed.

Farmhouse Cook Book - a party!

On Thursday we took a day out of the serious world of farming and butchery to throw a party to celebrate our new book. And celebrate we did, with pies, platters of ham, chutneys galore and a river of top notch booze. If you fancy starting a curing project, getting knee deep in homemade chutney or expanding your roast repertoire, you can pop into our shops and pick up a copy for £16.25 (RRP £25 - the difference should be enough to make your first kilo of streaky bacon).

Huge thanks to everyone involved in the party, but especially to...

Oval Space for letting us bring a touch of the countryside to their edgy East London events space (we've never felt so hip), and Bash Redford of Forza Win for making sure that everything went according to plan.

Our three utterly fantastic drinks sponsors, Hush Heath, Sambrook's Brewery and Penfolds Estate (via Treasury Wine Estates) - we go to great lengths to ensure that everything we produce is as good as can be, and it was a delight to work with three businesses who do the same. Cheers!

And last but not least to the brilliant team at Octopus, publisher of the book, who along with Fran Warde and her wonderful recipes, worked really hard to make this book happen.

The book.

Hush Heath's single estate, Champagne-method cider

Ceremonial pie! 'Ginger Pig Farmhouse Cook book'

Notoriously camera shy Tim Wilson slicing the pie.

Penfolds Koonunga Hill 2010 Shiraz and Riesling,
Sambook's Wandle and Powerhouse Porter

Love Food's Andrew Webb, showing us how to eat Colston Bassett Stilton

Claire of fantastic new Hackney restaurant, Mayfields, sporting a rather fitting brooch

Powerhouse Porter, right at home on the cheeseboard

Wandle and sausage rolls...perfect match!

And finally, our Creative Food Director, Nicola, doing what she does best - getting everyone tipsy.

Ginger Pig Farmhouse Cook Book - out today!

Say hello to our new book!

Where our 2011 Meat Book focused on just that - how we farm and recipes to make the most of meat, set within a year on Grange Farm - the Farmhouse Cook Book is a broader look at everything we do, brought together beautifully with a new collection of Fran Warde's wonderful recipes.

Because we're not just a company of farmers and butchers - what we do is wider than that. There's the arable land in which we grow crops to feed our animals, and the edible berries, brambles and leaves to be picked in the hedgerows that surround it. In our preserving kitchen you'll find Julie and Rachel, who work four days a week to produce lip-smacking chutneys, jellies, jams and pickles, using as much homegrown and local produce as possible. The bakery and kitchen up at the farm is where our sausage rolls, pies, hams and other cured meats are prepared ready for the shops, and this is as much a part of the Ginger Pig as a slab of beef or a massive pork chop. Open the pantry in Tim's kitchen and if you're lucky you'll find bottles of last year's sloe gin and a cake primed for elevenses...


The Farmhouse Cook Book brings all of this together along with a little bit of rural history, with chapters on curing, casseroling, foraging, roasting, preserve making, puddings and making the most of the veg garden. It's not simply aimed at cooks who have a host of fresh produce on their doorstep, but at giving a bit of encouragement and instruction to anyone who wants to have a go at making more of their ingredients from scratch. We don't expect you to run out and buy a pig (that's still our job!), but making your own streaky bacon is a fairly easy curing project - and well worth a go if you're even slightly interested.

A speedy thanks to all at Mitchell Beazley for their hard work, to Kristen Perers and Pene Parker for making it all look so beautiful, and - of course - to Fran, for writing us a collection of scrumptious recipes to supplement some old Ginger Pig favourites.

We hope readers will enjoy cooking from the Farmhouse Cook Book for years to come.

A fond farewell

Today marks the end of an era at the Ginger Pig, as we say a very fond and slightly teary farewell to office manager David, leaving us today after more than five years of service. It's hard to put our sentiments into words without underselling him or sounding cheesy, so we'll just say that David has been a very large part of the quiet glue that sticks everything in place here. He'll be sorely missed - both for his cheerful demeanour and for his hard work and dedication, though we are wondering whether he can yet tell the difference between a lamb chop and a leg steak :-)

Here he is - probably his career highlight - with the lovely Gizzi Erskine at his side.

