Premium meat retailer Farmison & Co relaunched its butchers shop in Ripon today.

Cut by Farmison, which is based at the firm’s headquarters on Bondgate Green, is now open every day of the week except Sundays from 9am to 6pm.

It previously opened on fewer days until 4pm.

The relaunch marked the latest phase in the company’s recovery since it was rescued from administration in April by a consortium led by ex-Asda chief executive Andy Clarke and Chilli Marketing owner Gareth Whittle.

Meat being prepared at Cut by Farmison.

Farmison also announced today it had reached an agreement to supply Harrods in London.

It has also entered the fish market through a partnership with online seafood business Fish for Thought.

It hopes the move to extend the opening hours of its Ripon shop will attract more shoppers from the city and nearby places such as Harrogate who are attracted to the company’s free range, grass-fed approach to butchery.

Farmison also plans to open more shops nationally to diversify from its online model, which currently accounts for 92% of its business.

Andy Adcock outside the Ripon shop today.

Chief executive Andy Adcock said:

“We have this fabulous factory in Ripon, which is at the front end of a huge craft butchery operation.

“We’ve not been maximising the retail capability and the potential of this shop for local people.

“The quality of the product here is not the same as what you will get anywhere else.”

Paul Minett, who has joined Farmison as a retail consultant, was in the store today for free tastings and to provide cooking advice.

Read more:

• Hot Seat: Bringing Ripon firm Farmison back to life
• Ripon firm Farmison to trade again after buyout completed

Yemi Adelekan is a food writer and blogger who was a semi-finalist in last year’s BBC TV’s Masterchef  competition. Every Saturday Yemi will be writing on the Stray Ferret about her love of the district’s food  – please get in touch with her if you want her to review a restaurant, visit your farm, taste the produce you sell or even share a recipe.  

Many foods and ingredients scream ‘English’ whenever they are mentioned and one of them is sausages. You can’t have full English breakfast without sausages, there is no ‘Sausage and Mash’ without sausages, or ‘Toad in the hole’ without the toad.

A reader recommended that I go try the pies at Hutton’s in Knaresborough, but what caught my eyes when I got there were the varieties of sausages from their best selling pork sausage to others including the black pudding, pork and wild garlic, marmalade and ginger, Toulouse made from a meat blend that is half gammon and half pork and the Thai green curry.

What shone through from Alan who showed me around is the care and attention that goes into their products. They work closely with suppliers to ensure the animals used for their products are taken care of and dealt with ethically to making all sausages on site using their signature blends of spices.

Their products are proudly Yorkshire sourced as should be. Every sausage starts with a base of good quality meat, salt and black pepper before tailoring to achieve the desired flavoured profile.

Each variety of sausage inspired a different idea of a dish to pair it with.

The pork and wild garlic sausage immediately made me think of wild garlic butter and curry-oil cooked potatoes on a bed of crushed peas, wild garlic risotto or a bean cassoulet with garlic bread.

I could see the marmalade and ginger sausage working well with my breakfast of toasted bread and marmalade. It’s one of my favourite sweet and savoury breakfast pairings; I know it sounds odd having the sweetness of the marmalade with the sausage appearing to gate-crash the party but I have always had that combination. Finding this sausage resonated with me and was instant validation that I haven’t lost the plot.

Thai green curry was surprising and I reckon this would go really well with sticky rice and curry, sliced on top of noodles in a Thai inspired broth or in a flat bread with some satay sauce, crunchy carrots and bean sprouts.

The Toulouse with gammon and pork reminded me of my Christmas turkey and ham pies that’s made using left over roast ham, turkey, leeks, fresh tarragon, onions and cream with puff pastry to make the most delicious pies.

I expected this sausage to be mild in spice and meaty but when I opened it, the whiff of garlic, rich colour and spicing reminded me of chorizo so I concluded it would be perfect for a stew or cassoulet.

After watching a show about how black pudding was made, I steered clear of them for twenty years as I still remember seeing the buckets of blood. Alan persuaded me to try the Black pudding sausages and educated me on how the process has evolved over the years to incorporate blood powders. He was confident that I would like them and persuaded me to try some.

For dinner, I decided to use the black pudding and Toulouse sausages for a couple of toppings that could go on jacket potatoes. I cooked the Toulouse sausage with chickpeas in an Indian inspired spicy tomato, onion, pepper and ginger sauce  (see below). The sausage held its own against the strong flavours and was delicious.

