Lincs voted UK’s favourite food spot

By Matt Wright

Chine, haslet (pictured left), Lincolnshire sausages, Poacher cheese, plum bread… with so many specialities linked to the county’s farming traditions, Lincolnshire thoroughly deserves to be named Britain’s favourite food spot.

The push to decide the UK’s top food county was organised by Love British Food and decided by an online vote. There were 22,000 votes in total, with Lincs taking 39.6% compared with Cornwall’s 35.7%.

Of the other counties covered by Great Food magazine, Rutland was next best placed in ninth; Leicestershire came 21st, Nottinghamshire 24th, Northamptonshire 32nd, Warwickshire 39th, Derbyshire 40th and Cambridgeshire 41st.

The placings were decided by online votes, so are related to where the competition caught the public imagination on Twitter and Facebook. It’s all good fun, great PR for the counties on top, and Lincs definitely deserves its moment of glory.

Here’s a sausage recipe from Lincs chef Rachel Green. And congratulations to the County of Chine…

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Rachel Green’s Lincolnshire Sausages with Flageolet Bean Cassoulet and Garlic Crostini

Serves 4

* 8 Lincolnshire sausages
* 1 tbsp olive oil
* 8 shallots, peeled and left whole
* 1 carrot, peeled and diced
* 1 stick celery, diced
* 1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed
* 1 sprig rosemary
* 1 bay leaf
* 100ml white wine
* 150ml chicken stock
* 250g fresh flageolet beans
* 2 tins chopped tomatoes
* 1 tbsp redcurrant jelly
* 50g pitted olives
* 1tbsp parsley, finely chopped

For the garlic crostini
* 8 slices baguette
* 60g butter, softened
* 2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed

1 Heat the oil in a frying pan and brown the sausages all over. Remove from the pan and reserve. Add the shallots, carrots and celery to the pan and sauté for five minutes, then add the garlic, rosemary and bay leaf and cook for a further minute.
2 Add the wine and stock, bring to the boil, then add the flageolet beans, tomatoes and redcurrant jelly. Return the sausages to the pan and simmer for 30 – 40 minutes, until the sauce has thickened and the beans are soft and cooked through. Add the olives and cook for a further five minutes. Check the seasoning, remembering that the olives are salty, and adjust as necessary.
3 For the crostini, mix together the crushed garlic and softened butter, and season with sea salt and black pepper. Spread the garlic butter onto both sides of the baguette slices, and grill each side until golden.
4 Sprinkle the parsley over the cassoulet and serve with the garlic crostini.

Rachel Green