Archive for the ‘Reading’ Category

River Cottage Chachouka

Tuesday, April 10th, 2012

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I know it’s not very  de rigueur as the food world seems to be obsessed with all things meaty at the moment, but over the past month or so, the wife and I have been making a bit of a concerted effort to eat less of the stuff. More for health reasons than anything ethical. Anyway, I’d been wanting to do a baked egg dish of some kind for a while, and then I came across this recipe for Chachouka from the excellent River Cottage Veg book (no this isn’t a plug).

Unless we’re super greedy, I’m not sure how Hugh thinks this will serve 4 people, so I’d read it at serving two. I also added a chilli to spice it up a bit. Finally, whilst this is a great veggie dish, I think it could be converted into something equally excellent with the addition of some minced lamb.

Ingredients

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 large onion, halved & finely sliced

1 garlic clove, finely chopped

1 red pepper, cored, de-seeded and finely sliced

1 yellow pepper, cored, de-seeded and finely sliced

1/2 tsp hot smoked paprika

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Makin’ Bacon

Friday, January 20th, 2012

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Like pretty much anyone with taste buds and a working nose, I love bacon, and having a stab at curing my own is something I’ve wanted to do for a while, in fact ever since I read this article by Tim Hayward a few years ago.

Despite what you think, it’s actually really easy. In fact I’d say anyone blessed with a pair of arms could do it. It requires no culinary skill what so ever, just a very few ingredients and a bit of time. In fact less than a week. Just think, a week after reading this you could be tucking into a sarnie made with your own bacon. Excited? You should be.

I substituted the maple syrup in Tim’s cure for black treacle, as I wanted to try something a bit different, and I used a smaller joint, but the rest of the method is pretty much as described in the link above. The only other thing you’ll need is a tupperware box big enough to accommodate the joint.

Ingredients

1kg loin of pork, skin removed and boned

400ml black treacle

300g unrefined sea salt

Bacon 2

Method

Day 1: Go to a decent butcher and ask him / her for a boned loin of pork with a finished weight of around a kilo. Also ask them to remove the skin, but leave the fat on. Take the joint home, pop it into your tupperware box, and then cover in 200ml of the black treacle. Give the joint a good rub all over, making sure it’s nicely coated, and then pop on the lid and stick it in the fridge.

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Lucky Peach

Saturday, June 18th, 2011

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I got back from class today to find a nice surprise gift from the wife, a copy of the brand spanking new food quarterly, Lucky Peach.

Created by Momofuku’s David Chang (Monofuku means lucky peach in Japanese), Lucky Peach was initially going to be a TV show and then iPad app, but after a chance encounter with the ever hip crew at Dave Eggers’ McSweeney’s, it became a magazine.

The launch issue is loosely themed around ramen, which is unsurprising given Chang’s culinary roots (he cut his teeth in Tokyo), and this celebration of one of Japan’s national dishes at a time when the country is in such turmoil seems somehow apt.

Anyway, I’ve not really got stuck into it properly yet, but my first impressions are that it looks very promising. A highly suitable replacement for Fire & Knives which I can’t seem to find out here.

Right, now I need to go and find me a bowl of soupy noodles. Sayonara.

SFBI Week #3 Sourdough

Monday, May 23rd, 2011

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What. A. Week.

Despite the past two weeks at SFBI being fantastic, one of the things I’ve been most excited about getting stuck into is making sourdoughs and science behind the rise. I’ve done a fair few sourdough experiments at home in the past, but never really nailed it, so the past week really ticked some major boxes for me.

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We started our foray into the world of sour by looking into it’s history and mythology, and of course touching on the famous San Francisco Sourdough. It’s interesting stuff (at least to me), and as a few readers have expressed an interest in knowing more, here’s a potted version.

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Sourdough was discovered / invented by accident in ancient Egypt at around 1500 BC. The story goes that some women making loaves on the banks of the Nile left a couple out in the humid, sunny conditions. They discovered their omission, and added the dough that had started to leaven to the rest of their batch. They liked the resulting lighter bread and it’s flavour, and kick started a great bread making tradition.

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Hand To Mouth’s Christmas Wish List

Monday, December 6th, 2010

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In no particular order, my top ten Christmas picks that I’d love to find under my tree or in my stocking.

1.Le Creuset Casserole Dish – Le Creuset’s stuff is heavy, in both senses of the word. Cast iron, classic, and they seem to improve with age. I’ll take this shallow casserole dish in white, thanks.

