An Evening of 'Swine and Dine' at the British Larder. The Very First Flying Visit.

A marvellous evening of “Come Swine and Dine With Me.'
On the 29th February 2012, the award-winning British Larder Restaurant, situated near Woodbridge in Suffolk hosted the first of a nationwide series of Dingley Dell's Flying Visits.
Mark Hayward, ringmaster and a long standing member of the RSPCA's Freedom Food scheme kicked off the Flying Visit evening with a warm welcome of porky anecdotes... 'It is about chefs and the dishes they produce, it is how the butchers arrive with the cut of meat, and it is about the farm. What we are trying to do is to bring every element of that meal into one evening'. Mark Hayward - Dingley Dell Pork. Bob Waller from Feedom Food followed with a short talk on animal welfare. 'This is brilliant and this is what good animal welfare is about, it is not stressed, it is just brilliant meat'. Bob Waller, Freedom Food.
Master Suffolk Butchers Jim Craig and Wayne Lemon, showed off their butchery skills as they both demonstrated how to break down a full Dingley Dell pig illustrating the different cuts used by each chef. All the cuts were auctioned off at the end by Leslie Dolphin of BBC Radio Suffolk which raised £250 for the East Anglian Children's Hospice. 'There is nothing nicer then working with these chefs and Mark and his pigs.' - Jim Craig, Master Butcher.
Time to celebrate the pig!
The evening really kicked off as top chefs Paul Foster, Mark Poynton and Ross Pike, were challenged to cook a spectacular, mouth-watering three course pork tasting menu...
Paul Foster from Tuddenham Mill in Suffolk chose to wow us with some slow cooked Dingley Dell Pork neck accompanied by scratching’s, chicory, straight-from-the-coast Walberswick sea vegetables and Suffolk beer pickled sweet potato.
Mark Poynton from Alimentum in Cambridge treated us to deep-fried spiced pulled pork shoulder, slow roast fillet with picked apple and pomegranate sauce and celeriac ‘slaw’.
Ross Pike from The British Larder, Suffolk finished the pork fuelled menu with Dingley Dell Pork belly, swede, date puree, pig’s ear and puffed pork rice.
These terrific dishes were followed by a selection of puddings courtesy of Madelene Bonvini-Hamel and we were also delighted to have James Stoddard from Enotria Winecellars joining us to compare pork and wine. 'It is a great opportunity and we are very honoured' – Madelene Bonvini-Hamel
It was truly a great evening and proof that welfare friendly pork provides meat that is totally consistent in its beautiful flavour. This first ‘visit’ resulted in an eight minute feature on BBC Radio Suffolk and a double page spread in the East Anglian Daily Times ‘Suffolk magazine’.
We’re looking forward to the next.

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