12th April 2013
Autumn 2009 - Meat for all seasons
September sees the launch of a book, specially produced by BPEX, which promotes pork on menus and provides tips from leading chefs from different sectors of the foodservice arena.
Never has there been a better time to bring British produce to the forefront of menus. As autumn draws in and the euphoria from British Food Fortnight activity takes effect, focusing on our home grown seasonal produce and how we should promote it creatively and effectively should be at the top of every chefs to do list.
BPEX, a division of the Agriculture & Horticulture Development Board that supports and promotes the British pig industry, has taken all this on board and has put together a beautifully illustrated book containing recipes based around its Quality Standard pork in conjunction with six of the country’s top regional chefs, each representing a different sector of the foodservice industry.
In ‘Pork: The Meat for all Seasons’, there are 24 recipes in total – four from each chef for each season – using different cuts of pork and fresh produce at its seasonal peak, and looking ahead to what is coming into season.
BPEX foodservice trade manager Tony Goodger says that currently there is a “back to basics” food revival, and that cooking with seasonal ingredients is again finding favour as a foundation of sound and responsible menu construction and pleasurable eating. “Putting pork on the menu all year round is easy thanks to its versatility and readiness to accept flavours and complimentary ingredients. This book will inspire chefs to enhance their menus by teaming Quality Standard pork with food from changing seasons, adding to the dining experience for customers and above all their profitability.”
Goodger says more people want to eat pork out of home but what lets pork down is its description on the menu compared to the other dishes on it. “With pork it’s about defining it and making it right on the menu and how to make it different to how you eat it at home.”
BPEX research shows that 80% of consumers want to see meat origin declared on menus and that pork is already popular with diners – 89% of respondents said they would order it when eating out – but more appealing menu descriptions were needed to encourage them to choose pork, with 89% of diners wanting to see the style of cooking described on the menu and 79% the cut of meat.
BPEX says the addition of its Quality Standard Mark for pork is also a guarantee of assurance for the customer that the pork served is of good quality and from pigs reared to high standards of animal welfare.
Cuts that went out of fashion are now back in vogue and have become credit crunch busters for canny chefs who with care and time can create excellent but cost effective dishes.
Thankfully, says Goodger, more chefs are also doing their bit to champion local traditional food and develop dishes that respect those traditions while at the same time boosting old recipes with their own modern twists.
The six chefs who contributed the recipes – Darren Clemmit, Tim Fletcher, Alan Paton, Steve Munkley, Steve Reynolds and Mathew Shropshall – used cuts such as belly pork, knuckle and offal and each gave their individual twist on dishes.
Craft Guild vice president Steve Munkley, who as executive head chef at the five star Royal Garden Hotel in London represented the hotel sector, provided banqueting style dishes such as his winter recipe of honey and thyme glazed belly pork, cassoulet of smoked bacon and white beans.
Pork plays a role throughout his menus and all his supply is free range and organic. He explains: “Our pork comes in butchered into primary cuts. Bacon and sausage are obviously popular items on our breakfast plates, belly is extremely popular in our restaurants, and we use a lot of loin for banqueting. We occasionally have pork knuckle on our menu and we use shoulder meat for terrines. So all in all, yes, pork is popular with our guests.”
Darren Clemmit, head chef at the Red Lion in Pickering, Yorkshire, uses only local seasonal ingredients. He sources Tamworth pork direct from the farm and butcher virtually on his doorstep, and he always has at least one pork dish on his lunch and dinner menus throughout the year, roast leg of pork being a must have on the Sunday lunch menu, whatever the season. His winter dish combines both pork and the inn’s beer – real ale toad in the hole, creamed swede and butternut squash, with caramelised red onion gravy.
School chef Tim Fletcher who works at a secondary school in Bath, Somerset, caters for 1,000 schoolchildren offering them a two course lunch for £2 every day. Since he took over the kitchens, the pupils get freshly prepared dishes such as vinegared chicken with capers and olives, and beef and beetroot with watercress dumplings. He never serves chips and never the same main dish twice and has succeeded in getting kids to try different food – even offal.
