The BBC has launched its annual Food and Farming Awards. This is to award the people and organisations working to promote good food in Britain. There are several categories, as listed below, in which nominations are accepted. The closing date for entries is the 15th September.

• Best 'Dinner Lady (or man)
  For the best cook offering healthy meals in an institution such as a school, hospital, care home etc. Local food must be cooked on the premises.
• Best Take-Away
  Here they are looking for the very best Indian, Italian, Chinese, or good old fish and chips.
• Best Local Food Retailer
  These are the very cream of local butchers, fish mongers, bakers and delicatessants.
• Best Food Producer
  For producers of food from milk and meat through to cakes and drinks.
• Farmer of the Year
  The Farming Today award for facing the challenges of farming in the 21st century.
• Best Regional/National Retail Initiative
  For any chain of food shops or supermarkets supplying food on a large scale - ethical and sustainability are the keys here.
• BBC Food Personality of the Year
  This is the award for TV chefs, broadcasters or writers.
• The Derek Cooper Special Award
  For the individual or organisation that's done most to increase our understanding of good food and the vital role it plays in our lives.

Following the withdrawal in the UK of a million bars of Cadbury's chocolate it looks like the company's directors are to face criminal charges. The Times reports today that their products are the only common link between the 37 people that became ill recently with salmonella.

The UK's Health Protection Agency has reviewed food diaries from the 37, who included many kids under 10 years old, and discovered that many specifically mentioned eating Cadbury's Chocolate. The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has already said that other infected Cadbury's products may still be on sale as the suspect base ingredient was used in as many as 43 product lines.

I have just been flicking through the August issue of Olive and ran across an interesting snippet of info from Gordon Ramsey. He writes a regular column Ramsey's Rant and this month covers the look and presentation of food. As well as being of interest to the dinner party entertainment crowd I also thought the points were of interest to the budding food photographer.

The key to food presentation is to keep it simple and not make the dish appear to have been prodded by 16 different people.

Food Presentation Dos

• keep it clean and simple
• use odd number of ingredients on the plate
• add hot sauces right at the end
• visualise what a dish will look like before arranging it on the plate
• cut things in half if they look too big

Food Preparation Dont's

• use herb garnishes unless they go with the dish
• go for looks rather than flavour
• clutter the plate
• serve the food cold because you spent too long dressing it
• move things around the plate once you have put them down, this will just make a mess

Ramsey also suggests imagining the plate as a clock face. Hot food tends to be served with the meat or fish at 6 o'clock (ie near the base of the dish) with other ingredients at three and nine. For cold food the main ingredient is usually put in the middle with the rest dotted around it. A presentation ring helps for getting some height.

The picture here was submitted to the Slashfood Flickr group by by Posies Place

I don't even live in America but I found this article (in PDF format) by Ursula Gross fascinating and a great read.

Apparently they have so many Safeway stores in Washington that each has been unofficially named by the cities inhabitants. So you have super-secret-safeway hidden behind a school and not-so-safeway in, what I can only guess, is a none-to neighbourly neighbourhood. I can see this habit of naming stores taking off in the UK as some towns are now so saturated with a certian supermarket chain that no other competitor actually remains in the town!

Found via Netscape Food Channel

We have mentioned the Great British Menu competition several times - it used a televised cook-off to find the best regional chefs from the UK to create a celbratroy menu for the Queens 80th Birthday. This has occured but the good ol' BBC has posted video clips of each winning participant...

From Northern Ireland, Richard Corrigan came out top with his Smoked Salmon starter "Find out what made his menu so intrinsically Irish, and why he came to regret his choice of dessert". 

Bryn Williams, from Wales createdPan-fried turbot "He talks about how he used the competition to highlight the use of Welsh produce, and which ingredient the chefs were banned from using".

Scottish chef Nick Nairn won with Roe venison as the main dish "Find out what he thought of the menu, and how he'd feel if the Queen's plate came back half-finished. Read his interview here."

Representing the North of England, Marcus Wareing won the desserts category with his Custard tart with Garibaldi biscuits "He talks about how his Michelin-starred cooking has been influenced by the Great British Menu, and why he's had to put his Custard tart on the menu at his own restaurant".

 

I was after something a little different this year, something away from the "standard" sugar and lemon, and these little wonders from a recipe in Delicious Magazine fitted the bill perfectly.

The pancake recipe was the third one from the list detailed earlier. The filling is double cream (300ml) whipped to stiffness before the addition of sifted icing sugar (1½ tbsp) , brandy (1tbsp) and 2 tablespoons of chopped walnuts. The recipe also called for 2 tbsp Camp Chicory and Coffee Essence but I missed that out as I didn't have any.

Over the top is a little pouring of butterscotch sauce. This is made form 100g muscovado sugar, 80g unsalted butter and 125ml double cream. Place all over a medium heat and dissolve the sugar. Then increase the heat and cook, without stirring, for 3-4 minutes.

[Image Andrew Barrow]

Unlike the bottles emanating from the New World - America, Australia, South Africa and the like - those from Europe, the Old World, rarely proclaim the grape variety on the label. There are exceptions of course. The wines from the great southern swathe of vineyards covering the Languedoc area of France often have the grape variety emblazoned on the front label. Or if not, you should find it on the back. But how do you know what is in the bottle from the other regions? You just have to learn and remember. A quick generalized introductory guide to the main regions and famous sub-regions in France -

• Burgundy - white wines are Chardonnay, red wines are Pinot Noir.
• Chablis - only white and only Chardonnay (a sub-region of Burgundy)
• Bordeaux - usually blends with the whites from Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon and Muscadelle while the reds are made from Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc
• Beaujolais - reds are from Gamay
• St. Emilion - a famous Bordeaux region. Reds from Merlot generally
• Loire - whites are either from Chenin Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc or Muscadet. Reds are from Cabernet Franc or Gamay
• Sancerre - perhaps the most famous region of the Loire -  white wines mainly, from Sauvignon Blanc
• Rhone - for reds, the north is Syrah territory (Shiraz); the south is more Cinsault, Mourvedre.
• Chateauneurf du Pape - one of the more famous sub-regions of the Rhone. A red wine with 13 different varieties permitted, some of which are white!
• Alsace - reds are from Pinot Noir while the whites can be made from Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc, Gewurztraminer and Riesling.