Kitabı oku: «The Taste of Britain», sayfa 4
TECHNIQUE:
Ordinary butter produced in Britain is made from cream separated from fresh milk. In contrast to this, the butterfat used for whey butter goes through the initial processes of cheese-making. The exact details of these vary from region to region, but include the steps of adding starter and rennet, and allowing the milk to ripen and curdle with the temperature at about 32°C. Once the curd has set, it is cut and stirred while the temperature is increased by a few degrees. After a certain time, which varies according to the type of cheese being made, the whey is drained off. It is this part of the process which gives the distinctive flavour to the butter. The whey, which has a fat content of about 0.5-1 per cent, is then put through a mechanical separator (centrifuge), yielding up the fat in the form of cream which is then churned by conventional methods, lightly salted (about 1 per cent), and packed for sale.
REGION OF PRODUCTION:
SOUTH WEST ENGLAND.
Elver
DESCRIPTION:
YOUNG EELS ABOUT 4CM LONG, SLENDER AND THREAD-LIKE. COLOUR: TRANSPARENT, PALE AMBER. FLAVOUR: MILDLY FISHY.
HISTORY:
Eels were once a staple of fish-day diet. Medieval household accounts devote more entries to them than almost any other species of fish (Woolgar, 1992). Small wonder, therefore, that their fry should be esteemed as delicacies. The River Severn has long been noted for the vast numbers of elvers it attracts. Neufville Taylor (1965) mentions an elver net in a domestic inventory dated 1587 and Daniel Defoe (1724-6) remarked on elver-cakes sold at Bath and Bristol. White (1932) states elvers in large baskets were being cried through the streets of Gloucester even after the First World War. The fish products of the Severn estuary were important regional symbols, whether the salmon, the elvers or the lampreys - the Corporation of Gloucester sent a lamprey pie to the reigning monarch every year until 1836. Elvers are caught from the Somerset Levels up the Severn as far north as Tewkesbury. Villages some way from the bank have memories of elver cookery. FitzGibbon (1972) records instructions for elver pie (made as a sort of pasty) from the village of Keynsham, half way between Bristol and Bath on the River Avon.
Elvers have remained a popular food in the region, but they are now very expensive, and much of the catch is exported, some going as stock for eel-farms (Green, 1993). Furthermore, a study undertaken by Brian Knights to investigate the declining catch of elvers from the Severn in the 1980s concluded that oceanic cycles had affected numbers.
There are several local methods for cooking elvers, including flouring and deep frying; and frying in bacon fat then adding eggs to make a type of omelette. Alternatively, they are steamed to make a loaf. There are elver-eating contests in the villages on the lower reaches of the Severn on Easter Monday. During the season, between the spring tides of March and April, fresh elvers can be bought from local markets.
TECHNIQUE:
The elvers are caught at night by inhabitants who have rights to particular places on the river where swift-moving water comes close to the bank. They take up station some time before the ‘bore’, a high wave formed by the incoming tide in the Severn estuary as it narrows, and warn each other of its arrival by shouting a message along the river, marking its progress. As the tide begins to ebb, nets are put into the water with their mouth facing downstream to catch the elvers as they swim upstream against the flow; after a few minutes a net is removed and emptied, then dipped again. A suspended light can be used to attract the fish. If the run is poor, the net may be ‘tealed’, pegged in position for some time, in an attempt to maximize the catch.
REGION OF PRODUCTION:
WEST ENGLAND, SEVERN ESTUARY AND TRIBUTARIES.
Smoked Mackerel
DESCRIPTION:
SINGLE FILLETS OF SMOKED MACKEREL WITH SKIN. COLOUR: CHESTNUT BROWN ON FLESH SURFACE, CREAM INTERNAL FLESH. FLAVOUR: WOODY-OILY, LIGHTLY SALTY.
HISTORY
Similar to the herring, with a high oil content, mackerel flesh spoils rapidly when fresh and the hot-smoking process over oak chips was a method of processing which the curers have developed and which has become as popular as kippers. Mackerel is fished all around the British coasts, and has long been a mainstay of the South West. In the early twentieth century, the catch was preserved by canning (in Cornwall) or salting (in parts of Scotland). When the herring fishery declined in the 1970s, processors turned their attention to mackerel as an alternative. Particularly good catches were made off the Cornish coast and a substantial smoking industry developed, using both whole fish and fillets.
When the Scottish herring fisheries were closed in 1977 to conserve stocks, attitudes there (where mackerel had hitherto been regarded as inferior) changed and catches began to increase; smoking was also taken up as a means of using the catch.
