Cuisine of Monmouthshire

The northern and western part of the county is made up of uplands with shallow soils of low nutrient value which are suitable for hill farming.

On his visit to Monmouthshire he commented on the quality of its lamb, noting that the chop of lamb served at the Old Croft Inn at Caerleon were "done to a turn... with the true Welsh tenderness and juice..."[8] However, at The Beaufort Arms in Monmouth, Sikes commented on the ubiquity of this staple on the restaurant menu as follows: "the resources of the inn, when tested to their utmost, will produce at the last, and inevitably, chops - neither more nor less.

"Anything you like, sir" the woman answers with unblushing effrontery, and a respectful cordiality delightful to see in such a connexion, I am tempted to ask for buckwheat cakes, prairie chicken, roast saddlerocks, and watermelons, but compromise with "How about a fowl?"

May Day Pies were made like a Cornish pastie, with a mixture of cooked meat (probably mutton or lamb) finely chopped apples, pears, onions, lemon thyme, rosemary, pepper and salt.

[29] Yates comments that slices of cold Welsh Salt Duck were often served with a sharp-tasting fruit sauce made from damson, plum or bilberry.

cockle and oyster, were popular shellfish eaten during this period, with some excavated Roman sites having revealed vast quantities of shells.

Freeman comments that salmon poached in milk and eaten cold with cream can be considered as "an idea borrowed from the kitchens of Heaven!"

Grilled Grayling is one simple method of cooking this fish to which herbs can be added, such as chervil, chives, tarragon or parsley, along with butter, salt and pepper.

As the eels swim alongside the river banks, on their journey inland, local fishermen scoop them out of the water with ancient-looking nets.

[58] The more sheltered valleys of the Usk and Wye have traditionally been used for growing wheat, potatoes, peas, beans and turnips while the east of the county has most of the arable land.

The terrain is difficult but the beauty of that wood and the baskets of porcini, chanterelles, pied-de-mouton and trompette de la mort more than compensate for the aching limbs and sore back.

Freeman notes that Hot Sour Pickle Confection (Suryn Cyffaith Poeth) is an ancient Welsh sauce which has its roots in liquamen, one of the earliest condiments of the Romans and which was also called garum, in Greek.

[62] Due to the large, fertile river valleys of the Wye and Severn and the county's relatively sheltered location Monmouthshire has the greatest acreage of land under wheat production in Wales.

In areas where peat provided fuel a large cast-iron pot with a lid, similar to a Dutch oven and known as the ffwrn fach, would be used to bake bread.

Next to bread and good water, oatmeal may be considered as one of the first necessaries of life to a rural population; indeed, in some parts of Wales it still (as in Scotland) takes the place of bread in many instances; and when this is not the case, its valuable and nutritive properties, in sickness and in health, when it is converted into a variety of wholesome and nourishing dishes by the Welsh, render it to them almost a Staff of Life."

[70] Yates notes that baking day and afternoon tea have long been traditions in Wales:[71] "….mountains of bread and spiced cakes take the family through the week.

The Caldicot and Wentloog Levels form a low-lying belt of flat, reclaimed land which stretches from Chepstow to Cardiff and is protected by a sea wall.

It is a traditional summer grazing area that has diversified into dairy farming in order to satisfy the demand for butter and cheese from Newport and Cardiff.

The orchards of Monmouthshire also made an impression on William Wordsworth who refers to them in his poem Lines Written a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey: The landscape with the quiet of the sky.

The day is come when I again repose Here, under this dark sycamore, and view These plots of cottage-ground, these orchard-tufts, Which at this season, with their unripe fruits, Are clad in one green hue, and lose themselves 'Mid groves and copses.

According to tradition, Troy peaches puzzled social commentators of the time because they could not believe such an exotic fruit could come from "poor wet Wales", which was assumed to be capable of only growing leeks.

It was therefore assumed that the peaches came from Troy in Anatolia, thus adding considerably to the reputation of the Marquis, so that: "all speculated how even so rich a man as the Marquis could afford the swift conveyance of such a perishable fruit across Europe to London...."[26] The remains of various types of fruit have been found on board the Newport Ship, this is a mid-fifteenth-century sailing vessel discovered by archaeologists in June 2002 in the city of Newport, the fruit may have been for on-board consumption or formed part of a cargo, well-preserved remains have been found of walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts, pomegranates, grapes, figs and olive.

The medelwyr used to make the annual trek to the farms on the England-Wales border around Hereford, in July and August, then return to work on their own harvest in September.

Yates notes that in the rural areas of South East Wales, most homes would have had an apple, damson, plum or medlar tree in the back garden.

However, during the eighteenth century, the importation of relatively cheap sugar made from sugarcane meant that domestic fruit wine production became popular.

[55] Ancre Hill Estates was planted with Chardonnay, Pinot noir, Seyval blanc and Triomphe grape varieties and produces a sparkling wine using the Champenoise method.

[105] Part of the cycle of twelve narrative poems called Idylls of the King, published between 1859 and 1885 by the poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson, was written in the Hanbury Arms in Caerleon, where a plaque commemorates the event.

[108] The county has an increasing number of orchards producing cider and perry with a developing reputation based on the high quality of its fruit.

[109] Bishop's Fancy is a perry made from a variety of Monmouthshire winter pear, it is produced at Three Saints farm from ancient orchards using traditional production methods.

[113][114] The book Relish Wales, published in 2011 and 2016, notes the following restaurants in the county: 1861 (located at Cross Ash), The Beaufort Arms Hotel, Monmouth, The Bell (at Skenfrith), The Whitebrook, The Hardwick (at Abergavenny), The Newbridge on Usk (at Tredunnock), and The Walnut Tree.