Incredible People and Their Food: The Fletchers of Auchtermuchty
Visiting Ken Albala’s entertaining and informative blog, I discovered he is now butchering venison. This is the moment to pay tribute to the Fletchers of Auchtermuchty. They are the gold standard for venison in the British Isles and I would bet the world. They’ve spent decades farm-raising venison. I ordered some small cuts and their venison pies a couple of years ago when I was in England. Superlative.
John is a vet. Nichola makes prize-winning jewelry, writes cookbooks, and is a fine historian of food. Best of all, from my point of view, the Fletchers are not unrealistic starry-eyed romantics. They’ve been at their business for years and have a crystal clear vision of country life and alternative ways of husbandry. Cheers to them.
I second these sentiments Fletchers products are wonderful and John and Nichola are wonderful people. My last meal in Scotland (I lived in Edinburgh for almost 7 years) was a haunch of Fletcher’s venison. One of the local foods that I miss the most was the Fletcher’s wonderful venison pies. On my last trip back I stuffed myself full of them.
Rachel, I will second, or rather third, these comments. At a formal tasting at the Oxposium a few years back (for Wild Food) Nichola brought a whole range of fowl and venison, some hung, some killed with buckshot, all prepared in various ways, and the taste differences were starling. Would I could order the stuff in the US@!
Ken