"Perfection" Television series
Heston Blumenthal
Autumn 2007 and 2008

No one could say that the Middle White pig is a looker - its short-snouted, squashed (what pig fanciers term 'dished') face and Gollum-esque ears would never have secured it any body-double work on Babe. But what it lacks in beauty it makes up for in the quality of its pork. And the man who breeds some of the best is Richard Vaughan, of Huntsham Court Farm, Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire; whenever the UK's best chefs need to source top-drawer pork, his is the number they call.

Try this for an impressive client list: Heston Blumenthal is a customer, as is Dominic Chapman, head chef at Heston's Hinds Head pub. Jeremy Lee, head chef at Terence Conran's Blueprint Café, also places regular orders. Also on the roll call are Sam and Sam Clark of Moro restaurant, Bruce Poole of Chez Bruce, ('Middle White is the best pork I've ever eaten') , Fergus Henderson of St John and Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers of the River Café. 

Huntsham hasn't always occupied the top end of the meat producing market, though. The farm has been in Richard's family for 400 years, and he's been at the helm for 35, initially producing beef on a large scale for all the major supermarkets. It was a chance conversation with his local abattoir that changed all that. Realising he'd unexpectedly run out of joints of beef to cook at home, he rang them to ask for one from an animal they'd slaughtered for him. Their response - that they could supply him but that they would prefer to give him meat from another producer as they didn't rate the quality of his own herd - was a jaw-dropping moment. As a result, in 1996 he abandoned large-scale animal farming to concentrate on the small-scale production of pedigree animals selected for the excellence of their meat.

Initially Richard experimented with other rare breeds but it was the Middle White that won the pork taste every time. Considering the animal's history, it's not such a surprise. First recognised as a breed back in 1852, it's the only British pig that was bred specifically for pork, producing an animal that carried a lot of flesh, with enough fat to give it flavour, but not so much that it compromised the quality of the meat. Once hugely popular for these qualities, by 1973 it was in major decline and designated a rare breed pig (meaning there are less than 1,000 adult females in existence). The fact that Richard rears them for their meat doesn't put the breed's survival in jeopardy - if he and other rare breed farmers weren't encouraging people to eat Middle White pork, the breed would die out altogether.

It's not just the Middle White's natural characteristics that mean its meat is top quality - Richard's husbandry techniques also have a huge role to play. His philosophy is simple: give them a happy life. Unlike intensively farmed pigs, which are frequently kept in the smallest space legally allowed, Huntsham pigs have the run of the farm. When the weather's good, they're out grazing the fields with the Longhorn beef and Ryeland lamb (both rare breeds) Richard also farms. When it's bad they shelter in barns supplied with plenty of straw for bedding and recreation.

His approach to their feed is similarly straightforward; free from the growth promoters often fed to intensively farmed pigs, it's a mix of cereals, soya bean meals, peas and beans - all top sources of pig-friendly protein. That neither the feed, nor Richard's farming methods, are organic clearly hasn't been a problem for the chefs who buy from him - in fact, Henry Harris, of London's Racine restaurant, insists Richard's Middle White 'has a flavour that surpasses even the finest of organically reared porkers'. And, as for the bog standard pork you'll find on most supermarket shelves, there's no comparison. That kind of pork comes from pigs bred for bacon, whose more muscular, leaner meat is fine for rashers but just can't supply the succulent, unctuous taste and texture you need for a decent cut of pork. No fat no flavour - it's that simple.

Richard no longer counts supermarkets among his customers - he just can't produce enough. Not that he's worried: 'If the supermarkets say "We'll pay you x pence a kilo", then it's down to you to bring your costs down below x pence a kilo to make any kind of a profit. Instead, we ask ourselves what we need to spend to make a quality product, then price accordingly. Our only consideration is producing pork people think is delicious'. Looks like he's done the job.

We Brits are an odd bunch, a nation fast to react to a crisis but also a nation with incredibly short memories. Take the BSE problem. Once it was discovered that the disease could cause new variant CJD, beef sales plummeted overnight. And yet as soon as supermarkets slashed beef prices the meat sold like never before - anything for a bargain. The time is ripe to change our attitudes. If we learn one lesson from recent farming problems it must be to spend more money on food - especially meat - to achieve safety and quality.

