28 May

National Brisket Day

Holy Smokes No.1

So we are drinking a...

Holy Smokes No.1

This national day originates from the days before the luxury of white goods when butchers didn't have fridges so leftover meat and the not so popular cuts were eaten on a Friday before they became too old and unsafe to consume. Smoked meats are also celebrated today as this was a clever way to preserve meat such as brisket and reduce waste.

Brisket is a cut of beef or veal from the breast or lower chest and is quite a tough cut of meat so marinating before slow cooking or barbecuing is the best way to approach and you can find countless recipes to experiment with. Most famously found in Texas, the state is home to Black's Barbecue in Lockhart, who back in the 1950's became the first restaurant to have a barbecue menu entirely devoted to brisket.

As smoke is such a popular ingredient in enhancing the flavour of brisket, we've picked the Holy Smokes No.1 as our cocktail of the day.

It's Ian Fleming's Birthday

James Bond's creator Ian Fleming was born on this day in 1908. And we will be toasting the creator of the immortal line "shaken, not stirred" with his most famous recipe.

An extraordinary man, Fleming worked in Naval Intelligence during World War II, running commando operations in the field. He published his first Bond novel, Casino Royale, in 1953, retiring to his Jamaican estate Goldeneye to write in peace once his creation took wings.

After a 1967 spoof version of the book, starring David Niven, a serious adaptation of Casino Royale did not make it to the screen until 2006. In the movie, as in the book, Bond creates this drink. He explains to its namesake, Vesper Lynd, that he called it after her "because once you have tasted it, you won't drink anything else." We are, honestly, inclined to agree. So we are drinking a Vesper, a fine drink to a fine man, and some rather fine movies. We also looked into Fleming's inspiration for Bond's Vesper Martini.

It's also Glyndebourne's birthday

Back in the 1930s, John Christie thought that England was missing out on opera, and decided to bring it to his stately home, Glyndebourne. He built a theatre, hired talented opera folk escaping from the early years of Nazi Germany, and created an institution which opened this day in 1934.

And not just any institution. Glyndebourne is the sort of place where folk will pay more than £60 per head for a picnic, and as much as £260 for an opera ticket, to watch people dying of diseases of poverty on stage. Yet Glyndebourne puts on 120 performances a year, reaching around 150,000 people, while its education programme does more than 230 events a year, bringing opera to people who'd never otherwise have heard it. We're toasting their success with an Opera.

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