Author Archives: billoldfield
Squirrel anyone?
There’s a particular Guardian columnist worth reading occasionally. Intelligent and articulate whilst often pretentious and sometimes misguided, George Monbiot is keen on making contentious comment in order to keep his political and environmental views in the public eye. Well, just recently, his column caught my eye and, after wading through some fairly flowery prose, it […]
A hidden gem of a restaurant at the Fringe
I spent a week at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe just recently. I’ve been a few times now, and if you’ve never been, you’re missing a wonderful yet daunting experience. Nowhere in the world is there collected so much talent in one small space. In less than a month there are more than 3,000 shows with […]
Kedgeree
Originally posted on Bill Oldfield:
Kedgeree – an Anglo-Indian breakfast A Hindi dish of rice or lentils combined with meat or fish is known as khichri. As happened frequently at the time, the Victorian British in India came up with their own version of the dish and originally served it at breakfast so that, in…
Summer in the City
Originally posted on Bill Oldfield:
Opiniated? Me? Everyone’s an expert. Just listen to any of the phone-ins on local radio or maybe Jeremy Vine’s show on Radio Two, especially following some big news item, and you’ll hear incredible levels of knowledge about almost everything. Last week’s budget was a good example where it was a…
Summer in the City
Everyone’s an expert. Just listen to any of the phone-ins on local radio or maybe Jeremy Vine’s show on Radio Two, especially following some big news item, and you’ll hear incredible levels of knowledge about almost everything. Last week’s budget was a good example where it was a surprise to find there were so many […]
Kedgeree
A Hindi dish of rice or lentils combined with meat or fish is known as khichri. As happened frequently at the time, the Victorian British in India came up with their own version of the dish and originally served it at breakfast so that, in the days before refrigerators, early morning-caught fish could be eaten […]
Are you being served?
We all know there are things that irritate us about waiting staff. It’s a particularly subjective and personal matter but, in a recent unscientific survey carried out by yours truly, there appears to be some common complaints. Over all, it doesn’t seem to matter how competent the waiter is, whether he can carry six plates […]
Ox tongue and wood pigeon terrine with toast
Pigeon breast, pigs trotters and ox tongues are not found in many people’s kitchens. And if you were to ask your butcher for the ingredients, he’d probably raise an eyebrow. Not necessarily because he doesn’t have them, rather that he rarely gets asked for them. Don’t be squeamish about the trotter. It’s there to add […]
North Sea lemon sole with dill butter and samphire
One of the most evocative of smells is that of the sea and I don’t think anyone’s managed to bottle it yet. But samphire’s a herb or vegetable with an aroma that when fresh, instantly teleports you to the seaside. Sometimes referred to as sea asparagus but more accurately called glasswort, samphire is found on […]
Blind Scouse with herb dumplings
When writing menus, you have to be careful not to put the diners off with the descriptions you use. I guess that’s why the flesh of a pig’s referred to as pork. So we debated long and hard before using the term Blind Scouse for this dish as it suggested a visually challenged Liverpudlian when […]
Bill Oldfield 