We don’t need to eat so much meat: far better to eat meat less often but, when we do, to pay more for a quality product. On Easter Sunday I ate the most brilliant leg and belly of Middle White pork. Ever since I tasted Middle White at a rare breed tasting some time ago I have been hooked. Eating normal supermarket pork now is like eating cardboard. There is no comparison: Middle White is juicy, it’s incredibly tender and the crackling works a treat. I liked the product so much I bought two live animals for my smallholding, which I have successfully bred to produce 14 piglets. Oh no, I can hear you cry, he’s not going to eat them! Get real, guys, that’s why we have 60 million animals in the UK - they’re for eating. But unlike most of the intensively reared animals, my animals will have had a life. They will have felt the warmth of the sun, they will have rolled in their mud baths, they will have been well treated, and for their short time on this earth will have enjoyed themselves. 

But don’t worry, I’m not asking you to return to the days of the Second World War, when many families kept a pig in their back garden, to enjoy the taste of Middle White pork. I use a guy called Richard Vaughan, who owns one of the largest Middle White herds with a company called Pedigree Meats of Herefordshire

 Tel: 01600 890 296 Fax: 01600 890 390 www.Huntsham.com

Once the foot and mouth crisis is over you’ll be able to buy this marvellous meat directly from him. Trust me and you’ll never return to supermarket pork again… Slowly, slowly we’ll get the message across to supermarkets to think quality before quantity.

Let quality be the prime consideration where meat is concerned, says Jill James

Ghastly things appear on the Weekend FT's food desk. Packet soups. Supermarket "chill-fresh" meals that I would not even give to my dog. Veggie burgers. New snack products, composed largely of salt. And - the latest revolting trend - cook in bottled sauces.

But, now and again, out of the blue, something special arrives. It happened a few weeks ago, a while after Richard and Sue Vaughan had been slaughtering pigs and cattle on the their Herefordshire Farm. 

They sent me a joint each of Longhorn Beef and Middle White Pork. The beef was fine - deep red, properly hung, with a good texture, but the pork... the pork was a revelation. It was sweet, succulent and full of flavour.

Now, I pride myself on having a good butcher, but there is no doubt that the craze for larger, leaner pigs is making it much harder for butcher and consumer to obtain top quality pork - which means pork that has a proper amount of fat. As for supermarket pork, it is, sadly, hardly worth a second glance. It could be argued that people who rustle around in cold cabinets looking at plastic-packaged joints of immaculate size, shape and bland taste, deserve little sympathy, but there is always a case for the re-education of people's shopping habits and taste-buds.

This has been reinforced by the latest UK government health warning. We are urged to cut our consumption of red meat - even those who consume as little as 90g a day (about eight or ten portions a week). All the more reason then, to seek out the highest possible quality when you do consume your daily allowance.

What with health scares and bad shopping habits, it is no wonder that pork consumption has fallen in the UK. In the European Union as a whole last year, 15,349,000 tonnes of pork were eaten, according to latest estimates. The Germans were the largest consumers with 4,506,000 tonnes, while the UK consumed just 776,000 - but another 468,000 tonnes of bacon.
The Vaughans have operated farm visits for 11 years, but these will stop at the end of the season to concentrate on the breeding of pedigree livestock. This is a brave - or foolhardy - decision, depending on your point of view, particularly when the agricultural press is full of stories of small farmers going out of business, family farms being absorbed into PIG-U-LIKE plc, or some such combine, and of set aside and the latest EU directives.

Earlier this century, Middle White was the choice of many a quality pig breeder in England. If the Vaughans can go even a little way towards reviving this breed, they will have performed a service to the discerning customer. Customers are welcome to visit the Vaughans and see the conditions under which their animals are reared and fed.

The latest feather in the Vaughans cap was success at this year's Monmouth Show, in Gwent, when one of their bulls was made Longhorn breed champion and went on to win the interbreed championship against all comers.

The Vaughans' company, Huntsham Farm - Pedigree Meats, is offering its meat on an "as available" basis because it cannot maintain constant supply, a point that will no doubt be seized on by the massed ranks of supermarket purchasers.

It is supplied in insulated boxes containing between 16kg and 20kg (25lb and 44lb) of mixed cuts and joints. All the meat is suitable for home freezing - but why not share an order with neighbours? - and the company is happy to discuss individual butchering requirements.