The War On Cookbooks

Slow cooked Lamb Shoulder. How Slow ? How Low ?

The phrase 'low and slow' has become something of a buzzword in home cooking over the past decade and ever since the rise and rise of food costs 3 years ago nothing could be more fashionable.

Gone now are the halcyon days of fillet steak and pan fried duck breast in flavour of the more modern penny pinching cuts such as cheek and leg. Cheaper cuts maybe, but with awesome depth of flavour. Something michelin starred cuisine has known for some time now. Why is it that people will pay between £25 + on a piece of meat that costs less than a £2.50 and yet supermarkets apparently cant shift them in enough bulk to make it worth their while ?

Things do seem to be improving however, I noted pigs trotters in waitrose the other day and pork belly is now readily available. How long will it be before we see pigs heads and bone marrow ? ...Fingers crossed.

So what is the secret of these tougher cuts of meat. Why are they so flavorsome and how do we maximize that flavour ? 

The main differences between a cheaper cut and a prime cut are the connective tissues, the collagen (the primary protein in connective tissues) and the fat content. Prime cuts of beef are mostly free from connective tissues and collagen. When you fry a piece of tough meat the fatty sinus tighten up and shrink the meat and the collagen doesn't have long enough to break down and dissolve. So what your left with is a nasty piece of tough cooked meat. 

On a prime cut the fat is thin and nicely marbled and enhances the flavour of the meat without you having to chew though big chunks of fat. On cheaper cuts what you have is basically big chunks of fat which need to be rendered somehow. 

So in order to cook the meat properly we need to render all these things down.

Most people just cook the shit out of them, which makes perfect sense given that traditional rational says you need to cook them at high temperatures in order for all these nasties to melt. Stew, roast or braise any of these will do the trick. The connective tissues given a long enough timeline and a high enough heat will eventually break down and leave you with a succulent flavorsome feast.

So thats it then ? That's all we need to do or know ?...well not quite. 

While cooking at high temperatures (and by high I'm talking anything over 100oC) we loose a great deal of the products weight. The meat itself becomes dryer and eventually a little tough. When we cook using any method (except microwave cooking, which I think we can ignore) the heat is conducted through the meat from the outside to the inside. Meaning that whenever we reach our perfect medium rare in the centre of the cut, the outside will have already exceeded that temperature by a long way, and lost a lot of moisture in the process. So in effect even the most perfect roast will have some areas that are less than perfect and the bigger the cut the bigger the imperfection. This is not to say that its bad to cook this way or wrong on any level but it can be improved upon if that's your bag.

Truth is cooking anything above 70oC will result in some moisture loss. Collagen on the other hand we are told rapidly dissolves at 90oC and begins dissolving at 70oC. Which leaves us with the problem that in order for us to melt the collagen we must cook at temperatures that make moisture loss unavoidable. 

Luckily thats not the case at all. Collagen actually begins shrinking somewhere between 50 and 70oC and given a long enough time line will eventually dissolve. Also Chemicals in the collegian once broken down apparently start tenderizing the meat giving an even better result. 

The last bit of the puzzle however is one less concerned with meat quality and more concerned with health and safety (dull dull dull, I know). 

At any temperatures below 60oC we a faced with the dreaded danger zone temperatures. Meaning that if we want to cook our meat safely we are only allowed in this zone for less than 4 hours (1 hour if your being ultra safe). Which is hardly long enough to cook a rump steak at these temperatures never mind a whole shoulder. 

Personally, given a good enough meat I'd happily cook at 56oC, which I'v cooked at before for a 72 hour veal shoulder. As long as I pan fried the outside afterwords I'd happily take the risk (which I have to say isn't a huge one at all). But assuming you want to play by the rules 63 degrees is perfectly acceptable.

How long do I cook for is the last problem. For this I researched the egullet boards and came to the conclusion that none of them had a clue. The longest anyone had tried was 36 hours and the results seemed to yield only marginally satisfactory results. As I knew my 56oC experiment needed 72 hours I figured I'd just go bang in the middle. So 56 hours it was.  

And this was the result .

The hole you see in the meat was where the shoulder bone just fell out...yes I said fell out. You will notice that not only has the collagen and fat rendered to nothing but the meat is still pink and right the way though . So much in fact you'd think it was pork and no I have not done anything in photoshop except resize it for my blog. 

I know its unlikely that most of you will have the time or equipment to cook this way. Not all of you are stupid enough to have a home sous vide kitchen but it still leaves you with some great knowledge that can be of use even if you don't go to these extremes. Low is anything below 70oC and slow is your whole weekend or indeed maybe your whole week. 

