Charcuterie 2014

A S UPPL E ME NT TO 2014-15 Edition

Guide to British & Continental Charcuterie

Wrapped up in one neat package: the latest artisan cured meats, salamis, patés and more from the best British & Continental producers AIR-DRIED HAMS BACON SALAMI CHORIZO PATÉ BLACK PUDDING & MORE PLUS: Making more of charcuterie, with Rusty Pig, Tozino & Cobble Lane Cured IN ASSOCIATION WITH

For 8 generations the Woodall family has been innovating using traditional curing and smoking methods to produce delicious British Charcuterie.

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Guide to British & Continental Charcuterie 2014-15

A supplement to Fine Food Digest

How to take the fear out of charcuterie

Welcome Mick Whitworth Editor, Fine Food Digest

OPINION: It’s a key category in any deli, yet charcuterie can prove scary to less knowledgeable shoppers. We asked GRAHAM STOODLEY of our charcuterie campaign co-sponsor Dell’Ami how to turn common objections into positive sales messages.

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robably more than any other artisan food, charcuterie can divide opinions. Customers who know it and understand it really love it, but people with less experience can be put off by its perceived unhealthiness.

With such a variety of charcuterie now available, retailers should encourage customers to explore its many joys. Once they appreciate your range it becomes a great footfall driver.

relatively small and the satiation level is high, the fat, salt or even calorie contribution of the charcuterie component in any meal is actually quite low. A 30g50g portion on any plate really is plenty.

One of the joys of salting, smoking and curing is taking what nature gives us and doing as little as possible to it to make it the best it can be. In that regard, it’s full of goodness!

Shelf life and storage Unsure how to use it?

With concerns about food We don’t have a long tradition waste rightfully on the of cured meats in this country, increase, buying a whole other than bacon, so perhaps salami is a perfect option. it’s no surprise that, for instance, Sliced at home when needed, one of the most popular uses of a salami can last for weeks prosciutto is to wrap it around in the fridge, and if there is chicken or salmon and cook it a little left at the end that as you might with bacon. But might be a bit dry, it can add familiarity is growing: prosciutto lots of flavour to a stew or crudo has become one of Pret a casserole.

Manger’s most popular ingredients It’s worth remembering in sandwiches and salads. that charcuterie evolved from The beauty of charcuterie is its a lack of refrigeration. Large simplicity and diversity. One of my air-dried hams and salami If you can, favourites is Spanish sobrasada are going to be quite happy slice to order. It’s made from acorn-fed wild Iberico in a cool, dry place for fairly pigs. This soft, rich sausage should prolonged periods, so storing essential to good be spread on toast and lightly charcuterie should really never grilled. A great tapas, it’s often be an issue. customer service served with honey and dates.

Another rather spicier favourite, and makes each slice Understanding the is the Calabrian Spianata Piccante: differences personal a flat-shaped salami with plenty of This is the greatest joy of chilli. It’s great on bruschetta or to artisan charcuterie: the nibble with a few black olives. In variations between countries my opinion, it’s always best to become acquainted and even regions are enormous. That’s amazing with flavours in their most natural state. when you consider that the basic ingredients often seem to be almost identical. So this is an Keep the price down… area where independent delis really can show a Pricing should not be an issue as long as charcuterie point of difference, especially if they offer shoppers is sliced well – in other words, thinly. This is an easy tastings before they buy. Products available through skill to master but one that can also look quite supermarkets are nowhere near as good or diverse dramatic – particularly slicing from a whole leg. as those that even a small deli can offer.

Consider offering comparative tastings to explain the difference between, say, French and Spanish …and transform the eating experience. cured sausages. Taking the time to really understand But thin slicing is not just about keeping the price the products is such a worthwhile investment and down. Uniquely with charcuterie, less really is more. very rewarding. Always sell the story of the product Thinner slices have better flavour, better texture and to customers. Good salamis and hams have history are much more satisfying to eat. If you can, slice to and a link to their origins. It’s like touring the order. It’s essential to good customer service and Continent without moving. makes each slice personal.

A few months ago, Marc Frederic Berry – the self styled ‘Charcutier Anglais’ – invited me to join him for breakfast at a little place he’d discovered in Ottery St Mary, a few miles east of Exeter.

The Rusty Pig, a shop and eatery run by ex River Cottage HQ chef Robin Rea, is novel, quirky, slightly scruffy even – and an utterly brilliant showcase for artisan charcuterie.

As you can read overleaf, almost the entire breakfast that Robin serves on sizzling skillets has been made in-house, and the whole operation is an inspiration to anyone who cares about tasty, rustic food, crafted from real ingredients and laced with fun.

Over another good meal – a tapas lunch at Meson Don Felipe near London’s Waterloo station – I discussed with Graham Stoodley of distributor Dell’Ami the importance of showcasing this kind of inspirational store, to get delis, farm shops and food halls thinking about how to present charcuterie in a more exciting way.

That’s why, for this year’s Guide to British & Continental Charcuterie, we not only feature around 40 of the best suppliers in the UK, but we also highlight three businesses that are selling charcuterie with real flair: Rusty Pig (p4), Cobble Lane Cured (p11) and Tozino (p25).

This 2014-15 Guide marks the second year of FFD’s trade campaign in support of charcuterie, run in conjunction with our parent organisation, the Guild of Fine Food, and generously sponsored this year by Deli Farm, Dell’Ami, Great Glen, Harrods, Negroni, Patchwork and Woodall’s.

We all hope it will inspire you to make more of charcuterie over the coming year.

❝

❞

What about issues like salt and fat content?

The health aspect of charcuterie does concern some customers. Thankfully, as the amounts eaten are

• Graham Stoodley is category manager at Dell’Ami, the specialist Mediterranean foods division of distributor Cheese Cellar.

A S U PPLE M E N T TO

EDITORIAL editorial@finefoodworld.co.uk Editor: Mick Whitworth Assistant editor: Michael Lane Art director: Mark Windsor Contributors: Nick Baines, Isabelle Plasschaert

ADVERTISING advertise@finefoodworld.co.uk Sales manager: Sally Coley Advertisement sales: Becky Stacey, Ruth Debnam Published by Great Taste Publications Ltd and the Guild of Fine Food Ltd GENERAL ENQUIRIES Tel: 01747 825200 Fax: 01747 824065 info@finefoodworld.co.uk www.finefoodworld.co.uk Guild of Fine Food, Guild House, 23b Kingsmead Business Park, Shaftesbury Rd, Gillingham, SP8 5FB UK Fine Food Digest is published 11 times a year and is available on subscription for £45pa inclusive of post and packing.

Printed by: Blackmore, Dorset, UK

INSIDE: • Robin Rea’s Rusty Pig – PAGES 4-5 • Cobble Lane Cured – PAGE 11 • Tozino – PAGE 25 • A-Z of charcuterie suppliers – STARTS ON PAGE 7 A supplement to Fine Food Digest

© Great Taste Publications Ltd and The Guild of Fine Food Ltd 2014. Reproduction of whole or part of this magazine without the publisher’s prior permission is prohibited. The opinions expressed in articles and advertisements are not necessarily those of the editor or publisher. The publisher cannot accept responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts, photographs or illustrations.

Guide to British & Continental Charcuterie 2014-15

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making more of CHARCUTERIE

The whole hog Chef turned charcutier Robin Rea is inspiring West Country foodies with his novel nose-to-tail eating experience. MICK WHITWORTH reports.

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ow and then a first-time customer get sniffy about the £8 price of a fry-up at the Rusty Pig, Robin Rea’s unique shop and informal eatery in Ottery St Mary, East Devon.

“But I’m only charging £1 an item,” Rea points out, “and seven out of eight items on the plate I made myself!”

