PubChef Live - Mutton's on the button

The mutton revival continues as the meat returns to trade kitchens. It was the focus of attention at this month's PubChef Live. Mark Taylor reports

The theme of the fifth PubChef Live event, held at Tetbury gastro pub the Priory Inn, was building a better connection

between local producers and chefs.

It also focused on mutton, an old-fashioned meat with an image problem, but one making a welcome comeback on pub menus.

The drive for more transparency

The first speaker was Amanda Kamin of Food From Britain, which promotes quality British regional food and drink and

helps export such products. She told chefs in attendance that research has shown that 70% of customers are interested in buying regional food and drink and 49% are interested in buying more than they do now.

She says: "We are trying to encourage more pub chefs to put more regional produce on their menus and list details of where the produce comes from, how it was raised or grown and even the farmer's name."

Amanda urged chefs to source more seasonal produce and to get involved in special events such as British Food Fortnight and British Cheese Week. She also advised people

to check out the Food From Britain website (www.regionalfoodanddrink.co.uk), which lists 3,700 British producers, enabling chefs to source directly from small producers.

Putting chefs' ears to the ground

Getting chefs to reconnect with their local suppliers and producers was the message from John Sheaves of Taste of the West. He explained how farmers and producers are coming out of a system of subsidy support and are actively looking for new markets.

On the other end of the scale, John says that consumers are seeking quality, regional food and are looking at provenance and guarantees that the produce is of a high quality. With a local food market of £3.7bn in the UK, and more than 70% consumers wanting to buy locally-produced food, there is an enormous potential that pubs, restaurants and hotels can tap into.

Sheaves says: "As well as freshness and taste, consumers are also looking for product integrity and provenance. There's no point in saying 'we source our beef locally' and think that's going to be enough because consumers who come into your pub are becoming more and more discerning - they want to know exactly where it's coming from.

"They want to know a bit of a story behind that product and that's the piece of information that's going to make a difference to you at the point of sale. The consumer is now

prepared to pay more for a product if they know exactly where it was produced.

"Taste of the West is improving the marketing of produce on behalf of 500 producers in the south west to try to build that reconnection and develop the supply chain so that chefs can buy into this local food phenomenon."

Boring old lamb can take back seat

The message from butcher Steve Cook and Academy of Culinary Arts member Saverio Buchicchio was "put mutton back on the

menu". Steve is a third generation butcher and owner of Walter Rose & Son, a traditional Wiltshire butchers that started in 1847.

Breaking down a side of mutton during his informative demonstration, he says: "Mutton certainly lends itself to a very different area as far as eating goes and boring old lamb can take a back seat. Mutton used to be considered to be the best meat there was and used to sell more than beef,

so there's definitely a market for it. From a good butcher, it will be cheaper than lamb and it's just as versatile in the kitchen."

It was a view echoed by Saverio, who adds: "Mutton is better suited for the winter - stews, casseroles, roasts - dishes cooked with the root vegetables that are in season during the colder months.

"Don't be afraid of putting it on your menus - try it as a special for a few weeks and see what the customer reaction is. It's also very important that your waiting staff know how to sell it to customers with confidence so tell them where you get it from so they then have a story to pass on to the customer."

Proof's in the cooking

Dave Kelly of the Priory Inn showed the versatility of mutton by making a mutton moussaka pizza in the pub's wood-burning oven. The pizza base was made using organic flour from nearby Shipton Mill and the mutton was supplied by Steve Cook at Walter Rose butchers. Dave also explained

that the vegetables for the PubChef Live lunch had been picked that morning at Prince Charles' Duchy Home Farm and they were roasted in the wood-burning oven.

Tasting fruits of handmade labour

A prime example of using local producers came in the form of the cheese, ice cream and beer tastings. Liz Godsell of Godsell's Church Farm Cheese gave a tutored tasting of her award-winning, handmade cheeses, such as a traditional Double Gloucester and a rinded Cheddar.

There were also tasters of the delicious Westonbirt ice cream, made by 16-yearold Harriet Wilson, from milk from her

father's dairy farm three miles from the Priory Inn. During lunch, local microbrewery Cotswold Spring Brewery provided

pints of its Codrington Codger beer, made using natural Cotswold spring water from Chipping Sodbury.

Mutton's synergy with English wine

Wiltshire-based wine producer Keith Willingale hosted a tasting before lunch at PubChef Live and he introduced chefs to his range of English wines. Keith started making wine when he retired after 30 years in the Royal Navy as a logistics engineer.

His three-acre Bow-in-the-Cloud vineyard at Malmesbury produces English grape varieties such as Bacchus, Seyval Blanc and Schonburger. Five different whites, including

an award-winning sparkling wine, are made. Keith supplies wines to a few local hotels and pubs also stock them, such as the Priory Inn and properties run by Wiltshire National Trust. "There is a synergy between mutton and English wine," says Keith. "We face the same challenge of generating interest in a product that has been on the back shelf for far too long.