Local Food Heroes Blog

Saturday, 28 08 10 - 14:30

Air drying Meat, Pickled Walnuts and Gin

Air drying Fridge

Posts have been pretty scarce around here lately. It's not that I've not been doing things; just that I haven't got around to writing about them.

The redesign of my 'drying' fridge has taken up a lot of my time - mainly because I'm not very good when it comes to anything that involves DIY skills! However, it's up and running again and although it will need a further modification (to remove a large dehumidifier that's inside it), it's working well.

The major change has been to install digital rather than analogue controls; they're far more accurate. I've also installed two humidity controls so that I can set the humidifier and dehumidifier to run independently. Designing the control box was a kerfuffle, but with the help of my friendly neighbourhood electronics expert (a friend with his own electronic controls company), I have finally got my head 'around' relays and other such electronic gizmos. The controls are now also housed in a wooden box kindly made for me by a neighbour. It still needs a coat of paint but that can come later:

It's seen here running at high temperature (23°C) and humidity (82%) during the fermentation stage of a Genoa type salami. I'll post the recipe and method when I see how they turn out.

Pickled Walnuts

Something I'd forgotten to write about is the batch of pickled walnuts I made in July. It's too late now to make them, you'll have to wait until next year as you have to pick them when they still have their green outer covering - before the shell has started to form.

The walnuts are put into a brine of 150gm salt to 1 litre water and left for a week. This process is then repeated with a fresh brine. After the second week you drain the walnuts and leave them in the sun(?) or at least somewhere dry for a day until they go black. They are then bottled in boiled and cooled spiced vinegar. Simples!

Sloe Gin

One thing that it's too late to make - and one that it's a little to early for; it'll soon be time to start sloe gin off on it's merry way to sloe heaven. That reminds me, I must get around to straining the lot I made last year. Self-restraint or what...

...well neither - the fact is that I clean forgot it was there!

Wednesday, 28 07 10 - 19:53

Egg and Bacon Pie

I came across this recipe on The Cottage Smallholder. What caught my eye was the fact that all the ingredients are assembled raw and then cooked together. This makes it far less time consuming than other recipes which cook the filling separately before assembly. The only change I made from the original was the addition of about 8 more rashers of bacon. Four rashers to 12 eggs is just plain mean!

The pie was certainly easy to make and the end result was enough to feed a battalion. I'll certainly make it again but think that St. Delia's recipe for Egg and Bacon Pie has the edge - however, yet again the filling on the mean side.

Monday, 05 07 10 - 00:00

Elderflower Cordial Update

The elderflower cordial that I made using this recipe was strained and bottled after 5 days. I considered adding a campden tablet to prevent it fermenting but decided to risk it in the fridge without.

It's great with sparkling water added and also makes a superb sorbet.

Monday, 28 06 10 - 17:35

Salmon Mousse with quick Mayonnaise

You know how it is, your mate Maurice rings up from the market to tell you that they've got big bunches of dill for sale for a quid, so you ask the wife to get the two tail ends of salmon out of the freezer with the intention of making Gravadlax only to realise, when it's defrosted, that one, there's three pieces of fish not two, and two, it's too thin to be worth the effort of curing it. Little things like this are the stuff my life's made of! The dill got stuffed into a bottle of vinegar; I'll use it later in the year for pickling: that left three pieces of salmon so hence this recipe for a salmon mousse!

So what to use for a mousse? Salmon? Check. Eggs? Check. Double cream? Check - oops, un-check, we need it for the strawberries. Something similar? Yoghurt? Check - oops, un-check, it's grown a fir coat. Herbs? Check, there's fennel and parsley in the garden, either will be suitable. Cream cheese? No, we've scoffed it! Mayonnaise? That's it, I'll make some Mayonnaise:

Quick Mayo

I used a 'stick' blender for this, you could also use a liquidizer or food processor but add the oil gradually whilst whisking - likewise if you make it by hand.

Put a whole egg into the goblet that came with the stick blender, or suitable alternative, and add about ¼ tsp Dijon mustard, a pinch of salt & pepper, and a few splashes of vinegar or lemon juice. Add ½ pint of oil (I used a light rape seed oil for this; olive would have overpowered the salmon), then mix it on full power. If it's too thick add a drop or two of water. Adjust seasoning, vinegar, or lemon to taste.

