Fire & Ice – A BBQ Food and Drink Experience

To the Wiltshire village of Little Bedwyn between Hungerford and Marlborough and, for one afternoon in May, a parish of culinary heaven.

The Harrow has actually provided divine food for many years under chef-owner Roger Jones and his wife Sue, with the restaurant holding a Michelin Star for 12 years before closing its doors in 2020 and reverting to a family home, but with the genius of Jones’s cooking still very much open for eating.

As BBQ invitations around a friend’s house go – I have an interest to declare as Little Bedwyn was home to my late father Tim Bates – they do not come any more coveted. When BBQ magazine brings the drinks, supplemented by Roger’s cellar befitting of an international wine judge, then you have a terrace party the gods will descend from Mount Olympus for.

We did have a rugby deity, as Alun Wyn Jones, the former Wales and British & Irish Lions captain, brought a bottle – correction, several bottles – of the Mimosa Rwm Espiritu, the coffee-infused rum liqueur he founded.

TV broadcaster, events host and drinks writer Andy Clarke was on hand to recreate the Firebrand cocktail he exclusively mixed for BBQ magazine last year, adding espresso, Grand Marnier, passion fruit puree, chocolate bitters, a pinch of smoked paprika and an orange to the Mimosa rum. Let the party begin.

THE FOOD

Roger Jones called them snacks, as if he had casually poured some peanuts into a bowl. The ‘snacks’ were Wagyu beef tartare and beetroot hummus with aged goat’s cheese, and smoked haddock masala cornets, with wild mushrooms and truffle risotto.

To follow was elite-level surf and turf. Indeed, I’m not sure sea and land has ever given up such treasures over fire. The seafood line up included a Portuguese rice dish – arroz de Marisco with lobster, langoustines and scarlet shrimps; octopus with wild garlic, rosemary, potatoes and sweet peppers; grilled Cornish turbot head; and lobster lollipops with Thai spices.

Chef was using Le Creuset cast iron cookware with the iconic French brand’s BBQ range, including a utility pan, an outdoor round skillet, a cocotte casserole dish and a square grilling basket, all as robust and durable as the mightiest French rugby forwards Alun Wyn Jones has played against, with the pans of Le Creuset and the hands of Jones a dream BBQ pairing.

Next on the grills, with the Michelin-starred chef using a Kamado Joe, an OFYR and a drum/sandpit set up to showcase his range of skills and the variety of the menu, was a meat feast, with the meat supplied by Field & Flower, the award-winning online butcher with its commitment to farming communities and sourcing produce from the best artisan suppliers with provenance paramount.

Slow cooked ox cheek Madras with mint raita was followed by BBQ shoulder of lamb, stuffed with anchovies and leeks. Next on the fires was BBQ salt-aged rib of beef with marrowbone canoes; Greek lamb kebabs with chargrilled vine tomatoes; and Louisiana-spiced chicken link sausages.

Room for dessert? Chargrilled pineapple, mango and passion fruit crème anglaise with an infusion of rum.

THE DRINK

Sparkling wine:

A trio of aperitifs to start the lunch: a Pure Provence Rosé from Maison Mirabeau, the fruity freshness of Ridgeview’s Bloomsbury from Sussex, and the all-conquering Midalidare from Bulgaria (Rock House Drinks).

Beer:

Powder Monkey Brewing, based in Gosport, had a Bravo Zulu Pilsner and an Explosion IPA in its armoury, while Lakedown Brewing, serving a trio of beers at the feast, sits beside the trout lakes of the Sussex estate of rock star Sir Roger Daltrey.

Wadworth, with its headquarters in Devizes, did not have far for its 6X amber ale to travel, while Abbeydale brought both its Deception pale ale and a Nelson Sauvin sparkling hop water down from Sheffield in South Yorkshire. Hogs Back Brewery from the Surrey Hills supplied a Little Swine alcohol-free pale ale, and Pinter meant we could brew our own premium draught beer.

Rum:

Mimosa Rwm Espiritu from our guest of honour Alun Wyn Jones, while The Tidal Rum added Caribbean spirit with its Golden Tide. V Rum is crafted in Southampton, and Smokey Cartel, from the makers of The Smokey Carter rubs and sauces, fired up its flame-roasted pineapple spiced rum.

Gin:

Craobh produces small batch gin from Glasgow, and Cygnet evokes the Welsh voice of its founder, the singer Katherine Jenkins.

Whisky:

Smokehead is an Islay single malt Scotch whisky, with the name alone a natural peaty pairing for barbecue food.

Soft drinks:

A rich variety of tonics and mixers, including Indian, pink and ginger, from Fitch & Leedes out of South Africa. And the G Spot wellness brand of sparkling botanical drinks from The X-Files, The Crown and Sex Education actress Gillian Anderson.

Condiments:

A cinder toffee mustard BBQ sauce from GingerBeard’s Preserves was a very apt accompaniment, along with other rubs and sauces ‘made by a man with a ginger beard in Bristol’. Hornet Chilli Sauces brought the heat from Hampshire. Gourmet Tallow is a wagyu beef tallow cooking spray, and Pinchful is a naturally lower sodium sea salt.