Beverley's 100 Year Old Food Store

I briefly mentioned in an earlier blog post that G Jack & Son in Wednesday Market was my saviour last week, coming to the rescue with most of the things I needed to make my homemade cereal.  But I wanted to say more about this Beverley institution.

Jacks has been selling fresh food in Beverley for over 100 years.  How's that for tradition?  It definitely makes our 7 years look like a flash in the pan!

Now owned and run by Duncan and Joy Jack, you'd be hard pushed to find two people who care more about Beverley.  Duncan sits on Beverley Town Council as in Independent Councillor and they're both involved with numerous community related things from the Chamber of Trade to the Christmas Lights Committee.

So what about the shop itself and why is it worth a visit?  Well, let me give you the grand tour but first a piece of advice.  This is a long, thin shop and it often gets really busy with people queuing to order lunch so if you're coming for a browse, best to avoid lunchtime.

If you're looking for lunch though, put this on your list of places to visit - they do sandwiches, a daily soup (we love tomato & chorizo day!), jacket potatoes and salads, all very reasonably priced.

Down the right hand side of the shop are all the counters where you'll find, baked stuff like pies, sausage rolls and cakes...

.... a delicious looking chocolate counter....

... and the cheese counter, where you'll find both British and European cheeses.

Down the right hand side of the shop is all the stuff that's come in really handy in our little & local experiment.  A mixture of quality everyday things and more unusual goodies.

Big baskets of dried fruits and nuts....

... shelves of tea (I took pics of the pretty stuff but we also got our Yorkshire Tea here)...

... jams and preserves...

... impressive looking fruit liqueurs from Devon (note to self, find a recipe so that I can give them a try)...

... a good selection of dried herbs from the Shropshire Spice Co ...

... and even the same Cartwright and Butler (Beverley Company) biscuits that we found stacked so high in Harrods last week.

They even do outside catering and made to order hampers.

This is a shop that is about substance rather than show.  It's not shiny and flashy - and I say that as a compliment.  It's the sort of place where you can imagine the owners (not that I'm privy to their conversations) talking about how a prospective new product tastes rather than how it looks.  Good on 'em.

Even though Jacks is literally just across the road from the shop, I have been guilty of buying things at the supermarket that I could get there but now I've properly taken the time to see what they have, I'll make sure that they're my first port of call.

A Bargain Shopping Spree

It's Wednesday - food shopping day.  The list isn't as long this week as it's just the two of us and we're on a bit of a health kick.  Well, that's to say, I am (as I have a dress to make sure I get into for 9th May) and Antony is being reluctantly dragged along for the ride.

We had to whizz round the shops at lightning speed this morning as we had this nice fella...

... James Piekos from BBC Radio Humberside coming to interview us about the blog for the David Burns morning show.

Here's our list, well crumpled from being in and out of my pocket but thankfully a bit better organised than last week's sad effort.

This is the translation:

Bread Stall                  Butcher                       Fishmonger                     Other
2 loaves bread               500g lamb mince           Dozen raw prawns           Tinned Toms x 2
                                     2 chicken breasts                                                   Shampoo
                                     6 sausages                                                             Full Fat Milk


Greengrocer                                                      Deli
Eggs                                                                     Chicken Stock
Bananas                                                               Butter
Berries                                                                 Fish Sauce
Lemons x 2                                                          Haloumi
Red Chillis x 7                                                     Wild Rice
Flat Leaf Parsley                                                  Yogurts
Basil                                                                     Natural Yogurt
Green Beans                                                        Semi Skimmed Milk
Jacket Potatoes                                                   Cheese
Cherry Tomatoes
Red Onions x 3
Spring Onions
Carrot
Red Chicory
Rocket/Watercress
Salad Leaves
Mint
Tomatoes
Oregano
Limes x 3
Peas 125g
Broad Beans 100g
Coriander

Now that we're getting the hang of where we can find things, it's much easier to organise the list by shop.  There were a few things we couldn't get (highlighted in yellow) but to be fair I still have some parsley and mint from my mega purchase on the market last Saturday and they seem to be surviving pretty well with my new tlc approach.  But fresh herbs are definitely not easy to find so maybe there's a gap in the market there??

