7:10am Wednesday 30th December 2009
By Gazette newsdesk
SAUSAGES and bacon produced at an award-winning South Lakeland farm have been declared among the perfect ingredients in the ultimate English breakfast.
The country’s tastiest morning fry-up, identified by a national panel of food experts, includes sausage and bacon from Sillfield Farm at Gatebeck.
The search for the best ‘full English’ was instigated by Country Life magazine, which asked its five-strong team of judges to scour the land for the finest produce.
And they included Sillfield’s Lakeland sausages and wild boar pancetta bacon in their final list of six vital ingredients.
The sizzling specialities ranked alongside free-range eggs from Wiltshire, white pudding from Kent, black pudding from Bury and mushrooms from Suffolk.
They were chosen by a judging panel which included author Tom Parker Bowles, restaurant critic Charles Campion, Capt Charles Dale, of the Life Guards, Rupert Uloth, of Country Life, and Alice Dickie,of the Slow Food Movement.
The judges each spent two hours tasting the entries before deciding which ingredients to include.
The shortlisted ingredients were cooked by chefs at The Goring Hotel in London, whose executive chef and managing director joined in the final judging.
Sillfield Farm, which is home to free-range wild boar, rare breed pigs, Herdwick sheep and pedigree poultry, is owned by Peter and Christine Gott.
The farm produces some of the finest farm products in the country and has received numerous awards in recognition of their quality and taste, with fans said to include Jamie Oliver and Prince Charles.
Mr Uloth, Country Life’s deputy editor, said: “Our mission was to test the best produce from across the country to find the ultimate plateful to start the day.
“It was tempting to include kidneys, kedgeree and other idosyncratic breakfast delights, but we decided to keep it simple.”
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