“GAME IS PLENTIFUL AND DOESN’T DEPLETE THE SAME NATURAL RESOURCES THAT TRADITIONAL MEAT FARMING DOES”

Words: Thea Everett

As a home cook, there are a few ingredients I’ve always been tentative to take on. Game – a source of protein I’d previously thought the preserve of Michelin-starred chefs and MasterChef contestants – was one of these. But I’ve often found that trying my hand at a new ingredient makes the kitchen a more exciting place. And so, this autumn, I’ve decided to open my heart to game. After some experimentation, I now know that pheasant and grouse are not scary. They’re for us all. Hear me out…

When you hear the names of game meats, you might be more likely to make associations with Christmas carols featuring pear trees than your weekly meal plan. But don’t let that put you off. Pheasant, partridge, grouse, pigeon, venison and rabbit all offer opportunities for experimentation and fun in the kitchen. And when you know where to buy them and how to prepare them, they can put exciting new twists on old autumn favourites like curries, ragus or stews.

The word sustainable gets thrown about a lot in the food world, and you might have heard it said that game is one of the most sustainable sources of protein in the UK. But the proof is in the prehistory: humans have hunted wild animals for sustenance for thousands of years (and we still do). It’s an ecosystem that works. For most of our history, game hunting has been strictly controlled by the upper classes, who limited access to certain breeds of animal. Royals and the nobility would get the best – fallow and red deer – while peasants were left with roe. Happily, those days are over – game is available to anyone with a good market or butchers at their disposal – and if you’re going to eat meat, it’s one of the tastiest and most eco-friendly ways to do it.

I bring up game’s environmental credentials only because they can be backed up by cold, hard facts. Game is plentiful, doesn’t deplete the same natural resources that traditional meat farming does, and is usually sourced more locally. It’s also not pumped with chemicals and antibiotics in the same way that a lot of intensively farmed meat is, with all the associated implications for human health.

So, what actually makes a meat ‘game’? The key criterion is that the meat comes from wild or free-to-roam animals, which exist on a natural diet. That diet means the meat is typically leaner and lower in saturated fat. During the autumn, it’s also a competitively priced source of protein. But despite all this, game still hasn’t broken through to the mainstream. Don’t you think that’s a shame?

For Darren Brown, founder of Borough Market’s Shellseekers Fish & Game, providing game meat to the public is driven by a sense of duty. “There is a big problem in our country,” says Darren. “We are overrun by deer.” Because there are no natural predators for deer remaining in the UK, and new breeds have been introduced from other countries, the numbers are out of control. This has negative effects on the environmental regeneration of woodlands, as Chris Packham has argued in his (perhaps surprise) support of deerstalking. The solution, Darren says, is not to introduce more wolves into the wild (which would come with its own issues) but to “eat our problems” and make venison part of the big four or five meat sources that we regularly consume.

When it comes to the birds, pheasant and partridge are bred by gamekeepers, and typically live up to three years, free to roam, unlike their popular cousin the chicken, which is often bred in appalling conditions in cages and only allowed to live for a few months. Grouse are still completely wild, and can’t be bred. Is it any wonder that chefs go wild for a bird whose unique flavour comes from a natural diet of heather?

Controversial though hunting might be, Darren says that “the public don’t see the infrastructure and conservation that goes into shooting”. There are still misconceptions that game meat constitutes “killing bambi”. When most people have no problem eating pigs, sheep and chicken, it’s undeniably a hypocritical stance that the gamekeeping community wants to help address.

As shoppers, we are keener than ever to know about where our food comes from. Surely a source of protein where the provenance is traceable and animals are not bred to be big and tasteless but given the opportunity to live a more natural life should be taken seriously? No air miles or battery-farmed consumer guilt necessary. I urge you to join me in my autumnal gameplan…

Chicken gets all the air time, but how about making your next curry with pheasant? You’ll be contributing to a less harmful form of meat consumption, and maybe even connecting with your hunter-gatherer ancestors. Like chicken, pheasant does need attention to ensure it doesn’t dry out, so in my recipe for pheasant tikka masala, I marinate the meat before grilling it quickly and adding to the gravy at the final moment to ensure it doesn’t lose too much moisture.

Grouse is a special ingredient only available for a couple of months a year. It cooks in a quarter of the time of chicken and is much more manageable than you might think, just needing a quick sear in a pan and then 15 minutes or so in an oven. The skin can have a slight bitterness, so avoid that if you prefer, and enjoy the meat itself which is full of flavour – almost more like steak than poultry. You’ll see why chefs get excited about it.

I hope my recipes for pheasant tikka masala and roast grouse with leeks & orzo will have you looking at game with a little less suspicion. Game mode activated. Come along for the ride.

“IF I CAN OPEN ONE PERSON’S EYES TO OFFAL, MAYBE THEY’LL DECIDE NOT TO JUST BUY THAT PACK OF SUPERMARKET MINCE”

Interview: Mark Riddaway

Elliot Hashtroudi never had the slightest intention of being a chef. Growing up in Devon, he watched his father struggle in the restaurant industry and vowed never to follow in his footsteps. “I was like, right, I never want to do that,” he recalls. “I’ve seen my dad working every hour of the day and night, for nothing.”

After moving to London, gaining an English degree and starting a disappointing career in the film industry, Elliot found himself bored and unfulfilled – until his girlfriend persuaded him to give cooking a go. “So, I blagged my way into a restaurant,” he says. “From there, I got the passion for it.” Following formative spells in Mayfair and at Borough’s Padella restaurant, he really honed his craft at the legendary St John in Farringdon. Deciding to strike out alone, he would go on to man the stove at several acclaimed pop-ups, including a residency at 107 (formerly P Franco), before an approach by Clare Lattin and Tom Hill, the duo behind Ducksoup in Soho, led to him taking the helm of their latest venture. Camille, a regional French restaurant, opened at Borough Market last year to ecstatic reviews, completely validating Elliot’s about-turn. “Let’s put it this way,” he says, “I’m glad film didn’t work out!”

What is it about cooking that sparks your passions?

