The Taste of Britain. Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall
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.
REGION OF PRODUCTION:
SOUTH WEST ENGLAND.
COMPARE WITH:
Forfar Bridie, Scotland (p. 310); Bedforshire Clanger, South England (p. 67)
Devon Cattle
DESCRIPTION:
DRESSED CARCASS WEIGHT FOR STEERS AGED 500 DAYS IS 190-300KG; FOR HEIFERS, 160-300KG. THE DEVON IS A FAIRLY LONG ANIMAL. THE FLESH IS FINELY GRAINED, WELL-MARBLED AND TENDER, WITH AN EXCELLENT FLAVOUR.
HISTORY:
These cattle, which gain two alternative names, Red Devon or Ruby Red, from their dark, red-brown pelts, are traditional to Exmoor - hence a third, North Devons. Even in the Domesday Book (1086), the density of cattle recorded in north-west Devon was exceptional. This may hint, perhaps, at the emergence of a distinctive breed, although the first known mention of red cattle in the West Country was in correspondence of the late sixteenth century.In the eighteenth century, detailed descriptions of Devon cattle were given by several agriculturists. By this time the breed was improved to produce a stronger animal for heavy draught work. The foundations for these changes were laid by the Quartly family, who had acquired a farm on Exmoor. Comment thereafter stresses both the docility of the cattle and the quality of the beef. The Breed Society was formed in the late nineteenth century.
There is another Devon breed, the South Devon, which is recognized as distinct; it is a dual-purpose cow which provides excellent rich milk and good beef. Although coming from the same original strain, it is a heavier beast than the Ruby Red. It is touched upon in the entry for Channel Island milk, below, p.52.
TECHNIQUE:
The Red Devon cattle of Exmoor, where the breed was developed, are on the small side; this is because they were expected to fatten on sparse moorland pasture which is susceptible to trampling into mud (the rainfall is very high) and responds well to the lightness of the Red Devons’ feet. Exmoor is now an Environmentally Sensitive Area. Breeders on the lower, lusher pastures of Somerset selected for larger cattle.
Recently, new blood from the French Saler breed (known sometimes as French Devons) has been used to improve conformation, particularly the quantity of fat carried on the brisket and at the top of the tail. The two strains have been interbred in the past, the Devon contributing genes to the Salers in the 1800s.
Animals destined for beef are slaughtered from the age of 18 months. Some butchers prefer an older animal, of about 3 years. Older cattle were favoured for beef production in Britain in the past, but in previous centuries they worked as draught animals for some years prior to slaughter. At present, the returns for keeping cattle at pasture longer than absolutely necessary are low. Devons are cross-bred with various dairy cattle including Friesians, whose offspring are known as black steers or heifers.
REGION OF PRODUCTION:
SOUTH WEST ENGLAND, DEVON.
Devonshire Ham
DESCRIPTION:
A SMOKED OR UNSMOKED CURED HAM FOR COOKING. WEIGHT: 3.5-5.5KG. FORM: HAMS MADE IN DEVON WERE LONG-CUT; THE CURRENT MAKER TRIMS THE BROAD ENDS OF THE HAMS FOLLOWING A NATURAL CURVE IN THE MEAT, AND REMOVES THE SKIN, EXCEPT AT THE KNUCKLE END WHERE IT IS CUT INTO A ZIG-ZAG PATTERN IN A STYLE KNOWN AS FLORENTINE. COLOUR: WHITE FAT, DEEP ROSE LEAN. FLAVOUR: A SUCCULENT TEXTURE AND CLEAN, PURE HAM FLAVOUR, WITH A LIGHT, FRAGRANT OAK SMOKE.
HISTORY:
Devonshire hams have been known for well over 150 years, and there is evidence that a particular ham cure existed in the area for a century before that. White (1932) quotes a Devon recipe for salting hams from the 1700s. Mrs Beeton (1861) gives a recipe for bacon or hams the Devonshire way, which shows the cure to have begun with dry-salting for 2 days, followed by brining in a pickle based on salt and sugar in proportions roughly 2:1. The hams were smoked for keeping and the pickle boiled and fortified with more salt and some black treacle before re-use. Anne Petch, the most prominent maker of hams currently working in this area, remarks that sugar or treacle in the cure helped to act as preservative and flavouring before saltpetre was available in a reliable form; it also counteracted the effects on flavour and texture which large quantities of salt had on the ham. Law’s Grocer’s Manual (c.1895) mentions that ‘Devonshire long cut hams - smoked or pale dried, and produced in the district round Plymouth - are also highly popular.’ By the 1930s, the Devonshire cure, whilst remaining a brine cure, had lost much of its sweetness. A recipe collected from a farmer’s wife between the world wars requires only a little treacle added to a salt and water brine.
TECHNIQUE:
Devonshire’s rural economy places emphasis on dairy products, apple orchards, and pig-rearing. The climate is damp and mild and, consequently, the local ham cure is brine-based. The hams now made in Devon are by a producer who uses English breeds of pig, and oversees the entire process from raising the animal to marketing. The animals are farmed extensively, on open pasture, finished with a mixed grain feed of barley and wheat, and slaughtered at 6-7 months. After cutting from the carcass, the hams are trimmed, then brined for 12 days in a 60 per cent brine. They are smoked, if required, in cold smoke from oak, plus a little beech. The hams are aged for 3-4 weeks. They may be dispatched raw, boiled plain, or cooked with cider and spices, a local method.
REGION OF PRODUCTION:
SOUTH WEST ENGLAND, DEVON.
Dorset Horn Sheep
DESCRIPTION:
DRESSED CARCASS WEIGHT ABOUT 18-19KG.
HISTORY:
The Dorset Horn is indeed a Dorset sheep. This sparsely populated