STRAPLINE
Class of 2019 To kick off this year’s edition of The Cure, we asked chefs and retailers around the UK to name their current British charcuterie favourites Interviews by LUCAS HOLWEG
Silvana de Soissons Retail manager The Newt in Somerset farm shop The remit for the farm shop at the recently opened The Newt in Somerset estate near Bruton was to champion the best local producers – so when it came to cured meat, Somerset Charcuterie was an obvious choice. “They tick all the right boxes,” says Silvana de Soissons, The Newt in Somerset’s retail manager. “It’s very slow charcuterie. When you visit their farm, you look out on free-range pigs raised the old-fashioned way. They have such passion for what they do.” The company’s pre-sliced culatello, winner of the best muscle meats category at this year’s British Cured Meats Awards, is proving a particular hit in The Newt in Somerset’s deli fridge. “The flavour is brilliantly balanced and although it’s presliced, there’s plenty of moisture, so it doesn’t dry out,” says de Soissons.
“Culatello isn’t something most people have on their charcuterie board, so it’s a real conversation piece. It’s locally made, but when you eat it, you could be sitting under the sun in Tuscany. It also goes really well with our craft cyder we make here.”
Jonny Davison Chef and farmer Northern Ireland Chef Jonny Davison and charcutier Jonny Cuddy of Ispini have collaborated on a new product that takes an underused piece of offal in a unique new direction. Inspired by katsuobushi, a Japanese seasoning made with fermented and dried tuna, their koji-cultured beef heart originally created for a tartare dish of Davison’s – is designed to be shaved over dishes at the end, providing a hit of umami intensity. Such is the interest from other chefs that it is about to go into production. Cured with spice and salt, then dusted with koji powder (rice inoculated with koji spores), the pieces of heart are hung and fermented for 48 hours, before being dried until they have lost half their original weight, a process that takes 8 weeks. “It’s a brilliant seasoning,” says Davison. “It’s an intense umami bomb, like a supercharged
bresaola.” As well as using it for his tartare, he mixes it through compound butters and worked it into a dish devised for the Comber Potato Festival: fondant and hasselback potatoes teamed with pickled shitake and consommé, with shavings of cured heart on top.
Matthew Handley Head chef Mark Hix Chef-restaurateur Hix Restaurants Mark Hix has been sourcing cured meats from Trealy Farm Charcuterie since the Monmouthshire company started in 2005. “I think I was one of their first clients,” he says. “For me, they’re still one of the most consistent producers.” The chef uses different Trealy products throughout the year, including their coppa (“It’s got real sweetness and the texture is great”), which forms seasonal pairings with Wye Valley white asparagus or pickled pears. But it’s Trealy’s cooking chorizo that features most regularly on Hix’s menus. “We serve it with our oysters, chop it up to go with razor clams, put it with broad beans and cuttlefish,” he says. “It’s got that nice sweetness, just the right amount of 4
THE CURE 2018-19
spice and no bitterness like some chorizos. It stands up really well against any imported stuff. You could easily bluff a Spaniard.”
The Stagg Inn, Titley, Herefordshire For Matthew Handley of the Stagg Inn, Hay Charcuterie’s air-dried Herefordshire ham gives its Italian cousins a run for their money. “It’s extremely good ham,” he says, “similar to parma, but washed with Herefordshire cider so it has a nice appley sweetness that gives it that bit extra. “They get the salt just right and they do a great job selecting good quality pigs.” Currently on The Stagg’s menu is a dish that teams Hay’s ham with locally grown snails. “We warm the ham to bring out the flavour,” says Handley, “then toss it with snails, garlic croutons and mushrooms sautéed in garlic butter, with a parsley purée to sit it on. The sweetness of the ham with the snails works really well.”
A SUPPLEMENT TO FINE FOOD DIGEST