The Mousse

8 - 10 oz Cooked salmon
4 oz Mayonnaise
3 Egg whites
Salt and pepper
1 tbsp (1 sachet) Gelatine dissolved in warm water
Lemon or vinegar to taste
A couple of tablespoons of chopped dill or other green herb

Purée the salmon with a stick blender or food processor keeping an ounce or two of the salmon aside if you don't want a completely smooth mousse. Mix with the Mayonnaise. Whisk the egg whites until almost at the 'stiff peak' stage and fold into the salmon mixture along with the gelatine and herbs and any salmon put aside previously (strain the gelatine to remove any bits). Season to taste. Pour into a lightly oiled mould and leave in the fridge to set.

This recipe is fairly versatile, as well as just eating it with a salad you could present it in the style of a cold souffléé or using a salmon mould. You could also line ramekins with smoked salmon and make salmon parcels for a starter or fill rolls of smoked salmon with it and present salmon cigars as a canapé - the possibilities are endless. I'm also fairly sure that it will be fine made with whipped cream or yoghurt; I fancy trying it with yoghurt, I think that it's tangy flavour would offset the 'earthiness' of the salmon very well.

Friday, 25 06 10 - 19:39

Elderflower Cordial

A recent post on a forum about self-sufficiency reminded me that it's elderflower season. It always seems to pass me by, even though there's a big bush 10 yards from my window!

I've tried drying elder-flowers before, when I used to make a lot of wine, it wasn't the greatest success; this time I decided to make an elderflower cordial. It's simplicity itself using this recipe that's an amalgamation of various ones from books and the internet.

To every 10 heads of elder-flowers (big green stalks removed) you need 600ml boiling water, ½ Lemon, 1 teaspoon Citric Acid and 750gm White Sugar. Put everything except the elder-flowers into a large bowl and stir until dissolved, then leave to cool. Add the elder-flowers and mix well. Skim off any bits that don't look as if they belong! Cover with a clean cloth and leave for 4 or 5 days, stirring twice a day.

I made a double the recipe amount, seen here before I got all the naughty bits off the top...

...to be continued

Friday, 15 01 10 - 17:21

There's always something!

Finally the snow seems to have cleared. I've not bothered venturing further than the pub while it's icy, not because we couldn't, but it seemed a bit daft to venture far when we didn't have to. I'm getting to be even more of a grumpy old man and the TV set is in grave danger of flying through the nearest window if I have to listen to any more news reporters tell us that the few inches of snow we've had are unprecedented, or other such exaggerated terms. The only reason our roads weren't as clear as they should have been is because our penny pinching council couldn't be bothered to stock up with salt in time; they promised they would ensure adequate supplies last time they got caught out. It's a pity that all the hot wind that comes out of their mouths when they're caught with their pants down yet again couldn't be used to melt the snow.

I'd have gone out today to get more meat as I need to make sausage and ham and also want to try to make the Italian spreading sausage called Nduja, a fiery concoction full of chilli. It needs a particular type of chilli to be at its best and one of my sausage making chums, John from Quiet Waters Farm in Devon, has kindly sent me some. If you're ever down that way, be sure to pay him a visit and buy some of his superb charcuterie. Regrettably, there was no point as I haven't the fridge space for anything else as our kitchen fridge decided to give up the ghost, so everything's in the curing fridge at the moment. To add insult to injury the microwave came out in sympathy with the fridge so we need a new one of them as well. Neither of these items are old and the microwave has hardly been used. We bought an 'all singing and dancing' microwave with a grill and normal oven - neither have ever been used and the microwave has only been used to heat milk for sauces, heat baked beans and the like, and to defrost the occasional piece of meat. I'm sure these things have obsolescence built in nowadays!

On a more cheerful note it's great to read that my writings are appreciated by some, even if you have to go to Canada to find them! Barbecue specialists The Black Pig Competition BBQ Team recently featured my soft bread rolls on their blog, Les Noiracochon. Thanks for the plug guys.