It’s the creativity. It’s being able to express yourself on a plate. It’s knowing that every single plate matters, that it’s your baby and you want it to be perfect. Having my own restaurant now, it feels like it’s part of me. It’s like people coming to my house. I grew up in a family where you sat at the dinner table, spending hours eating dinner, sharing stories. For me, that’s really important. I think it’s in my nature to really look after people. I would never change it for anything.

You’re one of a long rollcall of head chefs who’ve graduated from the kitchens of St John. What is it about that place that makes it such a conveyor belt for talent?

It’s almost like a finishing school in a way. You get a great understanding of how to look after your ingredients. You get knowledge of butchery, knowledge of provenance. And they really put their trust in you. In so many kitchens, the chef will just do one thing all the time. They might do the peas for a garnish for six hours a day, then come in tomorrow and do peas for another six hours. But at St John, you’re cooking a whole fish, you’re cooking game, loads of side dishes and starters. You’re managing loads of different ingredients and different pans, and it’s really fight or flight. I think some chefs engage their brain and get on with it, and others are a bit overwhelmed. For some it works, for some it really doesn’t.

When Clare and Tom first approached you about Camille, what was their pitch?

I was coming to the end of my residency at 107 and I’d organised a few pop-ups in New York and elsewhere. Clare and Tom contacted me and said: “We’re opening a restaurant, we’ve seen what you’ve been cooking, we’d love to meet you.” We had a nice little chat. They told me that they’d fallen in love with some old Pierre Koffmann books and wanted to create a French bistro, taking the name from his grandma, Camille. Then I pitched them my idea: French regional cooking, whole carcass, regenerative farms, 90 to 100 per cent British ingredients, but cooking it in a French way, really expressing the little niches and intricacies of France rather than focusing on Lyon like a lot of great restaurants do. And they were instantly like: “Love that. See you next month. Let’s open a restaurant.”

As a Londoner who was raised in Dorset, how did you come to have such a feel for the regional foods of France?

So, I spent a lot of my youth in France. My auntie has lived there for over 60 years. She’s quite a character. I spent a lot of time with her in the south of France. That sounds quite romantic and it really wasn’t – she didn’t live in the nicest area – but through her I got this love for the country. I loved the relationships people had with their bakeries, their markets. There were no big chain supermarkets, it was just produce grown in that region. Since then, I’ve visited so many times, different areas, different places. It’s the food that I want to eat, and that’s why I love cooking it.

You mentioned your commitment to whole-carcass butchery. How does that work?

I work closely with three or four different farmers, all regenerative farmers, all sustainable, which is the main thing – I hate that there’s so much emphasis on breeding as much as you can for as much profit as possible and destroying the land. Every week we get a whole pig in. Sometimes we get whole cows, goats, lambs. That leads to a real game of creativity, because our menu changes every day. Nothing goes to waste. We use all the skin – we confit it, we crisp it, we use it in cassoulet. All the fat gets rendered. All the bones are used for stock. Other bits go into terrines, all the offal goes into various dishes. Working with all those bits is like this beautiful mosaic. From a cost perspective it’s amazing, and from an environmental perspective, again, it’s so important.

Do you think chefs have an important role to play in showing the potential of lesser-used cuts?

I do. If I can open one person’s eyes to offal or to the experience of whole-carcass butchery, maybe they’ll go home and think, I’m not just going to buy that pack of mince from the supermarket that’s been sat there for a week, I’m going to go to my butchers and ask them for a little bit of heart or kidney. It’s great for your diet and it’s also great for saving money, but it’s overlooked so much in this country.

Are there any cuts that you struggle to shift?

Not really. Do you know what, we even serve cow’s udder, which really is a bit niche. I was sceptical the first time about how this was going to go down, but by the time dinner had come round, it had sold out! An udder takes a lot of trimming and a lot of cleaning. We grill it so it absorbs all that smoky aroma, and we serve it with like a nice sharp salad to cut through the fat. It’s delicious. Honestly, I absolutely love it and I’m so glad the customers do as well!

Explore Elliot’s recipes

Clams, pig’s cheek & pastis

Turbot terrine

Presumably your approach to fish is similarly exacting.

Me and my sous chef both grew up on the coast, so we were always by the beach, surrounded by the beauty of the British sea. Given how little fish most people include in their diet, I think you can sometimes forget that Britain is an island. We work directly with small fishmongers and, again, we use every element, from the head to the liver to the trim. But the main thing with fish is only buying what’s in season in this country. It’s really important that people understand how fish works, that lots of species shouldn’t be available all year round – in the same way that I’m never going to be serving strawberries in December.

With that commitment to seasonality, how do you cope at times of the year when you don’t have an abundance of ingredients?

I almost enjoy those times more. I like the challenge. It’s like those strawberries – we’re not going to have much fresh fruit in December, but that’s no problem. We’re not going to buy it in. Partly, it’s important to think ahead. Right now, we’re preserving a lot of summer fruit and veg by pickling, by fermenting. A lot of meat we cure. Some fish we cure as well. Your great-grandparents, your grandparents, they used all these techniques of pickling, preserving, curing, so that produce would last all year round. Also, there’s some beautiful stuff that comes through in December from England and there’s just no need to shop around. You make your menu a little bit smaller, you make it a little bit more exciting, and you do a few things differently, but every season should speak for itself really.

How do you find working on the edge of a busy produce market?

It’s great. I’ve come a full circle in a way. Working here at Padella years ago, I fell in love with Borough Market – so many great stalls, so many great restaurants. It’s had a bit of a renaissance recently with how many amazing restaurants have cropped up. And going into the actual market and seeing the produce is fantastic, particularly the stalls that highlight sustainable British produce. There’s such a nice buzz around Borough Market. You’ve got a lot of out-of-towners coming in, but you’ve also got a lot of real Londoners who grew up with the market, who’ve seen it evolve and they keep coming back to it. It’s the heart of London. It really is a magical place.

