for sale.
REGION OF PRODUCTION:
SOUTH ENGLAND; SOUTH WEST ENGLAND.
Oxford Sausage
DESCRIPTION:
A FRESH PORK AND VEAL SAUSAGE; 6-8 SAUSAGES TO THE LB (450G). FORM: FAIRLY SHORT AND PLUMP. COLOUR: SLIGHTLY PALER PINK THAN THE AVERAGE, WITH PROMINENT HERB FLECKS. FLAVOUR: A GOOD BALANCE OF LEMON AND HERBS.
HISTORY:
In 1779, the Reverend Dr Warner wrote to his friend George Selwyn, ‘I shall also order some New College puddings and Oxford sausages, and hope to bring you a hare.’ (Jesse, 1901) These sausages were already famous. In 1726, John Nott gave a recipe for ‘Sausages called Oxford Skates’ which closely resembles recipes still known. It is a mixture of pork, veal and beef suet, quite highly seasoned. White (1932) has printed similar recipes from the following 200 years. In all of them, the mixture was rolled into cylinders or patties, floured and fried. If Oxford sausages were skinless, it goes without saying that Cambridge sausages (also celebrated in the past) were stuffed into skins.
Mrs Rundell (1807) mentions the addition of a little soaked bread in her instructions, suggesting the recipe had then begun to evolve along lines similar to other British sausages. Dallas (1877) noted that the mixture was pressed ‘down close in a pan for use. It may be stuffed in skins like other sausage meat; but is generally rolled out as wanted, and either fried in fresh butter of a brown colour or broiled over a clear fire.’ Oxford sausages were less remarked in the twentieth century but were still known, and Florence White records correspondence about them, including the fact they could still be bought in Oxford market in the early 1930s and that a similar skinless sausage was found in Cornwall. Finney’s guide for pork butchers (1915) included an Oxford seasoning which included sage and coriander; he also had recipes for Oxford beef sausages.
‘One can say everything best over a meal.’
GEORGE ELIOT, ADAM BEDE
In recent years British fresh sausages generally have suffered from the application of mass-production techniques. Recently, more interest has been taken in the subject, and new companies are researching and using recipes based on those from the eighteenth century.
TECHNIQUE:
There are 2 differences between Oxford sausages of the past and those known today. The first is in the composition: beef suet is rarely used now, as it produces a sausage which is dense and heavy to modern taste. Secondly, the sausages are now put into casings. A manufacturer who has recently begun to make Oxford sausages based on old recipes uses shoulder pork from locally produced, extensively farmed pigs. Equal quantities of veal, plus a small amount of cereal form the basis; the meat is minced with a little rusk, and seasoned with herbs, salt, lemon zest and spices, and then filled into narrow hog casings and hand-linked.
REGION OF PRODUCTION:
SOUTH ENGLAND, OXFORD.
Cottage Loaf
DESCRIPTION:
A CIRCULAR LOAF WITH A LARGE TOPKNOT (USUALLY ONE-THIRD THE SIZE OF THE MAIN PART); THE SURFACE IS SOMETIMES SLASHED TO GIVE A ROSETTE EFFECT WHEN RISING IS COMPLETED. A SMALL LOAF IS ABOUT 100MM HIGH, 180-200MM DIAMETER. WEIGHT: 400G (SMALL), 800G (LARGE). COLOUR: DEEP GOLD CRUST WITH PALER, LESS BAKED AREAS IN THE NOTCHES. FLAVOUR: THE SHAPE OF THE LOAF GIVES A HIGHER RATIO OF CRUST TO CRUMB THAN OBTAINED WITH TIN LOAVES.
HISTORY:
The earliest reference to the distinctive shape known as a ‘cottage loaf’ cited by the Oxford English Dictionary comes from the 1840s. How long they were made before then is not obvious, although a description by Edlin (1805) makes it clear that loaves of the cottage type were being made. Until the Second World War, they were perhaps the most common shape available in England. In Scotland, they were only occasionally made but when they were, they were flatter and lighter. By contrast, Welsh loaves and those from the Midlands had a closer, cakier texture.
The moulding of a cottage loaf is not easy. Inadequate craftsmanship could make the halves separate or cause alarming tilts and eccentricities. Perhaps this is why Kirkland (1907) noticed that London cottage loaves had smaller topknots.
No complete explanation of the development of the shape is likely. A parallel may be drawn with the shape of pain chapeau, found in the Finistère district of Brittany. The cob loaf was the simplest, round, oven-bottom bread in the English baker’s repertoire. Oven-bottom breads were crustier and more flavourful than loaves cooked in tins (as were most often produced in Scotland, for example, and which became almost universal with the industrialization of British breadmaking). The word cob meant nothing more than a small lump. A similar loaf shape was the coburg, a London form named in honour of the marriage of Queen Victoria to Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg. This was a cob loaf with extra slashes across the top. The cottage loaf could be likened to 2 cobs piled on top of each other. As it became necessary to increase the output of bakeries in the face of growing demand as England industrialized and urbanized, so a cottage loaf would greatly increase the production of each oven load. It is also possible that the shape was fostered by the availability of fine, high-protein white flour with the advent of roller milling and imports of hard wheat from North America.
TECHNIQUE:
No particular dough is reserved to this shape, but it is best if it is stiff in texture. After mixing and bulk fermentation, the dough is scaled off into pieces for the tops and bottoms (top and bottom loaves was a Chichester (Sussex) name for this shape). The top is joined to the bottom by pressing through the centre of the top with the fingers. After a final proof and, if required, slashing the top surface, the loaf is baked on the oven bottom at 230°C for 60 minutes.
REGION OF PRODUCTION:
SOUTH ENGLAND.
Isle of Wight Doughnut
DESCRIPTION:
ROUGHLY SPHERICAL FRIED DOUGH, 70MM DIAMETER. WEIGHT: ABOUT 75G. COLOUR: GOLDEN BROWN OUTSIDE, DUSTED WITH SUGAR; PALE GOLD INSIDE, WITH SULTANAS AND A JAM FILLING. FLAVOUR: SWEETISH, SHORT-TEXTURED.
HISTORY:
Deep-fried pastry and fritters are not well represented in British food traditions. An exception seems to be the Isle of Wight, on the English south coast. Here, there are several variations on the theme including doughnuts filled with currants and tied in the shape of a knot and an apple-filled one in a turnover (half circle) shape. In the mid-nineteenth century a yeast-raised doughnut with a filling of raisins and candied peel was made there; a recipe was given by Eliza Acton (1845). She noted that at certain times they were made in large quantities and were drained of their fat on very clean straw. The dough was flavoured with allspice, cinnamon, cloves and mace. Another recipe was collected by the local Women’s Institute in the 1930s. It is similar, apart from a reduction in spices to nutmeg alone. Oral tradition states that until about 30 years ago, a few shops displayed these doughnuts piled up in their windows and sold nothing else. The doughnuts made at present are produced to a recipe belonging to a long-established bakery in Newport.
TECHNIQUE:
Published recipes call for plain flour, butter and sugar in the proportions 6:1:1. The butter is rubbed into the flour, followed by the sugar and grated nutmeg; this is made into a soft yeast-ed dough with milk and egg. After fermentation, pieces about the size of tangerines are nipped off. A hollow is made which is filled with a few raisins and a piece of candied peel and, in some recipes, lemon zest. The dough is wrapped around and smoothed over to make a ball. They were cooked in lard - now more