Tempest63

This is definitely one to try at home. I have a freezer full of venison that needs using up so I will try it with that to start off with. T63

There only appears to be one Mrs K M Matthew book on Amazon UK. I have in excess of 150 Indian Cookbooks, most from the U.K. but some sourced from India but, from memory, none by this particular author. https://www.amazon.co.uk/stores/Mrs-K-M-Mattew/author/B0CBZHFRYK?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

I have a few meat based “signature” dishes that I rely upon, especially when entertaining, but I have never found a chicken dish that fills the same purpose. At present my go to chicken dish is Anjum Anands Black Pepper Chicken that is enjoyed by family and friends when we put together a “curry fest” There are a couple of different versions by Anjum on the web, but I much prefer the one that uses a stock cube in the marinade. It gives great depth to the finished dish but you need to be mindful of the salt content in your stock cube. Here in the U.K. I use Knorr stockpots. https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/sep/27/anjum-anand-last-meal-black-pepper-chicken-recipe

I cooked a shoulder of venison Kleftiko style earlier in the week and we had a ton of leftover meat and potatoes (a certain son had to cancel at short notice). I was considering what I could do differently with the left overs and the thought of Panacalty came to mind. Panacalty is a dish from the North East of England, closely associated with the city of Sunderland. It is traditionally made with tins of Corned Beef, sliced potatoes, carrots and onions. I made it with half the leftover venison and cooked waxy potatoes, both thinly sliced. I threw in some of the cooked garlic cloves from the Kleftiko and some onions and a beef gravy I had previously frozen after a beef roast. I also had some stuffing from a roast pheasant that went in. A complete mix up of leftovers. The result was very good; so much so that I have used the rest of the leftover venison and potatoes to make another which is now sitting in the freezer. The original inspiration came from this online recipe for a traditional Panacalty. https://www.greatbritishfoodawards.com/recipes/traditional-panacalty-recipe

I have a freezer full of venison which we have been casseroling, currying, meatballing and cooking in a variety of other ways, so yesterday I told the wife “no red meat for a couple of days”. I went into the butcher shop to buy some chicken (chicken noodle soup) and some duck (duck legs roasted on sliced potatoes) when I saw these Jarret de boeuf looking at me and begging me to take them home. They are really just beef shin served on the bone, similar to osso buco but they looked very appealing. A quick google informs me that the dish called Jarret de Boeuf is African in origin, with Chad being the place it is most associated with. So do I find an African/Chad recipe or go traditional U.K. and cook them in ale or Guinness. I shall ponder today whilst doing the Christmas shopping in the County Town of Chelmsford. Whatever way I decide, they will be cooked today and left refrigerated in their sauce for an evening meal on Monday or Tuesday.

A South African colleague recommended recipes from someone called Valdila or Valdima. Not overly sure of the spelling as he told me her name in a busy/noisy pub. I have trawled the internet without luck and wondered if anyone here has the faintest idea who he may have been speaking of. Apparently her bobotie recipe is the best. He left the business and I can no longer track him down, he may have gone back to SA.

So today I took a 750g boned out lamb breast. Made a stuffing with 50g of dried sourdough breadcrumbs, two rounded teaspoons of dried mixed herbs, a finely chopped onion and two large garlic cloves, zest from a lemon, salt, pepper, nutmeg and and egg to bind Rolled it and inexpertly tied it, not too tight as the meat expands as it cooks. Put it on a bed of vegetable, fresh thyme and about a quarter cup of bone broth. Covered it with 2 layers of foil then put it into a 180c oven for 90 minutes. Took the foil off basted it with the pan juices and returned it to the oven for another 30 minutes to brown off. Served with roasties and veg and a gravy made from the pan scrapings, red wine and bone broth. This used to be the food of the poor here in the U.K. now any cut of lamb costs a small fortune. But it was very nice. Youngest son was round for dinner as his mother is Xmas shopping in New York and he needed feeding, Took a portion of beef shortrib and two curries back home with him. He won’t starve whilst left home alone.

I need to do some research on sous vide. Here in the U.K. it seems to be a process employed by restaurant chains and pubs where their dishes are pre cooked in quantity for finishing off when ordered. I don’t know a single person who uses sous vide in a domestic setting. T63

I may have missed the boat on this one, me being new to the site but a Shawarma, or Doner Kebab has been widely copied on other food web sites, including the Glebe Kitchen video on you tube, Profoodhomemade with another YouTube link https://profoodhomemade.com/doner-kebab-meat/ And for those who like a garlic sauce with their kebab, I found this small batch Lebanese Garlic Sauce (Toum) at this site http://chichoskitchen.blogspot.com/2010/04/toum-garlic-lebanese-sauce-recipe.html I cannot claim any authenticity and have never tried these versions myself, but they have had a decent write up elsewhere.

I was disappointed with tonight’s dinner of goat kid leg steak. First time I have cooked this so looked on line for guidance and inspiration, two minutes a side was generally recommended in a hot pan, then rest. The meat tasted beautiful but was tougher than a robbers dog. Next time I will marinate them with something to break down the fibres, lemon juice, papaya or similar.

I was considering doing something similar with some pheasant breasts I have in the freezer, mixing some Dijon mustard and possibly sage in the beaten egg before adding the breadcrumbs.

I have never sous vide’d anything. Following some of the threads on here, and I’m very much a newbie, sous vide seems very popular in North America, but it barely gets a mention here in the U.K. I think if I bought another kitchen gadgets Mrs T63 would likely hit me over the head with it.

