delicious. 2018 PRODUCE AWARDS WINNER
PHOTOGRAPHS DAVID CHARBIT STILL LIFE STUART WEST
WHAT MAKES THE GOAT BACON WORTHY OF A PRODUCE AWARD?
There’s a great balance between the cure and the meat, with a hint of smoke and just the right level of salt and fat. It turns beautifully crisp when cooked. “We started off with a basic cure and haven’t changed it much,” says Millie Cole (pictured far right). “We smoke it for a very short time, so the flavour is there, but it isn’t too strong.” Then there’s the sustainability of the farm as a whole. All in all, a worthy winner of a delicious. Produce Award in the From the Field (Artisan) category.
WHAT THE JUDGES SAID
Chef and TV presenter Andi Oliver: “Better than most pork bacon.”
Food writer and chef Gizzi Erskine: “Outstanding – the best thing I tasted at the finals.”
Food writer Lucas Hollweg: “It’s just a brilliant thing.” delicious. editor Karen Barnes: “I’ve never tasted bacon like it – so much flavour, so deeply savoury, just the right level of salt… It’s a marvel.”
5 Meet the producers THINGS YOU MAY NOT KNOW ABOUT GOATS
• They don’t cope well with wet weather. Unlike sheep, goats don’t have lanolin in their fleeces, so it makes sense to keep them inside in winter, particularly in Northern Ireland’s extremes of wet and cold.
• Goats were probably the first animals to be domesticated, around 9,000 BCE.
• Keeping goats is thought to have been one of the earliest forms of farming. They are very efficient ‘food convertors’, which means they could have a role in feeding the world’s growing population – and reducing greenhouse emissions.