Week 5 at the market – Slow Roast Pork Shoulder Baps

Slow Roast Pork Shoulder - looks small but it was enormous!

I promised myself that I would be more organised last week, I really did. And I thought that I was. Why then did I run out of time again? Ack, it became so frustrating and exhausting I really started to question if this was worthwhile.  Can I make a go of this realistically? I want to, I really do, but it’s difficult.

I have made some progress. I’m now getting my meat delivered, saving me a trip to the butchers. This may not seem like much but it’s a few hours all in all, and this makes an enormous difference. Online farmer’s market Paganum, who I have used in the past, seemed like the perfect solution. I can order those large & heavy cuts of meat, know that they are well sourced (all Yorkshire produce), and Chris will ensure that these are delivered to me on time, saving my wrists, and time. One step forward. Hooray.

How then did I find myself lost in Tottenham, on Wednesday afternoon when I should have been in the throes of pastry making, chorizo chopping, industrious tart production etc. HOW? It’s completely ridiculous, I had a list, and I knew what I had to do, but then I had an idea, and I had to act on it. Brilliant if you’re cooking dinner for a few people, but when mass producing (ish) to deadline, and trying to do it well, best to be practical and stick to THE LIST. Lesson learned. Creativity is useful and important but practicality is very important too. Balance, where are you? Hoping for a visit next week.

To that end, I need to source more of my products online and have them delivered, allowing me more time to make. I adore Natoora and use them for my personal shopping, they have a fantastic and seasonal range and a great delivery service, but I am not sure this is right for the stall. I need somewhere I can buy large amounts. Any ideas?

Pork & chorizo rolls in homemade butter shortcrust pastry

This week I varied the offerings. I will continue to do this, perhaps not every week, but I feel it’s important, however, practicality deems that old favourites should remain, and so I made pork and chorizo rolls again, and had return visitors to buy them. In fact, what has been really lovely is we have now built up a stream of regulars and this week had a queue, which was fantastic. The downside to this was that I wasn’t prepared in terms of volume and we were sold out of our main offerings before 2pm.

So, what was this? This week I slow roasted a shoulder of pork, and made some homemade blaas, a traditional bread peculiar to Waterford (where I am from), a gorgeous fluffy bap with a little sweetness that was great with the pork. I served the pork in the blaas with spiced apple relish and rocket. It was a labour of love, as most good things are, but the results were lovely, a delicious moist pork with a smashing crackling, also spiced. I really found it difficult not to devour it there and then.

Homemade blaas

The blaas, I made fresh on the morning with a not so delicious early start, but bread has to be fresh, otherwise, what’s the point? Waking up the yeast with a little sugar and warm water, coaxing it from sleep, I wished I could be as easy to wake up. I was struggling last Thursday morning, motivation was at an all time low. Several rounds of kneading, proving, rising, proving, rising again, and finally (!) baking, produced fluffy white paps, which were a great home for the pork and spiced apple relish.

We had a different wine this week which was a gorgeous match with the pork and rolls, Macatela 2006, a spanish red from Tierra de Castilla. A delicious organic wine at a bargain £3.50 a glass, more on that over on Denise’s blog – The Wine Sleuth. Some regulars were asking after Bisol, and I must confess that I missed my glass or two of it, it’s so good, so it will return next week. We will have both the rose and the white prosecco, and also a matched wine courtesy of Denise. Variety is the spice of life, to use the cliche.

Denise and the delicious vino

Sadly, time as always was limiting, so apologies to people who came looking for tarts, these will return next week. I am also hoping to do some sweet treats for the afternoon.

Another new development this week! I will be sending the menu by email, so if you want to receive the weekly menu by email, sign up here.

So, we’ll continue, and look forward to seeing you next week! We’ll have more food and will hopefully run out, but not as early as last week. Get down early and tuck in :)

By the way, if you have suggestions for food you’d like to see on the stall, I would love to hear them. Please get in touch.