Opening just three days a week, from Thursday to Saturday, and with seating for fewer than 20 diners in the main front-of-shop seating area, the Rusty Pig offers a breakfast of air-dried bacon, sausage, blood cake, hog’s

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pudding, baked beans, sourdough toast and a fried egg, delivered to the table with rustic flair on a sizzling skillet atop a wooden serving board.

The bacon has been cured on the premises, the sausages, blood cake and hog’s pudding all made in-house.

The bread has been baked by Rea from dough made with his own seven-year-old starter culture (“My starter is older than my son!” he says.)

Even his baked beans are prepared from scratch, using dried British black badger beans from Hodmedod’s in Norfolk and a ‘tomato sauce’ that could be just as well be made with

Guide to British & Continental Charcuterie 2014-15

squash or smoked carrot if tomatoes are out of season. The same sauce, cold, doubles as the ketchup sitting on each communal table.

Only the eggs are not Rea’s own – and you get the impression he’d lay those too if he could. “Last week we had turkey’s eggs,” he tells me, “which are incredibly rich, and quite hard to get hold of.”

Rea was born in Exeter, a few miles to the west, but spent his teens in Ottery, and has been a chef for 20 years. He worked for Michelin-starred Michael Caines and at River Cottage HQ in Devon, as well as at restaurants in Australia and France, and when he’s not at the Rusty Pig, you might find him working with former River Cottage colleague Tim Maddams on the latter’s Hall & Hearty concept, which runs supper clubs in rural village

halls. Rea cooked at River Cottage HQ while he was converting his current premises, a former discount store in Ottery’s Yonder Street.

“I moved into a shop that was being vacated by my mum,” he explains. “I was originally going to make it a straight charcuterer and pork butcher’s, but there are two good butchers in Ottery already, so I decided to put in a few tables. Ironically, though, the shop is doing as well as the restaurant.”

With a self-built fermenting cabinet, adapted from an old fridge, in the front of the shop, a small walkin air-drying room at the rear, and an eccentrically Heath Robinson-style smoking shed on the flat roof behind the shop (complete with ‘Smoking Is Good For You’ sign), Rea makes all his own charcuterie, including chorizo, A supplement to Fine Food Digest

salami, coppa, air-dried hams and both smoked and unsmoked bacon.

He also makes a small range of fresh sausages, with at least one recipe changed each week to reflect seasonal ingredients. When FFD visited in April it was wild garlic; a few weeks earlier Rea had been making sausages with rhubarb and mustard, and summer sees him move on to nettle, enhancing the spinach-like flavour with fennel or mustard seeds.

He may offer a vegetarian option for diners at his unique East Devon shop and eatery, but one glance at Robin Rea’s teeshirt – bearing the words ‘blood pudding’, on a bloodspattered background – will tell you where his real sympathies lie.

Rea has kept his own pigs for the past four years, and it is these, along with a few porkers purchased from other local smallholders, that provide all his raw material.

“My ex and I started our own eight-acre smallholding,”he explains, “and we kept chickens, ducks and sheep, but it was the pigs I really loved.

They are the coolest animals – they have such big personalities.”

But he doesn’t let sentiment get in the way of his chef‘s instincts. ”I remember my first pig, Mr Porky, looking up at me when I made my first trip to the abbatoir. I knew he knew!

But God, his legs tasted good...”

And his pigs lead as good a life as any farm animal in the country, “I send them ‘WWOOFing” he says, referring to the informal volunteer programme run by organic food enthusiasts worldwide. It stands for ‘Willing Workers on Organic Farms’ and, in this case, Rea’s pigs are the ‘willing workers’, rotivating and fertilising his friends’ and neighbours’ land in return for free bed and board.

He doesn’t buy anything but whole pigs, saying:“If I take the whole animal, I know where it has come from.” Consequently, while he has begun to build a modest wholesale business and has bought a property behind the shop with a view to expanding, growth is likely to come from salami-style products that use more of the carcase, rather than just the best cuts. “I can’t do a lot more

bacon because it would mean buying in loins, and I wouldn’t be sure where they were from.”

Rea will get through 60-70 carcases this year, turning them into smoked and unsmoked bacon, air-dried legs, Italian-style hard salamis, French-style saucisson, patés, terrines and more.

“We‘re becoming quite famous for our pork pies,” he says, “which we might make with an apple or beetroot jelly. And we’ll usually have either a brawn or a ham hock – we’ve got smoked ham hock & prune today.”

It’s not just those in search of a better breakfast or a premium pie who are falling under the spell of Rusty Pig charcuterie. As well as offering a £12 lunchtime ‘smorgasbord’ of charcuterie, bread and pickles, or with a hot option such as a Spanish -style chorizo, potato and eggs, Rea has built a steady evening trade with his fixed-price, bring-your-own-wine, fourcourse “rustic supper table”.

He was always going to keep the menu small, he says, but working at River Cottage HQ gave him the

courage to do away with menus altogether. Where diners at HQ in East Devon are told what they will be eating as each dish arrives, Rea says: “Here, they don’t know what they’re eating until after they’ve eaten it!”

One recent meal included a starter of chargrilled asparagus, baby fennel, leek and carrot with Lebanese labneh cheese, followed by house chorizo (“We’re not shy with the spices, which a lot of places are – I like a lot of paprika and garlic to give it a kick”) with River Exe mussels and wild garlic.

The main course combined pork belly, slow-cooked in duck fat, with home-made black pudding, a brawn croquette, beetroot and greens, and was rounded off with West Countrygrown organic kiwi, meringues and chocolate mousse, laced with tarragon custard.

Suppers like this are proving increasingly popular with private party organisers, who relish the theatre and taste of British charcuterie made and served on the spot.

Robin Rea’s sense of fun extends from the signage on his shop frontage (above) to the ‘blood pudding’ teeshirts sold in the shop. But the food served at his rustic supper table is serious stuff.

www.rustypig.co.uk

The Rusty Pig’s breakfast: only the eggs are not made in-house A supplement to Fine Food Digest

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Guide to British & Continental Charcuterie 2014-15

A supplement to Fine Food Digest

A-Z of charcuterie suppliers Albion Artisan Foods www.albionartisanfoods.co.uk

North Lincolnshire’s Albion Artisan Foods specialises in handmade patés, produced by co-founder and former National Trust head chef Uwe Siwy.

The Albion product line-up now stands at 10, with more recent additions to the range including chicken liver patés with whisky & marmalade and sweet chilli as well as a vegetarian tomato &

Bellota www.bellota.co.uk

Bellota has specialised in sourcing artisan Spanish charcuterie for more than 15 years with particular emphasis on high quality Serrano and Iberico meats. It also imports a range of other cured meats, including wild venison and boar.

Its Iberico ham is from “the home of Iberico de bellota ham”, Guijuelo in Salamanca, and is available in 24-, 36- and 42-month aged pieces either on the bone, deboned ready for slicing or in 100g ready sliced packs.

It also offers 36-month and 42-month Reserva professionally hand-cut 100g packs for ham connoisseurs.

Bellota’s Serrano is from the renowned cooperative village of Trevélez, which is entirely dedicated to producing hams that were first given the royal seal of approval in 1862.

All of the company’s wild boar and venison is hunted in the mountains of Navarra, northern Spain, and then cured and flavoured by a small scale family-run business.

Brindisa

lentil with Italian herbs.

Among Siwy’s other creations are a ham terrine and chicken liver breakfast paté with Lincolnshire sausage and mushroom. All of Albion’s patés are made without pork fat or artificial flavourings and come in 150g ecofriendly biodegradable tubs (wholesale £2.10), 550g trays for counters (£8.50) and foodservice cases (16x70g, £13.60).

They are supplied frozen for a 12-month shelf life in the freezer.

www.brindisa.com

Connemara Fine Foods (McGeough’s) www.connemarafinefoods.ie

McGeough’s Butchers was established in 1971 in the quaint town of Oughterard in the western county of Galway in Ireland.