Just while I'm at it however this is one of the things I knocked up with the result. 

Glazed Shoulder with Roast potatoes, Pea and Mint puree and ras el hanout caramel.

It was top.

The Front Line Food Diary (Tuna and Watermelon Tartare)

If Carlsberg were to make snack food it would probably be something like this.

The tuna was simply diced and marinated in a mixture of freshly squeezed orange juice, soy and rice wine vinegar. Don't leave it for too long as you want it raw and the longer you leave it in the citrus juices the longer it gently cooks.

The watermelon you could just chop, but I compressed it first in a vacuum bag on a very high setting and let it rest for a few hours. This changes the structure of the melon entirely making it more like steak tartar. It was then finely chopped with a little salt and olive oil.

To season just a little togarashi and were done. 

My only wish is that tuna become less endangered so I can feel ok buying more in the future. Its a really indulgent treat and I firmly believe I would never get bored shoveling it down my big fat throat.

Christmas Canapé Project part 5

Egg Nog

 

Although I don't think I've ever been near egg nog in all my 30+ years, reading the ingredients I immediately knew what it tasted like. 

Milk, egg, sugar, cream, eggs are mean its basically a crème anglaise with flavoring. Which is fine cause whilst I've never made egg nog or tasted it, I've made and eaten crème anglaise in vast quantities. Sometimes I drink it straight up...I know disgusting, right ? but it's still an improvement over my old habit of drinking condensed milk straight out of the can. In 1000 years I may evolve to just having a refreshing glass of milk but don't hold your breath.

So I decided to start with a base crème anglaise infused with nutmeg. I did this in a water bath ( I know boring, right ?)  but it can easily be done the standard way. Just chop of a bit of nutmeg and let it infuse in the pan. Cover with some cling film whilst cooking and leave covered once cool and leave over night for best results. 

In addition to this I slow cooked and egg at 65oC for exactly 45 mins. Not a minute more or less. The result was this.

The runny white simply falls off and you are left with a perfectly cooked yolk soft on the inside but strong enough so you can throw it about a bit.

In order to do this you need a good fresh egg. Supermarkets are fine in fact I found the best ones at sainsburys in the end. 

To tell how fresh your egg is simply look at the best before date. The date is there not because the egg goes bad on that date but because the egg has a natural immunity to bacteria for 28 days after it is been laid. Meaning that after 28 days you need to put it in the fridge, not chuck it out like my mum does. 

So the date stamp will give you the exact date it was laid. I found one that was laid two day ago. I also found some in my all organic, all singing, all dancing, freshness guaranteed farmers market that were laid 20 days ago...tut tut.

The egg was rolled in a mixture of cinnamon and caster sugar then topped with some icing sugar for decoration. 

The result was fabulous if a little messy to eat. And yes I have already finished of the rest of the creme anglaise, and yes I feel a little sick as a result.

The Front Line Food Diary (Glazed Pork Belly, Wine Poached Apples and a Lemongrass and Thyme Jelly)

I've always found Pork Belly a bugger to do. Although in fairness I hold that down to one thing and one thing only... lack of patience. 

This one was brined for several hours and then cooked low and slow for 12 hours at 82oC. Normally I don't have the time do do that when home cooking. 

The crackling was cooked separately and the pork was finished of in a pan using a reduced stock sauce to glaze it.

I did mean to do a vinaigrette using the poaching liquid. I didn't, so I now have to find the 12 hours to do this baby again. That's not a bad thing.

It's almost there but I feel I need to by those fancy sprouts we use in the restaurant. Really that's all great food is these days, nice plates and those fancy sprouty things. In fact I may stop cooking until I find some.

... ;)

The Front Line Food Diary (Salmon with Beurre Blanc and Confit Fennel)

A Lightly Cooked Fillet of Salmon with Beurre Blanc, Confit Fennel and Yellow Beans.

At first Helen looked pretty satisfied with the ingredients list. We had made a pact to start cooking healthier meals during the week and on the surface this looked just about perfect. Her opinion changed however when she witnessed me making the beurre blanc.

My beurre blanc recipe goes roughly like this 

2 finely diced shallots

Good glass and a half of nice white wine

150ml of white wine vinegar

500-750g unsalted butter (2-3 bars)

salt and pepper

No prizes for guessing which ingredient ruined the pact. 

