127 replies to this topic

[weinoo]

After that, what the hell are you making tomorrow?

[david goodfellow]

When we went to l'Enclume we stayed at the B and B next to the shop in Cartmel. We were recommended the sticky toffee pudding by the B n B owner and by golly it is amazing.

Will you still speak to me now you are famous Mr Crackers

Keep up the good work

[Prawncrackers]

I was definitely in my comfort zone with that meal, i've cooked it many times because we love eating all those dishes. I'm off to sleep now so see you in the morning for some more Cooking with Panda!

[Peter the eater]

At the last minute the lobsters were dispatched, cut into pieces, sprinkled with cornflour, deep-fried, set-aside then stir-fried with Scallion and Ginger, chicken stock etc and served on a bed of soft egg noodles.

Wow. Do you plate all the lobster parts or just the meaty bits?

[YSL]

Those salted duck eggs look IMMENSE! The yolks are very impressive :)

[Prawncrackers]

Will you still speak to me now you are famous Mr Crackers

Keep up the good work

David, you'll have to take a ticket and join the back of line like everyone else

Wow. Do you plate all the lobster parts or just the meaty bits?

Yes, two lobsters and noodles just barely made it onto the that 12" plate. I couldn't really do anything with the presentation, i think i may need a bigger plate for such occasions. I did cut the legs off though but left the heads in as i like to suck on those. The meaty tail bits and claws were offered to my guests first of course.

[Prawncrackers]

Lunch today was the leftovers from last night, chicken and veg. Just microwaved and eaten standing up!

After that, what the hell are you making tomorrow?

Tonight's main of course was always going to be Porchetta style belly pork because I thought I had a nice slab of pork stashed somewhere. But when I looked in the freezer on Tuesday and couldn't find it I remembered I'd actually used it to make pancetta. So yesterday I had to take an unplanned trip to my butcher in Berkswell. Having called ahead alreay I knew he had some available. Berkswell Traditional Farmstead Meats is a wonderful little operation, it really doesn't compromise on the quality of their meat. I've had all sorts of rare-breed pigs from here, Old SPots, Berkshires and Tamworth being the most readily available. Today the belly is from a Tamworth, you can tell by the ginger hair! I also picked up some Berkswell cheese Nickloman and will try some later today. The shop also had some White Park Beef, a massive wing rib, it was mightily impressive looking piece of meat, deep deep crimson and surprisingly well marbled for UK beef. Having never heard of that breed before I enquired about it, Phil the butcher said that it was Britain's oldest native breed and that he only gets it once a year. I looked at it and looked at it again but it was an odd cut, kinda fore-end of the rib almost becoming blade. The shape of it you would roast but as one side you would roast slow and the other fast - it was just too odd. If it was nice fore-end i think I would have snaffled it up and we'd be having beef tonight! I got a couple of freebies too, some pork back fat for salami making and a beef marrowbone. It's makes me laugh that marrow fat is so trendy and people will pay good money in a restaurant for what has always been a giveaway.

I trim the belly up yesterday and marinated the flesh side with garlic, fennel, lemon zest, bay, rosemary, sage, evoo and s&p ready for roasting today:
(My sweet little Nenox parer in pic)

[nickloman]

Wicked, if you want to cook with it Fergus Henderson does a recipe called 'Fennel & Berkswell' which isn't more complicated than it sounds. But I think its too good to cook with, just eat on its own. For those not familiar, its a hard ewes milk cheese with some similarity to pecorino. But better :)

[Prawncrackers]

The first time i came across egullet I was looking for information on sourdough bread, what made me stay was the knife maintenance tutorial. I used to bake a loaf of sourdough every week, it became quite a routine, feeding the starter and making sure it was okay. I did it for about a year until my starter died after I left it out whilst I was on holiday, I haven't baked bread since. To be honest with you though my sourdough was never that good and at the end the starter was getting very vinegary.

But I baked a loaf today, a spelt loaf using quick yeast and it was very nice. It's been a quite low impact day cooking wise - a lot of pottering around because tonight's guests weren't due till 8pm. In fact they came a little early so they nibbled on the bread, some quail eggs and the Berkswell cheese whilst i finished preparing the starter of razor clam linguine. Everyone loved the cheese, it's very reminiscent of Manchego, delicious. The bread came in handy to mop up the sweet briny juices from the pan:







The pork was rolled and roasted for about 3.5 hrs at 170C, the crackling was spectacular. I served it with roast potatoes, grilled chicory and cavalo nero sautéed with my own pancetta:
(Tonight's knife is my most treasured Itou 240mm Gyuto with stag horn handle)







Oh and a bakewell tart too, with clotted cream ice-cream.

[onrushpam]

Dear Mr. Prawncraker,

My dear husband recently enjoyed reading the biography of Sir Winston Churchill and apprised me of the fact Sir Winston's favorite dessert was the Bakewell tart. I utilitzed Google to find out what it is and have promised I would attempt to bake a Bakewell.

I just showed said husband your photos and he said, "You MUST get that recipe! I MUST have that!"

