Day two of me pulling my finger out is another local hero from our stay in New York late last year, and trades the buttery crusts of pies for another American obsession. Barbecue.

I’ve wanted to visit Fette Sau since I read about it three or four years ago. Last time I was in New York, I failed to get my ‘cue on, so this time I vowed not to fly home without coating my face in barbecue sauce.

Tucked away down a side alley in Williamburgh, Brooklyn, Fette Sau is a temple to meat. The walls are adorned with scrawlings of different cuts of various four legged beasts, knives hang behind the bar, the white tiled walls are all butcher shop, and they sell their wares by weight as opposed to portion, which is great from a trying everything point of view. It also exposed the tactical eaters we overheard rejecting anything on the bone as it’s “…dead weight, man…”, which means no ribs, which is crazy right??

I wanted to try as much as I could, so after much deliberation I pulled together what I figured would be a killer selecta. Black Angus Brisket, Spicy Berkshire Pork Sausage, Pulled Berkshire Pork Shoulder, Duroc baby Back Ribs, Burnt-End Baked Beans and some green stuff to keep my digestive system alive. Now I was pretty pleased with the ribs that I made earlier in the year, but this was some next level business. The words that follow are not going to do what I ate justice, because I loved every friggin’ mouthful so much, but here’s a taster.

Brisket. Dense, smoky, tender with a wicked spiced and charred crust. Spicy Berkshire Pork Sausage. Almost like a Polish smoked sausage, porky, moist with a kick at the end. Pulled Berkshire Pork Shoulder. Just how I like it; not drenched in vinegary liquor, slightly sticky, smokey and nicely spiced. Duroc baby Back Ribs. Sweet, sticky, meaty, again nicely spiced with a great barbecue crust, just like a good rib should be. Burnt-End Baked Beans. Wow. Possibly the best thing I ate. Sweet, tangy, with flavour deeper than the San Andreas Fault, enhanced with a bit of a chilli kick and little hunks of pork. I’d go back just for the beans alone. Insane. You know what broccoli, chilli and garlic tastes like, and you’ll be going for the meat, so I’m not even going to bother.

I’ve made myself really hungry by reminiscing about that meal, so I need to go and eat something before I start dousing my laptop in Tabasco, but needless to say, I can’t recommend Fette Sau highly enough. It won’t be to everybody’s taste, and in my mind barbecue is something that you’ve got to be in the mood for, bit if you have got a hankering for it, and you’re in New York, or indeed North America, get yourself down there.

Apologies for the radio silence. It’s almost been a week since I finished the course at the SFBI, and I’ve been enjoying a few well earned days off. I’ve got a bunch more posts in the bank to write, so if I can pull my finger out, I’ll get to these very soon. AND I’ve also got exciting news about some work experience that I’ve hopefully lined up here for the next couple of weeks.

But back to this week. It was something lurking in my in my in-box on Wednesday that has tempted me back to Wordpress, and that was the launch of the new Big Apple Hot Dogs site. I mentioned it briefly in this post, but I worked with the very talented chaps over at Nation on the site before I left for California.

I helped out with some thoughts on the design direction and food branding in general, and wrote the copy, and it’s great to see it all come to life, in particular the dog-sliding-into-bun animation (parallax scrolling, bitchez). Sweeeeeet!

If you’re ever in the vicinity of Old Street, and you want to treat your taste buds to something a little bit special, you really should go and pay BAHD a visit. Abiye, the guys who runs it, is not not only a thoroughly nice bloke, but he’s got the skills to pay the bills in a quality line-up of meaty treats developed with his secret weapon ‘The Sausage-Meister’, a butcher operating out of an equally secret location in London. I’ve also got love for the man because, like me, he used to have a desk job working for a big corporation, and decided that there was more to life, and Big Apple Hot Dogs is the result.

Anyways, go and have a look at the site and then go buy a dog. It’s that simple.

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.