I owe this recipe to one of my teachers at Tante Marie, its not actually a school recipe but he was a chef at The Waterside Inn  so it's unlikely to be a bad place to start.

Put your shallots in a frying pan with the white wine and reduce rapidly until you get a syrupy consistency (almost nothing left) then do the same with the vinegar. When the vinegar gets to the syrupy stage add the butter in small pieces (one at a time) and whisk with all your might. Only adding new butter when all the previous lot has been fully emulsified. This will take some time and some whisking power. Alternatively you could lower the heat and do it in a more casual fashion, but where's the fun in that ?

If it splits then you can just add a little cold water off the heat and whisk it in. Stop adding butter when it feels and tastes right...season to taste.

You wont be able to keep you sauce for much longer than the day you make it but it will keep at room temperature for some time. When your ready reheat it and maybe add a little more water if necessary. 

In case you are interested the Salmon was cooked in prawn infused oil at 48oC in a water bath and the skin was fried separately. If you don't have a water bath you could do much the same thing if your oven goes down to 50oC. 

If I do it again I would substitute the fennel for something else. It was great by itself but just didn't work well in the dish. It felt like a loud guest at a dinner party. What it had to say could well have been interesting but whatever it was it was distracting you from the rest of the room, so by default became annoying and unnecessary. Something sweet or neutral would have worked much better.

Christmas Canapé Project part 4

Pigs in Blankets

"I cant wait to see what you do for pigs in blankets. I take it your not doing that kind of thing" 

Oh I'm doing it alright, I'm doing it. Chipolatas wrapped in bacon ? Not a chance I'm missing out on that action.

Of course I tampered with the traditional menu somewhat. 

This recipe has taken me a while to do. I originally wanted to do a chipolata terrine but the terrines I had were either too small or too big. So I opted instead to do a Ballotine of sorts. I also wanted a vehicle to use up the leftover turkey legs and this would be perfect. 

First thing I did was to make the sausage mixture. I used the sausage meat from a traditional chipolata sausage and mixed it with chopped water chestnuts, dried cranberries, extra sage, exrta thyme and a little brandy for luck( its turning out that I'm using a lot of brandy in this menu, for which I am 100% unapologetic).  

I seasoned this mixture up and flattened it out into a big rectangle, to which I added some of the turkey leg meat in a line through the middle.

Next I laid out the bacon side by side and flattened it out with the heal of my hand. I rolled the sausage mixture up over the turkey into a "sausage" shape and then rolled it up in the bacon. 

It then took a piece of cling film big enough to wrap the bacon/sausage/thing up in several times and tightly rolled it making sure there are as few air pockets as possible. Then whilst holding the two ends I rolled it on itself so as to tighten up the shape. 

Now you could put this in a bain marie in an oven at 150oC for an hour or so (or lower for longer), or if you have a water bath like I do you can put it in at 65oC for 2 hours. Whatever you do once you have cooked it you need to get it back in the fridge for a good few hours, if not a day. 

What has happened is the fats and juices in the ballotine have run around each other when cooking, mixing together like a fatty, flavourful disco party. When you cool it down these fats rest and congeal and give it structure. So the longer you leave it the more you will be able to play around with it later.

Once its cooled it needs to be pan fried (at a low heat for a reasonable time, start with the join to seal it) to develop the flavour in the bacon and then sliced as thinly as you want it. If it's cold in the middle you might want to oven cook it for a few minutes or cool it down and serve it cold.

I seasoned the slice with Togarashi and salt and presented it on a crostini brushed with sage oil.

This may be a hassle to do but its much more appealing that wrapping a chipolata in bacon and really easy to work with as a canapé.

Only one this time, two still to go. 

I'm working on something to do with egg nog, but I'm not 100% sure I've ever had egg nog. 

The Front Line Food Diary (Mackerel Ceviche Taco with Brûlée Tomato)

A Ceviche of Mackerel with brûlée tomato and a corn taco with avocado and a chili and lime dressing. 

Very rarely do I have in mind a complete dish before I go to the fishmongers. This was one of those times. I love Mexican flavour pairings and I had wanted to do a mackerel ceviche in this way for a while now... I just kept forgetting and getting distracted.

A Ceviche is a common latin american cooking technique using citrus juices to cook the fish rather than heat. When I say cook, the proteins are denatured as are egg proteins when you whisk them well, but as with the eggs any bacteria or other nasty living in the fish will not be destroyed. This means of course you need to be using good quality fresh fish and have good hygiene standards when handling the fish...something you should probably be doing anyway. 