Turns out that chicory doesn't like the gloomy weather and goes green and bitter so I'll have to wait until the sun comes out until the greengrocer has it again.

And we didn't really have time to track down Shampoo. There's still some in the bottle so I won't be scaring small children away with my medusa locks for a few days yet.  I think it may have to be an independent chemist for that.  If we have one. Best look into that.

Instead of Peas and Broad Beans (which I dutifully suffer because they're good for you), we bought Sugar Snap Peas and Green Beans.  We also bought some Rhubarb because it looked nice and I quite fancy making a crumble at the weekend.

Wild rice was always a long shot and since we have the biggest bag of basmati rice known to man (bought by Antony back in January and still going strong!), we'll just use that instead.  The wild rice takes forever to cook anyway so probably a blessing in disguise.

So here's the haul when we got it home.

You can just about see the raw prawns on the right hand side of the pic - a dozen great big ones which cost us £4.

The meat from the butcher cost £10.21 but that will do 5 meals.  We'll be making a Ragu with the lamb mince and another pasta sauce with the sausages and half of both will go into our tiny freezer for another day.

So what about overall value for money?  Well, we spent a total of £56.86.  A cheap week for us as we nearly always spend at least £60 at the supermarket.  And Antony, heroic soul that he is, has price checked with 2 different supermarkets this week.  We think the same shop would have cost us:

£62.53 at Tesco
£63.57 at Waitrose

That's a saving of at least £5.67.  And let's not forget the buzz of shopping local which must be worth at least a tenner.

As fruit and veg was easily the longest bit of the list, we thought we should see how that compares on its own.  We spent £19.90 at the greengrocer.  The same items would have cost us £24.77 at Tesco and  £25.19 at Waitrose.

All good news for little and local.

I can vouch for the tastiness of the chicken which we've just scoffed down tonight.  Stir fried with green beans, basil and chilli.

Just a shame that Antony nearly blinded himself putting in his contact lenses to go and play basketball, forgetting that he'd only just chopped the chilli.  If you've ever done it, you'll know that even well washed hands can't beat the power of the fresh chilli.  Oops.

Hardship No 1 - We Miss Cereal

So far, Little & Local hasn't really been too hard.  We've enjoyed having to be more active in our shopping choices and there's very little that we've had to do without.  But this morning I realised that the cereal cupboard is empty.  The void stared back at me without so much as a single Weetabix to tempt me.  We'd had a suspicion that it might be difficult to find packet cereals for sale in Beverley's little and local shops and so it has proved - we haven't seen them anywhere on our tour of shops.

The obvious answer is to eat Porridge which Antony loves but I just can't bring myself to feel excited about.  Somehow it always feels like penance for something I've done wrong.

So in preparation, I'd made a plan to buy the ingredients for homemade muesli instead.  I do sometimes make my own when I can be bothered because I don't like a lot of sugar or (and I know this is odd) too much fruit.

I have G Jack & Son in Wednesday Market to thank for the fact that I don't have to go without cereal altogether.  It was from them that I bought jumbo oats, sunflower seeds, almonds and some gorgeous fat, sticky raisins.  And I managed to get Sesame Seeds from The Herb & Spice Cupboard stall on Saturday Market, although I would have preferred a bigger bag.

So here's the recipe I use which I adapted from Bill Grainger's Toasted Muesli Recipe which I found reprinted on the food blog A Spoon Full of Sugar.

Ingredients:

3 cups of jumbo oats
1 cup of sunflower seeds
1/2 cup of whole almonds
1/4 cup of pumpkin seeds (I already had some of these in the cupboard)
1/4 cup of sesame seeds
1 tablespoon sunflower oil
1/2 cup apple juice or orange juice
Raisins - as many as you personally like

Put all the dry ingredients except the raisins into a large bowl.

Add the oil and the juice and mix well until everything is well coated.  I didn't have apple or orange juice in the house today so had to improvise with some lemon barley instead.  It still tastes good!

Spread evenly over a baking tray and put in the oven (160 degrees) for about 30 minutes.

Remember to stir a few times so that it cooks evenly.