Because I love my husband, I will attempt to make his wish come true. Please help.

With deepest admiration,

The crazy greyhound lady

[Prawncrackers]

Sure thing, you're not the first person to ask me for my recipe for Bakewell tart! I've got the method already written down somewhere...

It's my favourite cake and the only proper dessert that I know how to make without reading a recipe. The following is for a 9inch shallow tin:

I'm sure you know how to make a sweet short pastry but just in case - take 200g plain flour and 100g cold diced butter, use a mixer or rub in by hand. Add 40g sugar then one egg beaten well with a pinch of salt. Form the dough and chill. Roll out and blind bake for 25-30 mins in a 180C oven. Spread a layer of jam (your choice but anything but strawberry is sacrilege!) onto the pastry case in readiness for the batter.

Make the batter by creaming 120g sugar with 120g soft butter, then add 120g ground almonds, 2 eggs & 1 yolk, 1/2 tsp of almond essence and mix well. Incorporate 40g of plain flour at the end. Pour the batter into the pastry case and add some flaked alomnds. Bake for around 50mins at 180C. I think the reason why I remember this recipe so easily is the 120/120/120 ratio of sugar/butter/almond. I liked it warmed a little with a dollop of ice-cream. Good luck with it.

[onrushpam]

Thank you much! I will attempt this at some point in coming weeks. I am SO not a pastry baker. But, I'll give it my best shot. I'll be sure to use strawberry jam (my favorite).

As a quick aside... my all-time favorite meal was one at the home of a friend in Lincs.
I don't remember all the details (lots of wine was consumed), but the high points were roasted partridge, swede, gratin potatoes and a fabulous treacle tart that "burst its dam". Good friends, good food, good wine and much laughter made for a night I'll never forget.

[kayb]

Stunning. I have no words. And it's all gorgeous.

[Chris Amirault]

Can we get a full knife battery photograph with labels? S'il vous plait?

[christine007]

Mr. Prawn I was going to ask, As a first generation American, what do you do as far as typical English food?

[Alcuin]

The pork was rolled and roasted for about 3.5 hrs at 170C, the crackling was spectacular. I served it with roast potatoes, grilled chicory and cavalo nero sautéed with my own pancetta:
(Tonight's knife is my most treasured Itou 240mm Gyuto with stag horn handle)

I'm so glad you made this. I was thinking of trying it out soon, and I wasn't sure rolled up belly alone would do, so I was contemplating wrapping loin with belly. Now that I've seen this, I'll just go with belly by itself-thanks!

Great blog-everything looks fantastic.

(edited for clarity)

Edited by Alcuin, 11 November 2010 - 09:27 PM.

[Pierogi]

I am in *serious* food envy here. And I've been doing some pretty good stuff myself, but this just about takes the cake.

Plus, you do it while you're working and studying. I salute you, Mr. PC !

[nakji]

Right, I'm doing up a pork belly roll like that up for Christmas. How do you get your crackling so glorious? Did you jack the heat up at the end, or did you keep it at 170 C for the whole time?

[Anna N]

Can we get a full knife battery photograph with labels? S'il vous plait?

I second this request -- PLEASE.

[nickrey]

I'm really subject to a lot of roll tying envy. Are they individual ties or those fancy butcher-type rolling looped ties, which I always have problems with.

[Prawncrackers]

Thanks for all the positive comments folks. Back to work today and even though I'm still feel full from last night i've managed to eat four samosas this morning and for lunch! It's traditional around here to them bring in for a birthday or other special occassions. As we are such a big department this morning there were two rounds of full size veggie samosas, and then for lunch there were mini-meat-samosas available. SO I had a couple of them with a little salad and a slice of watermelon.

Mr. Prawn I was going to ask, As a first generation American, what do you do as far as typical English food?

It's game season at the moment and i love cooking with game birds. I think it's very typically English. Unfortunately I've run out of birds in my freezer and haven't been able to stock up recently. Hopefully Harborne market tomorrow will rectify that and I'll be able to cook some up maybe on Sunday. I don't tend to cook other typically English food very often, faggots, hot pot, roasts, stews etc, very substantial stick to your ribs kind of stuff. Sometimes as a treat for my wife as she likes all that kind of stuff but i'm never really too bothered with it.

Right, I'm doing up a pork belly roll like that up for Christmas. How do you get your crackling so glorious? Did you jack the heat up at the end, or did you keep it at 170 C for the whole time?

That piece of pork was really good. You can tell when you buy it whether you need to do anything special to the skin. In this case just by the dry parched feel of it I knew it would crisp up no problem. I did leave it overnight uncovered in the frige whilst it was marinating just to help it along though. When i pulled it out of the oven I thought is was pretty crispy but just to gild the lily a little I put it under the grill for a couple of minutes. That's why you can see the bubbling on the crackling. Looking back it was probably unnecessary and spoilt perfectly smooth mahoganied skin.

Can we get a full knife battery photograph with labels? S'il vous plait?

I second this request -- PLEASE.

Will do when I get home tonight, I'll have to get the wider angled lens out!

