Where to eat in the Midlands Chewing the organic cud

Date Published:

09/06/2008

"You must visit Pegoty Hedge while you're here," said Cara my landlady for the last three days. "They do beautiful beef." There are a lot of cattle in this part of the world - after all it's the heart of England, and what's England about if it's not beef? I went to chew the cud and find out

Pegoty Hedge, like so many of the producers and shopkeepers I'm visiting, is a forth generation family farm that's adapting to the rapidly changing needs of consumers. Peter and his son Oliver kindly take me round the farm when they should be making silage. Pegoty Hedge went organic in 2001 to try and offer the customer a high quality product that could be sold at a premium. This was at a time when agriculture was in crisis; the countryside had just suffered the devastating effects of foot and mouth.

Peter says the price difference between standard and organic production has lessened of late, which would make starting transition from scratch now more difficult. He doesn't regret it, however, as it's something a lot of customers look for.

Their beef is Aberdeen Angus and looks amazing - deep red with a marbling of delicate fat running throughout. Oliver and Peter began to think how they could remain competitive in today's market and generate more revenue from each animal.

Rise of the meaty ready meal

"The trouble with beef is that you only get a few, high value steaks off each animal, but a lot more of the cheaper cuts," says Oliver. To this end they've developed a series of ready made organic meaty dishes using those tasty, but harder to sell cuts. The first move was to bring in Dwight Clayton, head chef at the Glasshouse brassiere in nearby Worcester, who they supply with beef. Together they developed the recipes for such classics as cottage pie, meatballs, beef casserole, goulash, lasagne and spicy lamb and chickpeas. They produce all their own stocks from scratch with the vegetables coming from a nearby local box scheme in Ledbury.

"When we were doing just meat, we were essentially distributors; the meat would come back from the abattoir cut and packed and we'd sell it wholesale," says Oliver. "Now we've moved into food production there's been a raft of legislation and inspection to deal with." It's been a sharp learning curve, but one they seem to be surmounting. "We wanted to grow slowly, rather than pitching for a 10,000 meals a week deal with someone like Waitrose on day one."

The meals are all made on site in a large kitchen by two ladies - both of whom are wives of guys who work on the farm - and know exactly what they're doing. "We leave them to it now. At first we were constantly in there, asking questions and generally getting in the way," says Peter.

Oliver then takes me on a tour of the cowsheds, where his cows are the very picture of cud-chewing contentment in the morning sun. We check on a calf that was born last night; it's fast asleep and mum is busy getting some nutrients back by chewing on the afterbirth. I've heard of carnivores doing this but never herbivores, but it's quite natural says Oliver. We wind up and I leave, promising to return and collect a joint of topside that I'll cook at the weekend. I'll be sure to let you know how it tastes.

Are there any blow-me-away bovine in your area? There must be some up in Scotland surely? Why not add it to the map.

Read more about Andrew's meals in the Midlands.