“AS AN ARTIST, WHATEVER YOU’RE PAINTING, BE IT ALIVE OR INANIMATE, YOU’RE TRYING TO CAPTURE ITS ESSENCE, ITS SPIRIT”

Interview: Mark Riddaway / Images: Christopher R Proctor, Caranina Rose

“For me, food, nature and art have always been the common threads,” says Richard Bramble, an artist whose stunning paintings of food adorn the ceramics, textiles and homewares sold at his Borough Market stand. “When I was young, our family holidays were spent in Poole Harbour fishing on a boat, or up in Scotland catching plaice or trout. We did the foraging thing. We picked mushrooms. We caught our supper and cooked it. That made its way into my art from an early age – even my pieces for A-level were of animals.”

Richard’s studio is in Dorset – his family moved to the county when he was a child – but he was born in London and his connections to Borough run deep. His mother, a nurse at Guy’s hospital, remembers being escorted through the Market by the traders in the early hours at the end of her night shift. “It was quite a dodgy area in those days,” he says. “Even when I started here 25 years ago it was pretty rough and ready.” He set up his stall in 1999, selling his wares in the open air. Decades later, he has opened a stand on Rochester Walk, giving him a chance to showcase a larger and more diverse collection of his work.   

What led you to start painting the ingredients that appear so prominently in your work?

I studied at the Slade School of Fine Art, here in London. Towards the end of that, I was getting really interested in food and cooking, and I decided I wanted to get into restaurant kitchens to paint the chefs. That evolved into a book, complete with recipes. I produced ingredient studies to match the recipes – for one of them I painted a black Dexter cow from Northfield Farm. One of the first restaurants I went to was Le Gavroche, with Michel Roux Jr. Many of the best chefs in London had trained with him, be it Marco Pierre White or Gordon Ramsay, and Michel would phone them up and say: “We’ve got this artist, he’s pretty interesting, you should let him come over and paint.” It really grew from there.

How did you come to be selling your work here at Borough Market?

One of the chefs in the book was Nico Ladenis, who had a three-star restaurant on Park Lane. I was downstairs in the kitchen painting the chefs when Fred Foster of Turnips turned up with a delivery of vegetables. He told me that this new food market had started at Borough and suggested I come down with my paintings. I didn’t have any ceramics back then, I just had my paintings and prints, but I took them along for the second market after the Food Lovers’ Fair – it was once a month, on the third Saturday. I just thought it was magical. I’ve been here ever since.

How did you make the move from paintings to homewares?

It started with a couple of the chefs. Gordon Ramsay, who was at Aubergine at the time, asked me to do a plate for him. That’s how I started working with ceramics, but I’d always been interested in the idea of creating work that was informative and functional as well as artistic. As an artist, I want my work to be accessible to everyone – I’m not a snob about it. I started working with a family-owned pottery in the Channel Islands, doing earthenware, then went on to do porcelains from Limoges. From there, I evolved into textiles, boards, place mats, things like that. It was all very much driven by the produce at the market, by the traders and by the customers.

How do you create your designs?

Mostly, I work on paper with watercolour and pen and ink. I’m using the whiteness of the paper with the translucence of the watercolours, so the paper shines through and gives you that vibrant colour, which translates so well onto ceramics. We scan the drawings or paintings, then screenprint onto transfer paper using eight or nine-colour screens. We put this onto whiteware and fire it so it’s dishwasher-proof and microwave-proof. It’s a similar technique for the textiles. The textiles are made and printed in Lancashire, the table mats in Lincolnshire, all done in small batches. My suppliers are very specialised, largely family-owned companies that I’ve worked with for years. The process is quite difficult. There are always variations; sometimes things come out better than you thought, sometimes they don’t. But over the years we’ve managed it well.

What is it you’re trying to achieve when you first put brush to paper?

As an artist, whatever you’re painting, be it alive or inanimate, I guess you’re trying to capture its essence, its spirit. For me, that means researching the ingredient – the research is as important as the process of painting. I did a Jersey royal potato bowl to mark the centenary of the Jersey royal growers, and when someone first asked me to paint an appealing design of some potatoes, I did think, well, this is going to be a struggle. But then you read the story of the Jersey royal, you think about its history and that unique shape, and it all comes together. It’s about meeting the producers; it’s about going out there and seeing things in their environment. That could mean diving to see lobsters up close underwater, catching them and cooking them, and having real respect for them even if you’re going to eat them.

Is anatomical accuracy important to you?

Often it is. Most of my paintings are accurate; some are looser though, with a bit more character. Take the john dory, for example – underwater, in the light, they’re really quite colourful, but once they’re out of the water they lose their colours very quickly. I’ve enhanced the colours on the john dory painting. Also, he’s got very long fins, which you can’t fit on a plate, so I’ve taken a bit of artistic licence with those too. But to me, the main thing is that he’s a fish with a naturally grumpy face, and that’s the sense of character I’ve tried to capture.

After 25 years out on stall, what difference will it make to you having a fixed indoor stand?

It was becoming quite an effort to carry on – bringing the stock up every day, setting up the stall, repairing what’s broken, trying to keep it looking as good as possible, then taking it down every night. Hopefully with the fixed stand we can do that much more with our time and energy. We’ll be able to have a wider selection of pieces and tell the stories behind them a bit more, show the connections and how the work’s evolved. As well as the ingredients, I’ll be able to share some of the work I do on conservation and marine conservation, which is great.

What approach have you taken to the space?

I want to try to retain some of the market stall feel of it – I don’t want it to be pristine, like a shop shop. It needs to still have that interest and uniqueness and character. Obviously with a space like this, you’ve got to somehow entice people in, which can be a bit intimidating, whereas when you’ve got an umbrella stand, every passerby can see the whole display straight away. I’m aware of those dynamics, though, and it’s a really interesting challenge.

“OYSTERS ARE LIKE WINE – THEY TASTE OF THEIR ENVIRONMENT. OURS TASTE LIKE THEY’VE BEEN AGED IN THE MARSHES”

Words: Tomé Morrissy-Swan

At Richard Haward’s Oysters in Borough Market, Tom Haward is guiding me through a selection of briny bivalves. There are three sizes: small, medium and large. I’m instructed to eat the small one with lemon, the next two with shallot vinegar. Each one is delicious – and remarkably different. The small oyster is sweet, the medium creamy with hints of vanilla.

