My region: the produce & dishes

It's a bit difficult to name any regional dishes where I live. It's one of those places that used to be in Essex but is now in London, although we have tried to escape on several occasions.
Traditionally we used to have
eels, pickled herrings, and tripe
cockles, mussels, winkles (from the Leigh cockle sheds)
oysters (Burnham and Colchester)
rabbit (my family used to go rabbiting regularly over Hainault forest until myxomatosis wiped most of them out in the early 1950s)
pheasant (usually road-kill)
suet pudding (either with gravy for dinner, or syrup for dessert)
yorkshire pudding (with dinner, or with evaporated milk and syrup for dessert)
spotted dick with custard
brawn
fish and chips

Apparently blackbird pie was also quite common, squirrel less so, but I'd have neither.

When I was young local beef and lamb were the most usual meats, followed by pork. Chicken was always a treat because it was expensive, in spite of the fact that we used to keep them (mainly for eggs, but some were slaughtered at Christmas). Turkey was unheard of.

I used to have lots of fresh fruit - we grew apples, cherries, plums, black-, white- and redcurrants, gooseberries, and rhubarb - and vegetables, because we grew our own. There wasn't even a butcher's, grocer's or greengrocer's where I lived until 1958. The only shop was a sweetshop in the local haulage yard!

Local produce was beef and lamb, later chickens too, but these particular farms have all disappeared, although there are still a few farms not too far away. All the usual veg, fruit, and grains are grown, and quinoa (which always surprises people), but local dishes have changed a lot, mainly because the local population has changed - mainly south Asian, west African, and eastern European now round where I live.
 
Elawin said:
cockles, mussels, winkles (from the Leigh cockle sheds)
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I've been to Leigh-on-sea quite a few times. Lately its become so trendy its impossible to park there! The cockles are famous and delicious. Buy a pint in the Crooked Billet and get your seafood from the stall.

34979
 
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Elawin said:
When I was young local beef and lamb were the most usual meats, followed by pork. Chicken was always a treat because it was expensive, in spite of the fact that we used to keep them (mainly for eggs, but some were slaughtered at Christmas). Turkey was unheard of.
Click to expand...

Interesting. Here chicken is cheap, and what you buy when money is tight. Beef is reasonable in Texas, because it is a big cattle raising State. Lamb is expensive.

Elawin said:
Local produce was beef and lamb, later chickens too, but these particular farms have all disappeared, although there are still a few farms not too far away. All the usual veg, fruit, and grains are grown, and quinoa (which always surprises people), but local dishes have changed a lot, mainly because the local population has changed - mainly south Asian, west African, and eastern European now round where I live.
Click to expand...

Interesting, again. Over here, "produce" is fruits and vegetables -- no meats.

North Texas is pretty weak for fresh "produce." The climate is harsh, and the soil has a lot of clay in it. Most crops here are feed stocks. There are corn fields all over, but the corn is not really edible by humans -- very tough and fibrous.

You can grow a pretty good backyard garden here, but you have to do a lot of soil amendments. In my pepper and herb garden, I dug up the first 10-inches of soil, discarded it, and replaced it with good soil and compost.

CD
 
morning glory said:
I've been to Leigh-on-sea quite a few times. Lately its become so trendy its impossible to park there! The cockles are famous and delicious. Buy a pint in the Crooked Billet and get your seafood from the stall.

View attachment 34979
Click to expand...
When I was about 11, my friend and I used to cycle from her house in Rainham to Hadleigh and then through what is now the country park all the way down to Leigh. We'd always stop and buy some shellfish - I could eat it in those days. Then we'd go on to Westcliff and go in the art gallery before cycling on to Southend.
 
caseydog said:
Interesting. Here chicken is cheap, and what you buy when money is tight. Beef is reasonable in Texas, because it is a big cattle raising State. Lamb is expensive.



Interesting, again. Over here, "produce" is fruits and vegetables -- no meats.

North Texas is pretty weak for fresh "produce." The climate is harsh, and the soil has a lot of clay in it. Most crops here are feed stocks. There are corn fields all over, but the corn is not really edible by humans -- very tough and fibrous.

You can grow a pretty good backyard garden here, but you have to do a lot of soil amendments. In my pepper and herb garden, I dug up the first 10-inches of soil, discarded it, and replaced it with good soil and compost.

CD
Click to expand...
It's the other way round over here now - chicken can be bought very cheaply. A decent organic chicken is quite dear but as far as taste and quality is concerned, there is no comparison.
 
caseydog said:
Interesting. Here chicken is cheap, and what you buy when money is tight. Beef is reasonable in Texas, because it is a big cattle raising State. Lamb is expensive.



Interesting, again. Over here, "produce" is fruits and vegetables -- no meats.

North Texas is pretty weak for fresh "produce." The climate is harsh, and the soil has a lot of clay in it. Most crops here are feed stocks. There are corn fields all over, but the corn is not really edible by humans -- very tough and fibrous.

You can grow a pretty good backyard garden here, but you have to do a lot of soil amendments. In my pepper and herb garden, I dug up the first 10-inches of soil, discarded it, and replaced it with good soil and compost.

CD
Click to expand...

My wife has raised gardens, railway sleepers 2 or 3 high, filled with exactly what you describe , soil and compost along with sheep manure pellets. Crops are sweet and beautiful.

Russ
 
Elawin said:
When I was about 11, my friend and I used to cycle from her house in Rainham to Hadleigh and then through what is now the country park all the way down to Leigh. We'd always stop and buy some shellfish - I could eat it in those days. Then we'd go on to Westcliff and go in the art gallery before cycling on to Southend.
Click to expand...

Great story about your youth, I too at that age used to go on bike rides to discover what's out there?
We used to take sammys as well.

Russ
 
Elawin said:
It's the other way round over here now - chicken can be bought very cheaply. A decent organic chicken is quite dear but as far as taste and quality is concerned, there is no comparison.
Click to expand...
Cheap chicken is usually a sign of poor welfare standards. Intensive rearing is an appalling practice, and personally I'd rather go without.
 
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