In 2007, master butcher James McGeough launched the Connemara Fine Foods range of air-dried meats after perfecting the craft during years of training in Germany.

The line-up features Connemara air-dried lamb and Connemara air-dried ham, as well as beef and pork. McGeough sources the meat from local farms then cures each joint to his own special recipes. They are then left to hang in custom-built drying rooms for 9-18 months, depending on the cut of meat.

The final stage of the process is gently smoking each product over turf and oak chips.

McGeough also produces whiskey-infused salami as well as smoked sausages and smoked black pudding.

With a range spanning the length and breadth of Spain, Brindisa says it has most customers’ charcuterie needs covered.

Its line-up includes “competitively priced” Catalan slicing chorizos, smoked beef from Leon in the north of Spain and morcilla (similar to black pudding) and spreadable sobrasada from the south and west of the country.

It carries a variety of the country’s hams but the importer says a good starting point for introducing consumers to acorn-fed hams is its Señorio Iberico bellota paleta boneless.

Produced in Extremadura by Señorio de Montanera, this cut (approx. 2.6kg) is taken from the shoulder, rather than the back leg of Iberico pigs, but has the same “rich, nutty and intense flavour” of the larger joint.

Brindisa also offers the producer’s Iberico bellota morcon (800g), a large circumference chorizo made using big pieces of shoulder and belly meat.

For those looking for salchichon, Brindisa has llonganissa. This cured sausage (600g) is made by Catalan producer Casa Riera Ordeix using only young male pig meat and seasoned with salt and black pepper, allowing the flavour of the meat to speak for itself.

Capreolus Fine Foods www.capreolusfinefoods.co.uk

Taking its name from the Latin for roe deer, Capreolus is a family owned artisan business based in west Dorset. It works closely with local farmers to ensure the quality and provenance of the meat it cures.

Following traditional techniques, it produces a very wide range of pork charcuterie, including guanciale (Champion Product 2013 – Taste of the West), coppa, air-dried loin, pancetta (Best Cured Meat 2012 – Taste of the West), air-dried ham, lardo and a range of salamis. The company’s main pork supplier breeds Oxford Sandy & Black pigs that are raised in oak woods and supplements their diet with the whey from goats’ milk cheese-making.

Capreolus also produces charcuterie using other meat including beef, mutton and venison. Its smoked mutton was awarded two stars in Great Taste 2012.

All of its products are available either as ready sliced retail packs (three-month shelf life) or as whole pieces for slicing at the deli counter.

Capreolus was a finalist in the Best Food Producer category of the 2014 BBC Food & Farming Awards.

A supplement to Fine Food Digest

Guide to British & Continental Charcuterie 2014-15

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Delicioso

Cornish Charcuterie

www.delicioso.co.uk

www.cornishcharcuterie.co.uk

Since Cornish Charcuterie launched in November 2011, owners Richard and Fionagh Harding have increased the number of breeding sows in their herd of British Lop pigs from two to 10. Demand for both their hard and soft charcuterie means the Hardings have also added three members of staff to the team and are now planning to boost the herd further.

They recently added to their line-up of salamis and chorizo with a Cornish seaweed & cider salami, and autumn 2014 will see them unveil a range of air-dried meats, including coppa and bresaola.

This year will also see the launch of a range of ambient rillettes and paté gift packs, with a 12-month shelf life, in sets of two, three or four jars (wholesale £4.20, £6 and £8 respectively).

Customers can choose from products including traditional pork rillettes (Best in Category, 2013 Taste of the West Awards), duck rillettes with cranberries and chicken rillettes with lemon oil & cracked black pepper

Now celebrating its 10th year in business, Spanish food importer Delicioso offers a variety of charcuterie products among its catalogue of delicacies sourced directly from small, family-run producers.

Its range includes whole Ibérico and Serrano hams, sliced meats, whole chorizos and salamis, wild boar and venison, as well as chorizos and morcilla.

Among its most recent additions are 280g “spicy and sweet” ambient chorizo horseshoes from La Rioja, artisan Serrano salamis (Salchichon) from Vic in Catalunya and Morcilla de Burgos, a black pudding made with rice and lightly flavoured with cumin.

Delicioso also sells Sobrasada Porc Negre de Mallorca, a spreadable chorizo made using meat from the black pigs of Mallorca.

But for those looking for a selection, the company now offers mixed packs of Ibérico chorizo and salami (340-370g), which it says are ideal for Christmas sales.

Dropswell Farm Shop www.dropswellfarmshop.co.uk

Dropswell Farm Shop owner and trained butcher Paul Craddock began making charcuterie to help diversify the Co Durham business’s offer during the recession. He launched Durham beer salami three years ago and has added new products ever since, due to growing interest from shop customers and other retailers. Craddock, who runs the shop with wife Christine, also makes chorizo, lomo, coppa, pancetta, sobrasada and pepperoni, as well as Italian, Toulouse and Andouille sausages.

Cnwd

Doing the Continental

www.cnwd.co.uk

Dell’Ami/Cheese Cellar www.cheesecellar.co.uk

The “generously proportioned” Jesus Pur Porc (above) from France and Spanish lomo bellota Iberico loin (left) are among the numerous additions to the Dell’Ami charcuterie range

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By MICHAEL LANE Distributor Cheese Cellar has sold a range of goods from specialist European suppliers under the Dell’Ami logo for more than two decades but charcuterie is only a relatively recent expansion of the brand.

Since launching in March 2013, it has been on a mission to broaden the cured and smoked meats it offers from Spain, Italy, France and Germany.

It has recently added three slow-dried salamis from French producer Salaisons de Montagnac. The large Rosette (900g) is a saucisson originally from the city of Lyon and is named after the part of the intestine that encases it.

The “generously proportioned and rustic” 1kg Jesus Pur Porc gets its name from the Christmas period when it is traditionally made. Assembled from ham, pork tenderloin, sugar, spices and saltpetre, it is cured for at least eight weeks, producing a course textured, short, wide diameter sausage.

Completing the new trio is the classic, horseshoe-shaped Saucisse Seche Lauraine (400g), which is dried and wound around a wooden pole for 6-8 weeks at 1,000m above sea level.

To its Spanish line-up, Dell’Ami has added lomo bellota Iberico loin in half pieces (approx. 600g) and sliced 500g packs (approx. 42 slices). Each loin is taken from wild Iberico pigs and cured in salt, paprika, garlic and oregano to enhance the flavour from the acorns (bellota) that the pigs graze on.

Acorn-fed pigs are also used to make its sobrasada bellota Iberico, a soft spicy sausage that comes in 1kg whole pieces.

Meanwhile, the distributor has boosted its Italian charcuterie selection with a Finnochiona fennel salami from the Sienese side of Chianti.

Closer to home, Cheese Cellar will now distribute Scottish wild venison specialist Great Glen Charcuterie, whose products include Great Taste threestar winning green pepper & venison salami (1.4kg pieces and 90g sliced).

The Highlands-based producer joins Suffolk Salami, Cornwall’s Deli Farm and Oxsprings on the distributor’s roster of UK charcutiers.

Guide to British & Continental Charcuterie 2014-15

Cnwd already counts Fortnum & Mason among its stockists and now Harrods is taking the company’s smoked PGI West Wales Coracle-caught Sewin and Salmon. But the Carmarthenshire producer, which bills itself as ‘a great little food company’, also makes chicken liver parfait, pork rillettes and two terrines: Welsh farmhouse and Towy Valley wild venison & hazelnut terrine.

The producer is now working on a West Wales mushroom paté, smokey salmon & horseradish paté and a hot smoked salmon with brown sugar and Halen Mon. This year will also see Cnwd diversifying with the additions of salt beef and pastrami inspired by those served in New York delis but made with locally sourced grass-fed beef.