Take out of the oven and allow to cool before stirring in your raisins - or if you want to get fancy, any other dried fruit.  I keep meaning to try some cherries.

Stick it in an airtight container where it will stay very happily for a few weeks.

It's great served with just a little milk and topped with natural yogurt and fresh fruit.

Keeping cut herbs fresh

If you read our shopping post from last Wednesday, you'll know that we struggled to buy fresh herbs anywhere in town so we had to go without until Saturday when we nipped to the market on our way to work.

It was worth the wait as we picked up a huge bunch of flat leaf parsley and some mint too.

They cost us £1.80.  I've done a quick price check with Tesco where a small packet of each would have cost £1.60 so we paid 20p more but I'd say we got at least double the amount.  Result.  But only if they stay fresh long enough for me to use them up.

I normally just buy the supermarket packets and throw them in the fridge where they last a few days before looking very droopy and sad.  But it turns out that there's loads of advice online about different ways to store herbs to get the best from them.  The Huffington Post has 3 suggestions in this article including this piece of advice about storing them like a bouquet of flowers:

If you think about it, fresh herbs are very similar to cut flowers - they need water too.  First you should trim the stems, and then place them in a cup of cold water.  Change the water and trim the stems every 1-2 days for best results.  This little extra effort could mean that your herbs stay fresh for over two weeks.  If working with basil or mint, it's recommended that you keep the herbs at room temperature.  Mint in particular will thrive on the windowsill.  Cilantro and parsley prefer colder temperatures.  It's best to cover the tops of the herbs with a loose plastic bag and refrigerate them.  Keeping them in the door compartment will provide the most optimal temperature, since its the warmest part of the fridge.

(Cilantro = Coriander)

So we've plonked our mint and flat leaf parsley in a jug and we'll see how long they last.  They look pretty if nothing else!

Update:

This morning (Monday), the herbs I bought on Saturday were starting to look a little sad.  We had friends coming to stay for the weekend and I really didn't have time to mess about with them on Saturday so hence the casual 'plonking' in a jug.  I think they really do need a little more tlc so this is what I did with them this morning.

First I took off any sorry looking leaves.  The ones that were touching the water had gone a bit black and discoloured so that's my first tip - make sure that none of the leaves are actually in the water.

Then I trimmed all the ends.

I separated the Parsley and the Mint as I think they'll do better in different containers.

And then I put them both in fresh water - this time just a little in the bottom of the glass/jug.

They're looking much happier again now.

So I decided to make salad for lunch, using some of both the mint and parsley with some rocket (still looking good from last Weds),

plus some tomatoes, cucumber, red onion and griddled Haloumi.  Then some lemon and olive oil dressing.

Now I've just got to wait until lunchtime.  Only an hour to go...!

Freshly baked bread - could this be the smell of heaven?

Don't get me wrong, I love having a gift and home shop but I'm also a daydreamer and have a long list of other types of business I'd like to run.  Bookshop (dying breed), deli and cafe are top of the list but after this morning, I'll be adding bakery as well.

Beverley has its own bread shop.  Hurrah!  I posted briefly about the rolls I bought last week but promised I'd say more, so here it is.

Tucked away in a little yard off Ladygate is where you'll find the newly opened Bread Shed.

As you open the door, the most delicious smell of freshly baking bread hits you and you know you're in for a treat.

The owner bakes fresh batches all day long with the first loaves coming out of the oven at around 10am.  This morning our white loaf was still warm and temptingly soft.  It took all our willpower not to tuck in to it there and then.

It's a tiny place but perfectly formed.  The building is lovely, freshly painted and spotlessly clean.  The counter area is tiny which is as it should be because most of the room is given up to the important stuff - the preparation area, fridges and ovens.

You can see the bags of high quality Shipton Mill flour stacked on the side of the shop and their blackboard tells you exactly what you're getting.

This is a place to come if you believe in quality and tradition.  Don't come expecting a sliced white or even if you desperately want something specific.  Come instead to see what's baking.  It changes daily with the seasons or just because it's fun and exciting to change things up and use different ingredients.  If you want to know what's in the oven today, your best bet is to follow them on Twitter for their daily update.  Tradition and technology working in perfect harmony.  Love it.

