JUST remember it’s Christmas and a new set of tea towels or a novelty nutmeg grater just will not do as a present for the foodie in your life. So here is a random but delicious round-up of stuff you might still be able to purchase before the big day, always remembering a Green Egg barbecue or a Nubian milking goat just will not fit down the chimney…
Rogan: The Cookbook by Simon Rogan (HarperCollins, £30) For the true cookbook collector Christmas is the time to receive a beautifully produced doorstep of a tome by a groundbreaking chef, whose recipes you’ll probably never replicate at home (Redzepi, Adria Blumenthal et al). In Simon Rogan’s case you’ll have trouble not so much with the techniques but with the ingredients, either foraged of from his specialist farm up near his 2 Michelin-starred flagship, L’Enclume in Cartmel. Still it’s good to be introduced to the likes of Tromboncino courgettes, chervil root, pineapple weed and meadowsweet. Perhaps buy it as a memento of his revelatory time at The French in the Midland Hotel, then book a table there to see how his protege Adam Reid is forging his own brilliant path.
Vegan Mock Meat Revolution by Jackie Kearney (Ryle & Peters, £16.99) Plant-based recipes have entered the mainstream. The problem is so many are worthy but dull. Not the case with Chorlton’s former Masterchef ace Kearney, whose Far Eastern influenced My Vegan Travels is a well-thumbed, spice splattered fixture in the ToM kitchen. Her new cookbook goes even more global, while tackling a vegan’s need for meat, fish and dairy substitutes. So here we get the likes of vegan burger with beet ketchup, shiso courgette scallops, paprika seitan vegan ‘dog’ with cashew cheese; crispy jackfruit wings and chickpea tuna quesadillas. Once again recipes that work well in the home.
Lunya – spoilt for Spanish choice Spanish, Basque, Catalan cuisines, the North West has restaurants that do justice to all three cuisines, but it’s great too to tackle their classic recipes at home, which is where a good Iberian deli comes in. Step forward Lunya in Deansgate’s Barton Arcade, whose bar and restaurant also encompasses a lavishly stocked Spanish deli. Here’s the place to buy piquillo and padro peppers, bonito tuna and boquerones, olives and olive oils or take your pick from arguably the UK’s finest selection of Spanish cheese. The rustic pottery is eye-catching, too. Add in a wide selection of gins, vermuts and Spanish regional wines and this is foodie prezzie heaven. And, if you can’t make it into Manchester you can buy online.
Go further – book a Spanish city food tour The cornucopia of Spanish goodies at cornucopia might even convince you it’s time to check out first hand that country’s vibrant food culture. Devour Tours www.devourtours.com offers an exceptional selection of award winning food and culture tours in six of Spain’s most delicious destinations; Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, Malaga, Granada and San Sebastian. Each tour provides a responsible, sustainable and authentic ‘off the beaten track’ experience that gives a unique insight into the city’s culture, cuisine and community. Great food is just the beginning; tours are super-local, super-informative and bring Spain’s fabulous gastronomy, history and traditions to life with a blend of storytelling and food and wine tasting.
Order the UK’s finest cheese online French and Spanish cheeses are wonderful but we our own country’s range is at least their equal and one of their foremost champions is Courtyard Dairy, just off the A65 at Austwick in the Yorkshire Dales. It’s a treat to visit the shop and its adjoining cafe and cheese museum, but you can buy cheese selections online to construct the perfect Christmas cheese tray. For £28.95 buy their Award-winning ‘Cheese Selection’, 900g in total across four cheeses – Amalthea, Tunworth, Old Winchester and (to show we’re not entirely parochial) Gorgonzola Dolce. All these cheeses will arrive perfectly mature because owners Kathy and Andy trained in France as affineurs. Vive la difference.
Celebrate with England’s finest sparkling wine Champagne, preferably in the company of smoked salmon and caviar blinis, is ToM’s Christmas morning tipple of choice, but the greatest of sparkling wines faces some stiff competition these days – and we don’t mean oceans of industrial Prosecco. English wine is entering an unprecedented golden age, helped by global warming, and at the forefront are our sparkling wines. Harvey Nichols has championed them and they appear in HN’s legendary hampers. Their new own label English Sparkling Rose (£32.50) is fruity, stylish fizz but for a real treat step up to the premium wine of the UK’s highest profile bubbly producer. Nyetimber 1086 Prestige Cuvée 2009 doesn’t come cheap at £150 but it’s superior to equally price Champers. Fashioned from their finest West Sussex estate-grown fruit, it spent more than six years ageing on the lees and over two in the bottle post-disgorgement. HN describe it as ‘brimming with notes of treacle tart, pecan pie, baklava, tarte aux pommes, Granny Smith apple, mushroom risotto, oyster shell, sea spray, toast and a squeeze of refreshing lemon juice.’
Buy your nearest and dearest a Gin Experience (and we don’t mean just a bottle) We sent Lily Carden up to Red Bank to get busy with the botanicals. She reported back: 'Three Rivers’ Gin Experience' has just been announced as the ‘best rated tourist attraction in the UK’ by Premier Inn and Tripadvisor and it’s not hard to see why. The three hours flew by and I came away feeling more confident in talking about gin and with a bespoke bottle that I look forward to drinking.The Gin Experience at Three Rivers costs £95 per person and a voucher would make a fantastic Christmas gift for the gin lover in your life. The tours run Thursday through to Saturday until December 23 with January dates being announced soon. Book here. Current tour dates are running (Thurs-Sun) until February 28 2019. Book here.
Hawksmoor – the burgers and gift cards that just keep giving It doesn’t have to be turkey. We love this image of Hawksmoor’s Christmas Burger (available until Christmas Eve, £14 on its own, £18 with chips or salad). The good tidings? The bone marrow rich pattie, topped with molten Ogleshield cheese in a bun, is available all year round. Go to the Hawksmoor online shop to buy a gift card for the restaurant or a more permanent present, either of the Deansgate restaurant’s cookbooks, ‘Hawksmoor at Home’ and ‘Hawksmoor Restaurants & Recipes’, both of which contain that burger recipe. Get your pans out.
Why not explore another cuisine? Book in for a Yang Sing cookery class There are any number of cookery classes around. We don’t expect there would be many takers for a post Christmas – more like a post mortem – course on ‘How to cook a turkey that doesn’t taste like cardboard and not over-boil the sprouts’. So we’d suggest one you could give a voucher for. Veteran Princess Street Cantonese restaurant the Yang Sing Yang Sing offers a choice of cookery classes, costing either £80 (for a 2-3 hr class) or £120 (for a 3-4hr masterclass). Classes train students in all three disciplines of a Cantonese kitchen – dim sum, roasting and wok cooking. Classes tend to be smaller group sizes and are hosted in working kitchens, with plenty of one-to-one tuition.
Order some Cloudwater beer – a refreshing festive change Take advantage of Manchester being home to the No2 best brewery in the world (according to RateBeer) and buy Cloudwater beer to give as a present. But hurry, all online shop orders must be placed by 12pm on Wednesday, December 19, to receive before Christmas. All beers ordered will be delivered to you directly from the brewery’s 3°C coldstore on the Piccadilly Trading Estate. There’s free overnight next day delivery on orders over £35, while those over £100 receive a 10 er cent discount. Cloudwater is famous for its constantly changing roster of seasonal beers, often high in alcohol. Alternatively, try session ales such as their season-long tropically juicy Pale Ale (£3.50, 440ml can) or the clean, crisp Pilsener (£4). Refreshing sips when all that Port and Shiraz is getting too heavy.