I oven cooked the black pudding sausage and served it with some peas, roasted piccolo tomatoes and finished the reduced roasting juice with some mint basil (see main image). The sausage had a good depth of meaty goodness; I could see the specks of black pudding but felt like I was just eating a quality sausage.

I am definitely a black pudding sausage convert and I am glad I trusted Alan’s recommendation.  I will definitely be back to Hutton’s for their quality products, excellent selection and great value; I hope you check them out.

This weekend, I am cooking up a storm alongside some other chefs and foodies including renowned Italian Chef, Gennaro Contaldo, in London, followed by a demonstration at the BBC Good Food Show in Birmingham.

I am next at the Harrogate Food Festival on the 24 June so hope to see you there.

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Yemi Adelekan is a food writer and blogger who was a semi-finalist in last year’s BBC TV’s Masterchef  competition. Every Saturday Yemi will be writing on the Stray Ferret about her love of the district’s food  – please get in touch with her if you want her to review a restaurant, visit your farm, taste the produce you sell or even share a recipe.  

Living in Harrogate means I am surrounded by amazing shops selling the wonderful produces of Yorkshire; but quite often I find myself falling into the habit of going to the same places which means I end up missing out on what might be available in other places or the experience of new sights and surprises.

The last time I went into Crimple in Harrogate was years before their renovation. Every week, I drive past it on my work commute and make a mental note to check it out.

It was a lovely surprise when I eventually went into the food hall a few weeks ago to discover an array of local Yorkshire produces from chutneys, cured meats and bakes to fresh meat.

I only went in to have a quick look but came out with fresh sourdough bread, Portobello mushrooms, eggs, and smoked salmon for brunch. I also found a gem in a balsamic reduction glaze and fresh beetroots that I needed for my next food event, and a tiny gadget that would be great for dipping strawberries into chocolate sauce.

As I continued my wander around the food hall, I spotted a cut of pork that had the kidney attached which really fascinated me. The butcher wasn’t at the kiosk, but my curiosity made me hang around until he came out from the back room.

I told him I had never seen a cut of meat that intentionally had offal attached and he explained that this was an historic way of cutting pork chops and that only a few chops would benefit from having a cross section of the kidney attached.

He said he was on a mission to bring back old butcher traditions; that is noble from a sustainability point of view and considering the ‘nose to tail’ revolution that many chefs are championing.

I grew up in Nigeria on ‘nose to tail’ eating and we never wasted any parts of an animal with the skin of larger animals used by local artisans to make leather products.

Anyone who knows me well would correctly guess that I walked out of Crimple with some Pork and Kidney chops. I figured it would go well with a honey mustard sauce served with creamy mashed potatoes and some purple broccoli.

I ended up serving it with a gravy alongside potatoes finished with a chilli and herby mustard seed coating which went down a treat. See below.

On my way out I wandered into the garden section, but I didn’t get to really explore it because my arms were filled with my food hall shopping, and I was in a bit of rush. I am going back to the garden centre, with plans to sample food from their bar and kitchen.

If you haven’t visited Crimple, it is worth a visit -there’s so much to love.

I would love to hear about your visit and any exciting food, produce or interesting garden gnomes that you find, so drop me a comment.

Yemi: Out and About

I am in Pateley Bridge today, (Saturday 13 May) to sample Chocolate at Cocoa Joe’s and Kendall’s pies from 12 noon. You can read about it next Saturday on The Stray Ferret.

Next on my list is The Café at the Himalayan Garden, Grewelthorpe which I will visit on Saturday 27 of May from 12.30pm.

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Struggling Ripon premium meat online retailer Farmison & Co is in negotiations with a potential buyer.

The firm, which employs 92 staff, is in advanced discussions with another online butcher, Tom Hixson of Smithfield.

A company called Tom Hixson Farmison was registered with Companies House this week. Thomas Hixson is listed as the sole director.

It is hoped the deal will be finalised next week and save jobs at one of Ripon’s biggest employers.

Farmison is based on Bondgate Green in Ripon

Last year Farmison founder John Pallagi sold the firm, whose customers include Harrods and Fortnum & Mason, to Scottish private investors Inverleith LLP.

Mr Pallagi remained as chief executive and a new three-year business plan was agreed.