On the cooking front things have been quiet. I know that others write about their everyday meals and the like, but I won't insult you by giving you a recipe for the slow cooked belly pork that we had last night. I won't insult your intelligence by giving a list of ingredients but here's what I did: grab some slabs of pork belly and just season it with salt, cook at 120°C on a grid above water for about 5 hours then blast with heat to crisp up - superb, melt in the mouth meat and crispy crackling, what more could anyone want?

What I will do though is give you the recipe for the hot water crust pastry that my mate Maurice used for this game pie:

Pastry: 9oz Plain Flour, 3oz Lard, ¼ pint water, ½ level teaspoon salt. Heat fat and lard until lard is melted then bring to a boil and mix with the flour and salt. This makes a pastry that's as good as any I've had. Some of the quality is no doubt due the fact that Maurice has got it just the right thickness to be crisp but not hard. He's from Yorkshire. They know a bit about pies in that neck o' the woods! He's now got his own cold smoke generator, so I look forward to posting more about his exploits in future.   

Sunday, 03 01 10 - 18:54

You can't tell Stork from Butter?

It's the middle of Pantomime season so you're all allowed to shout "Oh, yes we can", but how about making your own butter? This time of year is great for picking up double cream that's near its sell by date from the Supermarkup [sic], or you could even buy local cream specially. Just after Easter or Wimbledon are also good times.

I make butter using my Kenwood mixer, you could also use an electric whisk, or even make it by hand.

I put the cream in the mixer with a pinch of salt and a small pinch of sugar for every 300ml. I've no idea why I use the sugar it's just that I saw a lady who had made the butter for Chatsworth house for about 50 years do it; who am I to argue with her experience!

Using the K beater on the mixer, start 'churning' the cream

Nearly there!

If you don't have a bowl cover use a tea towel, or when it 'turns' it will splatter everywhere:

Turn it off quickly when you hear the butter slopping around in the butter-cream.

Now the important bit, rinse and work the butter in very cold water to get rid of as much of the milky stuff in the butter as you can, then put it onto a board and pat (beat) it - water will come out of it. I don't have butter pats so use my hands and a rolling pin.

I flatten it, then roll it like a Swiss roll to shape it.

You can see from the photo that it needs more work to extract water - I'm going to be using it quickly so it's not so important. This butter will freeze well, so there's no excuse for not making plenty.

The taste reminds me of the creamy Normandy butter you get in France; far better than shop bought and for about half the price. You also get the buttermilk; it makes great scones or can be used to dip chicken into before coating in breadcrumbs or flour when making fried chicken.

Sunday, 11 10 09 - 13:53

The Chorizo that Wasn't and Sloe Gin

This post was meant to be a photo essay on making chorizo, but things sort of went haywire.

You see, it all started on Friday when it came to getting the meat. Pauline phoned a couple of local butchers who seemed to think that pork shoulder is worth more than gold, so I suggested a visit to Joseph Morris, the abattoir at South Kilworth; alright it's about a 30 mile round trip, but the saving would have been worth it. Pauline didn't think so and we ended up in Tesco buying cheap vac-packed pork, 'cos that's only 7 miles away. I knew it wasn't a good idea, even though it was British! We opened it yesterday only to find that it smelt like a tramp's vest! Back to Tesco for a refund taking the meat with us so that we could see the look on the customer service assistant's face when she took a big sniff! All in all probably 28 miles in all - we should have gone to the abattoir in the first place!

That's left me scratching my head as to what to write; so what else have I been doing this week? Well I could tell you about any progress I've made with the white pudding I mentioned in the last post; well I could if I'd had any meat to make some more! I could tell you about making quince jelly and quince cheese (membrillo) with the quinces that my good neighbour Pete gave me; that's if they weren't still sat in the bag in the kitchen.

That leaves the sloe gin that I made with the sloes that Pete was kind enough to pick for me when out cycling. Now please don't tell me that I should have waited 'til they'd had the 'frost on them'; I don't look a gift horse in the mouth. (I could have, of course, frozen them to get a similar effect - but I couldn't be bothered.)