TECHNIQUE:
Made with fish caught mostly during December-February when they have an oil content of about 23 per cent. They are filleted to remove head and bone. Single fillets with the skin on are cured in a brine, placed on stainless-steel trays and cold-smoked for an hour then hot-smoked for 2 hours. Flavourings (pepper, herbs and spices) are sprinkled over before they are smoked.
REGION OF PRODUCTION:
SOUTH WEST ENGLAND; ALSO SCOTLAND; EAST ANGLIA.
Bath Chaps
DESCRIPTION:
WEIGHT: 400-600G, DEPENDING ON THE AGE AND BREED OF PIG. COLOUR: BATH CHAP HAS THE APPEARANCE OF A CONE CUT IN HALF VERTICALLY; THE CURVED UPPER SURFACE IS COVERED WITH LIGHT BROWN OR ORANGE BREAD CRUMBS; WHEN CUT, THE CHAP IS STREAKED IN LAYERS OF PINK LEAN AND WHITE FAT. FLAVOUR: SIMILAR TO ENGLISH COOKED HAMS OF THE YORK TYPE.
HISTORY
A Bath chap is the cheek of a pig, boned, brined and cooked. Why this delicacy should be associated with the town of Bath is not clear, except that it lies in an area which has been a centre of bacon curing.
Pig’s cheeks have probably been cured and dried for as long as any other part of the animal. The word chap is simply a variant on chop which, in the sixteenth century, meant the jaws and cheeks of an animal. These are probably what Mrs Raffald (1769) intended when she gave a recipe ‘To salt chops’ with salt, saltpetre, bay salt and brown sugar. This called for the meat to be dried afterwards; it would be expected to keep for several months. A century later, Mrs Beeton gave a method for drying and smoking pig’s cheeks, observing that A pig’s cheek, or Bath chap, will take about 2 hours after the water boils.’ Law’s Grocer’s Manual (c. 1895) notes both upper and lower jaws were used, the lower, which was meatier and contained the tongue, selling at about twice the price of the upper. Several manufacturers are recorded, including Hilliers of Stroud and the Wiltshire Bacon Company (founded at the end of the nineteenth century). However, today, only 2 producers have been located.
I am passionate about the use of local food and the high quality of produce to be found in Devon is one of the main reasons I chose to move here to start my latest venture. I have spent a lot of my time driving around the county, sourcing suppliers, going to farmers markets, visiting smallholders, speaking to day-boat fishermen and building up a network of people who are as passionate and mad about food as we are here at the New Angel. I love anticipating what produce is going to be brought into the restaurant on any given day. Take asparagus for example: because the season only lasts for six weeks, there is always an air of anticipation around their delivery. Devon asparagus is excellent and dishes containing my favourite vegetable always fly out of the door. Likewise, it’s great when Anthony Buscombe and his brother come straight in from their boat to the restaurant with a big box of freshly caught crab - 80 per cent of all of Britain’s crab comes from the Dartmouth and Salcombe coast, and it’s the best there is. The delicate, sweet meat needs only a little butter and spice, and I’m very lucky to be able to source such quality from my own doorstep. I regard this county as a centre of excellence for locally produced food. No other area can match Devon’s variety of produce, and that is why I believe it is so important to promote and support local food producers, suppliers and small farming businesses.
John Burton Race
CHEF AND PROPRIETOR, THE NEW ANGEL, DARTMOUTH
Bath chaps are eaten at main meals, usually with mustard. They are sold already cooked.
TECHNIQUE:
Bath chaps are no longer dried, merely lightly brined. They are cut from the pig’s heads, cleaned, and boned. They are brined for a short time, after which they are cooked. Subsequently, they are pressed in a mould to give the cone shape; when cold and set, the chaps are removed from their moulds and dusted with crumbs.
REGION OF PRODUCTION:
WILTSHIRE AND SOMERSET; SOUTH ENGLAND
Bradenham Ham (Fortnum Black Ham)
DESCRIPTION:
AN UNSMOKED CURED HAM FOR COOKING. WEIGHT: ABOUT 14KG. COLOUR: THE SKIN IS BLACK, THE FAT BROWN-TINTED. FLAVOUR: DELICATE, SWEET, MILD.
HISTORY:
The Bradenham Ham Company of Wiltshire produced hams according to a recipe dated 1781 (Simon, 1960). The recipe is thought to be named for the last Lord Bradenham. It emanated from Bradenham in Buckinghamshire. The secret is in the immersion in molasses and spices, resulting in a sweet-tasting meat. Recipes for treacle-cured hams appeared in domestic cookery books at this time, and the developing West India trade provided molasses a-plenty. The hams were hung and matured for a longer period than other, less exclusive products. In the novel A Rebours (1884), the decadent hero visits an English restaurant in Paris, passing at the entrance a counter displaying ‘hams the mellow brown of old violins’.
