This is another example of incorporating fruit into a snack stick. Jeffrey Weiss in his excellent book “Charcuteria: The Soul of Spain” gives a recipe for fuet. Fuet in Catalan means “whip” and I thought it would look more like a whip made into a long snack stick. I also thought that the addition of currants might add an element of sweetness to the salami.
The currants were soaked in brandy to kill off any surface yeast on the fruit.
This bread is easy to make, but requires a minute or two’s attention every half hour for 3 hours. If you have a good mixer, it may be easier to make the dough in it and leave it to rise and prove as normal, but if you don’t, this method certainly saves a lot of sticky messing about!
Continue reading No Knead BreadCongratulations to local butcher’s shop A D Ringrose at Broughton Astley, who was named as Britain’s best butcher’s shop at the MM Meat Industry Awards 2026 on 3 September.
The shop also won the Best Small Butchers Shop (Midlands) at the British Butchery Awards in 2025
To see more information about the Ringrose dynasty of butchers visit their website:
Website: https://ringrosebutchers.co.uk/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ringrosebutchers
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ringrosebutchers/
Connor Ringrose also competes in butchery competitions. Follow him at:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/butcherringrose/
Instagram: https://www.facebook.com/butcherringrose/
The shop is at 78 Main Street, Broughton Astley, Leicestershire, LE9 6RD.
In their simplest incarnation Buffalo chicken wings are deep fried, then tossed with a mixture of Frank’s Red Hot sauce and butter. They are only slightly hot from the sauce (which is nowhere close to the heat level many wings are served at). The main characteristics are the crisp texture of the fried chicken skin, which the wings have an abundance of, and the strong “chicken” flavor these produce.
This is the simple mushroom sauce that we often have with chicken or turkey meatballs.
I’ve showed the recipe using chicken stock, but it’s also very good with beef stock; unfortunately, I rarely have that. A strong stock is the secret of this sauce – if in doubt, reduce your stock by half before use.
I’ve tried to keep the sauce low in fat, and particularly saturated fat. It’s also easy to adapt for vegetarians, vegans, or people who need a gluten-free diet.
Continue reading Mushroom SauceA simple meatball with several uses – like this as a meal, in a sub roll with tomato sauce, in smaller balls on pizza, as part of a buffet on skewers, or even in a soup.
There’s the added benefit that it’s high in protein and low in fat.
I’m a bit ‘on the fence’ when it comes to pizza dough. I quite like this dough, but I also like a higher hydration dough that gives a base with larger air holes. This one is easier to handle, though.
In fact, I really don’t know why I’m writing about making pizza dough; Paul is so much better at it than I am. Hopefully, he will post about some of his pizzas in due course.
A Spanish tapas dish that’s also great for a meal or in smaller balls on skewers as part of a buffet.
A fresh chorizo that’s great used in Albondigas – Spanish meatballs. It’s loosely based on a recipe from Jeffrey Weiss’s fantastic book Charcuteria, The Soul of Spain.
Ingredients:
666 gm Pork shoulder (after removing skin) (approx. 20% fat)
334 gm Pork belly meat (after removing skin) (approx. 50% fat)
30 gm White wine – preferably Spanish – in truth, I use what I have to hand.
30 gm Water
12 gm Garlic cloves
5 gm Smoked sweet paprika – I use Pimentón de la Vera dulce
5 gm Smoked hot paprika – I use Pimentón de la Vera picante
10 gm Murcian paprika
2 gm Oregano – dried
20 gm Salt
Incorporating cheese into full sized salami can be difficult but is much easier in snack sticks. Cheese and salami in one snack is a great combo. I would recommend using the cheese in place of some of the fat (which it mimics).
