About Kitchen Irons

If you have found your way to our website and are thinking about ordering a product then perhaps you might like to know a little more about what goes on here at Kitchen Irons.

My name is Richard Fishenden and I am a qualified Farrier and skilled Blacksmith. We have been in business for over 12 years. We still shoe horses on a daily basis as part of our business and still use the traditional methods for forging pieces of iron work.

In order to heat up the iron to a forging heat we generally use a gas forge now rather than a coal/coke forge simply because it is quicker and a more consistant heat. We still hand forge all of our products with a large hammer, tongs and a huge anvil. This is fairly unique because most other companies selling ironwork today will buy their stock from China or Europe. Look closely at the images of our ironwork and then compare them to the rest available and you will see that ours are really ‘handmade’.

As we hand forge all of our products to order we can offer you a very personal service. We can make bespoke sizes that are not available off the peg. Please email or phone me if you have something in mind.

Never has there been a better time to buy British..

The words of Interior designer Antonia Stewart who shares her latest advice for home owners in February’s edition of  Period Living The article is informative and interesting and shows that the trend right now is on quality products that are built to last and do not cost the earth. Something very close to my heart.

The Fabulous Baker Brothers

It is sometimes nice to boast and when the producer for a new cookery show asked if I could supply a traditional and rustic pan rack I was able to say yes. They bought 2 wall racks both Blackthorn rails with Thumper finials and finished in beeswax. One can clearly be seen to the right of the big wood oven and really shows off their pots and pans. The shows are well worth watching and are on Channel 4, Wednesday nights, at 8.30pm. You can watch any shows you missed here. The Fabulous Baker Brothers.

 

Harvesting Walnuts

What a fantastic year we have had for walnuts! I have never seen so many hanging off the trees. Here is some information on how to get the best from your harvest:

Check for ripeness. The nuts are falling fast now here in Suffolk and the nuts have split hulls. Break open a few sample nuts to check for ripeness. English walnuts are ready for harvest when the tissue between the kernel and the shell turns brown.

You can then harvest the nuts by gathering them off the ground as they fall or by shaking them off the tree.

When collect the hulls need to be removed to reveal the shelled nuts. The hulls should come off easily if you are collecting the nuts at the right time. You might want to wear gloves to keep your hands clean.

Allow the nuts to air dry for a few weeks and then test again. If you remove the nuts from their shell and try and break them in half if they break cleanly the nuts are ready to eat. The nuts are best stored in an airtight container. The will keep in the shell for several months if kept cool and dry. The shelled nuts can be kept in the fridge for up to 6 months and in the freezer for well over a year.

Cider making

We have already made one batch of cider this year and tomorrow (after the rugby) we will head to the orchards again to gather and press some more apples. We have a large Vigo cider press which is the real deal.

The taste of the fresh juice takes some beating and it’s a great day for the whole family. My 2 sons love getting involved and drinking copious amounts of juice.

 

New products coming soon…

We have spent the summer developing a new range of Kitchen Iron products for your home. We will soon add these to our website. They include wooden chopping boards, kitchen door knobs and handles plus a lovely notice board to keep all of your ‘To do’s’ in one place.

Here is a sneek preview of one of the chopping boards that is in the range…

Raspberry Vinegar

Having had a rather large glut of raspberry’s this year I was looking for ways to store that wonderful flavor so that we could keep on enjoying them long after the end of the season.

I read a lovely recipe in Hugh FW’s Preserving book about Raspberry Vinegar. Needless to say that it is absolutely delicious and I can’t see it lasting as long as I had hoped! The whole family enjoy it as an addition to their meal.

Here is the recipe from The River Cottage Handbook No2- Preserves:

Makes 1.5L

1Kg Raspberries

600 ml Cider Vinegar

Granulated Sugar

Put the raspberry’s in a bowl and crush them lightly with a wooden spoon. Add the vinegar. Cover the bowl and leave for 4-5 days stirring occasionally.

Pour the fruit vinegar in to a scalded jelly bag or muslin and leave to drain over night. You can squeeze a little if you like.

Measure the liquid and pour in to a saucepan. For every 600 ml of fruit vinegar, add 450g sugar. Place over a low heat and bring to the boil. Boil for 8-10 mins removing and scum as it rises.

Remove from the heat and bottle when cool. Use within 12 months.

Use it on salads-either neat or mixed with olive oil. Also nice trickled over goats cheese , pancakes and even ice-cream. You will also find that a spoonful adds a lovely piquancy to savoury sauces.

For a revitalising summer drink, mix a couple of tablespoons of raspberry vinegar with soda or tonic water then add ice.

What’s in your kitchen?

My wife was given a wooden plate rack that her auntie was giving away to a good home. We managed to fit it into our old lean-to kitchen and decided to store it while our extension was being built. We had no idea whether it would fit into our new kitchen but hoped it would. Amazingly it fits perfectly on one piece of wall that was going to house a cupboard. The electrician had wires coming out of the wall for an under cupboard light. The light was attached behind the rack. The light is soft and is lovely in the evening. The rack has been given a face lift by being scrubbed, lightly rubbed over with sand paper, under coated a few times then painted a light dusky pink by Fired Earth. What have you upcycled successfully in your kitchen?

Our new trees

On Saturday I decided to take a visit to see how the new trees that we planted in February this year are getting on. They were all planted as part of is the tree planting pledge we have made which helps give something back to the environment that the business uses. There are 2 common names related to how much energy we all use which are:

A ‘carbon footprint’ (how much Co2 you produce) and

‘Offsetting’ (which is a way of canceling out the C02).

We wanted to take an active role in this area of our business and so planting a tree in Suffolk for every pan rack or utensil rack we sell seems a logical thing to do. As you will see from our website, each product is named after a tree and this dictates how many and of what species we plant.

Here is a photo of the new Suffolk hedgerow which despite the drought seems to be doing really well.

Despite the drought it's doing well.

Apple Blossom

Last years apples for me were a disaster. We had a late frost locally which seriously affected the blossom and therefore the apples and therefore my cider crop! This year we have been blessed with amazing blossom. The trees look stunning. This photo was taken at a local farm where I am allowed to pick the apples. I cant wait.