Having written about the north Midlands it is now time to move
the other end of the region and look at the counties on the
southern edge. Sometimes referred to as the "heart of
England" it has rich, fertile soil, a glorious red colour in
Herefordshire, is well watered by the river Severn and its
tributaries, and has a temperate climate.
The rich soil is ideal for cattle and milk from the Old
Gloucester breed was used to produce Double Gloucester Cheese.
This is a cheese with a long history and barge- loads of it used
to be carried up the Thames from Lechlade to London. Until 1945,
it came in two varieties, Single Gloucester and Double
Gloucester. Double Gloucester was made between May and September
and used the morning’s milk with some from the evening. A
cheese weighs between fifteen and twenty five pounds and takes
several months to mature. Single Gloucester was made from either
the morning’s milk or skimmed evening milk and was much
smaller, between nine and twelve pounds. It did not need ripening
and was mainly eaten on farms. It is not made nowadays but Double
Gloucester is still very popular although there are only a few
herds of Old Gloucester cattle left Other milk can be used but
theirs had very small fat globules ideal to give the cheese a
very special fine texture. It is a good golden colour with a
mellow flavour. Its texture means that it melts easily and is
excellent for cooking.
A traditional dish using Double Gloucester is Gloucester
Cheese and Ale which is a variation on Welsh Rarebit. The
cheese is thinly sliced and arranged in the bottom of a large
shallow dish, English mustard is spread over it and enough brown
ale is poured over to cover the cheese. The dish is baked at 190C or mark 5 for about ten minutes until
the cheese is soft. The mixture is then poured over toasted
wholemeal bread. It also makes a very good Potted Cheese when
equal quantities of unsalted butter and grated cheese are mixed
and moistened with port or sherry, add a little cayenne pepper to
taste. Beat until smooth then press into little pots and coat the
top with clarified butter.
A traditional celebration at the spring bank holiday in some
Gloucestershire villages is ‘cheese-rolling’. A cheese
is packed in a strong wooden case and rolled down a steep hill
with the competitors chasing after it. The winner gets to keep
the cheese. Attempts to ban it for safety reasons have been
overridden by local enthusiasts.
It is also ideal land for fattening beef cattle and you still
see some of the beautiful white-faced Herefords grazing on the
lush pasture. This is one of England’s oldest breeds being a
cross between the British Red Longhorn and Cattle from the
Netherlands, they go back to the seventeenth century.
Unfortunately you do not see as many of them as you used for
their meat is tender but full of flavour. On a recent visit to
New Zealand I was amazed at how many thousands of Herefords we
saw, the meat there was delicious, it melted in the mouth and
tasted wonderful. What a pity we see less of them in this country
now. Hereford meat is ideal for that traditional Victorian dish, Beef
Olives, thin slices of topside wrapped around a stuffing
mixture and cooked in stock in a casserole.
The Cotswold Hills have always been famous for sheep rearing,
indeed many of Gloucestershire’s magnificent churches were
built by prosperous woollen merchants. Lamb dishes are
commonplace but one has an interesting name, Gloucestershire
Squab Pie. Whereas in other parts of the country a squab is a
young pigeon here the pie is made from lamb flavoured with spices
and sliced cooking apple.
The soil is also good for apple and pear orchards and plums
are grown in the Pershore and Evesham areas. A drive through the
district at fruit blossom time provides a wonderful sight. Pigs
used to be turned loose to eat the fallen apples in the autumn
although this is not done so much now but pork products are among
local specialities and there is a ‘Midlands cut’ of
bacon. The ease with which apples grow led to the establishment
of cider farms and factories in the Hereford area. Perry is also
produced, being fermented pear juice. Only some types of pear are
suitable, many of which were introduced at the time of the Norman
Conquest. Unlike cider, which is often a blend of juice from
different varieties of apples, Perry is always made from one type
of pear. Most perry is produced on a fairly small scale. Soft
fruits grow well and gooseberries grown in the area may find
their way into Oldbury Tarts. These are similar to Nottingham
Pies (see Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire). Gooseberries are baked
in a raised pie crust but here they are sprinkled with Demerara
sugar instead of being set in apple jelly. They can be eaten hot
or cold and served with custard or cream.
The soil suits vegetables, especially asparagus, which is
thinner than the varieties grown in East Anglia. The Romans
brought this vegetable to England and it has always been prized
for its delicate flavour. It is expensive because of its limited
season and because it occupies land which cannot be used for
anything else once the shoots have been cut since the crop is
permanent. It cannot be harvested by machine but must be cut
manually which makes it very costly to produce.
The soil is also good for growing hops and this area comes
second only to Kent for the amount produced.
The river Severn and its tributaries provide salmon, eels and
elvers or baby eels who make their way up the river every spring.
Elvers have been a local delicacy for hundreds of years and one
speciality is known as elver cakes, a sort of pie. They can be
floured and deep-fired like whitebait or cooked with bacon and
served in an omelette. Elver fishing is a tradition with its own
history. The fishermen usually use a fine-meshed net and each has
his special look-out point along the river. They work at night
with a light to attract the elvers. Easter Monday is a special
day for elver fishing and some Severn-side villages have an
elver-eating contest. One champion managed to eat a pound of
elvers (about seven hundred) in half a minute. Today many of the
elvers netted by fishermen are exported to Europe and Japan to be
grown on to full-sized eels.
Traditionally salmon were caught in the Severn using a special
net on a Y-shaped frame known as a ‘lave net’. They
were also trapped in funnel-shaped baskets placed across the
estuary although this is a declining craft. Lampreys are
sometimes caught in the Severn. These are primitive eel-like fish
which use a powerful sucker to latch on to other fish and get a
free-ride up the estuary. Lampreys are sometimes known locally as
‘nine eyes’ because they have seven gill slits along
their side which look like extra eyes. They are sometimes also
called ‘the prid’ or ‘the pride’.
We cannot leave this region without mention of the eponymous
Worcestershire Sauce. It is world famous and is not really a
sauce but a flavouring. It originated when Lord Sandys, a native
of the city of Worcester, returned from a tour of duty as
Governor of Bengal. He had brought with him an Indian recipe
which he asked the local chemists, John Lea and William Perrins,
to make up for him. The result tasted so dreadful that it was
abandoned in their cellar. Some months later they rediscovered it
and when they tasted it again found that it had matured
beautifully. The recipe is a closely guarded secret and the sauce
is still made in the same way and left to mature in oak barrels
for several months. A dash of Worcestershire sauce gives a lift
to almost any savoury recipe, especially casseroles, soups,
grilled meats and cheese dishes. Of course it is also an
important addition to tomato juice and to that celebrated
hangover cure the ‘prairie oyster’.
The south Midlands bring us a wide variety of high class
produce and the dishes produced from them are amongst the best in
the country.
