I’ve just added a meaty dish to the recipe section that should please all but the vegetarians and non-beefeaters amongst visitors to this site. Despite the beef and vegetables being cooked in good old-fashioned ale, it is also gluten free (all standard beers contain gluten unless it states otherwise on the label).
The inspiration for what I’ve called Boozy Beef Lunch Pots came to me whilst perusing a shelf containing bottles of Gluten and Wheat Free Ale and Lager made by Nick Stafford’s Hambleton Ales Company. I’d been stocking up with a few essentials in our local supermarket and happened to have just added a couple of packets of lean stewing beef to my trolley in readiness for a group of very definite beef-eating friends who were coming for lunch at the weekend. The picture of the white horse on the bottles’ label, together with the words ‘Hambleton Ales,’ were enough to stop me and my trolley in our tracks. As a fully fledged daughter of the North and with very fond memories of wonderful long walks, gentle drives and innumerable pub lunches in the villages of the Hambleton Hills, I was immediately taken back in time to a former decade and carefree days of yore...
However, you can only stand and dream in a supermarket for so long before strangers start to give you odd looks and the calls to the tills over the public address system snap you back to reality. So it was with me, but then the presence of the beef in my trolley, the ale on the shelves and the prospect of a forthcoming visit from an awkward eater of the gluten free variety germinated a plan. I could combine the ale with the beef, chuck in some veggies and leave to cook slowly... whilst going for a walk in one of the lovely parks close to my current homeland of West London. It wouldn’t be as pretty as the North Yorks’ landscapes, but it does have the advantage of not having to drive 200 miles up the M1 to get there. It would be interesting to see how the resultant stew went down with hungry walkers.
The beef stew took about fifteen minutes to prepare and I then left it to cook on a very low heat for around two and a half hours. After advice with the seasoning from my meat-eating daughter it was ready to serve. With an eye for a bargain I’d also snapped up some reduced price Gluten Free rolls and popped them in the freezer so I was also able to see how they had survived being frozen and thawed. Very well it turns out and I ate one happily with my non-meaty lunch. At 44p for four instead of the normal £2.20 this was a bargain that could be shared by non-GF diners especially as the rolls really were that good (which as all GF bread eaters know is often not the case!).
As for the ale, I confess I’m not a bottled ale aficionado, although I do keep a few bottles of what I think of as overpriced beers under the stairs for when non-wine or non-lager drinking friends pop by. Some of them seem so delighted to be offered a large brown bottle of some exotic sounding ale and I suppose it is that which encourages me to restock when supplies are running low. But I haven’t previously bought or even drank any gluten free varieties other than at the allergy show when all manner of samples are available to try in a melee of awkward eater heaven – just as long as you don’t inadvertently accept something that ticks the wrong box for your individual dietary demon.
I’ve done a little digging and apparently Nick Stafford’s Hambleton Ales Company is indeed based close to the White Horse village of Kilburn that in turn is pretty close to my glorious ex-homeland in beautiful North Yorkshire. In 2005 it launched the first gluten and wheat free ale, later followed by a similarly WAG free lager. Made with Yorkshire water and other local produce where available, it has a renowned delivery service that makes it a popular tipple for parties, weddings and other celebrations. Nick Stafford spent several years researching and developing the necessary bottling and filtration techniques to bring the GF ale about. All of this hard work paid off because now, not only are the company’s standard ales drunk throughout the land, but the GF lager has fans in Australia, North America and throughout Europe as well as within the UK’s shores.
The logo is taken from the carved and lime strewn white horse that adorns the hillside above the village of Kilburn. Talk of this will evoke memories for anyone who has grown up in James Herriot country. For me, as if the beautiful views weren’t enough, childhood walks from the White Horse to Sutton Bank were made more enjoyable by the sight of the gliders being towed up into the clouds, circling overhead or making their silent landings. I was also captivated by the legend that tells of the nearby bottomless Gormire Lake and the lost village that it hides in its fathomless deep. If you happen to be passing that way I really do recommend the walk from Kilburn to Sutton Bank and back. You’ll find one of the best views in Britain waiting for you and whilst you quench your thirst at the Visitor’s Centre, dogs can do the same courtesy of a doggy watering hole donated by the owners of Hamish who according to the inscription ‘oft walked this way and found it thirsty work’.
By Gilly Weaver | 11th December 2012