But Mr Pallagi told the Stray Ferret today the plan had “faltered” and he hoped the situation would be resolved soon.

He has approached Ripon and Skipton Conservative MP Julian Smith and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak for help after the company encountered “choppy waters” caused by issues such as war in Ukraine, the cost of living crisis and Brexit.

Mr Pallagi added:

“The most important thing now is protecting jobs and protecting the supply chain. I’m hoping a sale will support that.

“I’ve got people who have worked with me here for 11 years and we have gone from nothing to staying open during the pandemic and delivering seven days of the week.

“It’s unfortunate that we have got into this situation.”

Mr Pallagi said he was “not overly chuffed” at seeing the company he had built up face difficulties.

But he added he believed the Farmison model was the right one and the firm could have a strong future.

Read more:

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Mr Pallagi co-founded Farmison to work with local farmers and encourage people to ‘eat better meat’.

Despite sales doubling to £12m in 2021, the company then made a loss of £2.6m and faces an uncertain future if a deal is not reached.

The Stray Ferret has approached Tom Hixson of Smithfield for comment.

The owners of Kendall’s Farm Butchers in Pateley Bridge have bought the town’s former police station and hope to turn it into their new home, according to planning documents.

Former North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Julia Mulligan announced last year that the station on King Street would be sold as part of cost-cutting measures.

Officers based at the site were moved across the road where they share space with Harrogate Borough Council.

In July, the commissioner’s office confirmed that the police station was sold for £297,000. It had initially been estimated to sell for £142,000.

A planning application has been submitted to Harrogate Borough Council by Paul Kendall, a third generation butcher, to convert the former police station and adjoining property he bought at auction into one family home.

Better work life balance

According to planning documents by Harrogate architect James Robinson, the Kendalls currently live around five miles outside of Pateley Bridge, which means in the winter it can be a challenge to get to the town if it has been snowing.

The documents reveal they had been looking to relocate closer to the business for many years but were unable to find anywhere suitable.

Mr Robinson wrote that living within 200 metres of the main shop in Pateley will be “revolutionary” for the family, as it will allow for a much better work-life balance.

Read more:

• Former Pateley Bridge police station sold for £297,000
• New trail running group formed in Pateley Bridge

A builder has been fined more than £1,300 for burning demolition waste on land at Harewell Wood Cottage, Glasshouses.

Harrogate Borough Council visited the property on April 29 last year and witnessed remnants of a fire from the previous evening, which consisted of timber and some corrugated roofing sheets.

Philip Snow, 31, from Glasshouses had carried out demolition work – operating under PR Snow Services – at the former butchers in Summerbridge and then disposed of some of the waste on land owned by his parents, in order to burn it, rather than disposing of the waste at an authorised waste disposal site.

North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue had extinguished the fire at the property on the previous evening.

The blaze had been emitting dark smoke caused by the burning of timber, insulated sandwich panels and corrugated roofing sheets.

The fire sent large amounts of black smoke into the atmosphere, causing environmental pollution and potential harm to health.

This dark smoke caused by the burning of these materials is an offence under the Clean Air Act 1993 so Harrogate Borough Council took Mr Snow to court.

The Environment Agency provided a witness statement stating there was no environmental permit or exemption in place for the burning of waste on the land at the time of the incident.

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Last month York Magistrate Court fined Snow, who pleaded guilty, £678 for the offence under section 2(1) of the Clean Air Act 1993 and ordered him to pay prosecution costs of £635.

Cllr Mike Chambers, Harrogate Borough Council’s cabinet member for housing and safer communities, said:

“Mr Snow has shown a complete lack of awareness or consideration for the law, as well as the environment, by disposing of commercial waste in this way.

“I’d like to thank the concerned residents who raised the alarm, North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service for dealing with the fire swiftly and safely as well as the council officers.

“I hope this is a reminder to business owners that the illegal disposal of waste is a criminal offence and we will, with proper evidence, seek to prosecute the offender.”

Waste disposal law

Anyone employing an individual or business to remove waste from their property or business has a responsibility to ensure they dispose of it legitimately.

The easiest way to do this is to check they have a waste carriers licence (Upper Tier). This can be done on the Environment Agency’s website or by calling 0370 850 6506.

The council also advise asking for a receipt documenting the waste that was taken, by who and at what cost.

More information about fly-tipping is available on the council’s website.