I've had quite a glut of meat just recently, the caterers at work have provided beef short ribs, lamb shanks and goat at cost price. I have a 60kg fallow deer coming during the week so I have had to start using up what is in the freezer to make a little more room. A kilo of chicken breast went into the dehydrator to make treats for the dogs. Another 1.5 kilo went into a Levi Roots curried goat. Some for us, some for a son and a couple of portions for work. I started this at 04.30 this morning (couldn’t sleep) and forgot to take a pic until it was divvied up. I also had a couple of portions of beef short ribs and thought I would try a Rick Stein recipe. https://thehappyfoodie.co.uk/recipes/rick-steins-braised-beef-short-ribs/ I prepped everything then got out “Big Red”, he is my largest casserole and with a capacity of 7.25 quarts or 6.7 litres, he is the one I turn to when I need a big pan. After browning off the meat, I softened and caramelised the veg before adding the meat back to the pan with wine and stock. Rick Stein suggests serving with Dauphinois potatoes or aligot, but for time and convenience, garlic and mustard mash with some green veg served us well.

I don’t always use only the breasts, but the cock birds invariably are tougher and harder to pluck. At the moment the hens are good for roasting. Later in the season they will toughen up and need to go into a casserole. Then all the birds are skinned portioned and casseroled. At the moment I don’t have any much room in the freezer or I would have skinned and jointed the cocks.

Yesterday was a good day on the shoot with a little under 100 birds in the bag. We brought home 6 brace, 12 birds, gave 3 brace away to neighbours and kept 3 for ourselves. Mrs T63 plucked the three hen birds, and I did the rest. Feet off, wings off, heads off and gutted. The cocks I just breasted, so we have three roasting hens and six cock breasts for future dinners. One of the birds had a bit of dog damage, i.e., a couple of teethe mark from a hard mouthed retrieve, and one of the hens had been taken too low so had more pellets in it than necessary, but all are still edible. Not shooting now for another two weeks so we will eat all these before then. I need to as we have a 60kg fallow deer coming mid week so I need the room in the freezer.

It is supposed to help break down all the cartilage in and between the bones and put it into suspension in the broth. I know our broth invariably turns into jelly once cooled which doesn’t always assist in portion control, and I assume the vinegar contributes to that process and the final result.

We took the eldest grandson on the shoot last Saturday. He did a bit of beating, bit of picking up and looked after one of the Springers when I was on the peg. Finally he helped distribute the 18 birds we brought home. We are shooting again tomorrow but unfortunately we won’t have his help as he is fishing.

Last night was a Barnsley chop, thrice cooked potatoe chips, left over cauliflower and black kale(Cavalo Nero) from the allotment.

I always feel a sense of satisfaction when you cobble together the odds and ends in the fridge into a very acceptable dinner and save them from the compost bin or wormey.

we store/freeze all our chicken, duck, pheasant etc bones in 1 large bag and all our meat bones in another. When I have sufficient bones to fill one bag I empty it into the slow cooker with 3 to 4 litres of water, a tablespoon of cider vinegar and simmer away for 48 hours. Carrot, celery, onion and maybe a few fresh herbs go in for the last 8 hours. Once cooled drain, leaving behind as much sediment as possible, put in the fridge and next day skim off the fat and split it amongst as many 500ml pots as necessary. Freeze and use as required, home made bone both for stews , curries and gravies.

Thank you very much for your advice and guidance. The deer is coming gutted and skinned and will have been hung for about 3 weeks in a fridge. I have been looking through YouTube to find as many videos of jointing the beast as I can to further guide me through the process. Our gamekeeper can provide a steady supply of venison throughout the year, Roe deer during the season and muntjac all year round and the cost is minor compared to buying meat from a butcher. I'm looking forward to the challenge of playing butcher, and then the subsequent cooking.

I enjoy cooking for others. I cooked up a selection of Indian dishes at the weekend for a Diwali dinner, but the Ayurvedic diet I am following meant I only sampled the dishes to see how they turned out. My real pleasure is seeing others enjoy what I cooked. My ex wife is friends with Mrs T63 and she always comes to dinner with the kids and grandkids, she always comments that she enjoyed the food when we were together and misses not having someone to cook such dishes for her since we separated. (Over 20 years ago)

Roasted rack of Venison Served pink with with new potatoes and a selection of veg. These were sold frozen by our local butcher, imported from New Zealand, and very good value. I bought in bulk and still have one or two left in the freezer. I have a whole deer coming in a week and half, shot locally by our gamekeeper. It is hanging in the cooler at 3C to age. Problem is I have never butchered a whole deer before. He tells me it is just like jointing a large rabbit; he was grinning when he said it.

We had our Diwali meal yesterday as the family descended from the Remembrance Sunday parade. After a selection of shop bought vegetarian starters, baji’s, pakoras and samosas we had Anjum Anands Black Pepper chicken and a dish she calls Edgy Peas which has a good amount of methi in it. Meera Sodah’s Pig Cheek Vindaloo, the Chicken Haleem was a bit of a cheat as the spice mix and the grains come pre packaged, just add meat and presto, a good tasting dish. I cooked up Madhur Jaffrey’s Rogan Josh, substituting ox cheek for the lamb, very rich after a 3 hour simmer and quick reduction. Roasted Aloo Gobi, a recipe from “Masala” by Mallika Basu and Basmati Rice from the Dishoom cookbook. Some shop bought roti and chapati. No dessert; nobody had any room left. A pleasant Sunday afternoon with family.

I have one of those for making a single cup of tea from loose leaf tea leaves.