This is a story of the inquisitive journey of Made by Jim’s strange association with delicious cuisine. The hunt through fog-bound Leeds for taste and flavour continues to reveal Made by Jim’s ‘damnable young’ counterpart Hot Stu, together in an endless exploration of humanity’s basest capacity and desire for tantalising recipes.
One might question the extent to which Made By Jim and Hot Stu are in fact a single character, the two personas seem nothing alike – the well-liked, respectable cook and the hideous, depraved devil in the kitchen are almost opposite in type and personality. Every human being contains opposite forces within him or her, an alter ego that hides behind one’s polite facade.
This may be an analogy to a famous piece of literature by a certain Mr. Stevenson but nevertheless the association is fitting. Although very rewarding after months of maturing my preserves, I have found the whole process quite restrictive. I needed to break out of the jar in order to experiment and create. Stew enabled this lid to be popped and every weekend @Outlawsyachtclub and @cafe164 trialled a series of strange stews, all vegetarian, vegan and gluten free, some popular, some just a bit too weird.
Charred cauliflower, caper and red lentil stew
After a few weeks, Outlaws started to take on the stews full time and meat stews were also introduced. This lead to one happy regular, Ross Featherstone of @madebyrefresh to get in touch and, with the launch of a food blog he co-created, Food&_ (www.foodand.co.uk) we produced a recipe book which included ten of the stew recipes to coincide with the annual food festival, Leeds Loves Food.
Swede, anise and spinach stew
Made By Jim 