PORKCAMP: FROM PIG, TO PORK, TO PLATE

I have twittered about it. I have put pictures up on Facebook and I have even written an article about the event for The Independent. So, just to finish things off and give the final word on the wonderful weekend that was PORKCAMP, here is a quick post about it on DH.

There is not much else to say, once yu have read the article other than it is invitations like this that confirm, if I still ever need confirmation, that my decision to base the second half of my life around the mantra “GO EVERYWHERE, EAT EVERYTHING” was entirely the correct one.

The invitation came from my new chum Florian back at the tail end of 2010 and there was not one chance that I was ever going to turn down an opportunity to spend time with fellow meat enthusiasts even if it did mean braving temperatures of -19o. There was the promise of good company and great food, the offer of a bed in a local apartment and, more importantly, the chance to experience at first hand the fact that for me to deal with my passion for flesh another of the Lord’s creatures had to give up its life.

I have no problem with that, it is the natural order of things, but I do believe that if we are going to eat animals the process from pig to pork to plate should be transparent and the end for the animals should be efficient and as stress free as possible. At Porkcamp, I saw how these things can be done well and the end result meant that what ended up on our plates tasted even better for knowing how it got there.

Most of all, however, Porkcamp was, as all things involving food should be, about community. What started out as a group of disparate individuals brought together from all over Germany by one man’s vision and the use of social networking, ended up as a close knit group of friends making solemn promises to stay in touch and create other events like this.

I am, as I say in the article, working on PORKCAMPUK, which if it is a tenth as remarkable as the original will be well worth attending. Watch this space.

FLORENCE: FOUR STOMACHS IN FIRENZE

There are not, I would imagine, too many people who receive an invitation to travel to Italy for less than twenty four hours just so they can have the chance to eat a sandwich made out of the fourth stomach of a cow. But, that’s what happens I guess when you announce to the world that you want to “Go everywhere, Eat Everything”

Back in May, while I was promoting Eat My Globe in the USA, I received an e-mail from a journalist at La Republica, one of Italy’s most prestigious newspapers. He wanted to interview me about the book and the article above was the result. That in itself was good fun, but a few weeks later I received an e-mail from a woman in Florence who was organising a food festival called Degustibooks. It was part of a wider “Festival of Creativity” and for some unknown reason after reading the article, they thought that an Englishman talking about eating fermented horse milk in Mongolia might just fit the bill.

Which is how I came to be standing on the platform of Pisa station at some ungodly hour on Sunday after a stupidly early start to get the first flight from Gatwick. The Italian train service is obviously as dreadful as ours as I stood there for two hours as train after train was announced cancelled. I began to wonder if I would actually make it to nearby Florence in time for the event. Eventually a train ambled into the station and an hour and a half later, I made it to my hotel with about thirty minutes to spare.

The event itself took part inside La Foretezza and to restore my good humours my lovely hosts fed me a large cannoli before taking me over to the auditorium where I was to speak. It was an unusual set up. My Italian is non existent and most of the crowd (yep, there were a few people who turned up to see who the hell I was) could not speak English. I was interviewed by a journalist whose questions were then translated for me into English, then I answered and my responses were translated back into Italian. I am not sure how it all worked, but people seemed interested in my stories and I got a few laughs.

By the time I had finished an hour later, I was exhausted and any thought of a big meal was out of the question. Fortunately, my chum Dan Woodford, who I met recently in Cambridge, has moved to Florence with his family and had turned up to give support. After my talk had finished, he took me for a stroll around the city so at least got to see some of Florence’s famous sights.

Best of all he introduced me to one of the great food specialities of the city, a Lampredotto. I had heard of it before, but this was the first time I had the chance to try another one of the world’s great sandwiches. A sibling to the Pani Ca Meusa of Sicily, the Lampredotto is made from the fourth stomach of the cow. The meat is cooked for over an hour in a broth containing tomatoes and vegetables and is then served in the middle of a scooped out soft roll with a hefty dollop of salsa verde on top. Key to the whole Lampredotto experience is the dipping of the top of the roll in the broth before serving. It’s messy, reminding me of the French dipped sandwiches of Los Angeles, but it was delicious enough to make the whole trip even more worthwhile and to make me forget I had to be up at 6am the next morning for my return journey.

Finally it was time for a spot of gelato at Grom, one of Dan’s favourite shops and I headed back to the hotel and to bed falling asleep almost before I had undressed. An exhausting trip, no doubt, but when I think that three years ago I would have been driving back from another tortuous Frankfurt Book Fair, I would not change my current life for the world.

Roll on the next adventure.

HERMANO SEGUNDO: BIG IN GERMANY

Ich habe Hunger Hunger Hunger,
habe Hunger Hunger Hunger,
habe Hunger Hunger Hunger,
habe Durst

Wo bleibt das Essen Essen Essen,
bleibt das Essen Essen Essen,
bleibt das Essen Essen Essen,
bleibt die Wurst*


Good news at Casa DH. HS has now had his book published in Germany and, apparently, his image changed to that of a medieval monk – think one of the more unsavoury characters from The Name of the Rose.

To celebrate the publication I did a bit of wine-sleuthing to track down one of HS’s favourite German wines, Sekt. Rarely seen in the UK, this sparkling wine has a reputation for being a bit ropey but the Riesling Sekt stocked by the excellent wine merchant The Winery in Maida Vale was rather wonderful with hints of crisp apple and a refreshing dryness in the finish that made for a perfect aperitivo. The Winery also has an excellent selection of other German wines including a range of Spätburgunders - well worth a visit.

To keep up the German theme we followed with an unfeasibly large hunk of Pork and some Potatoes roasted in the fat of Pig. There was Apfelmus as well (Muss es sein? ....Es muss sein!). A modest meal, certainly, but the best I could do short of flying HS out to München.