So when you find a cafe that nails the classic British Fry Up, it’s something to be cherished. And The Regency Cafe in Pimlico / Victoria is one of those places. It’s definately in the mould of a ‘greasy spoon’, but it’s much more than that, and there’s not a deep fried sausage in sight.

Even from the outside you can tell The Regency is a special place. It’s has a really classic deco look to it, decked inside and out in original Edwardian tiles, gingham half curtains in the window, and according to the date above the door it’s been going since 1946. You have to place your order before you sit down, don’t test the regulars by taking a seat when you arrive, and there’s plenty to choose from on the menu from egg and chips to liver and bacon.

We opted for the breakfast special with a side of the much neglected bubble & squeak and a typical British caff ‘frothy coffee’. The breakfast came with egg, bacon, sausage, tomatoes, two toast and the bubble. The egg was fried to perfection, the bacon thickly sliced and delicious, and the meaty, herby sausage (Lincolnshire I think) was one of the best I’ve had at breakfast. The bubble was great too, especially when drenched in egg yolk. In fact the only thing I regret was getting tinned tomatoes instead of grilled / fried. But you live and learn.

In terms of atmosphere, the place is more like an American diner than a traditional British caff. It’s got a real buzz about it, and the guy who bosses the till calls out the orders in this great, booming voice. We arrived at about a quarter past ten on Saturday morning, and pretty much as soon as we’d placed our orders and sat down, there was a queue out of the door.

The regency is a real gem, and I hope it keeps going strong for years to come. They also serve a dinner menu from 4 till 7pm, but I’ve never been there after breakfast time. Go and check it out.

“As far as I’m concerned, the sausage is just about man’s noblest creation. It is a wonder (or should be), a perfect piece of design, elegant and economical…Sausages are classless, as acceptable on the table of the royal family as on that of the Royle family. Is there anyone who does not smile at the sight of a sausage? Who’s mouth does not salivate just a bit at the thought of that first bite?”

So in honour of the banger and British Sausage Week, here’s a recipe for a warming and tasty sausage casserole. It’s a bit of a French remix of a Delia recipe, and is the perfect dish for this time of year.

Ingredients

6 good quality Toulouse sausages

4 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped

150 g lardons

15 shallots, peeled

1 large carrot, peeled and chopped

250 g chestnut mushrooms

500 ml French red wine

Bay leaves x 2

1 large red chili

Sprig of rosemary and thyme, finely chopped

1 tablespoon redcurrant jelly

1 heaped teaspoon of flour, dijon mustard and butter (to make a roux)

Ground black pepper

Method

Put some olive oil in a heavy bottomed pan and brown off the sausages, being careful not to puncture their skin. Once you’ve done this, remove them from the pan, set aside, and then add the lardons. Fry them off for a minute or so before adding the garlic, shallots and chopped carrot. After a couple of minutes add the mushrooms, chili and herbs to the pan and sweat off for 5 minutes or so.

Next, add the red wine and bring up to a gentle simmer, before adding the redcurrant jelly. Return the sausages to the pan, turn the heat down and put a lid on. Simmer for around half an hour. After 30 minutes, take off the lid and simmer for another 10 or 15 minutes or so to reduce some of the cooking liquid.

While the casserole is reducing, make the roux by mixing the flour, mustard and butter together. Once you’ve got a good paste together, add it to the casserole and whisk in. The roux will thicken the sauce as well as adding a bit of flavour, and as soon as it’s dissolved, you’re ready to chow.

Eat with a big, fluffy pile of mash. That’s an order.

Back to New York, if only briefly, for a quick bit about what might be my favourite place to eat breakfast in the World. Serious claim I know, but Williamsburgh’s Egg is amazing. So amazing in fact that the New York visit prior to this one I think we had breakfast there 3 times out of the 5 days we were there. We only managed twice this time, but if I lived in the neighborhood I’d have to stop myself eating here every bloody day of the week.

