Welsh Food Focus - MarchSt Davids Day This is the day when numerous Welsh ex-patriots across the world remember their patron saint. The celebrations on the day have to include some Welsh food, drink and entertainment. But fresh food specialities can be sparse at this time on the seasonal calendar. The fishing season has barely started; it's too early for spring lamb, though hoggets (year old lamb) are mature and tasty; vegetables are limited, and it's too early for new potatoes. Some ingredients that are cured, canned or smoked are possibly a good option at this time. These include cured hams and bacon, other smoked meats, smoked cod, and smoked salmon. A Welsh breakfast is certainly a good way to celebrate St David's Day. Sausages from the local butcher, real dry-cured bacon, free range eggs, Penclawdd cockles and laverbread make up a regal feast. Welsh smoked salmon with scrambled eggs and laverbread is a lighter alternative. Welsh ham In the past every smallholding kept a few pigs that would forage the land, eat household scraps, and gorge on the autumn plenty, and then provide much meat for the winter months. Most would be salted to become bacon, and gammon. The traditional process of dry curing would enable the meat to keep for many months; some would be smoked in the large chimney of the kitchen to give a different wood-smoke flavour. In the modern age ham is cured by injecting brine into the pork. This darkens the meat and breaks down the texture. Dry curing actually forms a crust on the meat, causing a slow chemical reaction and evaporation of the juices through this crust. It takes about six weeks to cure a whole ham, but the process will continue for many months, the raw meat eventually becoming totally cured. On the continent Bayonne, Parma and Iberico ham is a great delicacy. In Wales traditional curing virtually disappeared, Albert Rees of Carmarthen market being one of few who kept the five generations of family tradition going. Chris and Ann Rees now cure about fifty hams a week; some are boiled and sold as cooked ham in the market, while the best of these are kept for nine months to become Carmarthen ham. This is eaten exactly as continental cured hams, usually sliced thinly and served cold, perhaps with some fruit as melon or figs. Trimmings can be grilled or fried to garnish a salad. It is not suitable for boiling or baking. Several other companies make traditional dry cured bacon and hams, most notably Cig Moch Penllyn, near Pwlhelli on the Lleyn Peninsula. They supply the local market and distribute via Caws Cymru, Vin Sullivan, and Blas ar Fwyd. Cig Moch Penllyn
Penyberth, Penrhos, Pwllheli, Gwynedd LL53 7HG
Tel: 01758 701737 Cooking ham This is for all normal dry-cured ham, or modern ham as bought in every supermarket A whole ham cooked on the bone is best, but this feeds many people. A joint or half ham cooks well, the larger the better. 3 kilo joint of ham
1 onion
1 carrot
1 stick celery
1 shallot ? studded with 12 cloves
3 bay leaves
1 large sprig thyme (or dried)
1 stem of lovage (if available)
500ml dry cider Take a deep pan large enough to hold the meat. Fill with water to cover and add all other ingredients, vegetables roughly chopped. Bring to the boil and simmer for 30 minutes a kilo, then switch off and allow to cool. If eating hot with parsley sauce remove after cooling for half an hour. To glaze the ham 2 dessertspoons mustard
4 dessertspoons soft brown cane sugar Heat oven to gas mark 8, 225C 475F When cold remove ham from stock and reserve this for soup. Carefully remove the skin without stripping all the fat; there should be a good covering of fat to keep it moist. Make a criss-cross pattern in the fat without going through to the lean. Spread the mustard over the ham, then sprinkle evenly with sugar. Put on a roasting tray and cook for about 20 minutes in oven until golden brown. To buy ham Carmarthen ham, Albert Rees, Carmarthen Market
Tel: 01267 237687
Email: sales@carmarthenham.co.uk Vin Sullivan Ltd
Gilchrist Thomas Estate, Blaenavon, Gwent
Tel: 01495 792792
Fax: 01495 782277
Email: sales@vinsullfoods.fsbusiness.co.uk To buy Cockles and laverbread Leslie Parsons and Sons
Burry Port, Carmarthen SA16 0ET
Tel: 01554 833351
Fax: 01554 833858
Email: sales@parsonspickles.co.uk
Tinned cockles, mussels, laverbread The Welsh Barrow
P O Box 218, Mumbles, Swansea SA3 4ZA
Email: evans@fentiman.demon.co.uk
Website: www.laverbread.org
Canned laverbread Cheese of the month Gorwydd Caerphilly, Tregaron SY25 6NY
01570 493516
maugan@gorwydd.com
Maugan Trethowan Gorwydd is probably the most characterful unpasturised mature Caerphilly cheeses made. At their farm near Tregaron in West Wales the Trethowan brothers make this cheese in the time-honoured way. It is pressed into four kilo truckles or rounds, whereon it forms a hard outer crust. The cheese is matured for many months, turning regularly to ensure even distribution of moisture. The rind becomes dark in time with a very distinctive mushroom and autumnal fragrance. The cheese is creamy white, remaining moist at the edges, a little firmer and more crumbly to the centre. It has a creamy, short texture and a slight astringency that typifies best Caerphilly. It is the current holder of the Gold Award for Caerphilly and the best Welsh cheese in the World Cheese Awards. It is available from Vin Sullivan, Cegin Cymru, Blas Ar Fwyd. In London it is stocked by Neal's Yard Dairy in Covent Garden and La Fromagerie in Moxon Street, Mayfair. Vin Sullivan Ltd, Gilchrist Thomas Estate, Blaenavon, Gwent
Tel: 01495 792792
Email: sales@vinsullfoods.fsbusiness.co.uk Cegin Cymru (Welsh Kitchen)Ltd
Tel: 029 2086 3352
Email: sales@welsh-food.com
Website: www.welsh-food.com Blas ar Fwyd
25 Heol yr Orsaf, Llanrwst, Conwy LL26 0BT
Tel: 01492 640215
Email: deiniol@blasarfwyd.wales.com
Website: www.blasarfwyd.co.uk Neal Yard's Dairy
19 Short's Gardens, London WC2H 9UP
Tel: 020 7240 5700 : Or for mail orders Tel: 020 7645 3555
Email: mailorder@nealsyarddairy.co.uk
Website: www.nealsyarddairy.co.uk La Fromagerie
2-4 Moxon Street, London, W1U
Tel & Fax: 020 7935 0341
Email: info@lafromagerie.co.uk
Website: www.lafromagerie.co.uk Browse achived Welsh food focus articles |