The largest is intensely salty, and certainly needs the oniony vinegar to cut through the salinity. “It’s a much older oyster, so it’s been absorbing the salt for a few more years,” Tom explains. It’s eight years old and has filtered 100 litres of water a day for its whole life. “That’s a lot of salt,” says Tom. It’s an eye-opening introduction to the world of oysters.

The Richard Haward’s Oysters stand is a market stalwart. Here, they sell 2,500 oysters a day (plus a few clams) to locals, shoppers, tourists and a significant number of social media influencers, who opt for the giant ones. “They absolutely love them, but it’s too much even for me,” says Tom, as we sip on a dark ale from Mersea. Along with stout, it’s one of the best pairings for the salty oysters.

The Haward family have farmed oysters on Mersea Island on the Blackwater estuary in Essex since at least 1769. “We think it goes back further,” says Tom, who took over the business last year when his father, the legendary Richard Haward, passed away. Tom, at least the eighth generation to oyster farmers to work on the same stretch of water, explains that the Romans discovered a rich source of oysters on Mersea, shipping them across their empire. By the 1700s, the Hawards were helping fuel huge demand in London. Oysters were once so quotidian that you can still see their shells tossed on the shores of the Thames. One contemporary report estimated that 124 million were sold at Billingsgate Market in 1851. “There were millions of oysters a year going into London out of Mersea, and there are still millions a year now,” says Tom proudly.

Not much has changed, though the oysters are now driven to London rather than sailed. Tom still sends them to Billingsgate and local food sellers around the city, but half go through Borough Market. The growing method is similar, too. There are 15 acres of oyster beds with very low-intervention farming: the seeds are sown in certain areas and left to grow until ready to harvest. The beds are rotated, to allow them to flourish, like a farmer rotating his crops. “My dad used to hate it when people said it was farming. ‘Oh no, we cultivate,’ he’d say. I’m not so precious about that term, though, because we do farm in many ways.”

While embracing the idea of being a farmer, Tom also describes the company’s oysters as ‘wild’. Most oysters, he explains, are hatched in labs and, once they hit a certain size, put in bags, cages or trestles and grown on in the water. The Hawards’ oysters, by contrast, are gathered from wild areas around the British coast – areas where the nutrients aren’t as optimal – and moved to Mersea, where the shallow tidal creeks bring in from the marshes the nutrient-dense water, filled with phytoplankton. “That’s plumping the oyster up and giving it that unique flavour,” he says.

Tom believes Mersea is the only place where this system of wild farming happens in the UK. “There’s a crossover between cultivating and farming. We’re letting mother nature do what she does best. We’re just giving her a helping hand. If I went back in time and saw what my great-great-grandfather was doing, I think he’d be doing it pretty similarly to how we’re doing it now.”

But there is one key difference between today’s oysters and those of Tom’s ancestors. Due to overfishing, pollution, disease and the introduction of invasive species, there has been a 95 per cent drop in native oyster populations around the UK and Ireland since the mid-19th century, according to the Native Oyster Network. There have been several attempts to reintroduce them in the wild, including 10,000 released last year on a man-made reef off the northeast coast. The oysters Tom serves me today are rocks, also known as Pacific oysters, a species introduced from abroad in the 1960s to keep the industry going. Natives, Tom explains, are “basically extinct, and I don’t think we’ll ever see the stocks of native oysters come back.” The water, he continues, is now too warm, and they haven’t evolved to acclimatise.

Natives represent just one per cent of the business (and two per cent of oysters sold overall in the UK) and are also sold at The Company Shed, the family’s restaurant on Mersea Island. Unlike rock oysters, which are available all year round, they’re only available from September to April, and are left alone the rest of the year to allow stock levels to recover. “We do it because it’s part of our heritage and tradition, but there just aren’t the stocks there. I only want to do a small amount, because we need to leave them alone, and give them a chance to maybe find a way to replenish.”

Native oysters have a distinctive flat, round shell – think of Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus – and are creamier and less briney, as they don’t filter as much water, thus absorbing less salt. Rock oysters have a sweeter flavour with a brinier finish. Some swear by natives and deride rocks. “That comes from many years ago, when rocks were an inferior product in this country, but personally I prefer rocks over natives,” says Tom.

Yet even within rock oysters there are considerable variations. The shores off Mersea are muddy, it’s one of the saltiest stretches of water in the country, and nutrients wash in from the surrounding marshland. The saltiness makes them among the briniest in the country, and the nutrients provide a deeper flavour and longer finish. “Oysters are like wine – they taste of the environment they grow in,” Tom explains. “Our oysters taste like they’ve been aged in the marshes; there’s a different depth of flavour.”

Back in the 1980s, oysters were considered a “yuppie thing”, says Tom. Now that’s firmly changed. Oyster stalls can be found at most markets, holidaymakers in seaside towns post pictures of their half-dozens, and there’s barely a restaurant that doesn’t feature them as a starter. At Borough Market, they’re among the most accessible snacks. For Tom, there are multiple reasons why we’ve fallen in love again. They’re environmentally friendly, helping filter the water, and can create complex reefs that provide habitat for juvenile fish, crabs, sea snails and sponges. Around the water beds on Mersea, the water is “so clear”, says Tom. Even some vegans eat oysters, due to their environmental benefits and the fact that, like mussels, they’re not sentient beings.

“There’s been a real awakening that oysters are fantastic products,” says Tom. “There’s a younger generation who are really passionate about food, about trying stuff that isn’t mass-produced rubbish. Some of it is down to the quality of the product. Not just us, but around the UK, there are passionate oyster producers who are trying to prove this is a wonderful thing to eat, and we should be proud of it in the UK.”

“BOROUGH MARKET OFFERS UP ENDLESS INSPIRATION FOR CREATIVE WAYS TO PRESERVE A SEASONAL GLUT”

Words: Gurdeep Loyal / Images: Dan Hull, Sophia Spring, Tom Bradley

There’s a joke that does the rounds every year at about this time, warning suburban dwellers to ensure all doors are kept firmly locked for the coming weeks. Not for fear of intruders but because peak courgette season has arrived – and desperate neighbours in possession of a glut will be posting them through all available letterboxes and car windows in a bid to use them up!

