Allez Les Bleus!

A couple of years ago the beautiful wife and I spent a very pleasant week in Paris. On the last day we stopped for lunch in a little brasserie just north of Place de la Concorde. We ate well, as we had done all week but the thing I remember about the meal was the two young women who sat at a table near us. They were sixteen or seventeen and were clearly on a shopping trip as teenagers the world over do. The memorable thing about these two was the way in which they were perfectly comfortable with the restaurant environment. They were at ease chatting with the waiter and they both ordered Pate du jour and Confit of Duck to follow. There was no affectation or showing off, this was all perfectly perfectly natural to them. How many sixth formers (16,17 and 18yr olds for those who don't speak UK education system) would have this level of food maturity? How many would eat a meal that required an knife and fork? How many would eat a two course meal in a restaurant full of adults?
I'm sure the answer to these questions from a lot of people would be "a few" or "my children are like that" but the truth is "not very many."
There is a grave risk that, in the subtle and quiet food revolution that is taking place in the UK, we might miss out on helping the younger members of society to appreciate the joy of civilised dining - yes, I'm talking about turning off the mobile phone and holding a conversation! If we do not move away from the burgers and nuggets, which are the default position of most of us when out and about then we will have nobody to hand the baton of this amazing food revolution on to.
I look forward to the day when two young women, out on a shopping trip to Oxford Street, stop for a lunch and don't head straight for a shinning edifice of a multinational, fast food outlet and instead find themselves a small restaurant with has individuality, soul and cutlery.
On the subject of Confit of duck, my recipe is below. Everyone thinks this is really complex and "chefy" - its really not!

Confit of Duck
Duck legs (1 per person)
Fat (it should be duck or goose fat but few people are that rich, I use lard) enough, when melted, to cover the duck legs.
Salt

Sprinkle the legs with salt all over and place them all in a bowl leave in the fridge for 6 hours. Pre heat the oven to 150 degrees. Heat the fat in an oven proof casserole on the hob. Brush the salt off the legs and slide them into the fat. Cover the casserole and place in the oven for and hour and a half. Take the casserole out of the oven and allow it to cool at room temperature so that the fat all sets.
At this point it is worth reminding ourselves that this is a method of preserving food and this casserole or earthenware pot would, in the past, have been left in the larder and used weeks later. I'm not sure how long it is safe to keep it at cellar temperature so I tend to put mine in the fridge.
About 45 minutes before you want to use your confit heat the casserole over the hob and lift out the duck legs and wioe them clean of residual fat. Place them on a roasting tray place this in a hot oven for 25 - 35 minutes until the skin is dark brown and crispy and the flesh is moist and falling off the bone. For a Parisienne lunch serve with a crisp salad and matchstick chips. For dinner I tend to serve with crushed garlic potatoes and a red wine reduction sauce and seasonal vegetables.


  

Foodie Saturday!

The Beautiful Wife is on a residential course and I have been left to fend for myself! This usually means that I purchase an heroic quantity of mussels and a piece of long aged, rump steak the size of Wales. I should probably point out at this stage that my favourite solitary meal is not a feast of celebration, its simply that the Beautiful Wife doesn't particularly like steak and dislikes mussels so its the one chance I get to enjoy these two treats.
On Saturday I travelled in from the Chiltens to spend a foodie day in London. Borough Market was every bit as good as I remember it though getting there early was very sensible as by noon it was humming with humanity.
I moved up to the West End, found an interesting Japaneese supermarket and then wandered up to Marylebone for a few treats from La Fromagerie, then onto a train home to eat.
The treats in my bag on my return included some mishapes from Artisan du Chocolate (The liquid salted caramels were emotional), three lovely dried sausages from the guys at Cannon and Cannon (purveyors of really good dried and cured meats from the UK) and a small tin of the most fiery Wasabi I have ever encountered.
I made bread yeasterday ('see what I did there). My usual white loaf and a batch of burger buns for tonight's burgers.
My new Sourdough ferment is not yet up to speed though for the first time I'm using Spelt flour to add some interesting character - My first loaf (which, by legend, should be a disaster) will be out of the oven on Thursday.
Tonight the experimentation with burgers begins - more later..       

I'm back and I'm angry...

We are hungry.
How on earth can a nation with a "top ten" economy honestly call itself civilised when we have large numbers of people needing to go to Foodbanks in order to feed themselves and their children? The Foodbank movement headed up by such groups as the Trussell Trust is a lifeline to over 100,000 people in the UK and they are doing an amazing job but there is no joy to be found in the necessity of such organisations. How dare we allow the nation's children to go to bed hungry? There will always be those in society that do not have the ability to feed their children, however, the numbers of people having to face the very difficult decision to ask for help are so high that this cannot be a problem of some "under class."
If this is the "Big Society" then I, for one, am hungry for a different philosophy.

If you place the terrifying statistics about hunger next to the disgraceful numbers associated with food wastage in the UK then you have to wonder whether some kind of collective insanity has taken over the whole population.

We are at once greedy (check the national obesity figures if you doubt this), and reticent to talk about the food issues that face us as a nation. Jamie Oliver goes into school and highlights the problems and years later we are worried about a Primary School Child photographing and writing about her daily lunch in what was, largely, a very positive blog.
As a nation we demand such great "value" for our weekly shop that we have lost all sense of our own values. We pick up milk at a similar price to water and don't register the fact that it costs a farmer more to produce than he is paid.
In short we are hungry for change; genuine, positive, sustainable change in the food industry.

Its safe now, the rant is over - you can come out from behind the sofa.