For a thrifty but tasty dish, his recipe for faggots with parsnip mash is a dish he recommends for winter. The kitchen’s pork comes from pigs reared in the Mendip Hills and sourced from a small local family farm.
The Stag in Titley, Herefordshire, is where Steve and Nicola Reynolds’ pub restaurant is, and is claimed to be the first in the country to be awarded a Michelin star.
He sources locally and all his meat comes from local farms. As a supporter of rare breed pork, he is a fan of the Middle White, whose meat he says is sweet with a good covering of fat. “We now keep our own Middle White pigs and have three breeding sows. We send a pig a week to slaughter on average, and use virtually every part of the animal in the kitchen, including making our own sausages, bacon and black pudding. We also make faggots and have started to produce our own cured and smoked pork products.”
Showing that you can use every part of the pig, his spring recipe is pressed pig’s head with braised chicory.
BPEX development chef Alan Paton has a real passion for pork and has given demonstrations up and down the country to show how versatile the meat is and how creative chefs can be with it. Based in Suffolk, he has access to excellent quality pork and works closely with a freerange pork farmer and his experienced butcher to develop innovative pork products.
He says using all parts of the pig not only offers cost benefits but also allows you to be really creative with dishes, from terrines and homemade pork and black pudding sausages to homemade black pudding salami. His recipe for black pudding and pork liver pâté is recommended for winter.
Chef lecturer at University College Birmingham, Mat Shropshall, is also a consultant development chef and a keen competitor in competitions for both the Craft Guild and the British barbecue team.
At the university, he says a lot of pork is used in the meat sections of the courses, as it is a versatile, good value ingredient, as well as in his product development work as it often meets the brief being low in fat when properly butchered and trimmed, economical and ready to accept diverse flavour profiles. One of his barbecue team’s most popular dishes is pulled collar of pork which, when cooked in foil on the barbecue for several hours, just falls apart.
Goodger says home reared pork being of the highest standard, its Quality Standard Mark for pork has merged with the Red Tractor quality assurance mark. “Red Tractor already had a pork standard but not at our level of criteria. It has increased its level to come into line with us. It’s mainly for the retail sector, but assurance is something consumers also really want to know about out of home.”
Another good reason for chefs to get inspired and put pork on the menu.
• The book ‘Pork: The Meat for all Seasons’ is free to caterers and chefs in the UK. For further information, visit www.porkforcaterers.com
BPEX, a division of the Agriculture & Horticulture Development Board that supports and promotes the British pig industry, has taken all this on board and has put together a beautifully illustrated book containing recipes based around its Quality Standard pork in conjunction with six of the country’s top regional chefs, each representing a different sector of the foodservice industry.
In ‘Pork: The Meat for all Seasons’, there are 24 recipes in total – four from each chef for each season – using different cuts of pork and fresh produce at its seasonal peak, and looking ahead to what is coming into season.
BPEX foodservice trade manager Tony Goodger says that currently there is a “back to basics” food revival, and that cooking with seasonal ingredients is again finding favour as a foundation of sound and responsible menu construction and pleasurable eating. “Putting pork on the menu all year round is easy thanks to its versatility and readiness to accept flavours and complimentary ingredients. This book will inspire chefs to enhance their menus by teaming Quality Standard pork with food from changing seasons, adding to the dining experience for customers and above all their profitability.”
Goodger says more people want to eat pork out of home but what lets pork down is its description on the menu compared to the other dishes on it. “With pork it’s about defining it and making it right on the menu and how to make it different to how you eat it at home.”
BPEX research shows that 80% of consumers want to see meat origin declared on menus and that pork is already popular with diners – 89% of respondents said they would order it when eating out – but more appealing menu descriptions were needed to encourage them to choose pork, with 89% of diners wanting to see the style of cooking described on the menu and 79% the cut of meat.
BPEX says the addition of its Quality Standard Mark for pork is also a guarantee of assurance for the customer that the pork served is of good quality and from pigs reared to high standards of animal welfare.
Cuts that went out of fashion are now back in vogue and have become credit crunch busters for canny chefs who with care and time can create excellent but cost effective dishes.
Thankfully, says Goodger, more chefs are also doing their bit to champion local traditional food and develop dishes that respect those traditions while at the same time boosting old recipes with their own modern twists.