A supplement to Fine Food Digest

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Guide to British & Continental Charcuterie 2014-15

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Guide to British & Continental Charcuterie 2014-15

A supplement to Fine Food Digest

making more of CHARCUTERIE

To market, to market…

Three butchers who wielded knives together at Jamie Oliver’s barbecue steakhouse Barbecoa have redirected their skills to making Continentalstyle charcuterie. NICK BAINES reports.

Pics: Isabelle Plasschaert – www.bebelle.co.uk

A

backstreet in London’s affluent Islington isn’t quite where you’d expect to see three guys making some of the most exciting charcuterie in the South-East. However, just a short walk from Highbury & Islington tube station, Matt Hill, Mat Atkinson and Adam Brudnowski can be found in a converted garage doing what they do best.

The trio met while working at Jamie Oliver’s Barbecoa, his meatheavy barbecue restaurant in St Paul’s.

In August last year, they bought a small Italian charcuterie business called Picco from Luca Manissero, taking the operation forward with a few changes.

“We are making very Continental products with British free-range meats,” explains Matt Hill. “I’ve been working in butchery since I was 13, but charcuterie is something you don’t usually get chance to practice.”

Currently, Cobble Lane Cured makes six air-dried salamis including a fennel & garlic, celery seed & rosemary, pepperoni and a Hungarianstyle chorizo. The salamis are sold as whole 300g sausages or 150g halves alongside their Polish kabanos and kielbasa. Its coppa, bresaola and pancetta are sold in pre-sliced vac-packs on markets and as whole muscles to the trade.

As well as supplying a slew of London’s pubs, restaurants and bars, the guys at Cobble Lane also sell their air-dried meats at several markets across the city, giving them the chance to engage with the customers in a retail environment.

“Presentation is really important, but on a market stall that can sometimes be difficult,” says Atkinson. “We use chopping boards and slates to make things visually appealing but, more importantly, we have information next to products explaining exactly what’s in them which really helps a lot.”

Information cards not only give the name of the cut, but also a subheading. “For instance, underneath coppa, we put ‘air-dried ham using the collar muscle from a pig’. After that we also include a full ingredient list,” Atkinson continues.

In an age where consumers are increasingly interested in where their A supplement to Fine Food Digest

food comes from, particularly in the speciality and fine food sector, Matt Hill tells me it pays to know your products inside out. “Provenance is key,” he says, adding: “If provenance isn’t important to customers then price isn’t going to be either.”

Recipe suggestions for charcuterie can sometimes prove difficult.

However, far beyond the usual suspect of a slice of Parma ham wrapped around a piece of melon, there are products that can be upsold with this in mind. “’Nduja is a spreadable, spicy salami,” explains Hill. “We sell a lot to both chefs and customers on the markets. It’s got loads of uses, on chicken, in sauces, on pizzas, and we give lots of cooking suggestions when we sample that out. It’s incredibly diverse.”

One of the most interesting recipe suggestions they share is ’nduja’s incorporation in shellfish dishes. “A spoonful of it added to a pot of clams or mussels breaks down and melts wonderfully. It adds spice and bags of flavour to the broth,” adds Atkinson.

When retailing, sampling is naturally paramount: a chance to introduce customers to products they

aren’t familiar with and re-engage them with those they think they know.

“People have an idea of what they think a pepperoni is,” says Atkinson.

“It’s usually a cheap product made from bad cuts, but there’s no reason why it can’t be a great product. We have ox heart and pork belly in ours and when you tell people that, they’re more interested and are more likely to try it.”

It appears that transparency, spelling things out for customers and not expecting everyone to know exactly what’s in a particular type of air-dried sausage is helping to nurture the clientele and ultimately grow sales.

As our conversation draws to a close,

Mat Atkinson tries to sum up the whole ethos of their market stalls. “It’s about educating the consumer, getting people to try things and building a market.” www.cobblelanecured.com

COBBLED TOGETHER: Mat Atkinson, Adam Brudnowski and Matt Hill

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Pre-packs driving sales for Cornwall’s Deli Farm Deli Farm Charcuterie www.delifarmcharcuterie.co.uk

By MICHAEL LANE While the Cornish firm is one of the longer serving producers on Britain’s relatively young charcuterie scene, Deli Farm Charcuterie is not resting on its laurels.

Even if founders Jean and Martin Edwards did want to take it a little easier, a recent surge in sales finds them busier than ever.

Sales were up 20% in their last financial year, which ended in April, and the figures for the current year look like they might exceed previous years’.

Demand for their salamis and air-dried meats, such as coppa and bresaola, has increased to such an extent that the Edwards have had to alter the layout of their Delabole production facility.

They have recently added another storage area to boost drying space and free up more room in the packing area.

While the company’s entire range is contributing to this growth, Jean Edwards says the smoked lamb prosciutto, lomo and fennel salami are among the most popular.

Edwards is not entirely sure what is driving sales but she says winning a contract to supply the 2012 Olympic Games helped with exposure, as has the Guild of Fine Food’s on-going campaign to

Deli Farm says more shoppers now understand why British charcuterie commands a premium

promote the country’s charcutiers.

However the profile of British charcuterie is being raised, Edwards says consumers and retailers alike are definitely becoming more aware of it.

“Customers that are taking it from us now want to buy British,” she says. “They understand that there’s a difference in quality to most of the stuff that is being imported.”

Edwards adds that people are also starting to realise that the quality of British charcuterie makes it more expensive than the Continental pre-

sliced salami in the supermarkets.

While all of Deli Farm’s output is available as whole pieces, Edwards says the sliced pre-packs are more popular, both with its independent retailer customer base and with chefs, who can request ready-made selections for instant charcuterie platters.

“There are a few places that have their own slicers but most people want to pick up a pack and go.”

Good job they’ve got more space in that packing room.

Etruscany www.etruscany.co.uk

Yorkshire-based Italian importer Etruscany has launched a range of traditional Tuscan charcuterie under its Yara’s Kitchen brand.

Vac-packed and labelled for retail sale, the range includes wild boar and venison salamini, both in 120g packs of four (trade £2.45).

Meanwhile the new fennel salami (finocchiona) comes whole in a 260g pack and salami with truffles (salamino al tartufo) comes in halves, for £3.65 and £4.20 respectively.

All of these salamis have a 4-6 month shelf life and are produced by a family-run business near Arezzo, in the heart of Tuscany. All labelling is complaint with new EU requirements.

Etruscany continues to supply a full range of artisan Italian charcuterie throughout the UK. Its range includes Parma ham, goat salamis and regional specialties such as products made with the Cinta Senese pig breed and and Calabrian ‘nduja.

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Guide to British & Continental Charcuterie 2014-15

Dukeshill www.dukeshillham.co.uk

Shropshire’s Dukeshill is renowned for its cooked hams, which it supplies to deli counters and food halls across the UK. It can also be found on the country’s highest tables, as the company’s Royal Warrant testifies.

As well as its Wiltshire, York and Shropshire Black hams, all produced from “happy” British pigs, Dukeshill makes sausages, bacon and gammon.

The company also offers a range of Continental-style charcuterie, including salamis, pancetta and cooking chorizo.

The provenance and welfare of the pigs Dukeshill uses are of “utmost importance”. It only uses ethically produced British pork and works closely with local farmers who are committed to sustainable and ethical farming.

A supplement to Fine Food Digest

A supplement to Fine Food Digest

Guide to British & Continental Charcuterie 2014-15

13

Charcuterie from dell’ami Good value, Great taste & Interesting stories Often when we are with our Italian olive growers, or Spanish oil producers, we come across local delicacies or terrific local producers, so we have decided to bring some of these treats to our customers back home. dell’ami’s charcuterie range brings to you artisan Salamis & Coppa, Salchichón & Chorizo; Sobrasada & Morcilla; Prosciutto & Bresaola, Serrano & Ibérico from around the Mediterranean.

