The Taste of Britain. Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall

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СКАЧАТЬ the eighteenth century. South Devon cattle are now counted as rare and only one viable dairy herd exists today. The status of Guernsey and Jersey cattle is much stronger. They are exported from their native islands but once they have left, they are not allowed to return. The emphasis on preserving bloodlines on the island means that the milk is derived from the native breeds only. The closure of Jersey to foreign blood dates from 1789, of Guernsey from 1819. The islands exported stock from at least 1724, the annual rate of import into Britain from Jersey running at 2,000 head in 1878. South Devons are associated with Channel Island cattle because of the presence of the gene for haemoglobin B, a characteristic unique to these 3 breeds. There was much crossing of South Devons with Guernseys in the nineteenth century. This may be the route of entry of this genetic identity (Hall & Clutton-Brock, 1989).

      Originally known collectively as Alderneys, the cattle have been valued as producers of rich milk for almost 2 centuries. The English aristocracy gave them wide distribution for at first, in the Victorian period, it was a park and home-farm breed associated with country estates (Hall & Clutton-Brock, 1989). The 2 breeds began to develop separately in the mid-nineteenth century, when the Jersey was especially fashionable. On the British mainland, a number of farms maintain herds of pure-bred Channel Island cattle whose milk is marketed separately.

      Butter-making is found on the Channel Islands themselves and is undertaken by many owners of mainland British herds, particularly in Cornwall. During 1939-45, milk and butter production was strictly controlled and much on-farm butter-making ceased. The owners of Channel Island cattle formed an association, Quality Milk Producers, shortly after the war, to promote their milk and products made from it. Butter-making using the milk was, and still is, an activity of one major dairy company in the South-West. A number of smaller creameries and dairy farms began producing butter once more in the 1980s, encouraged by moves towards agricultural diversification.

      In law, Channel Island milk is defined as milk solely from Jersey and Guernsey herds. ‘Gold Top’ and ‘Breakfast Milk’ are brand names registered by Quality Milk Producers in 1956 and 1984 respectively.

      TECHNIQUE:

      The use of milk from Channel Island cattle is the crucial point in the production of this butter and, because of this, it is collected and processed separately. Theoretically, Guernseys,Jerseys and South Devons can be kept in almost any part of Britain, but they thrive best on rich pastures in the dairying area of the South West (the South Devon, of which there are few, is mostly restricted to this area). For butter, the pasteurized milk is separated mechanically. The cream is usually allowed to ripen; some dairies add a lactic acid starter; it is then churned by conventional English methods. The scale will vary with the producer, from small wooden churns holding a few gallons up to very large stainless-steel industrial units. Small producers prefer to use traditional wooden utensils for working the butter.

      REGION OF PRODUCTION:

      CHANNEL ISLANDS; HERDS EXIST THROUGHOUT BRITAIN, MAINLY SOUTH.

      Guernsey Gâche

      DESCRIPTION:

      GUERNSEY GÂCHES (SPELLED GAUCHE IN SOME ENGLISH SOURCES) COME IN VARIOUS WEIGHTS, INCLUDING ONE OF 500G WHICH IS SHAPED LIKE A WIDE LOAF AND ONE OF 900G, WHICH IS A NARROW OBLONG. ANOTHER, NAMED AFTER THE MAKER’S SHOP, THE MAISON CARRÉ, IS SET IN A SHALLOW OBLONG TIN, ABOVE WHOSE EDGES THE DOUGH RISES TO GIVE A MUSHROOM HEAD. COLOUR: FLAKY, GOLDEN BROWN CRUST, PALE YELLOW CRUMB WITH PROMINENT DRIED FRUIT AND CANDIED PEEL. FLAVOUR: SWEET AND RICH.

      HISTORY:

      Guernsey has its own variation on the theme of British fruit breads. J.R. Irons (c. 1935) states, ‘the one thing they all seemed agreed upon is that it cannot be made without good tough butter’ (tough in this instance meaning well-rinsed of water and whey). Recipes show it to be of the enriched dough type which pre-dates the chemically leavened fruit breads now mostly available in Britain. It may be compared to an enriched French brioche. Recipes deriving from eighteenth-century practice have been collected (Cox, 1971). Irons also describes a distinctive shape, certainly universal in the 1930s, stemming from the use of ‘flat tins, sides slightly sloping, [which] resembles more the housewife’s tin for cooking joints’.

      TECHNIQUE:

      This bread is heavily enriched: 1 part Guernsey butter, 2 parts sultanas or currants, 2 parts flour. It is yeast-risen.

      REGION OF PRODUCTION:

      CHANNEL ISLANDS, GUERNSEY.

      Black Butter

      DESCRIPTION:

      A THICK PASTE PACKED IN 500G GLASS JARS; DARK BROWN AND SLIGHTLY GRAINY. SHARPLY APPLE TASTE WITH STRONG LIQUORICE AND CINNAMON NOTES. COMPOSITION: APPLES, CIDER, LEMONS, SPICES.

      HISTORY:

      Black butter is made on the island of Jersey. Originally a by-product of cider-making, it is a type of apple paste eaten as a spread on bread. The use of the word butter, like ‘cheese’, is common for these very thick fruit pastes. Butter describes a mixture that is potted, while cheese is the preferred term for a paste poured into an oiled mould to set, then wrapped in paper or foil for storage. Cheese is sliced with a knife and eaten as an accompaniment to dairy cheese or as a sweetmeat on its own. Butter is spreadable.

      At first, these were often known as marmalades, the word deriving from the paste made from quince, which is marmelo in Portuguese. In Europe it is most often commercialized as pâte de coings in France or membrillo in Spain.

      English recipes for fruit pastes are to be found from the 1400s. Some included spices as well as fruit pulp and honey or sugar. Many fruits have been used as a base: black currants, red currants, elderberries, gooseberries, damsons, quinces and oranges. It was a useful way to cope with seasonal gluts. However, in the nineteenth century, new methods of preserving made them seem old-fashioned and they went out of favour. In the confectionery industry, they survive as fruit pastilles and jellies.

      Apples were the most familiar fruit and were reduced to butters more often than to cheeses. The American cookery writer Delia Lutes has an evocative description of her family’s way with apple butters at the turn of the century. In England, and still today in Jersey, they were called ‘black’ butters. The novelist Jane Austen wrote in a letter that some black butter served to her was neither properly set nor sweet enough, remarking that it was probably insufficiently boiled.

      There has survived on Jersey a tradition, which must stretch back many generations, of making a black butter heavily flavoured with spices. It has remained a communal task and important social event: much labour is needed, both for preparation and for stirring. This has been maintained by a few people, mostly using the exercise as a means of charitable fund-raising. However, production of black butter has declined since the Second World War (Brown, 1986). Interest in the product has lessened. Fewer cider apple trees are now planted and many old ones were uprooted in the storm of October 1987, which affected apple production in general.

      TECHNIQUE:

      On Jersey, favoured apple varieties include France and Romeril (sweet) and Bramley’s (sour). All formulae that survive are for making large batches. One recipe requires 27 barrels of prepared apples, 70 litres of juice, 24 whole СКАЧАТЬ