Sloe Gin

1 70 cl bottle gin
1lb sloes
7oz sugar

Prick the sloes with a fork and put them into bottles with the gin and sugar. Shake every couple of days for a couple of weeks and then leave for a couple of months minimum, shaking it occasionally. It's best kept for a year before straining and drinking. The sloes can be made into a compote or ice cream topping - don't waste their ginny/sloey unctuousness.

Friday, 25 09 09 - 15:51

Scotch Eggs

The popular snack Scotch Egg has been much abused by the food industry if the supermarket's offerings are anything to go by - even worse those mini Scotch Eggs served as a buffet food, nestling amongst the cheap sausage rolls and factory made 'filo' samosas. Yuk! A pity as all of these can be superb when made with good produce and care.

So why Scotch? I've no idea because the original is claimed to have been made by high class London retailer Fortnum and Mason where they are still sold - for £2.75 each!

Not the best photo in the world - but these were two days old by the time I remembered to take a photo!

These eggs are simplicity itself. The only essential is good quality ingredients. So let's start with some free-range eggs; not those pseudo-free-range things from the supermarket, real ones from a local farm - the ones that don't even have to have the lion marked on them. Put them into a pan of cold water, bring to the boil, and boil for 20 seconds. Turn off the heat and leave for 17 minutes. Place in cold water until cooled, and peel. This method avoids the grey ring that sometimes forms around the yolk.

For each egg use about 125g of "Every Day Pork Sausage II" , now renamed 'Thurlaston Sausage', and mix a little chopped parsley into the meat. Roll the eggs in flour and dust off any excess. Flatten a piece of sausagemeat on the palm of your hand, put the egg in the middle, and wrap the egg in the sausage-meat - It's easy with a bit of practice. Dust the egg/sausage in flour, patting off any excess, then dip in egg-wash and finally good breadcrumbs, preferably made from a home-made loaf.

Saturday, 12 09 09 - 14:04

Plum Chutney

This recipe is based on a peach Chutney recipe by Dave Hesmondhaigh of The Cridford Inn, Trusham, printed in the BBC Good Food magazine. It's not as good as the peach one which is one of my favourite chutneys and uses tinned peaches - no fruit to stone! However, it's pleasant enough and useful to use up a glut of plums.

Ingredients

3 lb of plums, stoned in quarters
4 onions, chopped
8 garlic cloves, chopped
2 teasp finely grated fresh root ginger
1 lb 3 oz demerara sugar
12 oz white sugar
1½ pt wine vinegar
2 tablespoons coriander seeds, lightly crushed
8 oz of sultanas

Method

Put all the ingredients into a large pan and gently bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally. Boil until thick and then bottle in sterilised jars.

Tuesday, 04 08 09 - 10:57

Apricot Jam

I was luck enough to be given quite a quantity of locally grown apricots; they came from a neighbour of Mum and Dad's. The best were devoured in minutes but I decided to make jam with the others.

Now jam making and me make uncomfortable bedfellows as my previous blogs on the subject show. So it was to the Internet I turned for advice. Some chance! I found recipes with more sugar than fruit, less sugar than fruit, every permutation possible, and some that I'm sure aren't! Ah well, I tried. Back to making it up as I go along.

Firstly, put a plate in the freezer. Then chop the apricots off the stones which I you tie in some stockinet or similar. Weigh the flesh and put it to cook down in the minimum amount of water necessary to cover the bottom of the pan - about ½ a pint - add the juice of a lemon. When the flesh is soft, but still has pieces of apricot still visible add the same weight of sugar as fruit and dissolve it over a low heat - you need to stir it regularly as the apricot pulp has a tendency to stick to the pan. Add the stones to the pan and when the sugar is fully dissolved turn the heat up and bring it to a good rolling boil - again stir regularly to avoid sticking.

It's at this stage that you wish you had a 3 ft long spoon and were 7 ft tall; a shortish wooden spoon and face at eye level with the pan is not good when it decides to spit out boiling sugar! (Fortunately, it only landed on my shirt, but it could have been nasty.) After about 10 minutes slide the pan off the heat and put a little bit of the jam on to the, now very cold, plate. Leave to cool a little and push the side of it with your finger - if the top of the jam 'wrinkles' slightly it's done, if not put it back on the heat and boil it some more testing regularly; I may take 15 - 20 minutes. When it's ready leave it to cool for 20 to 30 minutes and pot in sterilised jars.

