It’s amazing the things that get discussed in my old local. If they televised it, people would say it’s too daft to be believable!
Anyway, the subject of Blackberry vinegar has come up a couple of times.
The consensus on the basic recipe is:
Continue reading Blackberry Vinegar
This is not the confit duck of French tradition, where the legs sit in duck fat as a preserving method.
This is a lighter version that still gives a tender duck with crispy skin, but with less salt and a little less fat. In the four major UK supermarkets, the fat costs more per kilo than the legs!
Continue reading Duck Confit – a lighter version
This chicken and rice mix is a great base for burritos. It’s also good in stuffed vegetables, as a soup base, or even on its own. The method may seem a little unusual, but it’s to keep it low-fat. On the UK Government’s ‘traffic light’ labelling system, it’s green in all categories. It also has good protein levels, based on calculations, of 13.5 g per 100 g.
Get the recipes…When I made these, I wasn’t that pleased with them, thinking that the outside should be crisper and the centre less dense. But then Hannah, my daughter, who’s been to Berlin twice, told me that they are just like the ones she bought there. My judgement was based on ignorance rather than knowledge!
Even so, I now leave them to rise a little after shaping and before boiling. I’ll also try different toppings: poppy seeds, sesame, celery seeds, etc. These use bicarbonate of soda – really traditional ones use lye – yes, believe it or not, they use caustic soda in commercial production.
Choux pastry rings alarm bells with many people who presume it to be the domain of the professional pastry chef. In reality, that couldn’t be further from the truth: as pastry goes, it’s one of the simplest. It doesn’t require a light touch, cold hands or any of the other ‘special’ things that many other types of pastry do.
This recipe is a bit of a fraud; it’s my take on Paul’s Chicken & Rice Sausage Burger. The major difference is the use of chicken breast instead of thighs – I’m on a low-saturated-fat diet – and the addition of spring onions, also called scallions.
Other than a couple of sauces and rubs, I’ve not posted about barbecue, mainly because we don’t do a massive amount and often don’t cook the classics: briskets, ribs and pulled pork.
That said, we do cook some and now that Paul’s part of Local Food Heroes – he lives in the home of BBQ, the southern US of A – it’s about time we started!
Continue reading BarbecueA simple midweek kind of meal that’s also good to feed a crowd.
Raise the subject of beef burgers on any barbecue forum or social media site, and you open a can of worms! From those for whom the smash burger is everything to those who insist on a certain mix of beef cuts, those who won’t season until cooking is finished, and those who add everything but the kitchen sink!
Now, don’t get me wrong, I love a lightly seasoned burger made of chuck beef that I’ve ground/minced myself, but in the real world, that’s not always possible.
A burger from supermarket mince? How…