It’s not only summer squashes that multiply exponentially at this time of year. After months of toil, keen gardeners find themselves with a sudden monsoon of tomatoes, cucumbers, runner beans, strawberries, blackcurrants, plums, onions, chard, turnips and lettuces – a colourful tsunami that never seems to stop.

I remember fondly my childhood summers in Leicester at this time of year – the slumbering serenity of the school holidays routinely interrupted as my mum would task us with frantically filling up stacks of wooden crates with apples, greengages and seasonal marrows the size of our heads from our fruit-filled garden. These would be liberally handed out to everyone – from teachers and milkmen to bewildered strangers in the street. In return, raffia sacks of crab apples, damsons and endless wonky courgettes would appear on our doorstep daily, as if by magic, alongside gingham-wrapped jars of jams and jellies, chutneys and fruit pickles, sauerkrauts and briny vegetable ferments. Every effort imaginable was made to preserve nature’s offerings, with no lidded vessel left unfilled to capture the fleeting abundance of summerly plenty.

Borough Market offers up endless inspiration for creative ways to preserve a seasonal garden glut of your own, with artisan stallholders who are true experts at preserving the flavours of sunshine for enjoyment all year round. Doreen Gittens of De La Grenade specialises in delectable Caribbean condiments, pickles and preserves imported from a family estate on the Caribbean island of Grenada. She suggests trying something like a kuchela pickle to get your culinary imagination going. “Ours is made with green mango,” she explains, “with hot pepper, mustard oil and amchur masala. It’s delicious with picnic foods or even with earthy dishes like a mushroom stroganoff.”

Other tangy pickles Doreen offers up include a Grenadian chow chow – a relish that includes shredded cauliflower, carrot, chocho, peppers, spring onion, coriander and the earthy Caribbean herb shado beni. “Chow chow is a wonderful flavour enhancer,” she tells me, “and also makes a perfect dip for summer fish, crab or prawn cakes.” Given the variety of abundant vegetables it includes, a chow chow is a wonderful thing to try to make for yourself, using up whatever vegetables you find yourself with excesses of. My recipe for courgette chow chow relish is delicious with any combination of summer squashes and seasonal alliums you happen to have to hand.

Dawn Smith of Pimento Hill also brings to life the spirit of Caribbean cooking through her own flavour-packed jams, sauces and chutneys, all handmade in small batches using selected spices sourced directly from the Caribbean. Her sweet confections include a lemon & lime marmalade, a rhubarb & ginger preserve and a strawberry preserve with champagne, all offering wonderful inspiration for how to use up an abundance of strawberries and summer citrus fruits. Doreen at De La Grenade also offer a grapefruit marmalade and a unique Grenadian nutmeg jam, made with the outer fruit of the nutmeg. “The nutmeg jam is wonderful for making French toast with,” Doreen suggests, “and it’s also delicious with a bold cheese or to accompany cold cuts.”

Explore Gurdeep’s recipes

Courgette chow-chow relish

Strawberry, peach & nutmeg jam

Tomato, chilli & tamarind chutney

Blackcurrant, cardamon & lemon gin

My recipe for strawberry, peach & nutmeg jam takes inspiration from both Doreen and Dawn’s delicious Caribbean jams, combining sweet strawberries with ripe stone fruit and a hint of nutmeg to amplify the flavours. It can add a fragrant twist to a summer trifle or enliven classic retro jam tarts for a park picnic.

Dawn is also known for her jellies, including a rosemary jelly she suggests is “delicious for glazing lamb, vegetables or adding to a charcuterie board” and garlic jelly “that is a favourite with cheese, can be mixed into pasta dishes or smeared on pizza!” It’s her scotch bonnet jam – rich in chillies, ginger and allspice – that is one of the most talked about, thanks to the unexpected ways it can be used. “It’s often used in egg dishes,” Dawn tells me, “or it can be enjoyed with cheese or even peanut butter. It also makes an amazing addition to cocktails.” Taking Dawn’s advice, I added a teaspoon to a cocktail shaker while making an iced paloma – and the mix of smoky mescal, tangy grapefruit and hot-sweet chilli jam was truly sublime!

Making your own Jamaican-inspired chilli jam is a great way to use up a glut of summer peppers, or you could equally turn to the flavours of India for inspiration. The Punjabi-inspired chutneys handmade by Mrs Sandhu of Temptings are based on original family recipes. There are fruit chutneys such as apple & mango, hot pomegranate and orange & ginger, and highly creative fruit-nut chutneys, including grape & pistachio and cashew & blueberry. Just as inspiring are Mrs Sandhu’s savoury chutneys, each one rich in spices like mustards seeds.

De La Grenade’s tropical chutneys are perfect for using up an abundance of summer fruits. Doreen’s pineapple chutney combines pineapple with onions, garlic, scotch bonnet peppers, vinegar and pimento, while at Bath Soft Cheese Co the delicious cheeseboard accompaniments include spiced plum and tomato-tamarind chutneys which could be recreated at home as well.

Dawn at Pimento Hill is something of an expert at pickle and chutney making, offering up a fig and date chutney, an aubergine pickle and an iconic bright yellow hot banana chutney, wonderful as a dip for summer picnic snacks. Her advice to any home cook making their own summer glut pickles and chutneys is to be inventive. “Experiment with the best vegetables of the season – and mix up those flavours,” she tells me, but always “add chillies with caution!” My recipe for tomato, chilli & tamarind chutney takes inspiration from all these Borough Market traders – infusing an excess of summer tomatoes with Indian spices and the tangy sourness of tamarind to preserve them for months to come.

Another Borough Market trader that offers up seasonal inspiration is Fitz Fine Foods, which specialises in foraged fare from Kent, transformed into condiments like fruit-infused vinegars, mustards and syrups. Their sweet raspberry vinegar is a bestseller which they suggest trying on fresh fruits, with Yorkshire pudding or even with ice cream. Making your own summer berry vinegars is a fun thing to do, or you could take inspiration from their gooseberry & mint mustard, which combines the fruits of the Kent garden into a piquant mustardy condiment.

