Janet's F Word Blog | Food

Date Published:: 27/10/2009

Janet Street-Porter shares a few choice words on her latest F Word adventures in her exclusive blog

Janet: "I'm the least maternal person I know - four husbands, no pets and no children. This year I've been set the ultimate challenge by Gordon, which is to rear him a mixed grill. It seems to involve me looking after beef cattle, chickens and pigs on a small holding we've built near my farmhouse in North Yorkshire, but of course (this being the F Word) my job has been made tougher by the decision to pick rare breeds.

I understand why - 'cos they are full of flavour, but when I went to meet Penny, who breeds Dexter cattle near Thirsk, things didn't get off to a promising start. In spite of her telling me how 'loveable' and 'intelligent' they were, I got kicked and another of the little charmers stamped on my foot. Ugh! They might be small - they have much shorter legs than most cattle - but they can run really fast.

Catching them and getting them in the trailer wasn't very easy. It's a good job I'm going to be helped by my local farmer up in Nidderdale, Jack Graham. I've got the waterproofs, but now I'm going to invest in some steel toe-capped boots.

Dexters are usually slaughtered at around two years old, which is older than most beef cattle, and the meat is very tasty and low in fat. Penny gave me a couple of steaks to try and they were delicious.

Apart from all this animal husbandry, I've agreed to help judge Britain's Best Local Restaurant in our competition, so watch out for a mud-spattered red-head coming through the door of your local Italian!"

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