2.Fire & Knives Subscription – Mine has run out, so I’d definitely like someone somewhere to renew my subscription to this excellent, and refreshingly different, food publication.

3.Global Vegetable Chopper – Global knives are probably not as fashionable as they used to be, but for my money (and they aren’t cheap) they are the best knives I’ve used. This veg chopper is like a mini cleaver, and would be a welcome addition to my collection.

4.Sipsmith’s Sloe Gin – I love a drop of Sloe Gin, and this stuff is produced by artisan distillers in Hammersmith, London, so it’s also means supporting a local, independent business. Win, win.

5.Ripailles – I’ve flicked through this French cookery bible a bunch of times in book shops, and everything in it looks amazing. The photography alone had my mouth watering within seconds.

6.Wesco Bread Bin – classic American style bread bin. I’ve wanted one for a while, but we really don’t have room for one in our already crowded kitchen.

7. Sausage Making Course – I did the Ginger Pig beef butchery class earlier in the year, which was ace, and I rather fancy a return visit to learn a bit about making bangers.

8. Dinner & Foraging at the Foxhunter – I’ve been wanting to go to Matt Tebbutt’s pub in Monmouthshire for ages, and combining a quality meal with an afternoon’s foraging sounds like my idea of a good day out.

9.Dualit Coffee Grinder – getting my coffee fix at Kaffiene at the weekends is tricky, so this burr grinder would get Square Mile or Monmouth coffee beans perfectly ground for my morning cup.

10. Neal’s Year Cheese – Christmas and cheese go hand in hand, and although this New Traditionals selection doesn’t have a Stilton, it would be a welcome, if not slightly smelly, addition under the tree.

The Pleasures Of English Food

Sunday, September 19th, 2010

I picked up this awesome little book called The Pleasures of English Food last weekend. Less of a cookery book, and more of a celebration on Britain’s clunary heritage, it’s part of Penguin’s English Journeys series, and was written by the late, great Alan Davidson, author of biblical Oxford Companion to Food.

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The blurb on the back does it much more justice than I ever could, so I’ve transcribed it for you lucky people. “Stargazey pie, Cheshire cheese, toffee apples, fish and chips, Sussex pond pudding, Cumberland sausages, pasties, gingerbread, dumplings and Cox’s orange pippins are just some of the edible delights in this gorgeous celebration of English food from across the country and its history. From the etiquette of afternoon tea to the origins of mince pies, from the best way to eat Stilton to how to cook a proper Yorkshire pudding, here are both well-loved favourites and unsung heroes from the nation’s mouth-watering heritage”.

Well worth a look if you come across it.

Local Hero #15 The Regency Café

Wednesday, September 15th, 2010

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The Great British Fry Up is a thing of beauty when done right, and probably one of the most disappointing food experiences when it’s cocked up. These days the classic fry up at a ‘greasy spoon’ has increasingly been replaced by the ‘posh’, expensive version served in gastro pubs and the like, and many of the old school cafés have gone with it. Earlier in the year, an old favourite caff of mine, Rossi’s in Spitalfields, closed its doors after 50 plus years of serving happy punters. A sad day.

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T&T #1 – Great British Food’s Lancashire Hot Pot

Tuesday, June 8th, 2010

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As mentioned in a previous post, I’ve been looking at new features to add to Hand To Mouth. My friend Dazzler suggested I try re-creating recipes from weird and wonderful books, which I thought was a great idea. This first ‘Tried & Tested’ post fits more into the latter category, as it comes from a rather lovely new cookery book called ‘Great British Food‘.

Put together by the guys behind the brilliant Canteen mini chain of restaurants, this Lancashire Hot Pot stays true to their ethos of cooking gutsy, tasty, good quality, British grub. The recipe calls for leg mutton, which I couldn’t get hold of at the time of cooking, so instead I used shoulder of lamb.

The recipe takes a bit of prep, but once you get going it’s pretty easy, and it tastes reet good.

Ingredients (serves 6)

50g butter

250g onions, sliced

1kg boned leg of mutton, 3-4cm dice

150g carrots, sliced

10g fresh thyme, leaves picked

3 bay leaves

700g floury potatoes (Maris Piper), peeled ad thinly sliced

500ml meat stock

100ml meat stock

Salt and black pepper

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