Fitz’s fruity syrups are equally inspirational – a colourful lineup of bottles which include wild strawberry, elderflower and raspberry varieties – particularly delicious drizzled over waffles and pancakes. They are equally inventive with blackcurrants, which also come into abundance over the later summer months. Their cassis syrup is the inspiration behind my recipe for blackcurrant, cardamon & lemon gin. This puckeringly tart and fragrant tipple is perfect for mixing with cold fizz – and is sure to keep the sparkling sunshine of summer alive all the way to through to autumn.

“ON THE AMALFI COAST, I HAD SOME OF THE BEST MOZZARELLA I’VE EVER EATEN (SECOND TO THAT OF BOROUGH MARKET OF COURSE!)”

Behind the scenes at Borough is a small team of dedicated professionals whose job it is to keep the wheels of this historic market turning. Most of them are completely obsessed with food, thanks in part to their daily exposure to exceptional produce and expert traders. We’ve asked them to share their thoughts on the ingredients and dishes that spark their excitement when summer rolls around.   

Alex Praag is Borough Market’s Operations Manager, responsible for managing the team that keeps the market running smoothly, day by day.

What’s the item of summer produce you most look forward to?

Perhaps not widely appreciated enough, but peas and summer beans make up some of my favourite summer recipes – light, fresh and tasty. I remember growing peas as a child with my dad and the joy that this sweet treat would bring us!

Tell us about the most memorable meal you’ve ever eaten on a summer holiday. Where was it and what was it?

Do I have to choose just one?! First was the delicious Caprese salad I had in Praiano, on Italy’s Amalfi Coast. Some of the best mozzarella I’ve ever eaten (second to that of Borough Market, of course!), enjoyed while sitting on the cliff tops overlooking the Tyrrhenian Sea. A second would be the carved lamb in Istanbul – the waiter came to collect our order and the next minute he was carving up a whole lamb that was hanging in the window, waiting to be grilled. 

It’s a perfect barbecue day. Are you the one firing up the barbecue or part of the crowd sitting with a cold drink while someone else sweats over the coals?

I’m most often front and centre, holding the helm at the barbecue. I really enjoy slow cooking, so usually it’s me sat nursing the coals for several hours before the guests arrive. Attending to the barbecue for multiple hours has definitely made me appreciate the value of a good cool box.

What’s your ultimate barbecue dish, either for cooking or eating?

My favourite barbecue dish is grilled chicken with watermelon, feta and mint salad – such a winning combination! Maybe a few buttered corn cobs on the side too…

If you were planning your perfect picnic, what foods from Borough Market would you add to your basket? 

The lemon-marinated olives from Oliveology are the perfect complement to any picnic – maybe with spicy sardines from The Tinned Fish Market and Olivier’s Bakery’s rosemary sourdough.

Where in London would you take your Borough Market picnic basket for an afternoon in the sun?

I’d head up to Hampstead Heath and spend the day basking in London’s answer to the countryside.

What’s your summer sundown tipple of choice? In an ideal world, where would you be sitting to enjoy it?

A cold West Country cider while sat on the beach. Unbeatable!

“WE WERE TOLD THAT BEER DRINKING WAS DECLINING, THAT WE WERE MAD AND WOULD BE BANKRUPT BY CHRISTMAS”

Words: Richard Dinwoodie and Mike Hill / Images: E Galvin Photography

The Rake occupies a site that has been serving drinks since its construction in the 1860s. Initially it operated as a bawdy Victorian drinking den for the local tenement dwellers, then some time between the two world wars it became a greasy spoon cafe serving tea to market traders and customers. Finally, we reach the beer temple it is today!

Having opened Utobeer in 1999, initially as an off-licence at Borough Market and later as a specialist beer wholesaler, we were constantly being asked by customers where they could find a bar that sold these beers. After much searching for a suitable site, we discovered that the lease on 14 Winchester Walk – conveniently close to our market stall – was soon to be available. We immediately saw the potential, but the narrowness of the building meant that for it to be commercially viable, we would need a little more space. Thankfully, we were able to negotiate for two parking spaces outside the building to be converted into a beer garden.

After the Borough Market trust agreed to our plans, we started work on stripping out the cafe and fitting out the layout we still have today, designed by our former colleague Jane Salveson, to whom we’re eternally grateful. The only part of the old cafe we kept was the Pilkington White Glass ceiling, partly because of its architectural interest, and also because the white helped to lighten the room.

The focus of the pub was to be 95 per cent on beer (there would be wine too – a red and a white). We were told that this would never work, that beer drinking was declining, that we were mad and would be bankrupt by Christmas. We probably were a bit mad, but what no one took into account was the interest being generated by the beer revolution in the US and the coming dawn of the UK brewing renaissance (‘craft beer’ had yet to be coined as a term), spearheaded at the time by Thornbridge, Dark Star, BrewDog and other aspiring young brewers. When The Rake first opened, the number of breweries in London was not even 10; today, it’s nearly 100!

So at 6pm on Friday 4th August 2006 we opened the door with three casks (including the rare 14% Thomas Hardy in cask for the first time) and six keg lines. We had keg beers from Veltins and Maisels from Germany, Sierra Nevada and Anchor from the US, and Liefmans and Boon from Belgium. We had cask beers from Darkstar, O’Hanlon’s, Thornbridge and Oakham Ales. Since we opened, we have sold a constantly rotating range, launched beers and breweries, introduced brews from across the globe, won awards and drawn criticism over pricing – but our principle has always remained beer first.

Many people ask why the walls are covered in graffiti – indeed the staff often have to stop customers from adding to it. From early on we had a close relationship with Stone Brewing and its founder Greg Koch. One evening he asked if he could sign his name on our wall (à la the Hemingway Bar in Havana). Much exchanging of t-shirts and stickers followed, and it was decided that any brewer who had their beers sold in The Rake should have the honour of signing the wall. So began a tradition that still goes on today. We’re now onto our second wall (the previous wall can be viewed online) and there will no doubt be a third.

“MY PARTNER IS A CHEF, SO I CAN SIT BACK WITH A GLASS OF SOMETHING COLD AND OFFER HELPFUL CRITIQUE”

Behind the scenes at Borough is a small team of dedicated professionals whose job it is to keep the wheels of this historic market turning. Most of them are completely obsessed with food, thanks in part to their daily exposure to exceptional produce and expert traders. We’ve asked them to share their thoughts on the ingredients and dishes that spark their excitement when summer rolls around.  

