Chefs rave about quality of salt marsh lamb

- Published: 21 July, 2006

Talented top young Welsh chef Bryn Williams said fellow chefs

involved in a competition to devise the Queen's 80th birthday dinner all "raved" about the quality of the salt marsh lamb he used.

Williams was one of seven chefs from around Britain invited to devise the menu for the Queen's birthday dinner. The event was organised in the form of a competition called the Great British Menu and filmed by the BBC with each chef creating a starter, fish course, meat course and dessert to reflect the best of regional produce.

Celebrity judges, including Prue Leith and former Guardian food and drink editor Matthew Fort, then assessed each entry with the final menu being selected by TV viewers.

Williams has worked with chef luminaries including Marco Pierre White and Michel Roux. He said he was determined not to produce a Welsh menu without using Welsh lamb and chose salt marsh lamb - oen y glasdraeth - for his main course entry to raise

awareness of it with the British public. It was sourced from Conwy butcher Ieuan Edwards.

"All the chefs that took part raved about the quality of the ingredients and wanted to know exactly where the salt marsh lamb came from," said Williams.

"As some of them had one and two Michelin stars, that meant a lot to me." Salt marsh lambs graze on estuary grasses that are constantly washed by tides around the Welsh coastline producing a sweeter flavour and finely textured meat.

Williams's roast loin and braised shoulder of salt marsh lamb with caper jus was a product that

delighted the judges - as well as impressing his fellow chefs.