Egg is a really unassuming place tucked on a little side road off Bedford Avenue in Williamsburgh. It’s light years away from the city’s brash diners (that I also love) and has a really relaxed almost ‘hippyish’ atmosphere. The owners have their own little farm on the outskirts of New York state, which supplies as much produce to the restaurant as possible. I’m not 100% sure how long it’s been open, but probably around 2 years. It’s open all day, serving breakfast / brunch until the evening when the menu becomes a bit more substantial. I’ve not eaten there in the evening, but I’ve heard it’s good.

My absolute favourite thing on the menu is a dish called ‘Eggs Rothko’. I’m not sure if it’s named after Mark Rothko, but it’s a whole lot tastier than his paintings (IMHO). At the heart of the dish is a kind of remix of eggy bread. A thick slice of toasted brioche with a hole cut in the middle is popped in a frying pan, and then an egg is fried in the hole. They then top the bread with a grated, tangy mature cheddar and slide it under a grill until the cheese bubbles. I know it sounds pretty insane, but when you slice open the bread and the yoke of the egg oozes out, you know you’re in the presence of breakfast greatness.

They serve it with your choice of meat or seasonal greens. I always opt for the sausage, which is a little different to the sausages you get with a fry up in the UK. They are basically little sausage meat patties which are flavoured with chili and fennel. Spicy and seriously tasty, and they work really well with the eggy bread.

I wish I was there now.

To cut a long story short, there’s a guy called Doug who makes the most amazing speciality hot dogs that come in a bewildering and surprising array of flavours. And when I say bewildering, I mean it. Pork, duck, lamb, beef, weisswurst, bratwurst, veal, rattlesnake, vegetarian…I could go on. Doug’s place is pretty much in the middle of nowhere, so if you’re an un-escorted newbie, you can pretty much forget about finding it (we were lucky enough to have a couple of willing guides). But, despite the location, the place is RAMMED every day. It’s open between 11am and 4pm, and there’s a queue pretty much from opening to closing.

Photo: MSN

When we got there at about a quarter to twelve, there were already a lot of people waiting. It took us about an hour to make it through the doors  and get a look at the wall mounted menu and specials, but when we did I nearly exploded with excitement. After much debate, my girlfriend and I decided to get 4 to share between us. We went for a duck and fois gras, a merguez and goats cheese, veal and pork weisswurst, and a classic Chicago dog (all pictured).

First up the duck. Now I was fully expecting this to be a gimmick, but I could’nt have been further from the mark. You could taste everything. The duck and fois gras in the sausage, the fois gras mousse on top, and the insane truffle and garlic mayo. Every bite was ridiculous. Too sickly to nail another, but amazing.

Next up the weisswurst. Again a taste sensation. The tangy apple and pork meat in the sausage was well seasoned and wrapped in this creamy mustard and parsley sauce. Then a nice bit of tangy, peppery horseradish cheese finished it off with style.

The traditional Chicago dog was probably the least impressive of the four, but still damn tasty. Your classic frank dog accompanied with fried onions, mustard, tomato, a slab of pickle and a kind of atomic green relish. When in Rome and all that.

Finally the merguez. One of my favourite sausages of all time. This baby came served up with a kind of smokey chipotle sauce that was a cross between a mayo and a gravy , and was topped with this amazingly fluffy and light goats cheese. Again you could taste all the flavours, and the cheese cooled down the chili kick of the sausage and sauce. Phenomenal.

It’s not hard to see why people get evangelical about Hot Doug’s. It’s one of those proper institutions that specialise in one thing, and nails it time after time. It’s also fun and completely unpretentious. In the UK a place like Doug’s would probably fall out of favour as soon as it ceased to be fashionable, which is a great shame as I feel England’s restaurant scene would be a lot richer if there were more of the local neighborhood heroes of the kind I’ve written about in the past few posts.

I’ve always liked the idea of starting a local sausage restaurant, maybe there’s a gap in the market?