Autumn abundance
Rona and I are just about to embark on our 20th year here at Read's, though God knows how. It wasn't very long ago that, prior to every menu change (about eight times a year), out would come my little book listing dates and seasonal availability in order to help me choose what to offer next.
But I went through a period during the mid- 1980s when I was convinced that people didn't want to come to us and have things that were growing in their gardens and commonly available in the places where they shopped.
For several years I tended to ignore the seasons (but for a few notable exceptions - game, asparagus and wild mushrooms) and found myself influenced more by fads and fancies than by what was actually at its best. Thankfully, I've returned to a sanity of sorts and I now use my little book more than ever.
Fruit
We have often grumbled about being so isolated, and having to make everything ourselves because supply is so sporadic, but one great stroke of luck as regards our location is being virtually next door to the centre for the National Fruit Trials, Brogdale.
Brogdale is absolutely unique. I suppose that the best way to describe it is as a museum of our fruit heritage. Set in about 150 acres of beautiful Kent countryside, it has more than 2,300 varieties of apples, 500 of pears, 350 of plums and 220 of cherries, as well as numerous currants, gooseberries, nuts, medlars and quinces. Strawberries and vine collections are being established, and there is a citrus collection under glass.
Guided walks through the orchards allow visitors to see numerous varieties from blossom to harvest, and all the fruit is for sale.
During October, I will be using Bramleys and Coxes which are in full season, but some of the less-familiar varieties are worth getting to know - such as Golden Noble if you need a deep golden-coloured purée, and King of the Pippins, which is ideal for open tarts as it is a perfect size and keeps its shape during cooking.
Quinces are available too, and if you're looking for pears this is the place. Comice and Conference we all know about, but have you tried the cross between the two, Concorde, which gives a pear of pretty nearly perfect proportions? The Nashii pear is also good in October and is the consummate decorative variety, being about the size of a plum. Lastly on the pear front, the Ward is the true culinary pear, being rock-hard even when ripe and only reaching perfection when poached.
Most of us have forgotten about fresh raspberries by October but at Brogdale you can still buy the late Autumn Bliss variety.
Finally, there are medlars, a truly medieval fruit, neither an apple nor a pear, which was allowed to ripen on the tree until it literally rotted from the inside, and was served as an accompaniment to game. The medlar was simply decapitated and served as it was plucked from the tree, the gooey centre being scooped out with a spoon as a sort of pourriture noble of the orchard.
Brogdale is under royal patronage and has just started to deliver to London every Thursday, to the likes of the Ritz Hotel and Fortnum and Mason.
(Brogdale Horticultural Trust, tel: 01795 535286 or 01795 535462.)
Fish and shellfish
It's not only the emergence of fish farming that has caused us to think differently these days but the changing climate of our planet and the changes in the running and spawning of certain species.
Although we may tend to think of September as the first month with an R, native oysters and mussels are not at their best until October. Lemon sole should be considered for inclusion on the lunch menu at least. They are beautiful and plentiful at this time, as evidenced by the fact that the fish trade chooses to do most of its freezing of lemon sole for the forthcoming year in October.
The good old Homarus Vulgaris, the lobster native to our shores, is in tip-top condition as the waters begin to get colder. Finally, if you feel like being a bit more unusual, sprats are at their best too.
One of my favourite suppliers over many years is Simpson's Fisheries (tel: 0181-668 0931). My orders from them are usually quite small but we are always treated as if the order is important.
Meat and poultry
I must say that suppliers of meat and poultry are not near the top of my Christmas list at the moment. I am not very impressed by the standards currently being maintained.
Butchery skills apart, the meat industry in general is obviously in a bit of a state at the moment. I think that if any confidence is to return then animals have to be "seen" to be treated as animals, and not merely as items on a production line.
I'm going to skip quickly over this area, just mentioning that home-produced lamb is gaining in flavour by the month, albeit at the expense of a little tenderness, and as a result the cheaper cuts are great for ragout-style dishes.
Game
October is a wonderful time for game. I know that we all use a lot of pheasants and partridges but I don't see too many of us taking advantage of the plentiful supplies of teal, widgeon and mallard. The specialist items such as woodcock and snipe also begin to emerge during the last week of the month.
We have a customer who I must telephone when I get the first woodcock, and he will make a 100-mile round trip, just the once each year, to sample this fine bird.
Venison is good, too - red, roe and fallow stags are being culled and have lost much of their excess fat. A good game supplier is invaluable, someone who will sort you out undamaged birds, and not include any defrosted from last year, someone who will handle carcasses properly. Such a man may be found at the eponymous Steven King Game, Charing, Kent. Tel: 01233 712332.
Vegetables
For about 15 years I travelled to London and Covent Garden at least once a week for vegetables and fruit , but I now use a local farm shop. Renato Cuomo works like a horse, opens seven days a week and nothing is too much trouble. If he can't get something I want then, providing I give him enough warning, he'll grow it . Among other things, during October he will be supplying me with pumpkins, squash, swiss chard, leeks and spinach.
Makenade Farm Shop, Faversham. Tel: 01795 534497.
David and Rona Pitchford run Read's restaurant, Faversham, Kent, tel: 01795 535344