The curing method and the trademark of a flying horse were the exclusive property of the Bradenham Ham Co. which was awarded a Royal Warrant in 1888. In 1897 the Wiltshire Bacon Company took over Bradenham Ham but continued to produce at Chippenham in Wiltshire. When that company closed in its turn, production was moved to Yorkshire. Similar recipes are used by other curers; Brunham, made in Wiltshire, is one example.
TECHNIQUE:
The legs, cut from bacon pigs, must carry a specified level of fat otherwise they become dry; they are long-cut, giving a rounded shape. Curing begins in dry salt with saltpetre and sugar but, after an unspecified time, the hams are removed and placed in a marinade of molasses and spices, after which they are hung to mature. The process from fresh meat to fully matured ham takes 5-6 months.
REGION OF PRODUCTION:
SOUTH WEST ENGLAND, WILTSHIRE.
Brawn
DESCRIPTION:
SMALL PIECES OF BRINED PORK, USUALLY FROM THE HEAD AND SHOULDER, SET IN A JELLY. IN APPEARANCE, IT IS A TRANSLUCENT, PALE GOLD-BROWN WITH PIECES OF PALE MEAT AND SOMETIMES CHOPPED HERBS; THE MEAT IS BRINED AND FINELY SHREDDED FOR SOME VERSIONS, GIVING AN OPAQUE, PINK APPEARANCE; IN THE NORTH-EAST, BRAWN IS COLOURED A BRIGHT ORANGE-RED. BRAWN SHOULD BE HIGHLY FLAVOURED; SAGE AND BLACK PEPPER ARE FAVOURITE SEASONINGS.
HISTORY:
One element of the history of brawn is constant right down to the present day and this is not the composition of the dish itself but the habit of serving it with mustard. ‘Furst set forth the mustard and brawne of boore ye wild swyne,’ instructed the Boke of Nurture in 1460.
‘Good bread and good drinke,
a good fier in the hall,
brawne, pudding and souse,
and good mustard withall’
was Thomas Tusser’s (1573) prescription for a husbandman’s Christmas. Later recipes for brawn sauce made of mustard, sugar and vinegar abound (e.g. Dallas, 1877).
Brawn originally meant muscle or meat of any description; by the fifteenth century the word was particularly, although not exclusively, associated with the flesh of wild boar. The Tudor physician Thomas Cogan stated that the flesh of wild swine was better for you than any tame animal and that brawn, which is the flesh ‘of a boare long fedde in the stie,’ was difficult of digestion. He counselled that it should be eaten at the start of a meal - advice that seems to have been followed, even if unconsciously, unto the present day (O’Hara May, 1977). Because the word applied exclusively to flesh or muscle meat, it followed that brawn developed the restricted meaning of the boned flesh, fat and skin, as opposed to the whole joint, bone-in. The way such a floppy joint was best dealt with was that it would be collared. It would be rolled up tight, wrapped in cloth and tied round [collared] with tape or string before boiling. Collaring was normally done to sides of pig, rather than hams. In the sixteenth-century accounts of the Star Chamber brawn appears almost monotonously as collars or rounds. Martha Bradley (1756) has instructions on choosing brawn. Her definition of the word was meat that came from an uncastrated boar (not necessarily wild). The best was from a young animal: old boar was too tough and the rind too thick, meat from a sow too soft. Her namesake, Richard Bradley, writing 20 years earlier (1736), disagreed. His brawn was the collared flitches of ‘an old boar, for the older he is, the more horny will the brawn be’. He thought brawn rather insipid; horny was probably a good thing.
A collar was a convenient package that could be cooked and sliced. The method was also a way of preserving unwieldy and quick-spoiling food, in other words, pickling. Collared meats (and fish) were usually brined and spiced, boiled, pressed and sliced. Brawn came to mean almost exclusively pork cooked in this manner. If the meat was pressed and cooled in its liquor, it would indeed begin to look like the jellied brawn we have today.
Whereas at the outset brawn applied to most parts of the pig apart from the valuable hams, by the 1800s, in the southern part of England, it had come to mean a dish based on pigs’ heads, collared. This appears under the tide ‘Tonbridge Brawn’ in Eliza Acton (1845). As the head was the boniest (and least vendible) part of the animal, it was a natural candidate for collaring and repackaging, leaving the rest for bacon, ham or roasting joints. A dish that was also common in Georgian recipe books was ‘mock brawn’: a flank of pork rolled around morsels from calves’ feet and pig’s head, cooked, pressed and cooled. Gradually, as brawn was relegated to a dish of the poor and country people who killed their own pigs, the dish was simplified into a highly seasoned, moulded, meat jelly containing small pieces of pork
Pork cheese, once commonly termed head cheese, is a similar dish made from finely minced meat rather than chopped scraps. In some regions, especially the North, brawn-type dishes are made from beef.
