(Not up for the chitchat? Completely get it. Click the email title to go to a web-based version then jump straight to the recipe, or Cultural Fun.)
Mildly exciting thing: I spotted Finsbury Park’s first ducklings yesterday. Hopefully more to come. Mildly irritating thing: I am currently spending all of my 10-minutes-every-morning time in the garden morning pulling up sycamore seedlings. When I named my business after the tree that overlooks us it wasn’t quite as prolific. But the last few years I’ve spent more and more time patrolling for the tell-tale little double leaves that take root in flower beds, pots and between patio bricks. Time for a rebrand?
Pesky little sycamore seedlings and the result of 10 mins spent weeding one square metre...
James and I spent a pleasant Easter weekend with his parents in Yorkshire. We visited Fountains Abbey and the RHS garden Harlow Carr, both of which made for excellent days out.
The romance of a ruin...
I love a ruin and Fountains Abbey is maybe the best I’ve seen. Lots of the buildings, including the tower, are still fairly intact so you can get a good idea of what it would have been like in its heyday. But it’s ruined enough to be picturesque. I love that interplay and tension between man-made stone grandeur and the organic encroachment of ferns and moss.
I also learned that Fountain’s most successful abbot, after whom the tower is named, was called Marmaduke Huby. Isn’t that the greatest name ever? Marmaduke Huby. Marmaduke Huby. It’s very pleasing to say and I have had it as a sort of soothing verbal earworm for nearly a week now.
Whilst at Harlow Carr we stopped at their outpost of Betty’s, Yorkshire’s most famous tea rooms to eat a Fat Rascal, their most famous baked good.
Spring flowers and Fat Rascals at Harlow Carr.
I’d not had a FR. It’s sort of like a cross between a scone and a rock cake. Nice but very crumbly.
Afterwards James and I spent the night in Harrogate and had a lovely dinner at Sukothai. Everything we had was great including som tam salad and moo krob but the chicken satay on the yang ruam starter platter of skewers was one of the stand-out nicest things I’ve eaten this year, elevated (I think) by lots of tarragon-y Thai basil. Recommended if you’re in the area!
In Good Taste was a year old on Saturday (please at this point imagine the tooting of a party blower). I’ve got big plans for the second year of this newsletter but I’d really like your input. Particularly on what you find most helpful or interesting.
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If there’s anything else you’d like to tell me then please drop me a line or leave a comment. I’d love to hear from you. xx
Recipe: Fancy Chilli Sauce
Last week we talked about fermented hot sauce basics. I gave you a recipe for fermenting chillies in brine along wit garlic and coriander stalks and then blitzing them up into a delicious, general purpose hot sauce that will sit happily alongside anything from breakfast eggs to barbecued food. It’s great stuff. But we can make it even better.
Sometimes I leave my chilli sauce as is and sometimes I fancy it up a bit. It’s not hard to do and if you can be bothered to put in an extra 20 minutes or so will give you a more complex sauce.
We’re going to add ground spices for a deeper, rounder flavour, olive oil for a smoother mouthfeel and maple syrup, vinegar and salt to balance everything out.
Something to note though: any sugar added here will restart fermentation and potentially make things a bit fizzy. I tend to make a big batch of basic sauce and blend it with the oil, spices and vinegar. Then I keep that in a large jar in the fridge, adding maple syrup to a small bottlesworth at a time.
The pictures below were taken of a batch I made a few years back as wedding favours for my friend Hadia. The marriage took place on a very sunny day and I was worried that the jars were going to get a bit too lively before the guests got the home. If you’re giving it as a gift, just make sure to tell the recipient to keep it in the fridge. Or leave the maple syrup out altogether.
Toast the spices. In a dry frying pan, toast the spices over a medium heat, shaking the pan occasionally, until they start to smell fragrant - about 2 mins.
Grind the spices. Let the spices cool and grind them to a fine powder. I use the grinder attachment for my Magimix blender here but a coffee grinder would work too. A pestle and mortar will be hard labour but go ahead if you want the workout...
Add the spices and olive oil to the basic hot sauce which should already be blended and blend again. The longer you blend, the smoother and more emulsified it will be.
Add the xanthan gun (if using). Even a well-blended sauce will separate after a while sat in the bottle. Xanthan gum helps stop this happening. Add and blend again. Be very cautious with it though. A little goes a really long way. If the sauce thickens up too much you can add more brine to thin it out again.
Strain for a smoother consistency. If you want a very smooth sauce pass it through a fine-mesh sieve after blending really well. This will help remove any gritty particles of spice or pieces of chilli seed or skin.
Taste and adjust the flavour with salt, apple cider vinegar and maple syrup, bearing in mind that the sugar in the syrup will eventually ferment into lactic acid. Return to your large jar or transfer to smaller bottles as you wish.
Notes (If Ifs And Ands Were Pots And Pans…)
This is my version. You do you. Feel free to vary the spices, the sweetner or the acid.
Some people worry about botulism when adding oil to ferments. You should never add it at the beginning but after fermentation it’s safe as the pH is already too low (under 4.6) for the toxin to be produced.
You can usually find xanthan gum in the baking aisles of the supermarket. If it’s not there try the “free from” area as it’s used in a lot of gluten free baking.
Cultural Fun
For such a smart little town there was a surprising dearth of museums in Harrogate. The Royal Pump Room Museum was a sweet though with a good history of people coming to “take the waters”. Things seem to have changed though. The tap round the back says DO NOT DRINK OR CONSUME and the enthusiastic ladies inside told me it had been founf tyo have traces of arsenic “but it’s a free world, lots of people still drink it.” I tried a few drops and lived to tell the tale but it was sulphurous and salty so probably wouldn’t have held out for more.
Back in London and with an hour to kill in town, we popped into the Museum of Freemasonry. It’s an excellent collection of weird, symbolic shiny things in an impressive building - including this giant throne made for the Prince of Wales (later to become George IV) when he assumed the role of Royal Grand Master but I left not really knowing any more about what freemasons actually do.
Free though so an excellent way to pass half an hour if you’re near Covent Garden.
Post-masons, we spent James’ Christmas Theatre Tokens on a matinée of Rufus Wainright’s musical Opening Night which was riveting. Not perfect but definitely something more interesting than a jukebox selection of hits. It’s based on the 1977 film by John Cassavetes (which I haven’t seen) about a stage actress having a breakdown before the opening of a Broadway play. Sheridan Smith is in the lead role here and is no stranger to messy public breakdowns so it was very very brave of her to take the part.
The staging uses the dramatic device of a film crew making a documentary to mix live camerawork with the action on stage. Sometimes this can just remind you of the shortcomings of both mediums, but it really worked here and gave you subtlety you wouldn’t have got otherwise, especially from Smith who was riveting.
Wainwright’s music isn’t super hummable but there are some tunes in there I’ll be seeking out and listening to again (my favourite of his remains the Bolero-sampling Oh What A World). It was a strange show, confusing at times, but a real confluence of talent.
Bye!
I’m away next week but will be back in two week’s time with more exciting ferments. In the meantime, if you felt like sharing In Good Taste with friends or family who might enjoy it, you can do so with the button below. It would mean the world to me. Thanks so much.
In Good Taste is a Sycamore Smyth newsletter by me, Clare Heal. You can also find me on Instagram or visit my website to find information about my catering work, cookery lessons and upcoming events.
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