The Pig by Robin Hutson

The Pig by Robin Hutson

This book came out in 2019, and the subtitle is Tales and Recipes from the Kitchen Garden and Beyond.

Tom Parker Bowles raved,

The Pig revolutionised the country house hotel, creating a true rooms home away from hame. No pomp or pretence, just beautiful and magnificent food with produce from their own kitchen gardens. Where The Pig goes, the others follow.

From the publisher:

A stylish, practical guide to living the good life.

Among the pages of The Pig, you will find an idiosyncratic, seasonal approach to the good life, with delicious recipes, how-to guides, lists, panels, and stories.

Chapters include one called Out in the Garden - The benefits of growing 12 types of mint- An essay on "the sweetness of carrots"- How to make your own sack garden- Recipe for the Gardener's sandwich.

Here's how Robin introduces his restaurant, The Pig, and the journey he's been on these past dozen years.

We opened The Pig back in July 2011, although in some respects it feels like a whole lot longer ago than that. 

One thing's for sure - we've learnt a lot along the way in those few years. For a start, we've become experts in growing our own and making the most of what we produce.

We know how to seek out small artisan producers and work with them to bring some amazing ingredients to the table. We've discovered how to keep bees and make delicious honey.

And we've even perfected the art of building smokehouses - now we smoke everything in sight, from salmon and salt to beetroot and beef. Beyond the kitchen and garden, we've worked out how to infuse just about anything into gin and vodka and have become past masters at upcycling junk-shop treasures. 

The purpose of this book is to share with you some of these discoveries.

If you have visions of a working kitchen garden on a grand scale, listen as Robin tells us what it takes to make it all work at The Pig.

We'd heard horrible stories of kitchen gardens at other hotels where the garden produce was left to perish in the soil because there was no shared vision between the chef and the gardener, so we knew this relationship was key. Happily, we've seen no such sorry sights in our gardens. In fact, the bond between garden and kitchen - headed up by Ollie (senior kitchen gardener) and James (chef director) is so strong, there now exists an almost obsessional culture for all things home-grown, homemade and local.

Certainly on day one of The Pig, back in the summer of 2011, we didn't envisage the garden team we have today with around 20 kitchen gardeners working across several acres of productive gardens, and our own plant nursery for seedlings. The gardens didn't just play a major part in influencing the food style and the menus but many other aspects of the overall operation, too.

And here's just a random sampling of recipe titles from the index under the letter H:
hazelnuts:

- nettle salsa verde 143
- salt-baked celeriac salad 84-5
hens 128, 174-5
herbs: garden herb oil 98-9
- growing 114-15
- winter savory $1
herbal healing 255-6
- infusions 208-11, 260
- planters for 241
- in pots 229
- see also basil; lemon verbena; mint; rosemary
herby popcorn 205
honey 130-1
- honey clotted cream 123
horseradish: cylindra beetroot &
- horseradish toasts 68-9
- making horseradish sauce 68

Here's a glimpse of one of my favorite recipes from this book, Judy's Tomatoes on Toast.

Robin writes, 

You might think you know what tomatoes on toast tastes like... but believe me, once you've tried this version you'll never have it any other way - it's one of our all-time favourites at home. The tomatoes are so juicy and buttery, and the sourdough toast has just the right combination of crispness and chewiness. Of course the big thing here is the quality of the tomatoes, which can be a bit of a challenge in the UK, especially in the winter. I love Isle of Wight tomatoes, when I can get them. They come in different varieties from some of the best growers in the UK and are fairly local to us as well, which is a bonus.

2 big knobs of salted butter, plus extra for the toast
1kg (2lb 4oz) of the ripest, sweetest, medium-sized tomatoes you can get, roughly chopped

A splash of Worcestershire sauce (optional: it's not part of Judy's version but I sometimes add some If I'm feeling a bit wild - woohoo!)
4 large slices of very holey sourdough bread
salt and pepper

Melt the butter in a saucepan over low heat and add the tomatoes (and a splash of Worcestershire sauce, if you like). 

Cook them gently for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Don't boil them, just let them simmer, and then season to your taste.

Meanwhile, toast the bread to a nice dark color and spread with a little more butter.

By this time the mixture should be halfway between solid and soup, so pour it onto the toast and away you go.

This book is 304 pages of Robin Hutson's The Pig.

You can get a copy of The Pig by Robin Hutson and support the show using the Amazon link in today's show notes for around $8.