Make ahead and freeze - get ahead of the taste game

Planning ahead

When thinking about the coming season of festive feasting, there's a lot you can do sooner rather than panic about it later.

For Christmas devotees, you can even extend the festive fun as you ding dong merrily in the kitchen over the coming weekends.

But, it's not just the Yorkshire puds, mince pies, red cabbage and stuffing you can make ahead and freeze. Even with acres of leftovers to eat, it's good to have a casserole or two under the proverbial belt, ready to defrost and enjoy.
.

Lamb with Christmas Spices 

Click here or on any image to order

This has the essence of Christmas in a hearty stew. 'Christmas' works so well with this lamb neck fillet (1.5 kg) cut into chunks and browned with diced onion, grated garlic and fresh ginger.

Add the wonderful Persian fragrances of ground cinnamon (a pinch), coriander (1 tsp), cloves (pinch), ground almonds (3 tbsp) and cardamom pods.

Stir in a couple of spoons of flour and 750 ml of beef stock. bring it to the boil adding a good shake of Stokes Tomato Ketchup and 3 or 4 good spoonfuls of Stokes Spiced Apricot Chutney.

Cover and simmer for 45 minutes. Add a pack of ready-to-eat dried apricots and simmer, lid off, for 15 minutes more. Cool it, freeze it and enjoy it mid-week between Christmas and the New Year.

Chestnut Stuffing Roll

Instead of actually stuffing the bird, this is a roulade of sausage, chestnuts, apple and cranberry to roast and be carved at the table.

Here's how:

Squeeze the meat from 10 good butcher's pork sausages into a bowl with roughly chopped parsley, sage and thyme. Roughly chop 1 x 200g pack of chestnuts and add this to the meat with 1 tbsp of Stokes Cider & Horseradish Mustard, 1 tbsp of Stokes Bramley Apple Sauce and 3 tbsp of Stokes Cranberry Sauce.

Finely slice a juicy Bramley apple and add this too, with about 75 g of frozen cranberries. With your hands, combine everything with 50 g of breadcrumbs and an egg.

Lay a sheet of foil on a worktop with the same amount of cling film on that. Now sit a dozen or so rashers of streaky bacon side by side on the film having stretched them first with the back of a knife. Spoon the sausage and chestnut mixture along one side of the bacon and carefully roll the foil forward taking the bacon and its contents with you until you have a bacon-wrapped stuffing roulade.

Freeze the roulade at this stage. De-frost and roast at a medium heat for 45 minutes until the sausage is cooked and the bacon is crisp. This should give you 8 generous slices.

Rich Red Cabbage

Here's how:

Finely slice 1 red cabbage, 2 red onions and 2 Bramley apples and fry them in butter, turning the contents regularly.

Add a pinch of ground cinnamon, coriander, cloves; 1 tbsp of Stokes Chilli Jam and 2 tbsp of Stokes Cranberry & Orange Sauce (we cook this in ruby port).

Stir in a splash of orange juice, 175 ml of port, 1 tsp of Balsamic vinegar and 125 ml of water.

Bring the contents up to a gentle boil, cover and simmer for an hour, stirring from time to time.

If it is too wet, drain it, cool it and freeze it in portions to make it easier to defrost and cook just what you need when you need it.

Yorkshire Pud Roulette

Adding a flavour such as mustard to a Yorkshire Pudding batter gives you a pud with a difference. Dividing the batter into three, each with a different flavour and baked randomly lets you play 'Russian Roulette' along with your crackers, jokes and tricks on Christmas Day.

Your basic batter mix:

• 140 g of plain flour
• 4 eggs
• 200 ml of milk

Plus:

• Stokes Classic English Mustard
• Stokes Chilli Jam
• Stokes Creamed Horseradish Sauce

Ho Ho How:

Get the oven as hot as you can. Put a drop of vegetable oil in each of the 12 cups of a non-stick muffin tin and put it in the oven to get the oil piping hot.

