Jo returns to Leeds!

Those of you who came to our Mrs Beeton inspired supperclub will have experienced the wit and creativity of comedy songwriter, Jo Stephenson. For those of you who missed her I have good news… she’s bringing her Edinburgh Fringe hit show – ‘Can You Dig it?’ to Leeds in July!

‘Can You Dig It?’ is a musical  comedy smogasbord of songs about the highs and lows of growing your own vegetables, thought to be the number one musical about veg no less! If you are a foodie who likes silly comedy then this is the show for you. It features a love song for Allan Titchmarsh, a Eurovision dance routine and even a rap about slugs! This is not to be missed.

The show is at the Carriageworks on 11 July 2012. Tickets are available at various reasonable prices from their website. Hope to see you there!

You can read more about Jo and her songs when she did a guest post for us earlier this year…

A Beeton Banquet at Dinner at the Manor

We went back in time to the Victorian era at the weekend for Dinner the Manor’s supperclub inspired by Mrs Beeton. We hunted out delicious and unusual recipes from her classic Household Management to give guests a taste of times gone by.

Upon arrival guests were treated to a cocktail consisting of home brewed ginger beer and pear vodka. The ginger beer was actually quite easy to make and came spiked with lemongrass flavours as well as firey ginger – it was so fizzy and we were were afraid the bottles were on the verge of exploding! Luckily they didnt! The pear vodka had been infused last summer with some of the Manor’s bounty of pears.

Dinner at the Manor’s Mrs Beeton Menu

Mrs Beeton is coming to Dinner at the Manor on the 10th March! We hope our guests are looking forward to it as much as we are!

We have been trawling her Book of Household Management for inspiration and we want to showcase some interesting food which can be enjoyed by modern day guests!

Don’t forget that we also have the fantastic Jo Stephenson joining us for the evening who will be providing some musical comedy – you’re in for a treat.

We will have some new season preserves on sale too, including a range of marmalades and chutneys so remember to pick some up on your visit.

Looking forward to it!

Jo Stephenson takes over Dinner at the Manor!

In anticipation of next month’s homage to Mrs Beeton we are pleased to introduce you to Jo Stephenson, comedy song writer and lover of all things Beeton related. Jo will be performing some of her witty ditties at our supperclub and so we invited her to guest blog to introduce herself:

Greetings supperclubbers. I’m really looking forward to coming to the Mrs Beeton-themed Dinner at the Manor on March 10. I’ll be singing some songs, which will hopefully add to everyone’s enjoyment of the night, but – to be honest – I’m mainly interested in the food. I have sampled the culinary genius of the delightful Dinner at the Manor hosts many times before at informal gatherings but I have never actually been to their supper club. I have been following its progress, however, and am constantly impressed with the menus, attention to detail and emphasis on using local produce.

Game on – day two

Missed part one? Well read it here then!

So after a whole day of stuffing rich food into ourselves and a night of jolly drinking we awoke early on the Sunday, bleary-eyed, to prepare ourselves for yet more butchery! Luckily I’d seen sense to stick to local yummy ciders the night before, but my gaming partner had been at the red wine and agreed she was not 100%. A crisp walk up to the cookery school soon sorted us both out.

Our Sunday session seemed far more calm and collected, maybe we had just settled in with the resonance of the kitchen, I don’t know? We started doing our mise-en-place (prep) for our dinner later in the day, so it was quite similar to a supperclub day in fact. This included heating up cream, laced with lavender, ready for a wobbly pannacotta and chopping up tiny bits of veg for our anticipated consomme.

The rabbits we prepared the day before were handed back out again. They had been marinating overnight in a concoction of five spice, garlic and thyme. They smelled amazing and their fate was a giant pan full of melted duck fat. These were to be cooked, confit style, in a low oven for 5 hours and would be turned into rillets for us to take home.

Game for a laugh – day one

I do love a bit of rich, meaty game, and when we served venison at our Delia’s Christmas supperclub last year it was probably one of the tastiest things I’d eaten in an age. Plus when we did a beef version, it just wasn’t quite the same.

Anyway, game is an ingredient that I guess I don’t use often enough. Living in the city it’s not always the thing that’s widely available in the market, so it’s not an ingredient I feel amazingly confident about. I’d done a brilliant course at Ashburton Cookery School last year that taught me some great knife skills that I still use now, and I wanted to take it to the next level.

Being in Devon the cookery school is hardly local to Leeds. But I have friends in Devon and they’d bought me some vouchers for the school for my 30th birthday so it seemed a good idea to pop down and learn about game!

Red legged partridges ready for plucking!

Dinner at the Manor Dinner Dates for 2012

We’ve had an amazing amount of interest in our dinner events and we want to say thanks to our guests who have experienced, and will experience our evenings.

We have been thinking long and hard about future themes and so we are pleased to announce the next batch of events for 2012!

We hope you’ll find them refreshing and interesting, we’d love to know what you think! Also, if anyone has a favourite cookbook they’d like us to use for a future event, then please contact us and let us know!

Friday 10th & Saturday 11th February 2012
Nigel’s Slater’s Kitchen Diaries matched with a selection of ales from the lovely folk from Leeds Brewery. More info and how to book

Saturday 10th March 2012
We’re going back in time with Mrs Beeton, with entertainment from our friend, the wonderful musician and comedian Jo Stephenson! Full event details here.

Saturday 21st April 2012
A vegetarian feast courtesy of Yotam Ottolenghi! We’ll be pairing the courses with ales from a local brewer too! More Info

Mrs Beeton comes to Dinner at the Manor

Saturday 10 March 2012

Sorry, this event is now sold out

We’ll be taking the Manor back to its roots in March when we dabble with a bit of Mrs Beeton’s Household Management for this menu. We’ll be bringing some Victorian classics into the 21st century but serving them in our very Victorian surroundings.

We’ve all heard of Mrs Beeton from her world famous compendium of recipes and housekeeping tips. What is less known about her is that she wasn’t really a cook herself but was a journalist who pinched recipes from her peers. Despite this, Household Management is still an excellent snapshot of life in mid Victorian Britain. Beeton’s writing has undoubtedly inspired some of the biggest cooks of the 20th century (Delia Smith and Jane Grigson to name but a few) – but can her old fashioned wares stick it in the modern day?!