The Taste of Britain. Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall

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      Whitebait still shoal in the mouth of the Thames but the fishery has declined. According to one of the few remaining fishermen, demand for the fish has dropped, partly because they are cooked by deep-frying, now considered an unhealthy method, and because imported whitebait are cheaper than fish caught locally, due to the way in which the fishing industries of other countries are subsidized.

      The fishing of whitebait is no longer encouraged because of the implications for fish stocks, though the sprat is not under any threat at present. A whitebait festival was held annually at Southend, down the estuary, at the same time as a ceremony of blessing the sea.

      TECHNIQUE:

      Whitebait were defined by Alan Davidson (1979) as ‘the fry of various clupeoid fish, notably the herring and the sprat, and often mixed together’; most authorities now state that they are the fry of the sprat alone. They are caught from boats working in pairs with a fine net stretched between them. The season was considered to be March-August, but now fishing is discouraged when there are immature fish in the river, a period which lasts approximately from June until October.

      REGION OF PRODUCTION:

      SOUTH EAST ENGLAND.

      Aylesbury Duck

      DESCRIPTION:

      OVEN-READY WEIGHT, 3.5-4KG. WHITE FEATHERS AND PINK BEAK; THE FLESH IS PALE, SOFT AND TENDER, WITH LITTLE GRAIN AND LESS FATTY THAN MOST DUCK TYPES; THE FAT IS LOCATED IN A THIN HARD LAYER UNDER THE SKIN. FLAVOUR IS GOOD, WITH PRONOUNCED GAMINESS.

      HISTORY:

      The family of the one remaining commercial producer has been rearing Aylesbury ducks since the last quarter of the eighteenth century. Martha Bradley, writing in 1756, thought any breed of duck acceptable for the table, but by the time of Mrs Beeton (1861), Aylesburys were noted for their excellence and the intensive system of rearing then current: ‘not on plains or commons … but in the abodes of the cottagers. Round the walls of the living-rooms, and of the bedroom even, are fixed rows of wooden boxes, lined with hay; and it is the business of the wife and children to nurse and comfort the feathered lodgers, to feed the little ducklings, and to take the old ones out for an airing. Sometimes the “stock” ducks are the cottager’s own property, but it more frequently happens that they are intrusted to his care by a wholesale breeder who pays him so much per score for all ducklings properly raised.’ Transport was a factor in the fame of the birds; Smithfield, the London wholesale meat market, was easily accessible.

      The old system of rearing died out before the First World War; at the same time, hybrid ducks with Chinese blood became common. The popularity of the Aylesbury declined in the face of competition from birds of more acceptable conformation. Strict enforcement of EU hygiene regulations have further reduced the number of duck-farmers by vastly reducing the economic viability of the business for small producers.

      TECHNIQUE:

      The ducklings are now hatched in incubators. They are kept indoors for the first 2 weeks of life, and then allowed access to the open air in fenced runs for the third. After this, they are kept in outdoor enclosures for about 5 weeks. For the first 3 weeks they subsist on a high-protein ration; feeding of this continues once they are outdoors, but they also forage for grass and insects. The ducklings are killed at 8 weeks; they are dry-plucked, waxed, and hung 48 hours before evisceration and trussing. Older ducks of a larger size and more mature flavour are available when the breeding stock is killed at about 14 months.

      REGION OF PRODUCTION:

      SOUTH EAST ENGLAND, BUCKINGHAMSHIRE.

      Romney Sheep

      DESCRIPTION:

      ABOUT 18-20KG DRESSED WEIGHT FOR A CARCASS AT 3-4 MONTHS; 25KG LATER IN SEASON.

      HEAVY-BODIED SHEEP WITH GOOD CONFORMATION. MEAT IS DARK, WELL-FLAVOURED, CLOSE-TEXTURED.

      HISTORY:

      Romneys are white-faced, naturally long-tailed, and related to the Cheviot, Ile de France, Texel and Welsh Mountain. Their name is that of their native district, Romney Marsh. The stock which may have given rise to the breed were imported in about the second century AD by the Romans. Large numbers of sheep were maintained at Romney by the medieval Priory of Canterbury—whose breeding flock was at Thanet—for the sake of their wool, milk and meat. The relative importance of these products to the strain has waxed and waned. At present it is primarily a wool sheep. In the past, they were shorn of wool in the summer of their birth and sold as store lambs to be finished by arable farmers, graziers and butchers. They were slaughtered for meat as hoggets (over a year old). Often they were kept to 2 years, by which time they became very fat.

      The Romney was mentioned by Youatt (1837) as crossed with the Southdown, popular further along the coast. The progeny was suited to meat production. The Kent and Romney Marsh Sheep Breeders Association was founded in 1895 and the breed has been much exported.

      TECHNIQUE:

      The owners of the sheep used to live around the edge of the marsh and paid ‘lookers’ (people from the marsh itself who could tolerate the brackish well-water and the malarial fevers) to oversee the sheep. Before modern veterinary treatments for parasitic infections, managing the flocks to avoid infestation was skilled.

      Romneys can be kept in large flocks and they scatter whilst grazing. Some still graze long-established native pastures on which grass species include perennial rye grass and Kentish wild white clover—which can be very close grazed. The pastures were kept close-cropped by moving the sheep frequently. There is a tradition of moving the ewes to arable land in Surrey and Sussex during the winter to feed on root crops, although nowadays they may be housed indoors on their home farms. The object is to allow an early flush of grass on summer pastures.

      The lambs are born outdoors, traditionally from 1 April onwards. They are slaughtered from 3-4 months. Romney lamb reared on the salt marshes is sometimes requested by butchers or restaurants and the breed society has taken an interest in this in the past. However, the British consumer was not willing to pay a premium for the extra flavour, so it was not actively promoted. Romneys are still occasionally crossed with Southdowns to produce lambs for meat, but other lowland breeds such as Suffolk and, lately, Texel, have been favoured.

      REGION OF PRODUCTION:

      SOUTH EAST ENGLAND.

      Southdown Sheep

      DESCRIPTION:

      DRESSED CARCASS WEIGHT IS ABOUT 17KG. A COMPACT, FLESHY SHEEP WITH FINE BONES AND A HIGH RATIO OF MEAT TO BONE; EXCELLENT, SWEET FLAVOUR, GOOD MARBLING, VERY JUICY.

      HISTORY:

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