Cheshire Farm Ice Cream, Tattenhall, Chester

We are delighted to offer our customers the award winning 'Real Dairy' Cheshire Farm Ice Cream, a locally produced product. The ice cream is made using fresh whole milk and fresh cream, with only the finest ingredients carefully selected to ensure that they are free from artificial colours and flavours.

Described as being 'rich and creamy with a velvety texture' by celebrity chef Gilly Brookes, Cheshire Farm is available in over 30 refreshingly different flavours of luxury dairy ice cream and real fruit sorbets to suit all tastes. At Dunscar we offer an ever-changing selection of ice cream from Cheshire Farm to include:

• Strawberries & Cream
  
• Vanilla with pod
  
• Cointreau and Orange
  
• Malt Tease
  
• Stem Ginger
  
• Chocolate
  
• Mocha Coffee Bean
  
• Honeycomb
  
• Coconut
  
• Mint Choc Chip

At Christmas we can even offer the seasonal 'Christmas Pudding' flavour ice cream!

The Best of Taste Co, Oswestry

The ethos of The Best of Taste Co is to break away from the idea of dessert sauces as being sweet and syrupy and full of artificial ingredients, and to create a range of wholesome, really fruity and entirely natural products. The Best of Taste Co only use the best ingredients and just enough sugar to enhance rather than mask the wonderful natural tangy, zesty flavours and deep luscious colour of sun ripened fruit. All sauces are made by hand in small batches, without chemical, additives or preservatives. Choose from the wonderful selection of sauces below:

• Blackcurrant Coulis – Great Taste Award Gold Winner
  
• Mango & Passion Fruit Coulis – Great Taste Awards Silver Winner
  
• Raspberry Coulis – Great Taste Award Silver Winner
  
• Apricot Coulis
  
• Strawberry Coulis
  
• Cranberry & Orange Coulis with Cointreau
  
• Damson Coulis with Sloe Gin
  
• Black Cherry Coulis with Kirch
  
• Festive Jewelled Fruits in Madeira

The Old Smokehouse

One of our most popular items on our menu is our smoked chicken. It is beautifully tender and creamy in texture and is supplied by The Old Smokehouse near Penrith within the walls of Brougham Hall. Although only a small artisan smokehouse, they have won several national awards for their smoked meats, fish and cheeses over the past 5 years. But what is smoking and how does it work?

Smoking evolved as a preserving process, the main preservative affect being the drying of the food. The art of smoking today is to avoid producing smoked food with a hard texture and no moisture; the art of the gourmet smoker is to create smoked food that takes on the deep rich smoke aroma and subtle flavours whilst maintaining its moisture and succulence.

The smoking of food is a delicate process requiring the very best cuts of meat and the highest quality game and fish to ensure a perfect end result.

Smoked food can be either cold smoked or hot smoked, or ‘smoke-roasted’ as it is sometimes known. The preparation for these two processes is the same. After brining, cold smoked food is put into the smoker and remains there for many hours or even days being enveloped by the smoke from the fires. Hot smoked food goes through the same process but after a few hours in the smoker the heat is turned up and the food is then gently roasted whilst it is smoking.

Although it can be re-heated, the best way to eat smoked food is at room temperature. If the food is taken straight from the fridge you will not get that wonderful smoky aroma and some of the flavours brought out by the smoking will be lost. For suggestions on how to serve smoked foods just ask any of the staff in the Garden Café.