Many recipes actually break the stones, remove the kernel, boil it, and add it to the jam; if you ever try this you'll realise that life's just to short for this sort of thing!

Saturday, 04 07 09 - 13:02

Preserves by Proxy

When you're operating from the bed, 'cos the doctor's told you that's where you've got to stay for the time being, it's difficult to write about what you've cooked; my kitchen's just too small to fit the bed in there!

That's when you invent a new cooking system: cooking by proxy, or in this case, preserving by proxy!

My only contribution to the two lots of preserves we made last Thursday was to cut the lemons and slice the rhubarb; the rest of the preparation and cooking was all Pauline's work. I guess it's just the same as Gordon Ramsay managing numerous restaurants around the world!

The rhubarb chutney was made to this recipe, my adaption of this one from The Great British Kitchen website.

The preserved lemons are from Rick Stein's book "A taste of the sea". Rick's shop sells these at £5.50 for a small (250ml?) jar!

The recipe

Boil 2 pints of water. Weigh 10 oz salt. Cut about 10 lemons (preferably unwaxed) into quarters length-ways leaving the lemon joined at the end (i.e. don't cut them right through). Sprinkle a pinch of salt into the cuts on the lemons and put into a jar. Dissolve the rest of the salt in the boiling water and allow to cool then cover the lemons with this brine. Leave for a month or so before using.

They're superb in this Chicken with Garlic, Lemon and Basil recipe.

Thursday, 11 06 09 - 13:57

Buckling Pâté

Maurice brought me a buckling at the weekend from Cookies Crab Shop.

Now, for those who don't know, buckling is a whole smoked herring and like all herring is full of bones. Personally I find the bones a real pain, so I decided to make this Buckling Pâté instead of just eating the fish as is.

No need for a formal recipe - it's basically the meat off the fish with butter, seasoning, and chopped parsley, all mixed in the food processor. You could add some cream cheese or cream which would make it more spreadable from the fridge.

Friday, 05 06 09 - 21:16

Taramasalata

Taramasalata or taramosalata, the spelling's different, but the product's the same.

It was only a couple of days ago that I realised that I hadn't reported back on what I did with the smoked cod's roe that I made way back in March.

Now Maurice I know has been eating it just spread on toast, but he's made of sterner stuff than me! I find it far too strong for that! I think that the smoke was probably a bit too dense so there's just a slight bitter edge to it. Next time I'll smoke it in lighter smoke, but for longer, to avoid this.

As to the taramasalata, I've tried numerous recipes and, although purists make scoff, I've found the ones with some breadcrumb added to be the nicest.

Taramasalata

150gm Smoked Cods Roe
150gm Oil (I used a light rapeseed)
35gm fresh bread (moistened in a little milk)
½ a garlic clove (steeped in boiling water for 5 minutes)
Juice of a lemon
1 tablespoon water

Process the roe, bread and garlic in a food processor. Add the oil a little at a time like making mayonnaise. Add lemon juice to taste then mix in the water to lighten it up.

Saturday, 02 05 09 - 19:59

Potted Ham

There comes a time of year when it gets a bit too hot for pea and ham soup, so short of just pigging out on them, I had to find a use for the ham hock and knuckle from my latest half-pig.

Mrs Beeton came to the rescue with a recipe for Potted Ham.

To update it, I used butter instead of the lard in the original recipe. I used 400gms of ham off two hocks, which I cooked at 140°C for about 4 hours, covered, and with just a little water in the roasting tin. I mixed this in the food processor with 150gms of clarified butter, 3 pinches of mace and a large pinch of Cayenne pepper.

I was going to put it into small pots, top with a sage leaf, and seal it with more clarified butter. However, Pauline decided that it wasn't going to last long enough to bother!

To serve, soften it by microwaving on 'defrost' until soft enough to spread, then spread on bread, toast, crackers or melba toast.

Next time I'll probably not bother clarifying the butter, and will add some of the cooking liquid; hopefully then it will spread from the fridge.

An alternative to this would be just to shred the meat with two forks, add the other ingredients, call it 'rillettes of ham', and charge £4.95 for it as a starter!