Lucy Charles is Borough Market’s Director of Operations, the executive team member responsible for overseeing the market’s food offering and customer experience.

What item of summer produce do you most look forward to when the season rolls around?

I’m not sure I can narrow this down to one thing – too many good things come to mind. There’s still not much that beats a perfect strawberry. I love peaches and nectarines too and if you catch a perfect one and mix it with some delicious mozzarella or burrata and some mint it’s a pretty good day. Courgettes too – yes please. Oh, and peas and broad beans. And tomatoes. I’m pretty indecisive, but if it’s meant to be eaten in summer and has been grown with care and attention, I probably look forward to it!

Tell us about the most memorable meal you’ve ever eaten on a summer holiday. Where was it and what was it?

Again, not sure how to narrow this down! Travel and eating are my favourite things. How about a top three? A burn-your-mouth searingly hot wok-fried pork/cabbage sort-of-omelette and loads of peanut butter between slices of thin white charred toast in Hong Kong (in an alleyway on child-sized plastic chairs) immediately springs to mind – I know how this sounds but honestly, it’s right up there. My first gyros (before I knew what a gyros was and thought the token chips were an accident) on a beach in Kos at sunset, 17 years old with no parental supervision and an epic hangover, was epic. Very recently, a few days in Portugal introduced me to the bifana, in its rightful home of Vendas Novas – get there if you can. It’s a simple and outrageously delicious pork sandwich (enjoyed with chips, sweet mustard and a little beer on the side). I’ve no idea how they do it but I’m going back for more very soon. Can I do a fourth actually? Roadside buffalo curd with coconut syrup in Sri Lanka. Pure joy.

It’s a perfect barbecue day. Are you the one firing up the barbecue or part of the crowd sitting with a cold drink while someone else sweats over the coals?

I’d love to say I’m queen of the coals but this isn’t really my comfort zone. Thankfully my partner is a chef so I can sit back with a glass of something cold and wait for the magic to happen! I’ll do a bit of turning here and there and definitely offer helpful critique.

What’s your ultimate barbecue dish, either for cooking or eating?

Simple grilled fish and veggies are my favourite things. Also, strips of ribeye dipped in green salsa and salt – I’m a lot about the condiments. The smoked aioli from Brindisa is great with most things and I always like to stash some wild garlic goodies from Fitz Fine Foods when that’s in season and bring them back out for summer eating. My friend had a barbecue at the weekend and inadvertently made halloumi crisps, due to poor attention span and temperature control – pretty nice! Halloumi in some form is a barbecue essential, I reckon, so grab the best there is from Oliveology.

If you were planning your perfect picnic, what foods from Borough Market would you add to your basket?

Okay… so, chicken pickle from Temptings, Cracker Kitchen seeded crackers and digestives from The Cinnamon Tree Bakery, pretty much any cheese from Mons Cheesemongers, onion mousse from De Calabria (if you can get it – gold dust!), anything from The Tinned Fish Market, throw in some tomatoes, cucumber, radishes and the best melon you can find. Bread. Great butter from Hook & Son. Something pickled / fermented. Bottle of something cold and fizzy. I could go on. Borough Market is the ultimate picnic shopping destination.

Where in London would you take your Borough Market picnic basket for an afternoon in the sun?

Probably Tanner Street Park – it’s close to the market and is always a really nice place to hang out, look at cute dogs and watch people play much better tennis than I can. There’s always a shady spot too, which is very necessary for me! 

What’s your summer sundown tipple of choice? In an ideal world, where would you be sitting to enjoy it?

Probably a rhubarb gimlet. When rhubarb is in season I make as much rhubarb syrup as I can, to make it last as long as I can through non-rhubarby months. When this has run out, I’m pretty open to any other version of a gimlet. Or a margarita – especially frozen on our few sunny days a year. Or fizz. Or really cold white or rosé wine. Really, as long as it’s very cold and not sweet I’m on board. As for location, anywhere overlooking the sea. Failing that, an SE1 pavement seat for excellent people watching!

“MY PUGLIAN FRIEND INTRODUCED ME TO THE MAGIC OF GREEN AND YELLOW RIBBONS OF COURGETTE PICKLED TWICE OVER”

Behind the scenes at Borough is a small team of dedicated professionals whose job it is to keep the wheels of this historic market turning. Most of them are completely obsessed with food, thanks in part to their daily exposure to exceptional produce and expert traders. We’ve asked them to share their thoughts on the ingredients and dishes that spark their excitement when summer rolls around.   

Zeenat Anjari is Borough Market’s Trader Development Manager, who works closely with our traders to achieve the vision set out in the Food Policy and 2030 Strategy.

What’s the item of summer produce you most look forward to?

I’m a city girl so I go looking in the parks and streets for fragrant signs of summer. Long sunny days with bright blue skies coax out great fluffy clouds of elderflower. If I get the timing right I’ll go foraging for 10 to 15 blooms to make elderflower syrup – such an easy recipe once you remember to filter out the bugs! But if I miss the flowering, I know one of the Borough greengrocers will have a seasonal basket of elderflower out front to remind me that summer has arrived.

Tell us about the most memorable meal you’ve ever eaten on a summer holiday. Where was it and what was it? 

Each winter, I’m lucky enough to travel to the snow-covered prairies of Canada to visit my in-laws.  But one special year we went in the summer. Across the province I found harvest festivals celebrating regional varieties of fruit, vegetables and grains, grown by dedicated farmers in Canada’s very short growing season. At the Morden Corn & Apple festival I tasted magical corn on the cob, boiled within hours of being picked and slathered in butter, each kernel coloured like a gemstone. Back in England, I now pass by Hickson & Daughter on the lookout for bright green husks of sweet, juicy corn, packed in the distinctive black and yellow boxes direct from North Maldon Growers in Essex. 

It’s a perfect barbecue day. Are you the one firing up the barbecue or part of the crowd sitting with a cold drink while someone else sweats over the coals? 