I'm really subject to a lot of roll tying envy. Are they individual ties or those fancy butcher-type rolling looped ties, which I always have problems with.

They are the rolling looped ties, I get a much tighter roll that way. I think they are much easier than all those individual ties. I'll have to dig out a video of the technique, once you learn it there's no going back.

Btw, I'm defnitely taking a break today from cooking - Panda needs a rest. Gonna eat the leftovers from last night and relax a little. So please fire away with any more food related questions as I'll be able to answer them more fully today.

[mkayahara]

I'd love to hear more about the quail eggs. Were they just hard-boiled and then peel-and-eat? I've never cooked quail eggs before, but they always look so cute!

[Prawncrackers]

The pack of 18 quail eggs was only £2 at the wholesale market and i only boiled 10 of them them up last night just a a nibble, with a fleur de sel/celery salt dip. I did have a special a plan for them but changed my mind last minute, I still have 8 left and there may still be time to execute it on Sunday... watch this space!

[Anna N]

Sure thing, you're not the first person to ask me for my recipe for Bakewell tart! I've got the method already written down somewhere...

. . . .

Being Derbyshire born and bred I thought it high time I made a Bakewell tart. I would post a photo but I'd want to be sure you are sitting down when you see it! I couldn't find the base to my 9 inch round tart tin so I made it in a rectangular tart tin and then committed a cardinal sin - I used the only jam I had on hand - blueberry !!!!!!!!!!!!

[Prawncrackers]

Sure thing, you're not the first person to ask me for my recipe for Bakewell tart! I've got the method already written down somewhere...

. . . .

Being Derbyshire born and bred I thought it high time I made a Bakewell tart. I would post a photo but I'd want to be sure you are sitting down when you see it! I couldn't find the base to my 9 inch round tart tin so I made it in a rectangular tart tin and then committed a cardinal sin - I used the only jam I had on hand - blueberry !!!!!!!!!!!!

Anna, i'm always sat down when i'm on the forum so let's have a look at your blueberry tart please.

Can we get a full knife battery photograph with labels? S'il vous plait?

I second this request -- PLEASE.

Here you go, this is a photo i took earlier in the year. Left is Shun Cleaver, Right is a Leung Tim Heavy Cleaver made in Kowloon. From top to Bottom is Nenox Parer, Hiro Itou Parer, Global Flexible Boning, Carter HG WHite Steel 160mm Funayuki, Takeda AS 210mm Gyuto, Hiro Itou 240mm Gyuto, Korin Ginsanko Deba, Masamoto KS series 270mm Yanagi, Hiromoto 270mm Gingami Sujihiki. Not in picture is my latest 180mm Misono western deba aka the lobster killer:


We're off out tonight to catch a movie. We didn't fancy eating the leftovers, it was mostly veg anyway so I think we'll have some Fish and Chips instead. Will report back later.

[Pam R]

Is a Bakewell the same as a Frangipane? Seems like the filling is the same but the Frangipane may take liberties replace the jam with fruit or use both.

[Prawncrackers]

Pam, as far as I know the batter is exactly the same as frangipane. Shhh, I won't tell the good folk of Bakewell in Derbyshire that their secret is out if you don't!

Birmingham is right in the middle of the country, you'll struggle to get further from the coast if you tried. You would think a wasteland for our nation's most famous dish - Fish n' Chips. The places you'd assume have England's number one chippy would be Whitby or Cromer or somewhere in Cornwall, not landlocked Brum. But we do, we have officially Englands number one chippy in 2010 - The Great British Eatery. It's fantastic, the incredibly savoury smell of the beef fat that hits you when you enter the shop is almost overwhelming. Why beef dripping? Well as the sign simply says, it just tastes so much better. The batter fries up so much crispier too:




So today has been a no cook day but i'll be back in the kitchen tomorrow. The wife is meeting up with some friends tomorrow night so the opportunity is there to cook a spicier meal. I've taken a couple of things out of the freezer and my buddies are ready for some lip-tingling dishes.

[nakji]

Oh...that's a thing of beauty. Am I right in guessing that their mushy peas are fresh made? And Beef dripping! Is there a noticeable beefy flavour to the fish? I would think it would taste rather like a bit of fish fried in a Yorkshire pudding...

[C. sapidus]

Prawn, great to see you blogging. Gorgeous food, sweet knives, and a wonderful snapshot-sense of Birmingham. I am quite jealous of your ready access to good ingredients.

If you don’t mind the invasion of privacy, I would love to see and hear more about your kitchen. Also, how do you sharpen your knives?

And of course I am looking forward to any lip-tingling food that you care to prepare tomorrow.

[Anna N]

......
Anna, i'm always sat down when i'm on the forum so let's have a look at your blueberry tart please.

So as long as you are sitting down:



I hope my sister who still lives in Derby doesn't ever log on here! Of course, it's not really a Bakewell Tart when you mess with it this much but my husband kept pointing at it indicating "keeper, keeper" with each mouthful. So thank you for the recipe and apologies for riffing off it.