In saying that however don't get to fussy about all this stuff. It is seldom known fact that in over 100 years there has been exactly 0 food poisonings attributed to white fish in the UK. This is attributed to the cold water climate in which they live and breed in. Cold water temperatures low enough so that bacteria do not exist and therefore even when they are removed from the water as long as they are kept reasonably cold there really shouldn't be any issues. Ironically there are bigger issues with fish in Japan than fish in this country. 

Fist thing is to gut and fillet your fish. The best way once you remove the fillet from a mackerel is to cut the fillet into two lengthwise taking out any bones in the middle. The flesh is so soft that pin boning could ruin it. Cut a V shape in the middle of the fillet for best results. 

You then need to lay your fish flesh side down in your marinade. Mine was made from the juice of 4 limes, avocado oil, chopped red onion, salt and some finely sliced chillies. How long you leave it in there is up to you, but the fish will cook in  a matter of minutes rather than hours. Personally I want it in there for a short a period as possible. The braver the better I think.

When you remove the fish you could either take it off the skin or do what I did and burn/cook the skin a little with a blow torch, just enough to crispen it up or fry is in a very hot pan for 2 seconds or so. The skin left as is would be pretty unappetizing, but its a lovely pattern just to throw away. Also the cold raw textured fish with crispy burnt skin is fabulous. Obviously if you want to flake the meat you might as well do that before marinading as it will cook much quicker with a smaller surface area.

To go with this I wanted something fresh and with sweetness to counteract the lime juice and compliment the chili. So I sliced a fresh tomato and coated it in a thick layer of sugar which I burnt like a creme brûlée, hence the name. This was accompanied by a simple avocado sauce made from avocado and cream blended and seasoned and a home made taco (masa mixed with water, pressed and shallow fried in groundnut oil.)

I'm making more of this I can assure you, it is perfect summer food. The marinade in the end needed more salt and a little more chili but was still sublime. I'm dying to try Octopus prepared this way.

TGRWT #18: Plum And Blue Cheese

For a full explanation of They Go Really Well Together have a look at Aidan's blog.

In a nutshell it's a series of seemingly odd flavor combinations that actually should work, looked at from different perspectives by different bloggers and food stuff type people. The other night I fancied joining in. A decision I have mixed feelings about. That's not to say that my experiment was wholly unsuccessful, but with hindsight there were definitely better things I could have done with the ingredients. One would have been to just eat them as they were and save a lot of time.

Cheese and Biscuits (Gorgonzola ice cream on shortbread with a plum and port sauce)

Apologies for the picture quality and poor plating. My camera was playing silly buggers and the ice cream was melting really really fast. I seriously need to invest in an ice cream machine. Normally I would have done the whole thing again but this really wasn't worth the hassle.

The idea of blue cheese ice cream turns out to be nothing revolutionary. When I told Nuno Mendez about it the next day and he instantly pointed me to his own recipe two pages ahead of the one I was working on and after a quick google search turns out Gordon Ramsay's been at it too. The only difference between my recipe and theirs was that instead of sugar I used mild honey. I like honey on my blue cheese so I thought 'what the hell'. Let's face it, I'm making ice cream with blue cheese, honey is hardly going to be the weirdest ingredient on the plate today.

The sauce was made by placing halved plums in a sauce pan filed with port and reducing it all down into a thick syrup and adding some sugar to taste. I wanted to keep the whole ting very simple to get a good grasp of the flavors we we're looking for.

The shortbread biscuits were standard, nothing fancy. Some of them came out a little brown but I probably shouldn't tell you that.

All melting and overcooking taken into consideration it was the taste that mattered above all else. On that note I have to admit I was not exactly blown away. The ice cream on it's own I found quite interesting but nether was I licking my lips or spitting it out in disgust. The only thing that I kept thinking was how much nicer it would have been as a cheese. Helen on the other hand (not a fan a blue cheese) thought it was ok. "The best blue cheese ice cream" she's ever had apparently ? ... Witty darling, witty.

The sauce on the other hand worked really well with it and did in some way make up for the borderline taste of the ice cream. But then again I'm not surprised. I wouldn't think twice about having a plum chutney with my cheese plate and I'd be perfectly at home with glass of port to wash it all down. 

So yes they go well together but no this is not the best example. Maybe it needs tweaking but I'm not sure I'm going waste my energy on it.

One nice combo I did get was using shortbread as a cheese biscuit. In fact the leftover ingredients got hoovered up with a lot more gusto than the dish itself.