Drop tools and try not to drool over this picture perfect, pickled ploughman’s
Nice weather for ducks? This profusely pickled ploughman’s makes for a rather pucker picnic, even if you don't quite make it outside.
This Sunday brunch spread of homemade ham hock terrine, Cromwell Bishop Stilton and Black Bomber cheddar cheese is drenched with a suitably soused Broken Clock Gibson.
As quintessentially English as it comes, the ploughman’s curious collaboration of flavours first appears in an English medieval poem from 1394 and for centuries afterwards, it was a staple packed-lunch for toiling rural workers, usually washed down with a flagon of rustic cider.
For these hungry country-bumpkins — particularly in the Southern counties — their daily protein came from eating locally matured cheese and freshly churned butter rather than from meat — and in place of expensive seasonings, they’d happily chomp on a tasty onion to help the flavours dance upon their palates.
As late as 1879 a British author describes observing how the “rural labourer who sits on the ditch-side with his bread and cheese and an onion has more enjoyment out of it than any Lucullus.”
And needless to say their satisfaction would have been dramatically enhanced had they had this martini to sip up, aptly garnished with a couple of pickled onions. It’s made with our awfully English vodka which comes from English country gardens and has hints of windfall, green apples — which is a somewhat more sophisticated alternative to a mouthful of tepid scrumpy.
INGREDIENTS
70 ml Broken Clock Vodka
10 ml Asterley Bros Schofield's Dry Vermouth
Garnish
2 Pickled Onions
METHOD
Begin by chilling your martini glass — we leave ours in the freezer overnight to save time the next morning.
Fill a mixing glass with ample ice cubes and add the Broken Clock and vermouth. Stir briskly with a bar spoon until the liquid is very cold, with a touch of dilution.
Double strain into your chilly martini glass, spear two pickled onions onto a cocktail stick and perch it on the rim.
When you're ready to imbibe, pop the onions into the drink to release their tangy, umami essences.