Blog Forman and Field

Stir up Sunday marks the beginning of Christmas preparation; with the pudding made and sitting snugly in the larder, cards are written, wine can be mulled, and the present wrapping begins. Many of our customers consider the arrival of our brochure to be The Beginning, and quite rightly too. What better way to get festive than with the F&F brochure, notebook and pen, and a hot toddy for company?

Anyway, back to puddings. Ours has always been pretty special; made to Chef Lloyd’s own recipe, ingredients are hand-chopped, hand-mixed, hand-shaped and hand-packaged. We ‘third’ cook ours in their individual basins, with the final two thirds of cooking to be done at home on Christmas day. Leaving them in a part cooked state allows the flavours to further develop, giving the gooey texture and rich toffee aromas for which ours are famed. For best results ours require gentle steaming over a few hours rather than a quick blast in the microwave; trust us, a little extra effort makes all the difference.

Here’s the team of Forman’s little helpers, working hard on this year’s puds.

The production line

Shaping the pudding

Belt and braces, ensuring the correct weight

Carefully packed into porcelain pudding bowls

Finished and wrapped, ready to be steamed

This year we have our extra special Vintage Puddings; matured for 12 months and fed with Somerset Cider Brandy. Utterly scrumptious, the crowning glory for the finest Christmas table. Don’t forget the brandy sauce…

We’re on a mission at Forman & Field, a mission to bring great British food to the 2012 Olympic Games.

Currently sponsorship deals mean the only food you will see inside the Olympic Park will be from giant multinational producers. Is that what we want millions of visitors from all over the world to take home from 2012 as their only experience of British food? No!

Make Britain’s Official Olympic Bagel the food hero of 2012!

As reported on Inside the Games – the number one website for Olympics news, read by all the important decision makers - we’re out to change that with our very own traditional East End Smoked Salmon Bagel. If you would like to help us bring some proper British food to London 2012  please leave a supportive comment on the Inside the Games site underneath the article.

Click here to leave a comment: Inside the Games Article

As reported on Inside the Games, Lance Forman said:

“Bagels have been produced in Brick Lane, East London, since the mid-19th century while smoked salmon has been produced in East London since late 19th century.

“A bagel is a ‘ring’, which is representative of an Olympic ring or the Olympic stadium and, unlike a lot of the food served at an Olympics, it is healthy, nutritious and delicious.

“It can be enjoyed at any time of day from breakfast to late at night and, while it is also an ‘ethnic food’, it is British.

“The bagel wouldn’t offend any religious group – like a ham sandwich or eels would.  As I know only too well, the Olympic stadium is built on a smoked salmon factory.

“It is affordable with a touch of luxury while both key ingredients (bagels and smoked salmon) freeze well, so large volumes could easily be produced for large scale supply and then compiled last minute.

“It goes without saying that for East End authenticity, this would need to be Forman’s ‘London Cure’ smoked salmon and because it could be launched as Britain’s Official Olympic Bagel or ‘BOOB’, it lends itself to good, old-fashioned East-End humour and I’m sure we could find a way to get Barbra Windsor involved in the promotion!

“Internationally Britain is considered being in the Dark Ages when it comes to food but we actually have some of the best food ingredients in the world, some of the best chefs and restaurants, and a huge diversity of food.

“I want those two or three million visitors that come over here to leave and realise that those Brits can actually cook.”

Read the full story on Olympics news website Inside the Games and leave a comment to show your support:

Boris has already been enjoying Forman's smoked salmon bagels over here on Fish Island. Surely Britain's Official Olympic Bagel will be perfect for the 2012 menu.

Caroline Boucher of the The Observer’s latest feature on Christmas gifts chosen by the great and the good of the the food scene is a good source of inspiration if you’re stuck for what to buy this year. It also shows that when it comes to the ultimate gourmet gifts (or gifts for the ultimate gourmets?), we have everything covered!

Stichelton cheese: Chosen by Michel Roux Snr, chef

“I would like an unpasteurised Stilton. They have a much creamier taste.”

Find a wedge of the creamiest Stichelton in our Speciality Cheese Selection.

Trealy Farm charcuterie: Patrick Holden, food campaigner

“Charcuterie from Trealy Farm’s range of salamis and air-dried hams made from their traditional breeds of pigs. And organic apple juice from Ragmans Lane Farm.”

Trealy’s Monmouthshire Air Dried Ham is our favourite too, as good as any prosciutto.

Formans smoked salmon: Giorgio Locatelli, restaurateur

“Formans salmon is wild and only slightly smoked – the deepness of the flavour is great. In Italy you have smoked salmon for Christmas. It’s my father’s favourite, which makes it a must every year!”

Did we mention we Smoked Salmon? Just as we have done for 105 years!

Neal’s Yard cheeses: Adam Byatt, chef

“I would plan to enjoy these on Boxing Day, but would no doubt crack the box open at about 8pm on Christmas Day itself!”

