The Highland Larder

Your main traits

• earthy
• rustic
• forest
• mediterranean

Your aromatic portrait

You know the difference between a young cheese and one aged hard, and you know which season makes the best of each. You think rustic, hill-country cooking has an identity nothing else matches: heather, chestnut, sheep's-milk cheese, pork raised on the rough ground. You love rustic, earthy, sometimes wild flavors. Animal fat doesn't scare you; long notes don't either. Honey, to you, isn't a sugar, it's an aromatic ingredient in its own right. You finish with a good olive oil, you put sumac on your grilled vegetables, Voatsiperifery on your wild boar. You make your own fig vinegar. You cook for big tables, outdoors when the weather allows. You eat broadly Mediterranean, but with a forest depth the coastal cooks never quite reach.

Your 5 signature products

1. 1

   

   Pepper · Black pepper

   Voatsiperifery Pepper

   East-coast rainforest, Manakara and Mananjary districts, Madagascar

   « Voatsiperifery, wild and camphorous, is your hill-country pepper. Boar, game, seasonal stews: it opens up its full power on them. »

2. 2

   

   Honey · Monofloral honey

   Chestnut Honey

   Italian chestnut belt (Tuscany, Piedmont) and southern France (Cévennes, Corsica), Italy / France (PDO (Mele di Corsica — Miel de Corse, for the Corsican lots))

   « Chestnut honey, bitter and woody, rides on your sheep's-milk cheeses and aged tommes. It's your rustic honey, never the sweet kind. »

3. 3

   

   Oil · Olive oil

   Tuscan Extra Virgin Olive Oil IGP

   Tuscany (Chianti, Lucca, Siena, Florence), Italy (IGP)

   « Tuscan olive oil, more peppery and green than a Provençal one, is your finishing oil on tomatoes, grilled vegetables, soups. »

4. 4

   

   Salt · Grey sea salt

   Sel Gris de Guérande

   Guérande peninsula, Loire-Atlantique, France (PGI)

   « Sel gris de Guérande, rawer and more mineral, is your cooking salt for long-braised meats. Damp, grey, full of the marsh. »

5. 5

   

   Pepper · Black pepper

   Kampot Black Pepper

   Kampot and Kep provinces, Cambodia (PGI)

   « Kampot black, ample and fruity, rounds out your kit for red meats and mushroom-heavy dishes. Fruitier than ordinary black pepper. »

Your signature dishes

• wild boar with juniper
• sheep's cheese with chestnut honey
• tomatoes with Tuscan oil

Your go-to occasions

rustic meals, autumn, game cooking