Anyway well done, Hermano, and Prost !

* Not great I know, but that was the extent of my German after one term at Oakwood Comprehensive under the tutelage of the rather fragrant Frau Müller (mmm…Frau Müller).

EAT MY GLOBE: BUY THIS BOOK OR HS WILL BE VERY SAD

Making people feel sorry for you as a sales technique requires a combination of shamelessness and chutzpah. Happily, HS possesses both qualities in bucket loads. Today, I was fortunate enough to see the master at work.

Standfords, for those who haven’t been to London’s fashionable West End, is the World’s largest Travel bookshop. It also just happened to have HS’s first book, Eat My Globe, on prominent display in the New Books section.

After a taking the obligatory snaps and a little vid, HS gazed wistfully at the book and said “Oh well, now I hope at least one bugger will buy it”. The comment seemed to be aimed at nobody in particular. However, there was a man standing next to us who looked first at HS: sad-faced, unshaven and wearing a tea cosy on his head, then at me: also unshaven, grey, slightly worn around the edges. He was later seen queuing at the till, a copy of EMG clutched tightly in his hands. Result.

Advanced selling techniques aside, I’m one very proud elder Hermano. To get a book published these days, especially when you’re not an established author is a fantastic achievement. Even more so when you’ve put as much work into it as HS has – this was truly a labour of love – and to have financed the whole thing from your life savings (how scary is that ?).

Even more laudable is that unlike most of the crummy celebrity tomes clogging up the bookshelves this is actually written by the man himself (although I hear the Copy Editors have financed second homes out of their overtime) and wasn’t produced to tie into some lame-o TV Series which always has to end with, as HS so eloquently puts it, another fucking banquet.

Anyway, in my humble opinion, Eat My Globe is a terrific read (and if you’ve seen the chapter on The Great Salami you’ll know I don’t say this out of nepotism) and should be next on anyone’s must-read list, maybe after Jordan: Pushed to the Limit.

So if you’re one of the intelligent, discerning and attractive people that read the Dos Hermanos blog I’d advise you to go down to your bookshop without delay and pick up a copy, not forgetting to pay for it on the way out. It will make you a Sex God (allegedly) and it might mean that HS can afford a new tea cosy.

Bravo Hermano !

HERMANO SEGUNDO'S BEST TASTES OF 2008

A few weeks ago, I was contacted by fine dining guru, Steve Plotnicki asking if I would contribute to his "BEST TASTES OF 2008" alongside assorted chefs, professional foodwriters and bloggers



I was only too happy to comply for, although we are polar opposites when it comes to many aspects of dining, I can recognise in Steve a similar obsession with food and a similar distaste for bad meals, however differently we may define them.

You can read my contribution and those of others over on his blog OPINIONATED ABOUT DINING

Checking back through my photographs for the year trying to come up with my best meals was a happy experience and allowed me to relive, not only the second half of the EAT MY GLOBE journey, but also some of the meals since I returned to London and from other trips, most notably to Los Angeles and Pas De Calais.

It also made me realise how much I missed cooking when I was on the road, for although I am an enthusiastic rather than talented cook, there are few things in life more enjoyable than spending time in the kitchen.

As always a huge thank you to all those who helped make 2008 so special. If 2009 turns out to be half as good, it's going to be very enjoyable indeed

1) A PROPER BARNSLEY CHOP (HOME, LONDON)



2)SCHWEINHAXN (MUNICH, GERMANY)



3) VILLAGE LOBSTER (ICELAND)



4) FRIED CHICKEN (CHATACHUK MARKET, BANGKOK)



5) TRADITIONAL MALAYSIAN BUFFET (RESTAURANT REBUNG, KUALA LUMPUR)



6) PHO (HANOI, VIETNAM)



7) SEAFOOD KARE KARE ( ANGELES, PHILIPPINES)



8) TANDOORI CHICKEN (BHUKARA, DELI)



9) BHEL PURI (VITTAL'S MUMBAI)



10) "EXECUTIVE" THALI ( BANGALORE)



11) TEA & BISCUITS (GOOMTEE ESTATE, DARJEELING)



12) MISHTI DAHI (K.C. DAS KOLKATA)



13) BRAAI (DE TOREN WINERY, STELLENBOSH, SOUTH AFRICA)



14) PRAWNS (MAPUTO, MOZAMBIQUE)



15) MAFE ( DAKAR, SENEGAL)



16) LAMB & PRUNE TAGINE (CASABLANCA, MOROCCO)



17) JAMON & TIP PEPE ( JEREZ, SPAIN)



18) BALIK EKMEK ( ISTANBUL, TURKEY)


19) PANI CA MEUSA (PALERMO, ITALY)



20) ABBACCHIO (ROME,ITALY)



21) GRILLED MEATS ( TAYYABS, LONDON)



22) ROAST GAMMON (HOME, LONDON)



23) LOCAL CHEESES (PAS DE CALAIS, FRANCE)


24) SIU LONG BAO (DIN TAI FUNG, L.A)


25)CREAMY ROLLED PASTA (CHOCOLATE, SANTA CRUZ)


26)FRIED CHICKEN (HONEY'S KETTLE, L.A)



27)CHILLI DOG AND CHEESEBURGER COMBO(MARTY'S, L.A)



28) DEEP FRIED CHICKEN GIBLETS (ROSCOE'S CHICKEN & WAFFLES, LA)



29) PERSIMMON CAKE ( LIZ HASKELL, LA)


30) CHOCOLATE TRUFFLES (PAUL A YOUNG, LONDON)


31)STUFFED SHOULDER OF MUTTON (HOME, LONDON)


32) BEEF RENDANG (HOME LONDON)