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Guide to British & Continental Charcuterie 2014-15

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A supplement to Fine Food Digest

04/06/2014 12:56

Venison specialist plays the name game Great Glen Charcuterie www.greatglengame.co.uk

By MICHAEL LANE Since Jan Jacob and Anja Baak swapped Holland for the Highlands in the early 2000s, their specialist wild venison business has gone from strength to strength.

In particular, 2013 proved a high point as their green pepper venison salami was named one of Great Taste’s Top 50 Foods and also won the inaugural Golden Fork for Charcuterie Product of the Year.

Now, after more than a decade as Great Glen Game, the company has a new website, new branding and a new name: Great Glen Charcuterie.

“When we started, we were a game dealer and we also made charcuterie.

Great Glen Game seemed a good name at the time but now we only do charcuterie,” says Anja Baak, adding that she and her husband had considered a “totally different, more catchy name” but didn’t want to forfeit the reputation built under the old brand.

It was the word “game” that was proving confusing for some potential stockists, she says, particularly in the export markets that Great Glen is targeting.

The Baaks have set their sights on France – with the help Scotland Food and Drink and the Access 6 programme – and the response has been positive so far. “It’s very exciting because they know how to do charcuterie really well,” says Baak.

Closer to home, Great Glen Charcuterie has found favour with a number of Scotland’s chefs and one of its few non-venison products – the foodservice-only Scottish pork pepperoni – is helping to supplement sales into delis and farm shops.

That said, the stag remains at the centre of its branding and the company’s wild venison salamis and chorizos, supplied whole or sliced and pre-packed, remain the heart of the business. But with so much going on, Baak says that they are not rushing to bring a stack of new products to market.

“What we do, we want to do well and we’re trying to improve all the time,” she says.

Forest Pig Charcuterie www.forestpig.com

Shropshire-based artisan producer Forest Pig has built its reputation on slow- matured salami and air-dried meats from pigs that forage in the Wyre Forest, in collaboration with the Forestry Commission.

A natural woodland diet and minimal supplementary feeding produces a high quality carcass with well-muscled dark meat, according to owner Jeremy Levell, who trained in the art of charcuterie-making in Tuscany.

His spiced walnut and rustic salamis are both two-star Great Taste award winners, while his walnut, hazelnut with Champagne, chorizo and Forager varieties have also featured in the awards.

Demand is starting to outstrip supply of Levell’s foraging pigs and a new range is being introduced from September 2014 using “responsibly sourced outdoor reared pigs“, allowing him to compete more effectively with other suppliers.

“We keep our pigs until they are at least 12 months old and they grow incredibly slowly out in the forest,” he says. “This makes a fantastic product but it is expensive to produce.“ However, a premium selection made exclusively from Forest Pig’s own woodland-reared animals will be maintained, with a new truffle salami added.

And there are still no plans to introduce large scale vacuum packing. “Whilst the majority of our products go to restaurants, we have been pleased to see an increase in sales to delis of both whole salamis for in-store slicing, and also small individually wrapped salamis” says Levell.

“There appears to be an increased appreciation for British salami, allowing deli owners to give us more shelf space”.

A supplement to Fine Food Digest

Guide to British & Continental Charcuterie 2014-15

15

Greedy Little Pig www.greedylittlepig.co.uk

Set up by Yorkshire pig farmer and hog roast operator Carl Slingsby, Greedy Little Pig produces dry-cured bacon, fresh sausages and hams along with air-dried products such as chorizo, salami, coppa and guanciale.

Holmforth-based Slingsby also produces lesser-known Continental styles such as cured Culatello ham and Lonzino, a cured loin.

Greedy Little Pig is now distributed to hotels and high-end restaurants by Wellocks.

Charles Macloed / Stornoway Black Pudding www.charlesmacleod.co.uk

Known locally as Charlie Barley’s, Charles Macleod Butchers has been producing Stornoway Black Pudding for 67 years to the original family recipe. Despite its remote Outer Hebrides location, the small, third generation family business has been gaining a loyal fan base for its puddings, which have been granted Protected Geographical Indication status by the EU.

Marsh Pig www.marshpig.co.uk

Marsh Pig may be based in Norfolk but it has gained listings for its salamis, chorizos and airdried meats across the country and has tripled its production to keep up with orders. Now supplying Selfridges’ London, Manchester and Birmingham stores, the producer uses only free-range British pork and adds just 15% fat to its products. It makes fennel, garlic & paprika, red wine & black pepper, hot & spicy and garlic & black pepper salamis, all of which are available whole or sliced in packs with a 12-week shelf life. Marsh Pig also produces coppa, lomo and bresaola and offers a taster of its products with a 100g selection pack featuring fennel and red wine & black pepper salamis, lomo and bresaola.

Fratelli Camisa www.camisa.co.uk

Fratelli Camisa was one of the early pioneers of importing Italian speciality foods into the UK, having started the business in the late 1920s with stores in London’s Soho.

It has since grown into a nationwide distribution firm supplying delicatessens with a range of foods, such as handmade fresh pasta, cheese, olive oils, vinegars and charcuterie.

16

Its range of charcuterie has been chosen from a handful of trusted producers that the company has worked with for many years, visiting the production site and personally choosing products.

Products include Salumificio Meroni’s Rosello cooked ham flavoured with rosemary and Fratelli Camisa’s own label 18-month matured Parma hams specially selected from producer San Francesco in Modena.

Guide to British & Continental Charcuterie 2014-15

A supplement to Fine Food Digest

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Guide to British & Continental Charcuterie 2014-15

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Organic Sliced Pre Packed Charcuterie from Golfera This pre-packed organic range is lactose and gluten free. Golfera’s Bio(organic) products are environmentally sustainable right down to their packaging and are ready to serve on a board or as filling for panino sandwich.

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Guide to British & Continental Charcuterie 2014-15

A supplement to Fine Food Digest

Native Breeds Charcuterie www.nativebreeds.co.uk

Run by Graham and Ruth Waddington on the Lydney Park Estate in Gloucestershire, Native Breeds produces cured, smoked, air-dried and cooked meats, all made from British rare breed animals but inspired by various styles from Britain, the Continent and North America.

Its core range consists of fermented and cooked meats for slicing and street foods, alongside air-dried muscles, and venison, wild boar and spicy black chorizo salami. It is also the home of the made-to-order Great British Frankfurter, a traditionally made sausage of local free-range meat, without artificial additives and in natural casings.

Native Breeds develops bespoke recipes for its larger customers and is certified for production of organic food.

Its latest creation is a hot smoked beef brisket born from the Waddington’s love for “proper New York” pastrami. Heritage Devon Ruby briskets are cured with a peppery rub, then slow smoked over beech and applewood resulting in “meltingly tender” meat encased in a deep, savoury bark of spices.

Provenance assured by pig-to-pack control

Oxsprings www.oxsprings.com

Air-dried ham producer Oxsprings remains focused chiefly on foodservice, where it says its packaging and distribution links are best suited.

It offers the trade both a 250g modified atmosphere catering pack and whole deboned hams. However, the Worcestershire company’s retail packs are now on sale in most Whole Foods Markets across London via distributor Cheese Cellar and it plans to expand further to raise its profile as an alternative to Continental hams.

Negroni offers whole and sliced options geared to premium independent stores

Negroni www.negroni.com

By MICHAEL LANE There may be plenty of British charcuterie firms reporting sales growth but it has not come at the expense of Italy’s biggest selling charcuterie, or rather, ‘salumi’ brand.

Joe Zottola, the UK agent for Negroni, tells FFD that sales to UK delis, farm shops and food halls are up 30% this year compared to last and this increase is largely being driven by mid- to higher-end products.

Sales of San Daniele air-dried ham have risen while Prosciutto di Parma Riserva has also shown strong growth. Of Negroni’s line-up of regional salamis, Milano sales are holding steady but Finocciona (fennel salami) is gaining popularity and individual 200g Negronetto salamis are “coming into their own”.

