Food and drink news, latest recipes, wine reviews & more

Potted beef

THIS could be described as a rough paté but is actually the result of a traditional preserving process. It’s not complicated. Read

Top chef Kenny returns home

IT’S a case of out with one Michelin chef and in with another as one of the country’s newest culinary masters heads home in a bid to keep the North East gourmet flag flying. Read

Mike Woods, co-owner of Olive & Bean delicatessen

Deli owners use their 'loaf'

Jane Hall takes a look at a new delicatessen with a twist that has opened in Newcastle. Read

Message in bottle to importers

SUE Wilson, former Journal nebusiness.co.uk columnist, emailed me recently asking for advice on behalf of a friend who has a vineyard in Priorat in northern Spain. Read

Image isn't everything

“PEOPLE eat with their eyes,” argued my colleague some years ago. “Yes,” I replied, “but the eating has to be the priority. Let’s not lose sight of that.” Read

As easy as XYZ

THE human herding instinct survives. We queue and we cluster, we nestle and cram, even when there’s enough space to roam free. Read

The Honest Lawyer, Croxdale, County Durham

The Honest Lawyer Hotel, Croxdale, Co Durham

AT the risk of hazarding a libel suit, the name of the Honest Lawyer Hotel sounds contradictory. Not that lawyers aren’t honest, he added hastily, but it’s their job to argue the innocence of known crooks and ne’er-do-wells as well as defend the good names of upstanding citizens. Read

The best Bordeaux don’t fail

VERY ripe and rich, but also rather clumsy, chewy and chunky. My terse note doesn’t describe a £5.99 supermarket red, but a ‘great’ claret, a wine that retails, if you’re lucky enough to find it, well in excess of £100 per bottle. Read

Tuscany, East Parade, Whitley Bay

LAST week I took part in the Bio Bank research study. It’s a fascinating process. First you answer a host of health-based questions via a touch screen computer. Then you give puff, pee and blood samples (all totally painless) and get measured in various ways. Read

Let’s not play the name game

WHAT’S in a name? I mean, are you more likely to be successful in life if your name is Peregrine or Julian or Piers, rather than Dave or Steve or Bill? Read

Treat for birthday cooked up in kitchen

I CONFESS that for the last 10 years I’ve been a cooking bore. Just because you’ve taken a course with Raymond Blanc, you think you’re an expert. Read

One-man brewery proves true dedication

MUSIC is proven to have a mellowing effect on the soul. Geniality, affability and pleasantly placid serenity drift and settle, then embrace the most resilient of characters. Read

Starters and Puds, Shakespeare Street, Newcastle

Starters & Puds, Newcastle

WE have the three statutory meals in our house. We also have a fourth: dib and dob. So named by our eldest son dib and dob is, as the name suggests, a meal where you do just that. Read

It’s special because of all the mystery

IT is “magically coloured like a limpid strawberry lollipop … the haunting scents of violets and rose petals are captured, with that unmistakable whiff of cake you find in Cabernet-based rosés. It boasts a frivolous fresh fruitiness, teasing you to believe there might be a hint of sweetness. Read

Sweet heaven in Corbridge

RED and yellow and pink and green, purple and orange and blue, passing over the threshold into Frances Holmes’s shop is like walking into a rainbow. Read

To the core of my grumpiness

A USED-to-be friend recently bought me the book, Grumpy Old Men. Why, I don’t know, as I’m the epitome of sweetness and light and go through life like a child skipping through a field of daisies. Read

Chargrilled asparagus with soft-boiled egg

IT’S that wonderful time of year again: the English asparagus season. And when bought fresh from the farm, asparagus can seem like one of nature’s nectar foods. Read

Made in Northumberland scheme...producers aboard a bus which will be touring the berwick area in March

A tasty destination for all

A PILOT scheme set up to promote Northumberland’s distinctive cultural and culinary products has been so successful it has been given funding for a second year. Read

Endangered foods are worth saving

It’s not just our wildlife that is endangered, so are many artisan foods. Jane Hall reports on a unique 10 Things to Eat! Before They Die dinner which aims to show why traditional foods are worth saving. Read

Message in a bottle on Fairtrade offerings

JUST like handbags and sunglasses, wine has its designer labels. Malcolm Gluck tells the story of a wine importer from Singapore, who having splashed out £5,000 for a bottle of Chateau Petrus, made sure that it was prominently displayed on his table, but then proceeded to ‘enhance’ his glass with Pepsi. He admitted, Malcolm relates, to not liking the taste of red wine. Read