Thrifty nose to tail eating – well those of us who are from the farming community have been at it for years, but now everyone is doing it. More of us will be eating offal and the bony cuts of meat in pearl barley stuffed casseroles in 2012. Look out for lamb belly, hearts, tails, tongues and gizzards. Last year Waitrose announced that it was to expand its range to offer lamb heart, lamb and veal sweetbreads and veal tail, and pigs’ ears and ox cheeks are already appearing in restaurants everywhere. Now I have moved one of my local restaurants is called Brawn (there are lots of local restaurants - it's London - even the cinema is a recommended place to eat) and currently has braised lamb belly with bitter leaves, trotters and beans, and home-made pork scratching on the menu.
Eastern European food – shops are already appearing all over East Anglia and we have one in Bury. I’ve tried the flavoured beers and bought a very nice piece of smoked bacon. Look out for Polish, Hungarian and Russian dishes. We will be making more preserves and pickles just like they do and we already have sourdough bread.
Barbecue-ing – Jamie Oliver has had a mixed response to Barbecoa – the menu has burgers, ribs and a very heavy barbecue sauce that isn’t as nice as my own home-made one. If you don’t know how to make barbecue sauce you need to learn it fast. Freshly made burgers in good bread stuffed with loads of salad and home-made pickles are IN whatever time of the year it is.
Sharing tapas style portions – goodbye three course meal, we are ordering five things and sharing them. This way, restaurants can make their portions a bit smaller, we don’t get so full and can still have a starter, main course and dessert – but between us. We used to just order two starters but now it’s official – it’s ok to share.
Casual dining – white cloths are going, counters are coming. We still want good service but without the formal dining. We don’t mind sitting at a large table with someone we don’t know and a great salt-beef sandwich from a van is fine.
Salted caramel, and churros with hot chocolate sauce – if you haven’t tasted either of these yet you should find or make some now. The recipe for the caramel sauce (and printed labels so you can give it to all your friends) is here. Yes, she's a mom not a mum but I love the pictures - if you like Nigella she's got a food-porn version.