I’ve never been good at short-order cooking, which requires a laser focus that I find unsocial and exhausting! I’m happier prepping a marinade and leaving the cooking up to time and a consistent flame. I have been known to lazily turn the crank on a spit-roast lamb or, as a child, I’d have a go at carefully rotating the skewers of succulent mishkaki that my uncles would have grilling on an oil-drum barbecue.

What’s your ultimate barbecue dish, either for cooking or eating? 

I love a quick-pickled salad to go with rich, juicy grilled meats. Of course, kachumber is the daddy but my Puglian friend Ida introduced me to the magic of green and yellow ribbons of courgette pickled twice over – first sweating over a colander in lemon juice in salt and then marinated in a wine vinegar pickle juice. 

If you were planning your perfect picnic, what foods from Borough Market would you add to your basket?  

Borough is the dream place to plan a picnic! We are so lucky to have amazing producers of bread, cheese and cold cuts, but it’s the accompaniments I seek out. I’ll bring a jar of La Pepiá’s green herb salsa to give zing to raw veg crudites and grilled beef.  And a jar of homestyle ajvar from Taste Croatia to mix into a salad of new potatoes or red onion and white beans.

Where in London would you take your Borough Market picnic basket for an afternoon in the sun? 

 I absolutely love the ‘secret’ garden at St John’s Lodge in Regent’s Park. It became a friend I looked forward to seeing on daily walks during the seasons of Covid. The gardeners who work there are playful with planting and it’s so fun to discover short-lived treasures like lily of the valley and fraises des bois. 

What’s your summer sundown tipple of choice? In an ideal world, where would you be sitting to enjoy it? 

When I was growing up, the only time I saw people drinking was on TV. There’s a classic ad for Campari and lemonade with cockney model Lorraine Chase looking ever-so sophisticated drinking by a huge pool at some Italian villa or French chateau. I want to be her, looking sharp and drinking red vermouth and soda in the grounds of a fabulous villa on a Tuscan hill overlooking Florence. 

“I HAVE SUCH SPECIAL MEMORIES OF FAMILY BARBECUES, WITH DELICIOUS FOOD MADE WITH THOUGHTFULNESS AND LOVE”

Behind the scenes at Borough is a small team of dedicated professionals whose job it is to keep the wheels of this historic market turning. Most of them are completely obsessed with food, thanks in part to their daily exposure to exceptional produce and expert traders. We’ve asked them to share their thoughts on the ingredients and dishes that spark their excitement when summer rolls around.   

Chez Ramirez Vitalis is Borough Market’s Retail Team Leader, responsible for the overseeing the products, displays and impeccable customer service at The Borough Market Store.

What’s the item of summer produce you most look forward to?

I have a strong affinity for vegetables. Whether roasted, boiled, grilled or incorporated into a salad, I eagerly embrace any opportunity to enjoy them. Aubergine and courgette are my preferred summer vegetables, as they enhance the flavour and texture of simple dishes. I recently ate at Borough Market’s plant-based restaurant, Mallow, and it’s there that I first came across nasu dengaku – aubergine cooked in miso sesame glaze, with edamame lime cream. I was so impressed, I recreated it at home, and it was absolutely delightful.

Tell us about the most memorable meal you’ve ever eaten on a summer holiday. Where was it and what was it?

Last summer, my mother and I travelled to Porto, Portugal, and we still reminisce about one of the meals we had there. Being a seafood enthusiast, I always opt for fish whenever I’m near the coast. We dined at a bright, airy restaurant near the São João Baptista da Foz fortress, with breathtaking views of the blue Douro river. I had the grilled octopus leg served with smoked pepper cream, onions and carnaroli rice. It was impeccably seasoned, and the octopus simply melted in my mouth. It was an experience that left a lasting impression.

It’s a perfect barbecue day. Are you the one firing up the barbecue or part of the crowd sitting with a cold drink while someone else sweats over the coals?

I must admit, I’m always the one relaxing with my feet up! I’m more than happy to take charge of the music and drinks for everyone, but I’m not particularly keen on sweating over the coals on a scorching summer’s day. The thing I cherish most is how a barbecue unites my family. I have such special memories of my father gathering us all in the back garden while my siblings and I played games or kicked a ball around, with music playing a crucial role (my father is a DJ), and delicious, nourishing food being made with thoughtfulness and love. Growing up, it was always one of the highlights of my summer.

What’s your ultimate barbecue dish, either for cooking and eating?

It’s quite challenging to narrow it down! I do love smoky barbecued chicken, extra crispy on the edges, with a tangy, spicy sauce. This always complements well with some buttery corn on the cob. I love it when the corn is slightly charred, adding a smoky flavour to balance out the sweetness. Mostly, though, I love the communal aspect of barbecue cooking – the interaction and sharing.

If you were planning your ideal picnic, what foods from Borough Market would you add to your basket? 

My essential items include breads, cheeses, antipasti, sweets and drinks. I particularly enjoy Olivier’s Bakery’s ciabatta bread. When it comes to cheeses, I’d opt for ricotta cheese from Kappacasein and truffle cheese from Bath Soft Cheese Co for their rich, flavourful taste. As an olive enthusiast, I can’t resist the green olives with chermoula from The Turkish Deli. For sweets, it’s brownies from The Cinnamon Tree Bakery. Lastly, I’d choose The French Comte for their artisanal French sparkling lemonades from Alsace, which are fruity and refreshing on a summer day.

Where in London would you take your Borough Market picnic basket for an afternoon in the sun?

On one of the rare sunny days, I would bring my picnic to Tabard Gardens. It’s close to the market, less crowded than other spots in London even on a warm day, and offers stunning views of The Shard, particularly at sunset. A tranquil, pleasant setting for food and conversation.

What’s your summer sundown tipple of choice? In an ideal world, where would you be sitting to enjoy it?

As the summer sun goes down, my drink of choice is a refreshing and fruity Pimm’s. The blend of herbs, fruits and vegetables, with extra of mint and orange slices, perfectly embodies the spirit of summer for me. I’d savour it by Regent’s Canal – seated on a bench, watching people and boats go by while soaking up the sun by the water, allowing me to value my neighbourhood and feel a real sense of connection to London.