The Taste of Britain. Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall
typhoid due to unhygienic storage wiped out demand before the First World War; catastrophic seasons, such as the winter of 1962-3 which killed 95 per cent of marketable stocks; disease; and finally price competition from oyster varieties that were more easily farmed, or more cheaply gathered, were the most potent causes.
Seasalter, the company based in Whitstable which currently does most work on oyster culture in the Thames estuary, has a history which stretches back to the mid-nineteenth century. The fishery of Whitstable did not escape the trials endured by other sites, but recovery has been put in hand. The beds were re-stocked with young natives from other locations, and Pacific oysters were introduced in the 1960s. Both varieties are now farmed at Whitstable. In Colchester, commerce was interrupted by the crises described above, but Colchester Oyster Fishery Ltd was established in 1966 to restore the beds. Stocks were hit badly by the parasite Bonamia in 1982 but are slowly recovering. Whitstable Oysters have been awarded Protected Geographical Indication (PGI).
TECHNIQUE:
Colchester oysters are fattened in the Pyefleet, a creek in the estuary of the River Colne. This is good for the purpose, as it has mildly brackish, nutrient-rich water, containing the phytoplankton on which oysters thrive. The name ‘Pyefleet’ has always been jealously guarded by Colchester Borough Council. The derelict oyster beds at Pyefleet, just south of the town of Colchester, were cleared of accumulated silt in the 1960s, an operation which was followed by natural re-stocking. New storage tanks were built. Water for these is pumped from settlement ponds into a storage pond and filtered into temperature-controlled, oxygenated tanks. The water for holding oysters is circulated through an ultra-violet treatment plant, and the water composition is monitored daily. After purification, the oysters are graded, packed in tubs with seaweed, and distributed.
In Whitstable, native oysters are gathered by a power dredge towed by a trawler which flicks the oysters into a cage; all oysters sold in England are purified in clean water under ultra-violet light for 2 days; after this they are graded by eye. Some farming of native oysters is also carried out at Whitstable, where Pacifies are farmed in mesh bags on steel tables.
To be called a Whitstable oyster, the shellfish must come from the coast between Shoeburyness and North Foreland, north Kent.
REGION OF PRODUCTION:
COLCHESTER (ESSEX); SOUTH EAST ENGLAND, WHITSTABLE (KENT). ALSO EAST ANGLIA.
COMPARE WITH:
Oyster, Scotland (p. 335)
‘Oysters are more beautiful than any religion… There’s nothing in Christianity or Buddhism that quite matches the sympathetic unselfish-ness of an oyster.’
SAKI, THE CHRONICLES OF CLOVIS
Patum Peperium
DESCRIPTION:
ANCHOVY RELISH IN SMALL FLAT ROUND PLASTIC BOXES OF 42.5G OR 70G; LARGER GLASS AND PORCELAIN POTS ARE ALSO USED. COLOUR: PINK-BROWN; THE COLOUR OF SALTED ANCHOVY. FLAVOUR: SALTY, FISHY, STRONG ANCHOVY FLAVOUR.
HISTORY:
The recipe for Patum Peperium is said to have been ‘perfected’ by John Osborn, an English provision merchant living in Paris in 1828. At this time, compounds of fish, meat or cheese, with spices and butter, were very popular. Recipes for potted anchovies, the fish rubbed through a sieve to remove the bones, mixed with spices and sealed with clarified butter were made and used for garnishes, or spread on toast. The recipe remained the intellectual property of the Osborn family and was brought back to England in the middle of the nineteenth century. According to the company history (Elsenham, n.d.), it was very successful. To the original name, Patum Peperium (the first word appears to be a fanciful play on the word for paste, or pâté; the second is derived from the Greek for pepper), the phrase ‘The Gentleman’s Relish’ was added, apparently by customers asking for the product. Despite the fact that the paste was first made in France, it became closely identified with pre-war British upper-class tastes and remains so today. The brand was sold by the Osborns on the retirement of the last 2 surviving members of the family from the business in 1971.
REGION OF PRODUCTION:
SOUTH EAST ENGLAND, LONDON.
Smoked Salmon (London cure)
DESCRIPTION:
SMOKED WILD SALMON HAS A REDDER HUE THAN THE FARMED, WHICH IS ORANGE-TINTED, AND SLIGHTLY TRANSLUCENT. FLAVOUR AND TEXTURE: SOFT BUTTERY FLAVOUR, VERY MILD SALT AND SMOKE; YIELDING.
HISTORY:
The light London cure developed from a different tradition to those known in Scotland. These last were intended to preserve the fish for a matter of months and were therefore heavy and intrusively flavoured. Immigrants from eastern Europe, arriving in England at the end of the nineteenth century, brought with them expertise in their own style of curing and began to practise in London using supplies of wild salmon from Scotland. The London cure was a means of enhancing flavour rather than of preservation. The fish is intended for consumption within a few hours of processing: it is more mildly flavoured, with a silkier texture than most Scottish smoked salmon. The most prominent firm, H. Forman and Sons, began curing in 1905. They are the last family firm of East-European origin still working in this field.
TECHNIQUE:
Forman and Sons use both wild and farmed salmon from Scottish waters. The farmed salmon is bought fresh as necessary; the wild is bought in season and supplies are frozen for subsequent use. Much of the fish is smoked to individual orders, the sides selected for size and oil content to the customer’s taste. After filleting and trimming, pure salt is used in a very light, dry cure which emphasizes the natural flavour of the fish, rather than masking it as do heavier cures; the sides are then lightly smoked.
REGION OF PRODUCTION:
SOUTH EAST ENGLAND, LONDON.
COMPARE WITH:
Smoked Salmon, Scotland (p. 369)
Whelk
DESCRIPTION:
AT POINT OF SALE, WHELKS ARE DISPLAYED COOKED AND SHELLED; THOSE FROM WHITSTABLE USED FOR THE ENGLISH MARKET GENERALLY WEIGH ABOUT 100-140 PER KG.
THE MEAT IS BROWNISH-YELLOW, FLAVOURFUL AND CHEWY; THEY ARE SOLD BY WEIGHT OR IN PRE-WEIGHED PORTIONS. THERE ARE SIGNIFICANT DISPARITIES OF SIZE BETWEEN WHELKS FROM DIFFERENT AREAS AROUND THE BRITISH COAST.
HISTORY:
Whelks, Buccinum undatum, are a common gastropod whose coiled, pointed shells are found on the coasts. Variant names are dog whelk, waved whelk, and buckie (in Scotland). The Romans carried them to various inland sites, and they are mentioned in the accounts of fifteenth-century fishmongers and many medieval households. For instance, 4,000 were used to garnish a salted sturgeon at the enthronement of the Archbishop of Canterbury in the early sixteenth century. The normal medieval procedure was to boil in water and eat with vinegar and parsley (Wilson, 1973).
Fishing grounds for whelks are off the north coast of Norfolk and in the Thames estuary. They formed part of the diet of the London poor, both at home and on holiday on the Kent coast. The phrase, ‘he couldn’t run a whelk stall’, suggests they found a ready sale. However, they were never considered elegant.
When they are bought ready-cooked as street food, the consumer splashes as much vinegar on as he would wish. They remain a seaside staple and as part of the food traditions of the urban poor in Midland cities. The uncooked meat has found a new market in Chinese