Put the flour into a bowl, beat in the eggs until you have a smooth paste and add the milk slowly, beating constantly.

When you have your batter, divide it into 4 bowls adding 2 tsp of each of our bullets (mustard, chilli or horseradish) to each of three bowls, leaving the fourth as a plain batter.

Carefully take the tin from the oven and randomly spoon the batters into the hot cups. Now back in the oven for 25 minutes until the puds have risen and browned.

You can cool them and freeze them now if you've enough willpower - it's far too tempting to eat them and start again later though.

Taste the festivities - stock the Stokes

Add the Taste of Stokes to your festive feasting 

- place your orders here

More foodie thoughts for the week:





St Andrew's Day - Cullen Skink, Clapshot & Cranachan here.









   



Meet our first Advent Card winner and enjoy more video fun here.











The perfect gift of tasty scrumptious yumminess - here.

If good food makes you happy
...adding Stokes will make you smile ;)

 FOOD MADE BETTER 

www.stokessauces.co.uk

01394 462150

Celebrate St. Andrew's Day with some fine Scottish Fayre

St Andrew's Day

St Andrew's Day (30th November) celebrates Scotland's patron saint. It's also a great excuse for the fine folk of Scotland to enjoy a bank holiday.

But who was St Andrew the Apostle?

St Andrew, according to Christianity's teachings, was one of Jesus Christ's apostles revered in Scotland from around 1,000 AD but he didn't become its official patron saint until the signing of the Declaration of Arbroath in 1320.

Like Jesus, Andrew died a martyr, crucified in Greece on an X-shaped cross in 60 AD. This type of cross is also known as a saltire - the symbol that makes up the Scottish flag today.


The 3 C's of Scottish Cuisine

Cullen Skink

Cullen is a fishing town on the Moray Firth, an inlet popular with haddock. Most recipes simply call for smoked haddock, with some adding 'preferably undyed'. Nick Nairn specifies Arbroath smokies - headless, gutted haddock, hot smoked over wood in the traditional fashion. There are theories, but nobody knows for certain where the word 'skink' comes from.

You'll need:

• 1 onion, diced
• 2 or 3 potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 300 ml of milk
• 3 or 4 cloves
• 1 bay leaf
• 250 g of smoked haddock
• 1 tbsp of Stokes Cider & Horseradish Mustard

Here's how:

Gently fry the onion in butter for 8 to 10 minutes. We don't want to colour it, just soften it, then stir the mustard into the onions. 

Boil the potatoes until they too are soft, drain and set aside.

Put the milk into a pan with the cloves and bay leaf. Bring it up to a gentle simmer and add the smoked haddock for about 5 minutes.

Cool the pan then remove the haddock, keeping the milk but throwing the cloves and bay away. When cool enough to handle, break up the fish, removing the skin and bones.

Add  the milk, fish and potatoes to the onions, season and simmer for 5 minutes. Serve and enjoy.

Clapshot & Haggis Pie

Haggis neeps & tatties is the traditional Scottish trio but this dish uses 'clapshot' which originated in Orkney. It is basically a mash of neeps and tatties (turnips and potatoes), sometimes including chives or onions. We're going to make this 'shepherd's pie' style combining haggis and minced beef as the base, with clapshot on the top.

The gravy is one to look out for.

Here's how:

Peel, cut, boil, mash and cool equal amounts of tatties and neeps. A lovely, buttery combined mash will spread smoothly over the meaty base.

Cook a 450 g (approx) of haggis to the packet's instructions and set aside.

Gently fry 1 diced onion and 1 grated carrot in a little butter then add 450 g of minced beef. When the meat colours, add 3 tbsp of Stokes Tomato Ketchup, 1 tbsp of Stokes Brown Sauce, 2 tsp of chopped thyme leaves and a dash of Worcestershire sauce.

