Molluscs
For those of us who can remember the 1970s, who could forget Graham Kerr, TV’s Galloping Gourmet? It was the first time the hob had been centre stage and the work surfaces awash with full-fat cream, wine and a lively coating of saucy banter.
‘All right, ladies,’ he would announce to the goggle-eyed audience attempting to follow a chicken recipe. ‘Throw your breasts into the pan.’ Little connects his approach with today’s rather more serious food trendsetters, except his commitment to trying to persuade us to eat unusual food.
He once cooked a bowl full of sea snails and then served them up with garlic and Muscadet. At a time when most people were still struggling with the prospect of the butter-drenched French escargot on their first forays sur Le Continent, it was radical indeed. Even now, over 50 per cent of English adults claim to have never eaten a mollusc.
In Hastings, however, they can’t get enough of them. The foreshore is home to Hastings Winkle Cub – members, including Prince Philip, have to have their winkle on them at all times or face embarrassment and a fine. It is also home to the UK’s only sustainable beach-based fishing fleet, which daily lands local lobster, crab, delicate brown shrimps and large, juicy, whelks.
Low in fat (100g of whelks contains only 0.2g of saturates) and high in protein, these gastropods contain over 10 times more vitamin B12 than beef. Still, the British palate takes some convincing and of the 10,000 tons landed each year on our shores, about 90 per cent are exported to the Far East.
Like the Galloping Gourmet, the food writer and chef Alastair Hendy is committed to challenging our choices – although unlike him he tends not to put on much of a show for those sitting at his kitchen table in the rear of Hendy Home Store on the high street. Still, what he lacks in panto routine, he makes up for in imaginative ways to save us from air miles and polystyrene cups. Whelks served grilled, dripping in local butter and wild garlic, complement the daily fish catch. Or his latest invention, Whelk Soup – think smooth, mildly salty vichyssoise rather than lumpy fright. Delicious. Honestly!
Next week: Amusements failure
‘All right, ladies,’ he would announce to the goggle-eyed audience attempting to follow a chicken recipe. ‘Throw your breasts into the pan.’ Little connects his approach with today’s rather more serious food trendsetters, except his commitment to trying to persuade us to eat unusual food.
He once cooked a bowl full of sea snails and then served them up with garlic and Muscadet. At a time when most people were still struggling with the prospect of the butter-drenched French escargot on their first forays sur Le Continent, it was radical indeed. Even now, over 50 per cent of English adults claim to have never eaten a mollusc.
In Hastings, however, they can’t get enough of them. The foreshore is home to Hastings Winkle Cub – members, including Prince Philip, have to have their winkle on them at all times or face embarrassment and a fine. It is also home to the UK’s only sustainable beach-based fishing fleet, which daily lands local lobster, crab, delicate brown shrimps and large, juicy, whelks.
Low in fat (100g of whelks contains only 0.2g of saturates) and high in protein, these gastropods contain over 10 times more vitamin B12 than beef. Still, the British palate takes some convincing and of the 10,000 tons landed each year on our shores, about 90 per cent are exported to the Far East.
Like the Galloping Gourmet, the food writer and chef Alastair Hendy is committed to challenging our choices – although unlike him he tends not to put on much of a show for those sitting at his kitchen table in the rear of Hendy Home Store on the high street. Still, what he lacks in panto routine, he makes up for in imaginative ways to save us from air miles and polystyrene cups. Whelks served grilled, dripping in local butter and wild garlic, complement the daily fish catch. Or his latest invention, Whelk Soup – think smooth, mildly salty vichyssoise rather than lumpy fright. Delicious. Honestly!
Next week: Amusements failure