Attempting to Cook a Locally Sourced Lunch in Bristol, England

A noble First Attempt:

Beef Dripping from a farm in Gloucestershire way, way under 100 miles away

Today marks the end of the September 2007 Eat Local Month and so I had better quickly squeeze out the post I promised about producing a locally sourced Sunday lunch in Bristol, England last weekend.

My answer would be that we got off to a good start and we found some good sources for locally farmed products. It was definitely the beginning of the learning experience, though, and we came across brick wall for several items we'd hoped we would be able to buy locally. If I lived in Bristol and was able to do more research and make this challenge into an ongoing project I am certain I would be able increase the amount of local products in my parents' fridge and pantry as I learned where they might be sourced. For the sake of last Sunday's lunch we researched, we learnt, we ate, we were a family together and we had a great time.


When I was growing up my parents grew a lot of our food. Half of our large garden was given over to a vegetable patch and we also had an allotment only about 10 minutes walk away from where we lived too. When my parents moved into their current house 21 years ago, they lost all of their garden space. But they have greenish fingers (unlike me) and still manage to grow a few items in pots and containers including blackberries, blueberries, herbs, rhubarb, tomatoes and even peppers. Unfortunately the tomatoes were taking a long time to ripen this year which is how they became the inspiration for our first dish:

Fried Green tomatoes with Red Pepper Dressing:

1) Green tomatoes - grown in my parents' back yard
2) Whole wheat flour - Milled in Shipton 27 miles away. Much of the wheat they mill is English but some of it is from as far away as Canada.
3) Beef Dripping from Gloucestershire - not sure exactly where but most likely under 30 miles away.
4) Salt and Pepper - not local - not sure why my mother doesn't use Maldon Salt (produced 171 miles away)?
For the Red Pepper 'Dressing' (which is Sam Speak for failed 'aioli'):
5) Red Pepper - grown in my parent's glass-covered porch
6) Organic Safflower Oil (label suggested it was British but not 100% clear as the label wording is ambiguous and it may only have been bottled in Britain)
7) Duck egg - locally laid 14 miles away at Cotswold Edge Farm in Old Sodbury.

A picture of calm amongst the clutter of the kitchen

Sedlescombe English Organic Wine 175 miles away

Venison Roasting in the oven

Neither mum or I had cooked venison before but it was a huge success. I first smothered it with some beef dripping and after a while in the oven splashed some port over it too. I basted regularly. In the last half hour of cooking time I added some red currants. Once the haunch was cooked and resting I made a pan sauce from the resulting mixture of meat juices, dripping, port and red currants to which I added some cream and brown sugar. We served the meat with some wickedly creamy potatoes gratin (cream in England so totally whips the arse of American cream, you have to eat as much of it as possible whilst you are there), and a great cabbage recipe with subtle overtones of cumin and coriander that my mum apparently pilfered from my sister (but to which I suggested the addition of bacon which I think was a genius move). I don't have that recipe (yet), I am going to have to ask one of them to blog it for me and then I'll report back here.

Venison with Redcurrant and Port, Potatoes Gratin and Savoy Cabbage with Bacon

Venison with Redcurrant and Port, Potatoes Gratin and Savoy Cabbage with Bacon:

1) Haunch of Venison from deer shot by this guy on the nearby Badminton Estate, 16 Miles away
2) Potatoes, British, but not local, which we couldn't find this time. These supermarket potatoes came from Shropshire which is about 130 miles away.
3) Supermarket Red currants came from Norfolk which is about 250 miles away.
4) Port - not local at all - from Portugal!
5) Cabbage - from the Walled Garden 17 miles away.
6) Bacon - was British - we could have bought fabulous-looking locally produced bacon at the market but because mum had some British supermarket bacon already in the fridge that she needed to be used up, we utilised that instead this time.
7) Supermarket British Cream for the Potato Gratin, exact origin unknown.
8) Nutmeg, Coriander and Cumin, + Seasonings + Brown Sugar - none local.
9) Beef Dripping (again) - locally produced in Gloucestershire
10) Chicken stock - origin unclear (mum had run out of homemade and we didn't have time to make any from scratch.)
11) Garlic - Spanish was all we could find this time.

The Cheese Course - Welsh Rarebit with two Bath Cheeses

1) Organic bread baked locally at Bordeaux Quay 4.3 miles away, (flour origin unclear).
2) Wyfe of Bath Cheese - Bath Soft Cheese Company 12 miles away.
3) Bath Blue - from Bath Soft Cheese Company 12 miles away.
4) Fresh Sage - grown in my parents' back yard.
5) English Ale - I didn't take notes on which one.
6) Colman's English Mustard - made in Norwich since 1814, 230 miles away.
7) Ducks Egg - locally laid 14 miles away at Cotswold Edge Farm in Old Sodbury.
8) Supermarket shallots - British.
9) Lettuce - from the Walled Garden 17 miles away.
10) Chutney - made at the Walled Garden 17 miles away, but origin of the ingredients unknown.

This Welsh Rarebit was made using a favourite recipe that I have blogged before, which came from Delia Smith (who, like Colman's mustard, is also from Norwich, 230 miles away!)

Scrumped Apple Fool

1) Cooking Apples scrumped 14 miles away
2) Brown Sugar - not local
3) Organic Dorset Double Cream from Manor Farm, 59 miles away.
4) Organic white sugar - not local
5) vanilla pod - not local
6) Cornflour - origin not noted.
7) Ducks Egg - locally laid 14 miles away at Cotswold Edge Farm in Old Sodbury.

(I will share the actual recipe for this dessert , another day, in a separate post.)

Locavore purists might judge our attempt at eating locally in Bristol, which was by no means perfect, to be a failure but I would disagree. The major ingredients for each course all came from within just 20 miles away, which puts the Bay area's 100-mile eating local limit to shame in some respects. But, of course, the UK is a different beast to California, much more densely populated with a lot of farming happening in the countryside closely surrounding the larger cities. After all, you can't drive 5 minutes anywhere in Britain without seeing cows and sheep grazing on the luscious green landscape.

I enjoyed taking this September 2007 Eat Local challenge in a less familiar environment - not only did I learn a lot - it tasted good too. I wish I could eat it for Sunday lunch all over again today...

Other Resources & Further Reading
Mum's Take on the same meal
Local Produce Market, Westbury-On-Trym, Bristol
The Better Food Company & Barley Wood Walled Garden
A Cute Local Deli called Taste we stumbled upon on our way to Bristol Airport last week.
My own Eat Local Bristol Challenge
Bristol Local Food Guide

Archives
2006 | Restaurant Girl Speaks
2005 | A Vegan Downfall
2004 | Olive, San Francisco

© 2007 Sam Breach

Attempting to Cook a Locally Sourced Lunch in Bristol, England