The Taste of Britain. Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall
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