Stir in 2 tbsp of flour and pour in about 500 ml of beef stock. A few peas add sweetness and a little colour. Simmer for 20 minutes then carefully add the cooked haggis. If there is too much liquid, increase the heat to reduce it; if it's too thick then add more stock. Haggis is very highly seasoned so be careful and taste it first if you're thinking of adding more.

Slange var ~ cheers !

Simmer for a further 10 minutes then spoon it all into a casserole dish. It's easier to layer the mashed clapshot when the meat has cooled. Cover the meat with the clapshot then pop it into a medium hot oven for 30 to 40 minutes.

For the Whisky Gravy:

Boil the alcohol off 150 ml of whisky for 2 minutes then stir in 1 tbsp of Stokes Dijon Mustard and 2 tbsp of Stokes Cranberry Sauce.

In a separate pan, boil 500 ml of beef stock to reduce it by half then pour it into the whisky and mustard with 100 ml of double cream, heating it up before serving.

Cranachan

Our 3rd 'C' is a traditional Scottish dessert of oats, cream, whisky and raspberries. It's a delicious way to clean the palate after a meal of smoked haddock and spicy haggis.

Here's how:

Toast 85 g of porridge oats in a dry pan being careful not to burn them.

Whip 570 ml of double cream to soft peaks. Now very gently (lovingly shall we say) fold in: 7 tbsp of whisky; 3 tbsp of Stokes Raspberry Extra Jam; 3 tbsp of honey; and 400 g of fresh raspberries. Spoon the mixture into glass bowls with the toasted oats and serve.

Once you are used to the ingredients, try creating a deconstructed Cranachan, layering the ingredients for visual effect.

Once you've tried this, you'll never want to make a trifle again.

Taste the festivities - stock the Stokes

Add the Taste of Stokes to your festive feasting 

- place your orders here

More foodie thoughts for the week:






Make ahead and freeze - for tasty time savers click here.









   




Meet our first Advent Card winner and enjoy more video fun here.

The perfect gift of tasty scrumptious yumminess here.










If good food makes you happy
...adding Stokes will make you smile ;)

 FOOD MADE BETTER 

www.stokessauces.co.uk

01394 462150

The perfect gift of scrumptious, tasty, yumminess

The Gift of Great Taste

 'Taste of Luxury' & 'Selection for Cheese'
Gift Tubes

Buy now - here

The 'Taste of Luxury' Gift Tube contains three unique preserves, each crafted especially for this gift collection. And the ‘Selection for Cheese’ Gift Tube contains three of Stokes cheese-friendly favourites.


The 'Taste of Luxury' Gift Tube

The Blackcurrant Extra Jam with Claret is intensely fruity, sweet with sour berry notes and textures. Spread it on toasted crumpets with oodles of butter. 1 x 250g jar per tube.

Stokes Spiced Winter Chutney gives us every essence of Christmas fruit spices in a jar. It adds jingles to sausages and bells to cold beef. 1 x 240g jar per tube.

The Orange Cranberry & Cinnamon Conserve has a uniquely sweet intensity of consistency, aromatics and taste. Glaze the best bread and butter - ever. 1 x 250g jar per tube.


 

Buy now - here

The ‘Selection for Cheese’ Gift Tube



Fig Relish (1 x 250g jar) has an abundance of sweet, juicy figs - it's fabulous with smoked cheese melted on toasted baguette slices.

Chilli Jam (1 x 250g jar) is a deliciously sticky jam bursting with sweet chilli peppers, red peppers and red chilli heat. It's particularly good with mature Cheddar or a soft brie.

Last but by no means least, our Red Onion Marmalade (1 x 265g jar) is lusciously thick with caramelised red onions in sticky black treacle and a sharp balsamic finish.

It's amazing with just about anything - try it with grilled cheese on toast.

The 'Food Lovers' Collection

If you are not sure what to buy but want to gift a delicious range of our most popular products, try this - The Food Lovers Collection.

