Are you thinking about what to have for dinner tonight? How about some corned beef, pickled herring or brawn with lacto-fermented vegetables? I’m sure these aren’t top of most people’s wish list but although it might bring back nightmares of bad school dinners it could be worth giving some of those old recipes another chance…
Our culinary history has a long tradition of preserving foods in time of plenty – whether by making jams and chutneys out of the abundant fruits of late summer or pickling and curing meat and fish to guarantee a good source of protein throughout the whole year. Not only did this make a lot of economic sense, it also produced some of our most delicious British dishes – strokes of genius inspired by necessity!
I believe this has a strong resonance with us today. When thinking more about cutting down waste and making more out of what we’ve got contributes to sustainable food consumption and at the same time broaden the variety of what’s on offer to customers.
The concept of using every part of the animal has been championed by some of this country’s top chefs, but it’s becoming more widely accessible across the board. If we’re going to eat meat and fish of course there will always be a special place in our hearts (or stomachs) for a good fillet steak or roast rack of lamb, but can we also save some room for corned beef and pickled cabbage? By this I don’t mean out of a can but the way they originally made it for long sea voyages, by preserving the meat by packing it in large salt crystals called corns. Made properly it can be absolutely incredible.
Recently, restaurants have put a lot of emphasis on eating seasonally and locally, and I agree that this is important – but it doesn’t mean that we can’t still have variety on our menus or be innovative in what we serve. Maybe it’s time to revisit some of our old traditions.
We are in a period of preparation before the spring where you can start to think of this when you might give this a go. In March you will start to smell wild garlic in the woods or even beside the road places. This makes an amazing accompaniment for cheese, or cooked meat or as a flavouring in dishes where you would use garlic. It makes an easy and very accessible way of having a go at fermenting and preserving.