Good luck, David!

Shopping spree

Saturday April the 20th was the 2013 Spring and Summer Longhorn Cattle Society show and sale, and we had our sights set on two prize heifers - young females, intended for breeding. But before we get to the show we'll go back to the beginning; spring 2012, when our prize bull, Dynamo, sired the most fantastic bull calf we have ever seen.

Dynamo

Dynamo is quite the legend on the farm, and at over 1,000kg he's an animal you definitely don't want in a China shop (or anywhere but a farm, behind a sturdy fence or gate). We periodically buy new Longhorn bulls - majestic males, our fantastic breeding stock - in order to keep the herd bloodlines nice and clear; we need to retain the characteristics and purity of the Longhorn breed, while ensuring that we're not diminishing the gene pool by inbreeding. So with a new bull - full of his father genes - we need to look outside of our own herd for mating females, which is what brought us to the show this Saturday.

One of our mature cows

Newly minted Longhorn calf

Our visit to the show didn't quite go to plan - but we've all done it, haven't we? You go in for some sausages and come out with steaks; a lunchtime browse around the internet leads to two pairs of jeans and some shoes or a holiday in Prague - it's easy to get carried away. Boss man Tim, who has never much cared for jeans or Prague, arrived at the show with his eye on two fantastic heifers, but came home with...wait for it...twelve. This year was one of unprecedented quality, and if there's one thing Tim has learned, it is that you buy good livestock when you see it.

A selection of our new girls

So we welcome twelve fine females to begin a whole new herd; may their lives with us be long and happy (and our bank manager soon forgive us). 

Newton Wine Gum
Tanfield Lace
Tanfield Munchkin
Tanfield Medlar
Tanfield Martini
Kedleston Lupin
Kedleston Laburnum
Kedleston Maisie
Kedleston Miranda
Kedleston Mahonia
Nobut Willow
Courthayes Mahonia

New season Dorset lamb

While lamb and Easter have become as inseparable as fish and chips, spring lamb - a surprisingly delicate meat - is easily (and often) abused with powerful, overwhelming flavours. It's also, with such an early Easter this year, going to be in relatively limited supply; here's how you go about reserving some and how to make the most it.

The only breed that will produce lamb naturally in time for spring meat is the woolly Dorset (above). Our ewes lamb in early December, and so new season lamb feeds almost exclusively on mother's milk, as there are slim pickings on the ground during winter time. As a result it doesn't develop the huge, bold flavours you get with the late summer animals and winter hogget, but instead has a beautifully soft and delicate texture and flavour, which is one of the finest treats of spring.

Where you might otherwise cook lamb with rosemary, garlic, anchovies, capers and peppers, exercise restraint with spring meat and reach for what is in season at this time of year - wild garlic, kale, leeks, spring onions, purple sprouting broccoli and spinach. We're a little bit early for English asparagus and Jersey Royals just yet, but when you spy some, they're a perfect match. If you're looking for something to fill your glass, a good quality white Rioja or a light red such as a gamay would do the trick.

Legs should be served a little pink, while shoulders still need long and slow cooking in order to tenderise. Both benefit from a longish rest, so wrap them in foil and throw over a bath towel (top tip!) to keep the heat in while side dishes are finished and glasses topped up.

Pre-ordering
Due to the popularity of legs of lamb, you might want to order one in advance. You can place an order by visiting your nearest Ginger Pig shop, or call the farm on 01751 460091, Monday 25th - Thursday 28th March, 9am - 5pm and speak to a member of the head office team. All other cuts should be available, though you can pre-order if there's a something you particularly want to guarantee. If you can, please try not to call your shop to order, as they don't have the facilities to take an order over the phone.

Easter opening hours
Our shops are open as usual, except on Easter Sunday and Bank Holiday Monday, when they are all closed (and we'll be having a nice rest!).