To order this and other tasty gift collections, just click here

 Stokes Strawberry Extra Jam - is a rich and fruity soft set jam, crammed with strawberries (50% fruit) giving it its full flavour and lush colour. Made to our fruity twist on a classic English recipe.

Stokes Bloody Mary Ketchup. This award-winning beauty has all the thick, lush tomatoes of our Tomato Ketchup with the additional excitement of vodka, Worcestershire sauce and Bloody Mary spices. It's perfect for a 'morning after' bacon sandwich.

Stokes Sweet Chilli Sauce - is made with red chillies and red peppers overflowing with the vitality of the orient. With its sweet, clean taste this sauce is deliciously versatile - use as a dip, a glaze, a marinade or the centrepiece to one of your great stir fries.

Stokes Brown Sauce - is guaranteed to change your opinion of Brown Sauce. This sweet and spicy sauce is rich with date puree, black treacle and our own unique blend of heart warming spices.

Stokes Cider & Horseradish Mustard. We make this with cider vinegar, beautiful British dry cider, horseradish from Essex and a blend of yellow and black mustard seeds that pop deliciously in your mouth - this mustard has everything. 

You can order your tasty treats - here

Stokes Red Onion Marmalade - is lusciously thick with caramelised red onions in sticky black treacle and a sharp balsamic finish. It's amazing with just about anything - try it with grilled cheese on toast.

Stokes Chilli Jam - is a deliciously sticky jam, bursting with sweet chilli peppers, red peppers and red chilli heat. It's particularly good with mature Cheddar or a soft brie.

Stokes Real Mayonnaise is really very special. We use only whole eggs from British free range Welfare Assured hens into which we drizzle very fine British rapeseed oil to create the product's core. Then, to make our real mayonnaise stand out from the rest, we add extra virgin Koroneiki olive oil from Crete.

Stokes Tomato Ketchup is packed with plump, sweet tomatoes that have ripened on the slopes in southern Italy. We gently simmer 200g of them for every 100g of thick, juicy ketchup.

Great Taste, Great Gifts

If you are visiting friends over the festive season, take something tasty for a change. This jar of Stokes Coronation Sauce is a real 'door opener'.

To a luscious base of our award-winning mayonnaise, we add curry powder, turmeric, sultanas and apricots to create this creamy, fruity, spicy jar of joy.

For a classic Coronation Chicken - just add cooked chicken.

For something a little different, stir in a couple of spoonfuls of creamed cheese and flake a poached salmon steak into the sauce.

Share the delicious taste of Stokes

... the perfect gift

More foodie thoughts for the week:






St Andrew's Day - Cullen Skink, Clapshot & Cranachan here.










Make ahead and freeze - for tasty time savers click here.









   




Meet our first Advent Card winner and enjoy more video fun here.

If good food makes you happy
...adding Stokes will make you smile ;)

 FOOD MADE BETTER 

www.stokessauces.co.uk

01394 462150

Advent Calendar and Video Fun - yours socially with Stokes

Don't miss the fun
on Facebook & Twitter

Enjoy watching our own Stir-Up Sunday. 13 ingredients stirred with a wish on the Sunday before Advent. Do you know why there are precisely 13 ingredients - you can find out this Tradition of Christmas Past here.

Watch the fastest Stir-Up Sunday mixing ever

This is a 'must view'.

To see the video, click here:

We couldn't have had a cuter winner of our first Advent Card. For the next 24 days the busy elves in Stokes dispatch will randomly put an Advent Card in one of the deliveries to an unsuspecting, but worthy Stokes customer. Those who get one and send a selfie back to us will receive a 6 x bottle case of our Award-Winning Tomato Ketchup.

This was a timely reminder that we have created a brand new collection of accompaniments that make breakfast great. See what our breakfast aficionados consider 'best with breakfast' in the Stokes Breakfast Collection here.

Our Bloody Mary Ketchup is included in the Stokes Breakfast Collection - very handy for that 'morning after' bacon butty.

