Food food food

Some archive foodiness

Still Cooking

Haven't posted for a while, but still cook. Must get some more pics on here.

First of the late season raspberries, now in the freezer for jam making later in the year 

Pulled Pork - UK version

Pull the other one --- Pulled Pork

All of a sudden everything is pulled. Pork, beef, lamb, plonkers, chains, even chicken. What is all this about other than a marketing ploy? Well it seems it's real food, imported from the US. Thought it looked tasty, but have you seen those US Recipes? all Butts, cups, broiling  & alternative meanings of Barbecue. And Liquid smoke. So this page is my English version. 

I first bought a 2 kilo/4lb pork shoulder joint, neck end, bone in, (from our splendid local butcher, S J langton in Glenfield, who tells me this cut is called the  "Spring".  -  I have a "stove top smoker" which works well in an oven. - Started off on stove top to get my mix of hickory and apple wood chips smoking    

Left it on on the stove top until it stops smoking, about ten minutes. Now, how long for cook for, and at what temperature. The suggestion, averaging out from various websites was  four hours at 250f (That's 130c/Gas 1/2), so that's what I did - the result of that was very nice roast pork, but wasn't going to be pulled anywhere. So two more hours,  and then two more. No luck. I'd prepared a marinade from beer/honey/tomato puree/Worcester sauce/paprika etc.  So I put that, and the pork into an electric slow cooker, on low, and left in overnight,  a further nine hours. At last the pork fell off the bone into the shreds that one sees illustrated. I left it (refrigerated) in the marinade until warming it up the next day.  Again, no idea how this was supposed to taste, but it was moist, slightly smoky and very pleasant.

Variation on a theme of Chicago Deep Pan Pizza - UK Version

Variation on a theme of Chicago

A colleague mentioned that she missed traditional Chicago style pizza. I'd never heard of such a thing, but now understand that it is quite different to anything else - -deep, in a flan style, crunchy+flaky, and filled in reverse. - So the "flan" is first filled with cheese, and tomato topping goes on top. - With any other additions on top of that. So this is my variation.

The pastry/dough is quite different to anything else I've experienced, sort of half dough, half flaky pastry, and including cornmeal for crunch.

The yeast dough is left to rise, then spread with butter, rolled up like a Swiss roll, formed to a ball, the rolled out again, and - then put in whatever deep tin is to hand,

Probably poison to Pizza purists, in the absence of a really hot Pizza oven I often bake blind for 10 mins r so to get a crispy head start. Then bung in the cheese, in this case loads of cheddar and mozzarella, spread the tomato goo on top and bake away until I think it's done.
I've no idea how like the real thing this is, but in its own right it was very tasty and popular with my guests.

Gooseberry Jam

It's Summer so it's jam time

 

What else to do with a kilo of gooseberries?

2015 Food

It's 2015!

It's not that I've not been cooking since November but nothing much new. So here's some stuff.

 

 

 

It would be rash of me to say that supermarkets sell rubbish bacon, and rasher still to say that most customers don't realise it. So it was a pleasure to find Morrison's  Savers Streaky bacon was marvellous. And gloriously, it was more than a millimetre thick and had rind on it

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Similarly Supermarket Strawberries
 



However these aren't from a Supermarket, but from a Localmarket. But a bit early in the season for succulent sweetness, so sugar and cream necessary.

 

And then There's curry

 

 

Un-coloured tandoori style chicken and pork in a dark sauce.

 

Some Pies are round--

 

 

Chicken and Mushroom

 

And --

 

Some pies are Squared

 

 

 

One of those shepherd's cottage things

 

Enough of squares and circles, let's try a new angle

 

Fish Pie 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Bakewell Pudding etc

 

Autumn Update

and about time too

 

Don't do that many Desserts, but this Bakewell pudding deserves a mention

 

 

 

 Autumn Mince Biryani

 

 

Cottage pie and sprouts

 

 

 

 Curry!

 

 

 

Nylon Dhokla (Really ---)

 

 

Big Curry





 

 

 Moroccan Style --

 

 

 Pea Sooooooooooop

 

Steak Pie

 

Back to the cottage

 



Two curries and rice

--in real time. No editing, - Chetinad and sambar/dal style curries

Entirely Non-Authentic Pizza

Pizza dough made in bread maker on the no bake setting. (500g Flour, tsp yeast/sugar/salt +  300mm water.) Rolled/pummelled out to fit baking tray, them baked without topping for ten mins. Turn it over and spread on the tomato stuff (two thirds tomato puree to one third green pesto approx) Olives on next so they don't roll off, cover in grated cheese of choice, strong cheddar in this case, then layer on the pepperoni, and cook for another ten minutes or so. Probably serves four

And Next, curry again

A red lentil base, (boiled until  soft then whizzed to a puree. Onions fried separately until golden, a couple of cloves of chopped garlic fried too. Add samba style spices - , amchur. black salt, turmeric and a bit of chilli all fried in, then chopped chicken added, the lentil mix poured over and simmer away for 20 mins or so to make sure the chicken is cooked and the sauce reduced a bit. Stir in some tamarind paste. Then the fun bit. Heat a few tablespoons or more of oil until very hot,  then fry for a few seconds  mustard seeds, more chopped garlic, black cumin seeds and a few curry leaves, pour that all into the mix, and finally add a tablespoon of vinegar to taste.