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There are sausage rolls and then there’s…

Posted on 27 April 2012


…. Ginger Pig Smoked Sausage rolls! 

  • We love good food.
     
  • We love good customer service.
     
  • And recently I have got rather fond of Twitter.

This week all three came together when I saw a tweet from The Ginger Pig introducing their new smoked pork sausage rolls.

The Ginger Pig is a fantastic butchers selling fantastic meat. As they say on their website… there is no great secret to what they do, they simply raise the best animals, in the happiest of circumstances and you can really taste this in their meat.

Back to the sausage rolls. When I saw the tweet, I couldn’t resist the sound of them; so tweeted back that I hoped there would be some left when I got down to Shepherds Bush later. I needed to go to Westfield (my idea of hell) so the thought of being able to pop down the road to this fab butchers made the trip so much easier to bear!

Ginger Pig Sausage Rolls
After a bit of toing and froing on twitter it was discovered that their shop in Askew Road W12 wasn’t receiving the new sausage rolls until the next day, but a chap very kindly offered to drop two down there for me specially.

After a quick chat with one of their super friendly and knowledgeable butchers, I came out laden with sausage rolls, a couple of sirloin steaks and a bunch of the first of the new season’s British asparagus. 

I bought raw sausage rolls to cook at home (but they are available pre cooked) and the smell whilst they were cooking was just so good that our mouths were watering by the time they were ready. 

Moist, perfect pastry, amazing flavour of the smoked pork and paprika, rich, but not too rich. 

We will never be able to eat a ‘normal’ sausage rolls again!

The following morning, the kitchen still had just a hint of the smokey smell, in a good, not bad lingering smell way!
Ginger Pig Sausage Rolls 
As Kell said the next day “I am still dreaming of those sausage rolls”. If only we had had more for breakfast!

Ginger Pig Butchers can be found in 5 locations around London and 3 farms in Yorkshire.  Or follow them on Twitter.

Mr and Mrs Skött’s W11 diaries (in which the spaniels discover art and Mrs Skött dreams of Denmark)

Posted on 19 April 2012

Mr&MrsSkottTrying to get a table for a coffee on a sunny Sunday afternoon in Notting Hill is near impossible, though that just shows what a great bustling area it is and how lucky we are to be part of it. We finally find a spot at Gail’s, which is always dangerous (so many great cakes). On our way back to the shop admire the stunning purple magnolia trees outside the new Max Studio store in Westbourne Grove, open at last after months of delays. It’s a welcome addition with stylish clothes at affordable prices.

On our way to Pizza East Portobello for the great aperitivo hour, we bump in to film director Richard Loncraine. He had generated quite a lot of interest with his crazy antique Italian bike with the handlebars behind the saddle. Mr Skött, a bike fanatic himself, could not resist having a ride on it, and afterwards a look at Richard’s new Cyclepedia App that he has just developed.

Meanwhile the Skött spaniels were invited to the Grufts exhibition at Graffik gallery on Portobello Road.  Here they tucked into treats from Pet Pavilion while the grown ups enjoyed Bulldog Gin cocktails and viewed the great dog portraits. Then it was off to Doyle Devere gallery for champagne and the launch of fashion house Paper London’s lovely new collection, where Mrs Skött was seen admiring the exquisite silk tops and tailored trousers – all in great colours with a 1960’s feel to them.

Being tall, blonde (when it’s not dyed red) and blue eyed, Mrs Skött is often mistaken for a Scandinavian even though she is a born and bred north Londoner. She sometimes seem to be more Scandinavian than a lot of Danes, becoming engrossed in Danish TV series, embracing the wonderfulness of Danish interior design, eating herrings and drinking Akvavit with gusto.  We were delighted when Signe Johansen, author of the Scandilicious Cookbook popped into the salon.  There was lots of Scandi food talk and a plan in the pipeline to hold a local Scandi baking class. Watch this space.

First published in Absolutely Notting Hill April 2012.