Have you ever wondered how we make it - watch the video here and enjoy...

More foodie thoughts for the week:






St Andrew's Day - Cullen Skink, Clapshot & Cranachan here.










Make ahead and freeze - for tasty time savers click here.

The perfect gift of tasty scrumptious yumminess here.

If good food makes you happy
...adding Stokes will make you smile ;)

 FOOD MADE BETTER 

www.stokessauces.co.uk

01394 462150

Breakfast - best meal of the day

They come in all shapes, sizes & facts:

The world’s first breakfast was created by James Caleb Jackson who used graham flour to create ‘Granula’ in 1863. It had to be soaked overnight to make it chewable and there was no Stokes sauce available to make it tasty.

According to a recent survey, by far the most popular breakfast in the UK is fried egg, bacon and sausage. Bacon sandwiches come second.

Breakfast At Tiffany’s (1961) won two Oscars and is the only film with 'breakfast' in its title to win an Oscar.

The American competitive eater Joey Chestnut holds the record for eating hard boiled eggs: 141 eggs in 8 minutes, set in 2013, but Matt Stonie (yes, another American competitive eater) holds the bacon record at 181 rashers in 5 minutes.

Oscar Wilde clearly hadn't been aware of such facts when he wrote: 'Only dull people are brilliant at breakfast.'


Introducing...

Stokes Breakfast Collection

Just £15 (saving 10% off the individual product price) when you order the collection here

Stokes aficionados have declared these five to be their favourite breakfast accessories.

Our Bloody Mary Ketchup is an inspiration. Some of its fans feel it should be listed like a protected building or become one of the modern day Wonders of the World - the Hanging Gardens of Rendlesham does have kind of a ring.

It is an award-winning ketchup with Vodka, Worcestershire sauce and a special blend of Bloody Mary spices - perfect for that 'morning after' butty.

The star of our show and the reason that Stokes even exists is our thick and juicy Tomato Ketchup. We gently simmer 200 g of beautiful sweet Italian tomatoes reduced to every 100 g of ketchup. It really is Mediterranean sunshine in a bottle of intensely thick tomato ketchup.


I genuinely didn't like brown sauce until I tasted Stokes Brown Sauce. You can smell the grownup difference the moment you twist off the lid. It is a lush sauce, rich with extra date puree, sweet with black treacle and a unique blend of Persian spices.

There's strawberry jam and there's Stokes Extra Strawberry Jam. It's a rich and fruity soft set jam, crammed with strawberries giving it its full flavour and lush colour. We make it to our take on a classic English recipe.

The fruit is cooked with unrefined cane sugar produced in smaller batches, so less processed, retaining all or most of the cane molasses around the sugar crystals. This natural sweetness and additional depth of flavour cook well with the extra fruit creating a sensationally tasty jam.

Toast and marmalade - now that's a good breakfast. Toast with Stokes Seville Orange Marmalade - now that's a great breakfast. Once more, we took a traditional English recipe and made it our own to create a classic fine cut marmalade rich with the tangy taste of delicious Seville Oranges.

Mock Hollandaise

Did you know you can make a quick 'mock hollandaise' using Stokes Real Mayonnaise.

Mix 4 or 5 tbsp of mayonnaise with 1/2 tsp of Stokes Dijon Mustard and the juice of 1/2 a lemon. Beat this together and add 2 tbsp of melted butter.

Whisk this vigorously to avoid it splitting.

Your Breakfast Collection

To bring your breakfast alive, 

order your Breakfast Collection here 

and save 10% OFF the individual product price.

More foodie thoughts for the week:






Stir-Up Sunday - enjoy the traditions of Christmas Past here.











Meat-free November Nibbles - enjoying winter's vegetables here.







 





More video fun from the kitchen - and other social sharing here.

If good food makes you happy
...adding Stokes will make you smile ;)

 FOOD MADE BETTER 

www.stokessauces.co.uk

01394 462150