Rather than being a hindrance, the size and scope of Negroni’s operation – it breeds and farms its Italian pigs, produces their feed and makes the finished products in its own units – makes its salumi more attractive to delis and farm shops, according to Zottola.

“Independent retailers are becoming more and more aware of quality,” he says. “They’re searching for provenance and what better provenance can they have than 360° ownership of production.”

As well as its ever-popular whole salamis and hams, Negroni also offers trays of pre-sliced products (100-120g, RRP £2.99-£5.99), specifically for convenience sales at delis. With their subtler branding these packs differ from those in the multiples and, more importantly, the meat is slow-sliced at a higher temperature to replicate the cut you would get from a counter.

“The slower you slice, the thinner you can slice,” says Zottola, adding that the product is a good addition to shops, even if they are offering charcuterie sliced to order.

“If you’re eating your salami within two or three days then buy it fresh,” he says. “But if you’re buying for five days later, this is a superb alternative. It’s not going to dry out and it’s not going to pick up strong smells in the fridge.”

Whatever format retailers are taking its products in, Negroni will continue to run in-store promotional activities and training through its distribution partner Rowcliffe.

A supplement to Fine Food Digest

Guide to British & Continental Charcuterie 2014-15

19

Peelham Farm www.peelham.co.uk

Products From Spain www.productsfromspain.co.uk

In addition to its range of olive oil, olives, fish conserves, chocolate, honey and cheeses, Products From Spain also imports and distributes charcuterie. The wholesaler, which has supplied delis and restaurants since 1950, carries both Iberico and Serrano hams and chorizos, including the Sarta artisanal. This 100% pork chorizo is made with smoked paprika, garlic and oregano by award-winning producer Martinez Somalo of La Rioja.

Berwickshire’s Peelham Farm produces a range of organic pork, veal, beef, lamb, mutton, charcuterie and pies as well as gluten-free sausages from its own free-range Tamworth and Tamworth cross pigs. Its charcuterie lines include air-dried prosciutto ham, air-dried juniper mutton, salamis and chorizo, while it has also recently developed pancetta and lonza (cured pork loin).

All of Peelham’s products are produced on the farm, ensuring traceability and sustainability.

How ambient patés gave Patchwork a place in every section of the store Patchwork Traditional Food Co www.patchwork-pate.co.uk

By MICHAEL LANE Patchwork’s latest range of patés is the kind of thing people have come to expect from the North Wales producer.

Developed in collaboration with trendy spirit-maker Chase Distillery (brainchild of Tyrrells’ founder William Chase), this four-strong range of jarred patés is unlike anything else on the market and even the producer itself describes them as “audacious”.

Chicken liver paté with Chase smoked vodka, chicken liver paté with Chase extra dry gin, duck liver paté with Chase marmalade vodka and pheasant liver paté with Chase sloe & mulberry gin all have an RRP of £4.25 and are produced with free-range livers. In fact, this proved to be the key ingredient in more ways than one.

“The Chase range came about from a drunken conversation with William and [son] James Chase at the Abergavenny Food Festival,” explains Patchwork director Rufus Carter.

“That’s about as scientific as it gets.”

In truth, there is a lot more science to the range. It’s part of a very deliberate ploy to gain paté a more youthful following and it appears to be working.

“Artisan spirits are in vogue at

20

the moment, as are artisan beers,” says Carter, referencing a number of Patchwork’s recent creations featuring alcoholic drinks. He adds that the reponse to Patchwork products on social media shows younger consumers have become “more engaged” with the brand.

The Chase range is also part of Patchwork’s growing line-up of ambient patés in jars, which Carter says have allowed the company to offer retailers a full range of merchandising options.

Between its cutting patés, freezer packs and the newer ambient jars, which Carter says sell better from multideck chillers, Patchwork can supply a product to be sold at any temperature or from any fixture in a deli or farm shop.

It also continues to innovate on the gifting side with products like its picnic pack: a jar of paté, a small jar of apple chutney and oatcakes presented in a box with a wooden knife.

A company-wide sales increase of 15% (50-60% in the company’s Top 100 independents) is a testament to Patchwork’s continued appeal despite 30 years in business. Carter adds that it’s also indicative of the growing interest in British charcuterie. “The general public have stopped getting excited about Parma ham and it’s getting a lot broader now,” he says.

As for NPD, Carter says that depends on who they bump into next at the bar.

Guide to British & Continental Charcuterie 2014-15

Patchwork’s tie-up with Chase Distillery is helping it appeal to a younger audience

A supplement to Fine Food Digest

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Curious? Please drop us a At our workshop in Islington, we produce an call or an email. eclectic range of charcuterie using the best British meat, in quality and welfare. Our recipes meat@cobblelanecured.com 020 3659 8084 and processes are shaped by a variety of 25a Cobble Lane, influences, whilst adapting and experimenting London N1 1SF with new products. We supply locally, to London’s diverse and thriving food culture, from Big Apple HotDogs to The Smokehouse, and from Daylesford to BrewDog.

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Guide to British & Continental Charcuterie 2014-15

Available in: 100g retail packs 250g catering packs Whole hams - boneless / bone in Distributors: Cheese Cellar, Heart Distribution, Wellocks, Turners Fine Foods samples on request www.oxsprings.com T. 07972 497 685

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A supplement to Fine Food Digest

Ross & Ross Food www.rossandrossfood.co.uk

Oxfordshire-based duo Ross Bearman and Ross Whitmill specialise in handmade British paté and terrines. All of the meat is sourced locally – as are its herbs, eggs and butter – and is free-range. Its year-round line-up includes chicken liver parfait, ham hock & parsley terrine, duck liver parfait with port jelly and smoked bacon, chicken & pistachio terrine as well as duck rillettes and pork rillettes slow-cooked for hours in their own fat. It also produces seasonal terrines, including wild boar & sherry and pheasant, pork & walnut.

All of these can be supplied whole (1kg) or in 100g slices and can be paired with chutneys, specifically designed by Ross & Ross to match the flavour of the meats.

Sedgwick’s Charcuterie www.sedgwickscharcuterie.co.uk

Sedgwick’s is a fledgling business based on a 5-acre smallholding in the Cambridgeshire countryside. Currently, it produces cured meats from its own rare breed pigs, as well as locally sourced beef and wild venison. Where possible it uses its own homegrown herbs and seasonings in its products.

As the business grows it is also planning to make charcuterie using locally sourced wild rabbit and its own free-range ducks.

Redhill Farm www.redhillfarm.com

Suffolk Salami

Lincolnshire producer Redhill Farm, owned by Terry and Jane Tomlinson, expects to develop a new range of British and Continental-style charcuterie after moving into new premises in May. The £950,000 project – bringing all processes together under one roof on family farm at Blyton Carr, near Gainsborough – creates more capacity for the company’s fresh meat, bacon, hams, sausages black pudding, pork pies, and specialities such as Lincolshire haslet.

Jane Tomlinson says the company has been experimenting with salami and chorizo, and is also working on air-dried hams and coppa.

Its bacon (pictured below) is a key product for Redhill Farm, which rears its own free-range pigs, and its smoked varieties continue to be produced in the traditional way. They are smoked for 17 hours in a brick smokehouse over oak chippings sourced from a local cabinet-maker. “The mature oak produces a lighter smoke that retains the natural, sweet flavour of the bacon,” the company says.

www.lanefarm.co.uk

Ian and Sue Whitehead of Lane Farm Country Foods report sales of their Suffolk Salami brand are “going from strength to strength”, led by the popular rosemary version made with herbs from their own farmhouse garden.

The couple began experimenting with Continental charcuterie a decade ago, using pork reared on the farm, after first diversifying into sausages and bacon.