Today we went in on the way to work thinking we'd pick up some rolls for bacon sarnies tomorrow morning but when we arrived, there were freshly baked croissants and pain au chocolat just out of the oven.  It took all of about a second to decide that we wanted them instead.  Seriously, how could we resist....?

I noticed too that they're selling small bags of Shipton Mill flour at the counter.  Last year I got quite into baking my own bread which I can highly recommend both for the fact that it makes you feel like a domestic goddess and because there's something strangely calming about it.  Turns out the trick to a crusty loaf is a hot oven for the first 10 minutes and a few ice cubes thrown in a baking tray at the bottom to create steam that helps the crust form.  Here's my effort from earlier this week - the best I've managed so far.

I haven't ventured far beyond an ordinary white loaf but now that I know where to come for quality flour, I may just get a little more experimental.

I broke the rules - already!

I thought I should confess that I broke the rules yesterday.  I know, very poor.  And the worst thing is, I didn't even mean to do it.  I was just driving home from a meeting at the shop and as I came up to Wickes, I suddenly remembered that I needed some little washers.  Without even considering that I shouldn't, I nipped it and made my purchase.  It was only on the way out to the car that I realised what I'd done.  I'd just given my £3.04 to the man.

It got me thinking about how little consideration I generally give to to where I make purchases like this.  Which may be why there are so few independent DIY and hardware shops left these days.  Even for purchases like light bulbs, I'm sad to say that I normally pick them up at the supermarket.  But in truth, it would be no less convenient for me to pick them up on my walk to work, especially since one of my walking routes can bring me right past Briggs & Powell.

I don't really know it's history but you can just tell that the store has been there for a VERY long time.  It sort of reminds me of my childhood.  It's completely utilitarian but in a good way - it gives you confidence that they'll have just the thing you want.

The batteries on my camera were dying earlier this week (it's not used to getting as much exercise as it has over the last week or so since we started blogging!) so it was Briggs & Powell to the rescue.

We also managed to get some of those little anti-ant thingies that they never have at the supermarket.  We're attempting a preemptive strike against the persistent family of ants that we do battle with every year.

They have various cookware and utensils including wonderful vintage style enamelware....

...cleaning products (new broom head anyone?) and kitchen accessories like storage jars, bread bins and rubbish bins....

And at the front of the store, they have white goods including washing machines, fridges, TVs and radios.  A veritable tardis.

Fresh fish since 1939 and still going strong

I'm not hugely confident with cooking fish.  Whole fish seem really daunting with scales, gills, skin, bones and even eyes to deal with.  Fillets on the other hand seem like they could easily be over-cooked and spoilt as a result.  So we don't eat fish as often as we should, especially given the health benefits.  According to the Harvard School of Public Health:

There is strong evidence that eating fish or taking fish oil is good for the heart and blood vessels.  An analysis of 20 studies involving hundreds of thousands of participants indicates that eating approximately one to two 3-ounce servings of fatty fish a week - salmon, herring, mackerel, anchovies, or sardines - reduces the risk of dying from heart disease by 36 percent.

The article makes interesting reading, looking at the facts and presenting the evidence about both health benefits and reported concerns over mercury levels - helpful for making your own mind up about how much fish you should be eating.

Our personal conclusion is that we want to make sure we eat fish at least once a week.  And to my shame, I usually pick it up at the supermarket despite the fact that our shop is practically a stones throw from our local fishmonger.  But no more.  This week, we included H Peck & Son in our shopping round.

Located in Beverley's Wednesday Market, the shop has been around since 1939 and is still run by the same family with Alan, Josie & Mark now in charge.

We were really impressed with the display which looked fresh and appealing and the whole shop just looks incredibly shiny and clean.

We bought good sized fillets of both Haddock and Salmon and paid £9.80 which I'm almost sure is less than I would have paid in the supermarket for the same quantity and quality.   They skinned the Haddock for me.  They're also happy to gut and fillet so I may try to be brave next time and go for something a little more challenging - I'll see what they recommend.  I might even go for some smoked fish which, by the way, is all smoked right there on the premises.

And here's the end result...

Red Salmon Curry with Green Beans and Rice.   Yum.