David Cameron's Diary

Hell, I even keep my own laying chickens because I can't bear the thought of poor animal husbandry. I also invested in a home smoking cabinet to try preparing my own smoked foods to avoid artificial liquid smokes in my food (the cabinet works great by the way, but needs a fair bit of effort to keep the charcoal or wood burning).

I therefore seek out suppliers of the highest quality foods available and make no apology for spending a bit more this way to get premium produce. I ask you...what you rather do, buy your food on the cheap and then chew through an inferior, tough, and tasteless piece of meat? or pay a premum that you really can enjoy.

So here are my suppliers this Christmas season:

Donald Russell

I have stocked up on game for the Christmas period via Donald Russell based in Inverurie, whom I (along with Nigella Lawson and Delia Smith) have used for years and have never been disappointed.

We now have partridge, roe deer loin and Guinea Fowl at the ready.

Donald Russell offer an unconditional money-back guarantee if you are not satisfied. I can't say how well that works, because quite simply put, I have always been delighted.

My top taste from them: Kiln Hot Smoked Salmon... if you think that the typical smoked salmon from a supermarket tastes great, then you are in for a treat with this. Instead of being slimy and chewy (almost stringy), the Kiln Smoked salmon is flaky and succulent - it is like a completely different product and hugely recommended by me (unless like me, you have a smoker and do it yourself)!!

Kelly Turkeys

For Christmas Dinner itself, I have been drawn to and ordered a Kelly Bronze Turkey for the first time. I have never been a massive fan of turkey as I always felt flat with the flavour and texture. The thought of going back for leftovers always appalled me.

However, I have read many reviews lately suggesting that this bronze breed with thoughtful husbandry used by the Kelly Family and their franchisees gives this turkey a 10/10 both for flavour and succulence.

A surprising benefit of this particular turkey is that it does not take very long to cook. Instead of almost having to start the bird cooking on Christmas Eve, the whole cooking process is ~2 hours only for a 4kg (9lb) bird (feeds 8) and Christmas Dinner can be timed perfectly.

For the first time ever, I am actually looking forward to cooking and sitting down to turkey this Christmas. Visit Kelly Turkey's here.

London Fine Foods

I know that this may seem like a contradiction to my respect for animal husbandry and there is a lot of controversy around the force-feeding of geese for this purpose, but I have visited farms in the Perigord region of France where the biggest production of Foie-Gras takes place and have witnessed both the feeding and the way the ducks live their lives and I was very happy with the love and care that I saw.

My order is placed for a Foie and upon receipt from London Fine Foods, I will be portioning it up for use over the next few months. Many people have not tasted real Foie Gras and you don't know what you are missing out on.

Caledonian Connoisseur

Well, I am a Scotsman, and you might expect me to support the produce from my homeland (as I already did for Donald Russell).

However, although this is a supplier that I have not yet tried, I will do because they uphold my principles of having suppliers who respect the welfare of the animals during their life, but equally importantly giving them the proper attention after slaughter to hang them for the required time to mature the flavour and tenderise the meat.

They also support the production of Mutton, a delicious, but often difficult meat to source these days.

I love the following review comment:

Enter the code WEB7 at the Checkout to receive your FREE GIFTS. As a new customer you'll receive :

• a pack of Ramsay's award winning Ayrshire bacon. Rick Stein 'Food Heroes'
  - Andrew and John Ramsay have won countless awards for the quality of their bacon, hams and black pudding. You'll love the quality of their Ayrshire bacon.


• Plus you'll also receive a pair of Aberdeen Angus Rump Steaks from award winning butcher Billy Glendinning. Hung and matured for a minimum of 21 days these are seriously good steaks.
  "The steaks that came free with my first order were, quite simply, the best steaks I have ever tasted." D. R. Edinburgh


• And if your order is over £75 in value (excluding delivery) you will also receive a pack of sensational Smoked Salmon!

I am off now to place an order with CaleyCo whilst this offer lasts, though I am not sure when I will get to sample it...the freezer is full of great food from Donald Russell already!!

Have a great Christmas Larder,

David Cameron.

Labels: CaleyCo, Connoisseur, Donald Russell, Kelly Bronze, Kelly Turkeys, London Fine Foods, specialist food

# posted by David Cameron @ Wednesday, December 05, 2007 0 Comments Links to this post