They now offer a range of 1kg whole salamis and 90g sliced MAP prepacks, three of which have been distributed by Cheese Cellar since the end of 2013. These include a standard mild salami with red wine, black pepper and garlic and a lightly smoked, spicy chorizo with a blend of sweet and hot paprika.

“I get the feeling that the whole of the British charcuterie scene is gaining momentum,” said Ian Whitehead, adding that the quality of ingredients going into artisan British makers is often much higher than that used by large-scale producers in southern Europe.

“This gives me hope that there is still space for little producers such as ourselves, committed to producing honest food with a clean ingredients list.”

Lane Farm‘s sales have “really taken off“ this year after it was voted East of England Co-Op Producer of the Year.

“Our dry-cured bacon is a ‘proper’ dry cure, taking a minimum of three weeks to cure before being hung to dry and allowing the flavour to mature.

“We have also introduced our ‘boozy bacon’ pickled in local porter and treacle.”

The past year has also seen Suffolk Salami crop up in an unlikely quarter – as an ingredient in a new chorizo-flavour potato crisp from fellow East Anglian producer Fairfields Farm.

A supplement to Fine Food Digest

Guide to British & Continental Charcuterie 2014-15

23

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Guide to British & Continental Charcuterie 2014-15

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A supplement to Fine Food Digest 09/06/2014 11:36

making more of CHARCUTERIE

Kings of jamón “P

eople are more interested in the provenance here in the UK than they are in Spain,” says Chuse Valero of London’s Tozino.

“The breed, the diet. They want to know it all.”

Nestled beneath an archway on Maltby Street – now one of south London’s hottest of foodie hotspots – Tozino is a convivial space where Valero and Zac Fingal-Rock Innes are fuelling our British love for Spanish charcuteria, one carefully carved slice at a time.

The duo met while working for Brindisa at London’s Borough Market.

It was here they talked about carving jamón for themselves one day and in January 2012, a spot became available in the Ropewalk at Maltby Street and gears were put in motion.

Valero and Fingal-Rock Innes managed to get hold of two hams

– one Iberico and one Teruel – borrowed a table and started slicing 100g packets for shoppers to take home. From that foundation their offering grew to plates of ham, ham sandwiches, cheeses, wines and manzanilla sherry. Today they have a wholesale arm to the business and occupy the arch space next door where they operate a successful bar, offering an extended menu of soughtafter Spanish products.

As well as five different hams, the menu includes Iberico lomo, chorizo and sobresada alongside tapas of regional cheeses, boquerones (anchovies) and rotating daily specials.

This is all partnered with a list of Spanish wines, cava and sherry.

We have long been enamoured with chorizo, but in recent years consumer interest has delved deeper and Spanish jamón has slowly begun

Bar Tozino offers a full menu of sought-after Spanish specialities

A supplement to Fine Food Digest

to take centre stage. At Tozino, they showcase hams from various Spanish regions including Los Pedroches, Extremadura and Valero’s home of Teruel.

“A good charcuterie counter is a thing of beauty and watching jamón being carved can be mesmerising,” says Fingal-Rock Innes. “It shouldn’t be hidden away in a corner. If you have a jamón on the bone or one of those old-fashioned manually operated slicing machines, get it right at the front.”

However, jamón is a very hands-on product and requires a lot of care and attention from the retailer. “When you are trading but not carving, rub the fat on the cut surface of the ham. This will help protect the ham from drying and give it a nice shine,” explains Fingal-Rock Innes when asked about ways to stop costly jamón drying out. Carrying whole legs of jamón can be a daunting prospect, not least due to the expense, particularly with high-end Iberico Bellota costing up to around £400. “You should keep the excess, non-oxidised fat to cover the cut surface of the ham over night,” he continues. “The fat holds the most moisture in the ham and will stop it from drying as quickly.”

Inevitably, it pays to be economical with your charcuterie, finding diverse ways to use unsaleable leftovers and off-cuts. “We use all the ends of the chorizos and salchichones that would normally be thrown away for stews and other dishes in the kitchen. The bones make mega stocks and can be used more than once,” says FingalRock Innes. “The fat can be rendered and used to fry the perfect egg, or can be draped over a roasting chicken to keep it moist.”

Pics: Isabelle Plasschaert – www.bebelle.co.uk

At London’s Maltby Street, NICK BAINES finds a Spanish charcuterie shop and bar where the ‘mesmerising’ spectacle of slicing from whole legs of air-dried ham takes centre stage

AIMING HIGH: Zac Fingal-Rock Innes and Chuse Valero of Tozino

At the heart of Tozino is a love for Spanish ham that’s showcased through the theatre and rituals of jamón carving. “A knowledgeable customer, in general, will have far less problem paying that little bit more for something really special,” he says.

Valero’s family produce jamón in northern Spain and the duo are able to share intimate knowledge of the production process as well as educating customers on different jamón types and regions. It seems backing up a good product with insightful knowledge is a killer combination. www.tozino.com www.bartozino.com

Spanish ham is showcased through the ritual of carving

Guide to British & Continental Charcuterie 2014-15

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The Real Boar Co

Touch of Hart

www.therealboar.co.uk

www.touchofhart.com

The Real Boar Co makes salamis and chorizos from wild boar, ethically farmed in 20 acres of woodland and grasses at the edge of the Cotswolds. They are rotated onto fresh ground throughout the year and forage for their food which includes acorns, roots, fungi and seeds, all helping make up the Real Boar flavour: rich and oldfashioned but low in cholesterol and saturated fats.

Flavours include wild boar & venison salami, wild boar chorizo, game salami, wild boar with sloe gin salami and pork salami and chorizo.

The salami is made close to the farm and has a 3-12 month shelf life at ambient temperature.

In addition to whole sausages and packs of pre-sliced meat, the producer also makes boar bites and Boar Cigars. Each luxury box features two wild board salami cigars, a wild boar chorizo cigar and a game salami cigar.

Launched in Summer 2013, Touch of Hart produces venison charcuterie year round as well as seasonal fresh venison from its herd of red and fallow parkland deer at Bridewell Park in mid Devon.

The deer run and graze freely as they would in the wild but, because they remain within the confines of the park, their diet is consistent and so is the quality of the meat in the end products.

There are no food miles involved in making Touch of Hart’s 100% venison range because everything is done in the Park: culling, skinning, hanging, butchery and charcuterie processing in the on-site butchery and dehydration rooms.

Its range includes bresaola, coriander & garlic salami – both 2014 Taste of the West Gold winners – and jerky.

All of these come in 50g packs and the jerky also comes in a 300g sharing pack.

Touch of Hart currently supplies delis and farm shops in the South West but has been approved by its local EHO to sell nationwide and launched in Selfridges this Summer.

The Cotswold Curer www.thecotswoldcurer.co.uk

Along with its existing range of award-winning salamis and chorizos, The Cotswold Curer has developed a sloe gin salami and its own take on the fiery Italian Sopressata. It also makes a pancetta cured with juniper berries, nutmeg, garlic and thyme.

The company now wraps its products in new branded greaseproof paper, which it says has improved sales, and it has been steadily growing its wholesale business with farm shops and delicatessens in the Gloucestershire and Oxford areas.

Trealy Farm www.trealyfarm.com

British charcuterie pioneer Trealy Farm has revamped its entire 25-plus product line-up over the past year, according to co-founder James Swift.

Although it is a multiple award-winner – including a British Food Producer of the Year title in the BBC Food & Farming Awards in 2009 – Swift says anyone who last tasted the range a few years ago should ask to try new samples of the improved recipes.

Despite resisting any hint of large-volume production for retail, Trealy Farm Charcuterie will also be launching a range of sliced selection packs in modified atmosphere packs in the autumn, giving a more convenient option for customers in delis, farm shops and food halls.

Swift famously researched charcuterie production on the Continent before setting up Trealy Farm Charcuterie in 2005 with then business partner Graham Waddington (now the owner of Gloucestershire’s Native Breeds).

