In the first of a series celebrating the specialities that put the counties of
Britain on the culinary map, Rachel de Thample heads to Norfolk.
In Cromer at 3am, two sounds cut through the chilly sea air: the throaty chug of ancient tractors and the song of stirring seagulls. To this music, and with the backdrop of Cromer's faded Victorian pier and Pavilion Theatre, 40-year-old fisherman John Davies throws on leggings, waders and short boots, topped off with an oilskin for the rain. It's May, the peak of the crab season, and Davies's boat, the Laura Ann (named after his 13-year-old daughter), will be tugged into the water by one of the tractors. Nine other boats, ranging from catamarans to rickety, one-manned vessels will join his. By lunchtime, the tiny fleet will return to the ice cream parlours and crab shacks of the sea front with their handcrafted pots full of the claw-snapping crustacean that makes this Norfolk town famous.
You can find crabs in various spots along Britain's coast, so why are Cromer's so renowned, I ask Davies. "The meat is much sweeter than most," he says, softly with a drawn-out Norfolk accent – to my ears, his boat
is a 'boot'. "I think the taste is down to the chalky, flinty sea bed, as well as the warm, shallow waters along the stretch of coast where these crabs are caught."
Whatever the reason, Cromer crabs are softer
and richer than those you will find elsewhere in the
UK. Davies learned the techniques of capturing these Norfolk gems from his father and grandfather. "You have to think like a crab," he says. "You have to understand how they feed and know the patterns of the sea." The eighth generation to take on the family business, he was just three when he first went to sea.
As well as Cromer crab, Norfolk abounds with wonderful foods, both in its blessed waters and inland. When not on the hunt for crabs, Davies seeks out a few of these. "I also catch lobster. The stuff I catch off Cromer is incredible," he says,"but I export nearly all of my catch: mainly to France, where it fetches a higher price than British diners would pay," he says.
Davies and other fishermen spend the cooler months enjoying the Norfolk landscape, out on shoots. "I was out shooting for 39 days this year – mostly pheasants and partridge," Davies says. "There's a big estate further up the coast, but there are also some in Cromer. Most local restaurants serve some sort of Norfolk game."
Yetman's, an 18-year-old, primrose-yellow establishment in the market town of Holt, is one of them. In the winter, local venison, pheasant and field mushrooms all grace the menu, often in the form of puff pastry-capped pies. Chef Alison Yetman is the perfect guide to the abundance of food Norfolk offers.
Yetman gives a detailed account of what each patch of sea around the county can provide. "We get our bass and brown shrimp from along The Wash," she says. "Then, just along from Wells-next-the-Sea is a small village called Stiffkey, where we get our plump, meaty mussels. As you work your way along the
coast to Sheringham, you'll find sea forests of samphire and kale," Yetman tells me.
"Then,
of course, Great Yarmouth is known around the country for its herring fleets."
With this level of passion for Norfolk cuisine, it's a surprise to learn that Alison Yetman is not local-born and -bred, but is originally from Essex. "Sometimes
you have to be an outsider to truly appreciate a place," she explains. A neighbour in Holt grows her asparagus, strawberries and raspberries; she favours Norfolk
pink potatoes over any others and her cheeseboard is rarely without local heroes such as Norfolk Dapple
and Mrs Temple's Binham Blue: there is clearly much in the county to appreciate.
Norfolk Products
Cheese
Norfolk White Lady is a creamy, Brie-like cheese made using milk from a 60-strong herd of white Friesland sheep, which grazes in the Black Fens. "Norfolk isn't known for dairy," says cheesemaker Jane Murray, "but my patch of land has richer, wetter soil than other parts of the county."
Herbs
For John and Rosemarie Chandler, the secret of
their 400-acre herb farm in Breckland, near Diss, is in its geology. "The soil here has a sandy, Mediterranean feel," says Rosemarie. "Herbs love it." The Chandler's produce is dried in an 18th-century barn before being sold
as Norfolk's Finest Herbs.
Onions
The free-draining soil of the southern, inland
belly of Norfolk is ideal for onions. "Muddy soils stain onion skins," explains Robert Oldershaw Jr, director of the Moulton Bulb Company. "But
you don't get this from a sandy soil, such as that
on our farm at Thetford."
Pork
Sunnier and drier than most parts of Britain, Norfolk has a climate ideally suited to high-quality
pig-rearing. So much so that most of the British free-range pork, sausages and bacon you'll see in Waitrose branches across the country comes from
Claire and Trevor Carlton-Moor's farm near Diss
or Roger Newton's in Blakeney.
The cheese and herbs mentioned above are available in East Anglian branches of Waitrose, while the Norfolk pork and onions are available nationwide.