All our cheeses come from Neal’s Yard Dairy, they are undoubtedly the best maturers in the country.

Bespoke tea: Annie Bell, food writer

“I can never find my perfect breakfast tea, so I would love to be given a bespoke tea blend from the Tea Palace. You describe your dream tea and their blenders design a brew to suit. They came up with a fantastic blend for me – Annie’s Dream Cuppa – a blend of Assam Harmutty and Ceylon Rilagala, with Castleton Second Flush Darjeeling.”

Find a tin of superlative Tea Palace Earl Grey in our refined Afternoon Team Hamper.

If you prefer a ready made hamper, have a look at our collection on our gift hampers pages here – http://www.formanandfield.com/giftsandhampers

The good people over at Woman & Home went for our classic wicker Christmas Essentials Hamper as their pick from our 2010 range. As they put it it’s “A Collection of best selling produce that any foodie would be hard-pushed to refuse”

To order this or any of our other hampers visit our veritable grotto of a Christmas Hampers collection by clicking here.

Taking the stars of our catalogue to the stars of the Princes Trust Rock Gala!

Lance meets Paloma Faith and her fabulous salmonesque dress

What a night we’ve had, serving some of our top products to the movers and shakers backstage at the Princes Trust Rock Gala at the Royal Albert Hall. Lance and Nicola had a great time, dishing up Buckwheat Blinis topped with Zwyer Caviar and Wild Smoked Scottish Salmon, Beetroot Salmon Tartare Shots, chocolate brownies and lemon and pistachio cake. Paloma Faith exclaimed our tartare shots to be “absolutely delicious”, while Tom Jones just couldn’t get enough of the salmon and caviar topped blinis, ordering tray after tray to be delivered to his dressing room. Brian May – who seems one of the jolly nicest men in rock – was a fan, stopping to chat before performing a few Queen hits on stage with Roger Taylor. My, if we’re not a little star struck!

Here are a few images of the night; there’ll a full report next week with images from the official photographer.

Brian May bites another blini...

Jools Holland hoping for more ZwyerCaviar

Jamie Cullam wrestling Nicola to get to the canapes

Huge thanks to Sian, Karl, and Richard at Uberchic Lifestyle for involving us.

Roger Zwyer is one of the three brothers at the helm of ZwyerCaviar, undoubtedly the finest caviar producer in the world in our opinion. His fascinating blog, The Caviarist, is our first port of call for caviar industry news and background on our latest discovery. If you’re interested in fine food it’s essential reading.

The food writers have started their Christmas recommendations for 2010 so we thought we’d give you a roundup of some recent articles on Forman & Field and reviews of our food.

Click on the images to read the articles in full.

The Telegraph taste test our Pickled Shallots:

The Telegraph - Stella Magazine, October

The Spectator review of Potted Lobster:

The Spectator - Scoff, October

Anthony Worral Thompson tastes our Bread Sauce for the Express:

The Express - S Magazine, October

The Telegraph taste test our London Cure Smoked Scottish Salmon:

The Telegraph - Stella Magazine, November

Delicious. magazine recommend Mrs Forman’s Baked Cheesecake:

Delicious. Magazine, December

Delicious. magazine review of our Star Hamper:

Delicious. Magazine, December

Don’t just take their word for it, now’s the time to put us to the test yourself!

We’ve just been sent this lovely video of the Kids and Families activities that took place over the Hackney Wicked Arts Festival weekend on Fish Island back in June. Can’t wait for next year…

Myles Painter is a talented local artist who has made a visually stunning, thought provoking short film that features sites local to the 2012 Olympic stadium including our own HQ Forman’s Fish Island. It’s a great example of the quality of work being produced in our neighbourhood and well worth watching. Click the link to play.

Explodium-X.com is a film that examines the immediate surroundings and environment of the London Olympic site in its current state of flux. The locations in the film are places that have been affected or will be transformed by the architectural or social development of the London 2012 Olympics. Locations include Pudding Mill DLR station, an estate near the Statford site and H. Forman & Son Fish Island.

The film explores the specific image of the Olympic stadium through ten scenes of individual movies that utilise stadiums in their own rights. The stadiums in these movies are used as places of conflict, athleticism and sanctuary, social concepts that are prevalent in the many uses of a stadium through its development from ancient times. The film moves from morning to night through a multitude of contrasting landscapes that are empty of people, but full of change from an evidently human touch.

My practice deals with the history of site-specific and architecturally significant spaces. The architecture with which I am concerned is the kind of architecture that offers up stories of its history and present incarnation through its inhabitation and social relevance. By manipulating and exploiting precise realities of and social issues surrounding architecture and art I aim to use my own conceptual narrative to control a discourse of these suggested other-spaces and ideas.

www.explodium-x.com