Brawn is still widely made, and is a profitable by-product of pork butchery. It is a component of salad lunches and still eaten with mustard or strong condiments. Although it may be found in many parts of the country, it is most often sold in the South West, where a number of relics of a once important industry survive, such as Bath chaps, chitterlings and the like.
TECHNIQUE:
The meat for brawn, usually pigs’ heads, is cleaned thoroughly and brined for a few hours. It is boiled with seasonings, bones and feet until very well cooked. The mixture is strained, the meat picked off the bones and placed in moulds, the stock reduced and poured over, and the whole allowed to set. Where a colour is given to the brawn, suppliers would once have offered ‘Indian Red’ colouring agent.
REGION OF PRODUCTION:
SOUTH WEST ENGLAND.
Cornish Pasty
DESCRIPTION:
A BAKED PASTY WITH MANY DIFFERENT FILLINGS WHICH ARE INVARIABLY RAW WHEN THE PASTY IS MADE UP. THE SHAPE IS A POINTED OVAL, WITH A SEAM OF CRIMPED PASTRY RUNNING THE LENGTH OF THE PASTY ABOUT ONE-THIRD OF THE WAY IN FROM THE EDGE. INDIVIDUAL VERSIONS VARY IN THEIR FORMS; INDUSTRIALLY PRODUCED ONES ARE MORE LIKELY TO BE SEMI-CIRCULAR. A MEAN SIZE MIGHT BE 20CM LONG, 10CM WIDE, AND 4CM DEEP, WEIGHING 330G COLOUR: GOLDEN PASTRY (EGG-WASHED). FLAVOUR: BEEF AND POTATO PREDOMINATE.
HISTORY:
A bit of pastry is everything to a Cornish household. I can remember the sense of shock when I visited my up-country in-laws for the first time and neither they nor their five daughters had a rolling pin’ (Merrick, 1990).
Pasty is an old English word for a pie of venison or other meat baked without a dish (OED). Samuel Pepys consumed great numbers of them, as his diary relates. However, the use of the word declined in a large part of England and the only region where it survives is that stronghold of pastry, the South West, especially Cornwall. Here, the form settled into a fixed type: a pie that was food for the working man and his family. Spicer (1948), collecting regional recipes in the 1940s, remarked that pasties were originally baked on an iron plate set on the hearth, covered with an iron bowl, with ashes and embers heaped around. The Cornish were part of the English highland tradition which used a bakestone and pot-oven rather than the masonry or brick oven of champion country. Under the dialect name fuggan, references to pasties can be traced back to the mid-nineteenth century (Wright, 1896-1905), defined as ‘an old Cornish dish… which is a pasty of very thick crust filled with potatoes’.
Tradition states that such food was the portable midday meal of miners and farm labourers, and that the Cornish will put anything in a pasty - meat, fish, bacon, cheese, vegetables, eggs or, in times of dearth, wild herbs. Potatoes, onions, leeks and turnips are allowed, but carrots are not customary; nor is minced, as opposed to chopped, meat. Fishermen, ideal beneficiaries of the convenience of the pasty, in fact eschew it. It is thought bad luck to bring one on a boat (Merrick, 1990). Pasties were often made too large to consume at a single sitting, and their ingredients were varied according to individual preference. Cooks would therefore mark each pasty with the initials of each intended recipient so that they could take up the relic they left off, and avoid a nasty surprise at the first bite.
The pasty’s success has been contagious since World War II. There are manufacturers everywhere. This may lead to variations, for example Priddy Oggie, sometimes quoted as a long-standing regional dish, is a pork-filled pasty with a cheese pastry which was invented in the late 1960s in Somerset.
TECHNIQUE:
A shortcrust pastry is usual, although some makers prefer something very like puff. This is rolled and cut to a circle 20cm across. A mixture of roughly equal quantities of raw, chopped beef steak and thinly sliced, raw potato, plus half as much chopped onion and turnip is well seasoned with salt and pepper. The filling is placed on one side of the pastry, the edge brushed with egg and excess pastry folded over to enclose it. The edge is crimped to seal, the outside egg-washed. It is baked at 200°C for 20 minutes, then 180°C for 40 more.
