NORTHUMBERLAND-BRED PORK ON MENU AT “BEST RESTAURANT IN THE WORLD” (April 2006)

Rare breed pork produced at a small pig farm in north Northumberland is now a feature each week on the menu at The Fat Duck in Bray, Berkshire, a three star Michelin restaurant run by Heston Blumenthal. It was voted the “Best Restaurant in the World” in 2005 in a list of the world’s top 50 dining establishments compiled by Restaurant magazine.

Graham Head, who breeds rare, free range Middle White pigs at Lowick, near Berwick-upon-Tweed, was asked by Blumenthal to become his pork supplier following a visit made by the chef/restaurateur to Graham’s smallholding as part of a forthcoming BBC-TV series, “Perfection”, written and presented by Blumenthal.

Graham, a former IT director for investment banks, set up Piperfield Pork in 2002. He keeps a breeding herd of 20 pedigree Middle Whites which produce around 250 pigs a year, providing award-winning pork, sausages, streaky bacon, dry-cured bacon, air-dried chorizo sausages and other products. According to Graham, it was “the moist, succulent quality” of the choice cuts of Middle White pork that appealed to Blumenthal, so much so that he asked Graham to be his pork supplier.

Now, every Monday, Piperfield’s finest pork is couriered to The Fat Duck at Bray.

Graham said: “We have been supplying to the Fat Duck since January. We initially submitted samples of pork as part of a blind tasting arranged by the BBC in the autumn and we were thrilled when Heston chose to visit us at Lowick

After five years of promoting the fantastic eating qualities of Middle White pork, it is wonderful to receive this recognition from Heston Blumenthal, who is world renowned for his culinary innovation and his uncompromising search for the best quality ingredients for his dishes.”

“I understand Piperfield will feature in the new BBC-TV series being transmitted in June, in which Heston cooks the definitive version of some classic British dishes – in our case, bangers and mash.”

Piperfield Pork has won numerous national awards since the business was set up by Graham in 2002. “Originally, I kept a couple of Middle White pigs in my back garden when I looked for an alternative to beef during the BSE crisis. But I soon realised the exceptional quality of Middle White pork. It gave me the idea for a new business, particularly in such an attractive part of the country, with views of the Cheviot Hills. It can be wild at times in winter, but there are so many good things about living in north Northumberland and, anyway, I was tired of all the globe-trotting I was doing in my IT role.”

Piperfield Pork is sought after by chefs and food enthusiasts alike and the company is a keen supporter of farmers’ markets in the North East, the Borders and Edinburgh, where Graham attends the market at Castle Terrace three times a month. “It’s a brilliant market,” he says.

He is also a keen supporter of the Slow Food Movement and expects to be at the organisation’s Terra Madre event in Turin, Italy, this autumn. It was because he attended a Slow Food event in Italy with a delegation from Northumbria Larder, the North East regional food group, of which he is a member, that he first came to the attention of the BBC and Heston Blumenthal who, says Graham, “supports small producers providing high quality but often endangered culinary ingredients.”

Graham believes the new BBC series will be a shot-in-the-arm for Piperfield Pork and, in anticipation, has registered a domain name (piperfield.com) and will be getting the website prepared to deal with, he hopes, a rush of enquiries about his pork products.