The beautiful wife gave me Richard Bertinet's book Pastry for our anniversary earlier this month and, as with all his books, its almost impossible to read without reaching for ingredients and beginning to cook. So far I have cooked:

1. Plum tart- Puff pastry, (yes, I made my own!) franzipan mixed with creme patisserie, and plums from our veg box. (Based on a Apricot Tart recipe).
2. Pork Pies - Hot water Crust, a mixture of bacon, pork belly and shoulder, sage, nutmeg, and a jelly with added sherry.

Brewing up a storm.

Those who know me well will know that I gave up alcohol for 10 months last year and since then I have not drunk anywhere near the volume that I was for most of my adult life. The interesting thing is that I now enjoy the drinks I have much more than I did previously. I have also become very choosy when it comes to what I am drinking. I linger at the beer section, umming and aghing at the selection now available and look forward to tasting the beer I buy rather than just drinking it.
It was during one of these decision making exercises that I spotted a couple of beers from a company called BrewDog. 5AM Saint (an amber ale, full flavoured malty and topped off with the most amazing fruity, floral top notes.) and Punk IPA (described as a "post modern classic pale ale") were both superb handcrafted, complex and delicious.
Apart from the superb quality of their products, the thing which appealed to me most about this 5 year old company was the attitude of their marketing. They are unashamedly angry about the quality of mass produced, establishment beers, they describe themselves as "pure punk." In their own words "BrewDog is a modern day rebellion against faceless corporate bureaucracy and the bland, soulless beer they industrially produce"
Their website www.brewdog.com is a testament to this irreverent attitude.
In many ways I am very "establishment" and not a fan of negative promotional campaigns but we need many more companies in the ethical food movement like this. Its no longer good enough just to produce a great ethical, artisan or unique product; we need some serious anger in the marketing of these great products. We also need to get angry as consumers and stop settling for the bland, the over industrial, the globalised and the boring food and drink products that have been sold to us as the norm for the last few decades.
In conclusion, I quote again from the mass of vitriol supplied in all of BrewDog's copy - "BrewDog is about breaking rules, taking risks, upsetting trends, unsettling institutions but first and foremost, great tasting beers"
Amen to that!

Aaaaaagh!

I am incandescent with rage, I sit here stuttering with a combination of disbelief and fury. "So what's the matter, Cook?" I hear you ask. Therein lies a short tale.
We get a half dozen eggs delivered every Wednesday from the wonderful folks at Rent-a-Hen. We have been getting eggs from Anita and John since we moved out here. The concept is that you rent a hen from them. You don't actually get a hen but you are guaranteed 6 beautiful free range eggs every week. We used to collect them, but as their business has grown they now deliver and we rush home on Wednesday to scrambled eggs. I cannot recommend this company enough, they are exactly what the ethical food movements are all about.
"So" I hear you say again "What is the matter?"
Well, It appears that some lunatic has decided that you cannot now re-use egg boxes as it carries a cross infection risk. What are these imbeciles thinking? People have been taking egg boxes back for refilling for decades and I can find no incidence of contamination. Yes, yes I know the shell of an egg is porous but really people, get a grip. This will add cost to food production and will increase the need for re-cycling which is much more expensive than re-using. The only consolation is that most cardboard of this type is compostable.
I sometimes wonder if there hasn't been a release of gas over the offices of these bureaucrats. I shall, however, continue to enjoy amazing eggs this Easter with a clear conscience and only a little bit of anger at the lunacy.

Roast alternative.

When one cooks for many people the idea of a "Sunday Roast" is a simple affair. One buys a flipping huge lump of Beef, Pork or Lamb and applies heat. A short while later everyone at the table starts oohing and aghing as the said lump of flesh is served. When there are only two of you this becomes extremely difficult. Roasting meat is a strange thing - in order to be really delicious a joint of meat has to be be a considerable size, little pieces of meat simply dry up and turn to leather. This leaves the gourmet couple with a dilemma - miss out on the glory that is a full roast dinner or find yourself eating cold cuts for a week after the roast.
Don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of the cold cut and, in the interests of food efficiency, if we cook it we should eat it; but eating Roast Lamb followed by Shepherds pie, followed by lamb curry followed by Hot Pot can all get a tad samey.
The following recipe is a antidote to this sad situation and provides a remarkably inexpensive roast dinner for two.

Stuffed Chicken Legs
Two (free range, high animal welfare) chicken legs.
Two sausages (I've used Toulouse, but any high quality ones will do)
Two rashers of free range,dry cure, streaky bacon (smoked if you like)

Take all of the bones out of the legs from the inside of the leg. This will take a short time as it does take practice but its worth the extra few minutes, just keep going with little cuts till the bones come away. Make sure you keep the skin on. Level out any of the flesh. Take the sausage meat out of the skins and put about one third of each sausage on the drumstick end and the rest on the thigh end and wrap up the legs again. Secure the thigh end by wrapping bacon around it and, if necessary secure the drummer with a cocktail stick. Tuck the skin in if there is any overlapping. Roast in a medium hot oven for about 45 minutes. Allow to rest for about 10 minutes, slice into about 5 pieces and serve with all your usual trimmings.

Lamb course

Last Monday I attended a course of Lamb butchery at the Ginger Pig. For those of you who don't know of the Ginger Pig it is the most amazing butchers in the UK. What started as a bit of a hobby for Tim Wilson became a business and now sets the standard in terms of animal welfare and husbandry. They not only provide beautiful meat but taking it from field to plate ensures that they control the process.
The course was great fun with Perry and Borat guiding us through the anatomy, butchery and cooking of lamb. We each boned and rolled a shoulder to take home. The evening finished with a feast of lamb shoulder with mashed potatoes, followed by bread and butter pudding laced with chocolate. It was a great evening and my second of these courses - I've already started saving for the Beef course, or maybe I'll do the sausage making evening.
The message from successful ethical meat businesses such Ginger Pig is clear: Eat less meat, eat better meat and expect to pay a fair price for it.