insideKENT Magazine Issue 81 - December 2018 | Page 68

CHRISTMAS
With Love From Kent cont.
Kent Cookery School // Ashford
www.kentcookeryschool.co.uk
“Food plays a huge part of our Christmas traditions as it does
for most families. As it is my birthday on the 23rd, we have
a good four days of eating and drinking! We tend to go into
‘hibernation’ midday Christmas Eve and my father cooks
Beef Wellington to kick off the Christmas celebrations. There
are no formalities with the Palmer household Christmas;
everyone stays in their pyjamas until the day after Boxing
Day when we usually have run out of alcohol! We get up
super early – despite us all being adults – to open presents,
then we enjoy smoked salmon and eggs with bucks fizz for
breakfast, followed by more presents and then lunch. Simon
spends most of the day preparing the perfect lunch with his
delicious honey roast ham being the main event. We all then
slip into food comas and wake up ready for fun and games!”
— Autumn Palmer, Owner
Biddenden Vineyards
// Biddenden
www.biddendenvineyards.com
“Christmas is a family affair at
Biddenden, and one thing we do a
little different is to have roast beef
rather than turkey. This is because it
takes a shorter time to cook and so
allows for more family time spent
together. We’re hoping that after
having had such a good summer,
hopefully it’ll be enjoyed this year with
a tank sample of our own Gamay, a
red wine which we only produce in
exceptional years!”
— Julian Barnes, Managing Director
Macknade Fine Foods
// Faversham
www.macknade.com
“Christmas, like Macknade, is all about
food, family and friends. The highlight
for me has to be the steaming turkey
and all the trimmings! Our bird will be
a beauty, fattened in the fields of the
Holmes’ family farm, a few miles up
the road from Macknade in Molash.
The pigs in blankets will be made by
Simon and the boys in our butchery
to a lovely old Faversham sausage
recipe and wrapped in home-cured
bacon. The veg (roast spuds, parsnips,
carrots and of course, Brussels sprouts!)
will be plucked from the soils of Thanet
and simply cooked to savour their own
flavours. It will all be doused in
gravy enriched with juice from the bird
and a decent ‘glug’ of port... all
surrounded by family and friends –
the perfect day!”
— Stefano Cuomo, Managing Director
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