The six chefs who contributed the recipes – Darren Clemmit, Tim Fletcher, Alan Paton, Steve Munkley, Steve Reynolds and Mathew Shropshall – used cuts such as belly pork, knuckle and offal and each gave their individual twist on dishes.
Craft Guild vice president Steve Munkley, who as executive head chef at the five star Royal Garden Hotel in London represented the hotel sector, provided banqueting style dishes such as his winter recipe of honey and thyme glazed belly pork, cassoulet of smoked bacon and white beans.
Pork plays a role throughout his menus and all his supply is free range and organic. He explains: “Our pork comes in butchered into primary cuts. Bacon and sausage are obviously popular items on our breakfast plates, belly is extremely popular in our restaurants, and we use a lot of loin for banqueting. We occasionally have pork knuckle on our menu and we use shoulder meat for terrines. So all in all, yes, pork is popular with our guests.”
Darren Clemmit, head chef at the Red Lion in Pickering, Yorkshire, uses only local seasonal ingredients. He sources Tamworth pork direct from the farm and butcher virtually on his doorstep, and he always has at least one pork dish on his lunch and dinner menus throughout the year, roast leg of pork being a must have on the Sunday lunch menu, whatever the season. His winter dish combines both pork and the inn’s beer – real ale toad in the hole, creamed swede and butternut squash, with caramelised red onion gravy.
School chef Tim Fletcher who works at a secondary school in Bath, Somerset, caters for 1,000 schoolchildren offering them a two course lunch for £2 every day. Since he took over the kitchens, the pupils get freshly prepared dishes such as vinegared chicken with capers and olives, and beef and beetroot with watercress dumplings. He never serves chips and never the same main dish twice and has succeeded in getting kids to try different food – even offal.
For a thrifty but tasty dish, his recipe for faggots with parsnip mash is a dish he recommends for winter. The kitchen’s pork comes from pigs reared in the Mendip Hills and sourced from a small local family farm.
The Stag in Titley, Herefordshire, is where Steve and Nicola Reynolds’ pub restaurant is, and is claimed to be the first in the country to be awarded a Michelin star.
He sources locally and all his meat comes from local farms. As a supporter of rare breed pork, he is a fan of the Middle White, whose meat he says is sweet with a good covering of fat. “We now keep our own Middle White pigs and have three breeding sows. We send a pig a week to slaughter on average, and use virtually every part of the animal in the kitchen, including making our own sausages, bacon and black pudding. We also make faggots and have started to produce our own cured and smoked pork products.”
Showing that you can use every part of the pig, his spring recipe is pressed pig’s head with braised chicory.
BPEX development chef Alan Paton has a real passion for pork and has given demonstrations up and down the country to show how versatile the meat is and how creative chefs can be with it. Based in Suffolk, he has access to excellent quality pork and works closely with a freerange pork farmer and his experienced butcher to develop innovative pork products.
He says using all parts of the pig not only offers cost benefits but also allows you to be really creative with dishes, from terrines and homemade pork and black pudding sausages to homemade black pudding salami. His recipe for black pudding and pork liver pâté is recommended for winter.
Chef lecturer at University College Birmingham, Mat Shropshall, is also a consultant development chef and a keen competitor in competitions for both the Craft Guild and the British barbecue team.
At the university, he says a lot of pork is used in the meat sections of the courses, as it is a versatile, good value ingredient, as well as in his product development work as it often meets the brief being low in fat when properly butchered and trimmed, economical and ready to accept diverse flavour profiles. One of his barbecue team’s most popular dishes is pulled collar of pork which, when cooked in foil on the barbecue for several hours, just falls apart.
Goodger says home reared pork being of the highest standard, its Quality Standard Mark for pork has merged with the Red Tractor quality assurance mark. “Red Tractor already had a pork standard but not at our level of criteria. It has increased its level to come into line with us. It’s mainly for the retail sector, but assurance is something consumers also really want to know about out of home.”
Another good reason for chefs to get inspired and put pork on the menu.
• The book ‘Pork: The Meat for all Seasons’ is free to caterers and chefs in the UK. For further information, visit www.porkforcaterers.com