Menu watch: asparagus
Lesley Foottit looks at how pub chefs are making the most of asparagus on their pub's menu.
With British asparagus in season for just six weeks, pub chefs need to make the most of this increasingly popular vegetable.
The demand for asparagus has been growing year-on-year and within the UK demand is so high that not one spear is exported. Asparagus Week kicked off on 3 May with the first crops and pub caterers are making the most of it on their menus.
Classic recipes to bring out the natural taste include asparagus with hollandaise sauce, egg yolk or simply salt, pepper and butter.
The executive chef of the Swan at the Globe in Bankside, London, put asparagus on his menu on 4 May and expects to keep it on until mid-June. The pub offers three asparagus-based starters — cold asparagus with vinaigrette (£8), asparagus soup with a poached hen's egg (£5.50) and hot asparagus with hollandaise sauce (£8), which is the most popular.
"Asparagus flies outs," says chef Keiron Stanbourn. "It always sells well when it is in season and is a profitable dish."
The pub sources its asparagus from Tunbridge Wells, Kent, through Rob Davies of Fresh Source, a wholesaler at New Covent Garden Market. New Covent Garden Market (NCGM) is the largest fresh produce market in the UK, with over 40% of the fresh produce on the plate outside the home in London supplied through NCGM.
John Woodward, executive chef for Malmaison which owns Clerkenwell's Fox & Anchor gastropub, says simplicity is the key when it comes to asparagus. The pub regularly sells out of it's £7.25 asparagus dish with soft boiled duck's egg. "It is the perfect dish to complement asparagus," says Woodward. The asparagus sticks are intended to be like bread soldiers to dip in the soft yolk.
"There's only a very short window with asparagus. We try not to mess about with it too much. It's best with egg yolk or just simply salt, pepper and butter."
Other dishes on the menu are guinea fowl with chargrilled unpeeled asparagus and peas (£16.95), wild seabass with a tomato and clam fondue and asparagus (£17.95) and a spaghetti primevera with asparagus, peas and other spring vegetables with taragon and cherdil (£12.95).
The pub uses New Covent Garden Market for its supplies. "We have digital images showing the asparagus being cut and and packed the night before, which we display on the bar. That way our customers know our product is as fresh as possible."
Growing success
It is a busy time of year for John Chinn and his team at Cobrey Farms. When the first asparagus tips emerge through the earth it's all hands on deck to get this most prized of English gems from the field and onto the forks of the nation.
Wye Valley Asparagus is run by the Chinn Family who have farmed the Cobrey Estate since 1926. Located in the heart of the Wye Valley in Herefordshire, the company has been supplying supermarkets and wholesalers with English asparagus since 2004.
Despite the traditionally short six week English asparagus season, the Chinns have made full use of modern growing techniques to ensure extended availability. Earlier varieties grown under tunnels are now available from mid March, with later varieties seeing supplies through to as late as October.
Wye Valley Asparagus employs around 1,000 people during the peak growing season of May and June. With 750 acres of asparagus to be harvested and an extra 100 acres being planted every year to keep up with demand, the crowns can grow at the rate of two centimetres per hour in peak season.
Whilst each field is harvested once a day, this rapid growth means that harvesters must keep a close eye on the plants to ensure that they are cut at the optimum height of 23cm.
Chinn says: "English Asparagus is considered the best due to its sweeter flavour, this comes as a result of the British weather, ensuring that the spears take longer to grow and therefore develop a higher sugar content. But it is the freshness of the vegetable that people love. Imported asparagus is unlikely to reach the markets in less than 6 days, and with English asparagus it can be on the plate within 24 hours, you can't really beat that for freshness."
The asparagus spears reach the Wye Valley pack house within two hours of being picked. Here they are immediately washed and hydro-cooled to keep them fresher for longer. Next, a computerised vision grader scans each spear, at the amazing rate of 12 spears per second, to measure length, diameter, curvature and check for flowering and colour.
The machine separates and bunches the spears according to customer specifications and they are then weighed and rubber banded, before being wrapped by hand. Once boxed for distribution they are loaded onto lorries and sent straight to the supermarket distribution centres and London wholesale markets. Asparagus picked in the morning reaches places such as New Covent Garden Market before the end of the day, so couldn't be fresher.
From field to fork
With 20 tonnes of Wye Valley Asparagus picked a day in peak season, around 2.5 tonnes (835 boxes) is sent to London's premier wholesale market, New Covent Garden Market (NCGM), every week for wholesale to the catering and independent retail trade.
Rob Davies of Fresh Source, a wholesale fruit and vegetable supplier to the catering and restaurant trade, is just one of the many tenants at NCGM who sells asparagus to a variety of independent catering operators. Amongst his customers are pubs, chefs and restaurateurs from across London, the Home Counties, and as far afield as Swindon.
Davies says: "Our biggest English asparagus customers are chefs from the pub and restaurant trade due to the huge popularity of local asparagus as a seasonal food. With consumers increasingly demanding local and seasonal produce, English Asparagus fits the bill perfectly."
With English Asparagus being the favourite of chefs across the country, Rob expects to sell approximately 3 tonnes at a price of around £2.70 per 14 oz bundle across the season.
For more recipe ideas visit www.british-asparagus.co.uk
