Hughes Cooking?

[please read that in a Norfolk Accent – that way it comes out as “Who’s Cooking?”] My SIL Marion lent me this book when we were up at Cornerstones. [thanks M!]

It is a cookbook-cum-autobiography by Richard Hughes, a chef born, bred and still very busy cooking in Norfolk.

This is a wonderful collection of recipes and reflections which chronicle the trials and tribulations of running a restaurant, with Richard's enthusiasm and passion for good food enjoyed with good company shining through on each page.

The reason Marion lent me the book is rather complicated…on our last Friday morning at Cornerstones, Bob went out for a long motorbike ride whilst I went to Tesco. On his return we were going up to Overstrand to collect our two cyclists. Bob came back, very excited because he had discovered a wonderful restaurant in Edgefield called “The Pigs” and he thought we ought to pay it a visit.

We went off to collect Liz, Jon and bicycles, and they announced they were buying us lunch [although they had not long eaten a large ‘Full English’ breakfast]

Bob said we should go and see ‘The Pigs’ – and of course, Jon was particularly keen to do so. The menu looked fabulous, if somewhat expensive – and we felt that we could not really do it justice, as none of us was really hungry.

However,  The Pigs is owned and run by three local people. Tim Abbott, Iain Wilson, and Richard Hughes. Tim is the chef in residence, but Iain is chef at Byfords in Holt, whilst Richard is Chef Proprietor of The Lavender House in Brundall near Norwich.

We left The Pigs, and went into nearby Holt, and had a lovely light lunch at Byfords. This is the oldest building in Holt, dating back over 400 years, and was for at least 100 years, an ironmongers owned by the Byford family. Iain and Clair Wilson bought the renovated property in 2000, and now run it as a deli, cafe and ‘Posh B&B’ [their description] The food was splendid and the portion sizes very generous. My ‘starter’ salad was a ‘main meal’ as far as I was concerned! The website’s here.

Of course, when I told Marion about this, she said Byfords is very popular [Camilla likes to eat there when she is in Norfolk, apparently!]

Then Marion mentioned the book written by the third man of the Pigs triumvirate – Richard. It is a superb book, with lots of interesting and amusing anecdotes sandwiched between the recipes.

His recipes are written simply and clearly, and he is a great believer in locally sourced produce [more Norfolk pigs – and fish, and cheese, and fruit and veg…] and refers to supermarkets as ‘the soulless centres of Satanism’

I definitely want to try out some of his dishes before I return the book to Marion on my next trip to Cornerstones. Watch this space…