Cheshire and Greater Manchester

by Helen Gaffney

“The natives (of Cheshire)
greatly enjoy milk and butter”
William of Malmesbury, 1127

Little has changed in Cheshire since William of Malmesbury’s day. This county is still one of the great English dairying areas and is still largely unspoilt. Cheshire is a relatively well-to do county, particularly the northern region, bordering Greater Manchester. Elsewhere the area boasts beautiful old farmhouses and cottages and many black and white timbered buildings for which the county is justly famous.

Cheshire cheese is a splendid cheese, slightly salty and crumbly with a nutty flavour and smooth texture. It is said to be Britain’s oldest cheese and is mentioned in the Domesday Book and was a favourite at the Court of Elizabeth I. Originally, Cheshire Cheese was made near the village of Chester on the River Dee, but it soon spread to farms throughout the county of Cheshire, with its mild climate, vales and undulating hills. Luckily there are many small producers in the county keeping the cheesemaking art alive. The classic recipes still survive and cheeses are available marbled with red, white and blue mould. Cheshire cheese takes only a few hours to make and ripens in four to eight weeks. The blue version matures for longer and has a particularly good flavour. Some of the best cheeses are shown annually at the end of July at the Nantwich International Cheese Show. A traditional way to use up the remains of a large cheese is to make Cheshire Potted Cheese. This dish keeps in the refrigerator for several days and is very easy to make.

The salty tang of Cheshire cheese is said to derive from the salt marshes that once covered the Cheshire Plain. Salt has been produced here for the last two millennia. It has shaped the landscape and the fortunes of the mid-Cheshire salt towns. Large quantities of salt are still mined for industrial use and the whole story is told in the excellent Salt Museum in Northwich.

Nine villages in central Cheshire compete every year at the end of July and early August in the strange and very old art of gooseberry showing. They are weighed in the ancient measures of pennyweights and grains. The classes include heaviest berry, twins, triplets and colours. The largest gooseberry ever was grown by Kelvin Archer and exhibited at the Marton Village Show in Congleton in 1993. It weighed 39 pennyweights and 19 grains (61.9g) and was a Montrose Berry.

The city of Chester is famous for its half-timbered black and white buildings and Roman city walls. It is also the city of origin for several recipes including Chester Buns, Chester Cake and Chester Pudding. Chester buns are plain yeast buns with a simple sugar and water glaze. Chester cake is a good way of using up stale cake together with treacle or golden syrup, currants and ground ginger. It is cut into small squares after baking. Chester Pudding is typical of many of the steamed suet puddings found all over the country and is differentiated from the others by its use of blackcurrant jam.

In addition to the famous dairy herds, Cheshire also produces excellent pork. A recipe for Cheshire Pork Pye from 1765 goes as follows:

“Take a loin of pork, skin it, cut it into steaks, season it with salt and nutmeg and pepper. Make a good crust. Lay a layer of pork, then a large layer of pippins pared and cored, a little sugar to sweeten the pie, then another of pork; put in half pint of white wine, lay some butter on the top and close your pie. If your pie be very large it will take one pint of white wine.”

Apples are a traditional accompaniment with pork and modern cooks such as Gary Rhodes have similar recipes in their books today.

Although a separate county since 1974, the city of Manchester is also home to a number of traditional recipes such as Manchester Pudding, Manchester Tart and Eccles Cakes. Probably the best-known recipe for Manchester Pudding was published by Mrs Beeton in her book of Household management. Manchester Tart is a simpler, more modern version and was a very popular school dinner pudding of the 1950s-70s. It is still regarded with much affection by forty-somethings today. It resembles a set custard slice in a short crust pastry with a layer of jam hidden at the bottom. The recipe is not definitive and may be made with shortcrust or puff pastry, strawberry or raspberry jam and generally sprinkled with desiccated coconut. Eccles in Salford, used to be in Lancashire but became part of Greater Manchester in the local authority reorganisation in the 1970s. Eccles cakes are an ancient cake, made mainly of pastry and currants. More information about Manchester and her food traditions may be found in the article about Lancashire.

Manchester is also home to the world-famous Boddingtons Brewery. Boddingtons has been enjoyed by beer drinkers in England for over two centuries, and is well known for its creamy head and smooth body. It is now sold in over 30 countries worldwide, and can be drunk on tap in places as far afield as New Zealand and Hong Kong. It started off life in the eighteenth century as the Strangeways Brewery. Henry Boddington, born in 1813, was at the age of 19 employed as a ’traveller’ for the brewery, rising rapidly to become a partner. Henry became the sole owner in 1853. Henry’s son Henry Junior became involved in the 1880s and the brewery was renamed Henry Boddington and Son. Following the death of Henry senior in 1886, the company was renamed Boddingtons Breweries Ltd, a true public company.

So, this region with its gentle plains and open views of prime grazing land together with England’s third largest city has a suitably diverse nature. There is much to be found here for the food connoisseur. For foodies everywhere, this county will give you a warm welcome.