Smoking, Curing & Preserving

The ancient art of preserving food almost forgotten nowadays and preserving ones own food, whether it be through smoking, salting, drying, pickling, fermenting, infusing, freezing or bottling, is one of the most satisfying, exciting and fulfilling means of food preparation. Historically of course, it was a necessary and essential part of survival, particularly through the winter months. However generations of experimenting with different techniques, have moved the principles on from mere subsistence and survival to fantastic means of creating longer seasons on many otherwise perishable delicacies, and also to concentrate, enhance and combine flavours, to create truly mouth watering food. It is a simple thing to master and can transform your excess of wild food into something really quite magical.

In recent years however, in our era of industrialized food, the vast majority of the preservation techniques we come across is through the supermarkets, which themselves have taken advantage of many of the principles of food preservation. Unfortunately, through the use of chemicals and artificial flavourings there is too often the inevitable sacrifice of quality and flavour in the name of streamlining and efficiency.

As with wild food and game, we firmly believe that we must try to reconnect with our culinary heritage, and, whether you are a home producer with the annual worry of the inevitable glut of fruit and vegetables or simply a keen cook who wants to experiment further, preservation techniques are a very important and fulfilling aspect of cookery. We will show you how to cure, pickle and preserve meat, fish and vegetables as well as learning how to smoke food efficiently at home so you can always enjoy the goodness of naturally preserved ingredients.

We believe that no feast is complete without a glass of wine, however if you require more than this, wine is available to buy on the day.