Robbie Main won the Guild of Food Writer’s Chef of Tomorrow competition, and part of his prize was a long weekend in Suffolk with his Mum and Dad, Douglas and Gillian. Robbie had a fantastic weekend, staying on a lovely farm, learning about ice cream production, visiting Pinney’s smokehouse in Orford, spending a whole day on a wild food foray, eating fish and chips in Aldeburgh and we were overjoyed that the Suffolk Herring Festival was on Robbie’s schedule.

Local chefs looked after him royally and he ended his prize weekend with a great day at Hintlesham Hall. Robbie was astonished at how much Suffolk had to offer a food-lover, and looks forward to developing new recipes with the lovely ingredients he will take home – enough to fill a huge plastic basket.

” I didn’t realise Suffolk was such a lovely place,” Robbie said. “Everyone we have met has been very nice to us, and some (actually all!) of the food and produce we have tasted has been great. We will be back!”

Many people wrote down their herring memories at the Suffolk Herring Festival. Here are a few of them.

My first domestic science lesson at secondary school involved preparing and cooking rolled, stuffed, herby herring as our first recipe. I was 11 years old…bring back teaching children to cook fresh food. Yum!

My friend Pete Bunten (from Morpeth) singing the Shoals of Herring to an audience of baffled locals in Prague…priceless!

Whitby kippers barbecued on the beach at Scarboro’ one mellow October afternoon 1976 – Ambrosia and Nirvana.

Herring straight from the net on Sizewell beach.

Raw herrings on a Dutch sidewalk are best.

On Aldeburgh beach years ago. I could buy herring at ½d each.

You will have a fishy
On a little dishy
You will have a herrin’
When the boat comes in
(Always sung by Corrine and Gwilym always when crossing Might’s Bridge)

My grandfather was skipper of a herring boat – out of Aberdeeen.

Swedish Christmas with marinated herring. Yum Yum.

Camping on the beach – eating fresh fish cooked on an open fire – delicious.

I wonse tried to catch a fish and it pulled me in the water!

Suffolk poet and founder of the Aldeburgh Poetry Festival, Michael Laskey, read his poem Herring at the Suffolk Herring Festival on Saturday 24th October.

Michael has allowed us to reproduce the poem and you can find it by clicking here.
A great piece of work!

The 2009 Aldburgh Poetry Festival will take place next weekend (6-8 November 2009) and you can find the programme here.

The Suffolk Herring Festival is now over and what a success it was! Did you enjoy it? We want to know. Just leave a comment by clicking on “Leave a Comment” at the bottom.

Many thanks for coming to the Suffolk Herring Festival, for enjoying the food and drink, the music, stories, poems, arty herring and, of course, the knitted fish. Thank you also for thinking about the importance of the herring to Suffolk’s culture and the need to establish a more sustainable fishery in the North Sea.

We’ll be in touch with many of you to say a special thank you over the next few days, and we look forward to working with you all to make next year’s Suffolk Herring Festival just as enjoyable. But for now we just want to say thank you to everybody.

So while you are still singing the rousing herring music, the taste of kippers is still in your mouth and the smell of herring still lingers on your skin and on your clothing, why not let us know what you liked about this weekend’s festival, and what suggestions you have for next year.

Jill, Jack and Kelvin

Many of the people at the Herring Festival yesterday wanted Jill’s recipes for kipper paté and kippers in dressing. Here they are.

Kipper Pate

There is no hard and fast recipe for kipper pate, you can ring the changes according to what you might have in you fridge at the time.

Serves 2-3

8oz (220gms) Kipper fillet or 10 oz whole kipper
3 oz (80gms) softened butter, or cream cheese, or a mixture.
pepper

Cook the kipper, and when it is cool, remove all skin and bones. Mash the fish either with a fork or in a magimix, Add the butter bit by bit.

To this you can add as you like other ingredients should you wish, e.g. herbs or spices, lemon, spring onions, pinch of curry powder.

Kippers in a dressing

Serves 4

1/4pt (160mls) cider vinegar
3 tablespoons of water
3 oz (80gms) caster sugar
4 cloves
5 peppercorns
12oz (330gms) kipper fillet
5 tablespoons tomato ketchup
4 tablespoons oil
4oz (110gms) carrots thinly sliced
4 oz (110gms) onion thinly sliced
pickled gherkin thinly sliced.

Put the vinegar, water, sugar, cloves and peppercorns into a pan and bring to the boil, remove from heat and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Allow to cool.

Mix tomato ketchup and oil into the cooled vinegar solution, add chopped kipper, carrots, onions and gherkin. Refrigerate for at least 24 hours. Keeps for days.

More than 400 people turned out for the first day of the Suffolk Herring Festival and enjoyed every minute. There were cooking demos, a wide range of herring dishes, and a considerable weight of freshly caught herring cooked on the barbecue. There was singing and poetry, herring art works and a multitude of knitted fish, displays on sustainable fishing and the health benefits of eating herring. On Sunday there will be more fun, a kipper brunch, and sunnier weather!

Does it look like it’s raining?

The marquees are going up for the Suffolk Herring Festival.

Parking will be on the field opposite the Farm Shop. Jack has got lots of straw if it does rain, so there should be no problem parking. But remember it’s always better to opt for sustainable travel in Suffolk so share rides, come on your bike or walk if you can.

German fish and delicatessen specialist Appel Feinkost from Cuxhaven announced that it will add the MSC ecolabel for third-party certified sustainable fishing to all its herring and mackerel products.

Marnie Bammert, MSC Country Manager for Germany, Switzerland and Austria said “We are delighted about Appel’s commitment to the protection of fish stocks. Appel’s new MSC-labelled product line will make it even easier for consumers to purchase sustainably caught fish and thus reward environmentally conscious fishermen.”

Surely it’s time that Suffolk had an MSC herring fishery.

If you are coming to the Suffolk Herring Festival you’ll be able to enjoy all sorts of herring, and, if you find you need more, the following Suffolk restaurants will offering herring on their menu this weekend. Mention the Suffolk Herring Festival when you make a reservation.

152, The High St. Aldeburgh, 01502 724734
Mains Restaurant, 26 High St, Yoxford, 01728 668882
Coasters, 12 Queen St. Southwold, 01502 724734
The Anchor, Walberswick, 01502 722112
The Lighthouse, 77 High St. Aldeburgh, 01728 453377
Regatta Restaurant, 171 High St, Aldeburgh, 01728 452011
Dolphin Inn, Thorpeness, 01728 454994

In addition we have received recipes from the following, and you can find them on the broadsheet you can pick up at the Herring Festival.

The Swan Hotel, Lavenham
The Crown Hotel, Woodbridge
The White Lion Hotel, Aldeburgh
Thorpeness Hotel, Thorpeness