The result is an artisan range that blends Continental and British elements, made with a mixture of traditional methods and food science, and which is sought after by top chefs in Wales and beyond.

Meats for the range – including traditional-breed pork, venison, lamb and duck – are sourced from Swift’s own 135-acre farm near Monmouth and from other small-scale farmers around the Welsh borders.

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Guide to British & Continental Charcuterie 2014-15

A supplement to Fine Food Digest

“Give your customers a reason to return” The sumptuous Adlington charcuterie range: • Drives loyalty to create the most profitable of deli counters • Consistently flavoursome and succulent – they won’t dry in the counter • Prepared to our own recipes where texture and flavour are top priority • Our products are solely prepared and cooked at our bespoke on-farm manufacturing facility • Made with 100% British Turkey • All products are available boneless so easy to carve with minimum waste whether by hand or by machine

www.adlingtonltd.com FAR M E R S • AR TIS AN• TAS TE • INNOVATIO N• EXC ELLENC E

Fabulous Norfolk Charcuterie SALAMI & CHORIZO Fennel, Garlic and Paprika, Red wine and Black Pepper, Hot and Spicy, Garlic and Black Pepper, Hot Chorizo, Selection Pack AIR-DRIED MEATS Coppa, Lomo, Bresaola

Salamis, Chorizo, Lomo, Coppa, Air Dried Hams, Pancetta

FREE RANGE BRITISH PORK

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Bell Farm, Shropshire DY14 9DX · Tel: 01299 266771 · info@forestpig.com A supplement to Fine Food Digest

t: 01508 480560 e: enquiries@marshpig.co.uk Guide to British & Continental Charcuterie 2014-15

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Having total control of all the elements from production of the free range pig, butchery, manufacture, curing, smoking, cooking and dispatch of our carefully prepared produce it gives me confidence to recommend Downland Produce.

The award winning range of Hams, bacons, Pates, and smoked bath chaps are a part of our Charcuterie range which has been developed over the last 30 years in this family business based in Wiltshire.

We have a daily delivery service, and use a courier service for deliveries further a field

Extensive range of awardwinning ingredients for tapas: from finest Serrano and Iberico hams, charcuterie and cheeses to extra virgin olive oil, table olives, larder ingredients, clayware and paella pans.

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Visit our website for further details www.downlandproduce.co.uk Email: office@downlandproduce.co.uk

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Guide to British & Continental Charcuterie 2014-15

www.contactgrills.co.uk & www.silesiavelox.co.uk 01430 879967

Seeing is believing!

A supplement to Fine Food Digest

Yorkshire Chorizo

British charcuterie with big business back-up

www.yorkshirechorizo.co.uk

Woodall’s www.woodallscharcuterie.com

By MICHAEL LANE “We are making British charcuterie. We’re not making charcuterie in Britain,” declares Colin Woodall, the eighth generation of his Cumbrian clan to make air-dried meats.

For a long time the family “ploughed a particularly lonely furrow” for charcuterie made in the UK, before it was even called by that name.

With Colin Woodall at the helm for the last 30 years, they produced traditional meats, including Cumberland sausages and Britain’s only prosciutto- style ham, that were sold in their shop in the Lake District village of Waberthwaite.

While other members of the family continue to run the store and produce hams, bacon and sausage on a modest scale for sale in Cumbria (they trade as RB Woodall), Colin sold the meat processing business to Cranswick three years ago. Now, the plc has taken his family name into the modern age.

With Colin retained in a consultancy role, the Woodall’s Charcuterie brand was launched in autumn 2013, featuring three air-dried hams – the original family recipe Cumbrian ham, the pickled Royale ham and the smoked Black Combe ham – as well as pancetta and a “unique” Cumberland salami that is effectively an aged, dried Cumberland sausage. All of these lines are available as whole pieces or sliced in pre-packs.

Although they are now made in Manchester, all are true to the family’s original recipes. Some of these date back to the 1800s when many farmhouses made their own Cumberland sausages, hams and bacon and hung them from the kitchen ceiling, allowing them to dry out.

So far, the brand has gained listings across the independent sector well as with Ocado, Waitrose and North West chain Booths, which also carries Woodall’s fresh sausages and bacon.

Cranswick has also been promoting the brand at high profile events like the RHS Chelsea Flower show, racing at Ascot and the Henley Regatta.

But despite the corporate clout behind the brand, sales and marketing manager James Crease says Woodall’s wants to be part of, and promote, the artisan British charcuterie scene – evidenced by its sponsorship of the 2014-15 Guild of Fine Food/Fine Food Digest charcuterie promotion.

“We don’t want to be the new ‘big boys’,” he says. “There are a heck of a lot of small brands out there that have been beavering away and gaining awareness for quite a while.”

He adds: “We’re not going to chuck Woodall’s into the masses. It’s not going to be in Asda in prepacks.”

A supplement to Fine Food Digest

The brainchild of fifth generation Yorkshire Dales butcher Chris Wildman, Yorkshire Chorizo is a fully cured sausage made with British pork in the style of Spanish chorizo. It comes in two varieties: original and Piccante with added cayenne. Wildman also offers a Yorkshire Salami, cured with red wine and fennel in the style of French saucisson sec.

He produces other lines, such as pancetta and bresaola, under sister brand Paganum Produce.

Woodside Farm www.woodside-farm.com

For the past four years, Woodside has been developing its unique oak-smoked air-dried Kentish lamb, inspired by the discovery of air-dried lamb in a small village in southern Germany. Being a sheep farmer, the producer decided to make its own local version. Marinated in red wine, honey and herbs, then smoked over wood from the farm, the lamb is rich in flavour. Woodside says it works well as a starter – it has been served with asparagus at Fortnum & Mason – or as part of a meat platter.

The Kentish company also produces a South African-style lamb biltong.

Guide to British & Continental Charcuterie 2014-15

29

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Guide to British & Continental Charcuterie 2014-15

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Guide to British & Continental Charcuterie 2014-15

31

AOP, the sign of special products...

A traditional cheese

Appellation d'origine protégée

The cheese of western Switzerland, with a delicate, distinguished flavour.

Made since at least 1115 AD in and around the small town of Gruyères, today it is still produced by village cheese dairies in western Switzerland according to the traditional recipe.

Le Gruyère AOP owes its characteristic delicacy and flavour to the top quality raw milk produced by cows fed on grass in the summer and hay in winter, coupled with the skill of the mastercheesemakers.

No less than 400 litres of fresh milk are needed to produce a single wheel weighing around 35kg.

During the slow maturation process, which takes several months in special cheese cellars, the wheels are turned regularly and rubbed down with saltywater. The maturing process lasts between five and 18 months.

Each cheese is systematically identified by the number of the mould and code of the cheese dairy. The day and month of production are also noted on the wheel. These black markings are made with casein, the cheese protein. No artificial additives are involved here either.

Le Gruyère AOP takes pride of place on any cheese platter. It makes for a delicious desert and can be used in tasty warm dishes. What’s more, no real fondue would be complete without genuine Gruyère AOP.

From this time on, the name ‘Gruyère AOP’ and the code of the production facility appears on the heel of each wheel of Gruyère AOP as an effective way of preventing fakes and guaranteeing authenticity.

This technique employs branding irons, which give an indentation in the wheel. It is this marking that makes it possible to identify and trace each individual cheese.

The humidity and rind washing process develops the characteristic appearance of the cheese and assists in bringing the cheese into full maturity.

This is what gives Le Gruyère AOP its famous, distinct flavour. It’s no great surprise that this authentic gift of nature is appreciated by cheeselovers throughout the world.

www.gruyere.com ruyere.com Cheeses from Switzerland.

Switzerland. to British & Continental Charcuterie 2014-15 www.switzerland-cheese.com 32 Guide Naturally.

A supplement to Fine Food Digest