All posts by Phil

Buffet, Cold Smoking

A Tale of Cold Smoked Salmon

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From 2011:

I’ve written before about cold smoking food and there’s even a full review of the smoker that I use – it’s simplicity itself to use. However, I realise that there can be a tendency to worry or even panic the first time you smoke something like a salmon. Questions like, should I brine or dry cure it? What brine or cure should I use? What strength should it be? How long should I cure it for? So, here’s a breakdown of what I did with the salmon I smoked for Christmas.

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Advice and Tutorials - barbecue, Advice and Tutorials - smoking

Smoking and Barbecue (BBQ) options

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In 2012, when I wrote this, people were only just starting to realise that smoking meat didn’t need to be the preserve of the expert and that there was an alternative to barbecues that consisted of burnt sausages and dried up burgers.

This post is completely out of date. I leave it here for the sake of posterity:

In a previous post, I said I’d give further details of the options for smoking, grilling and barbecuing food. My health and other factors have delayed this, but here goes…

…Let’s start cold and get hotter!

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Baking, Vegetarian

The Roughest Rough Puff

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From 2007:

I always intend to prepare for Christmas in plenty of time, but it never seems to happen! One thing I do like to make is my own sausage rolls. There is no comparison between a homemade sausage roll, made with good (home-made) sausage meat and the awful frozen sludge-filled offerings at the supermarket. Uncooked commercially produced sausage rolls only need to have a 6% meat content!

For sausage rolls I make a quick rough puff pastry:

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Bread & yeast cookery, Sweet Things, Vegetarian

Chelsea Bun(ish) Recipe

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Originally posted in 2008:

Now I know if I call this recipe a Chelsea Bun, someone will come along and say, “Oh, no it’s not, a Chelsea bun is made with currants, lemon zest, or whatever and glazed with the milk of a particular species of Yak, only found on one lost island in Battersea Park!” Hence the ‘ish’ in the title!

I made these a couple of weeks ago from a recipe in Prue Leith and Caroline Waldegrave’s Cookery Bible but wasn’t 100% happy with them. Here’s my take on the recipe, it still needs fine tweaking. I think that it probably needs more liquid.

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Chicken, Poultry & Game, Meat Recipes

Chicken with Lemon, Basil and Garlic

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I wrote this originally in 2009:

One of my old standbys –  based on a recipe from Nigel Slater’s book ‘Toast’. A book well worth buying.

The recipe is simplicity itself.

Chicken with Lemon, Basil and Garlic


Cut a chicken into 8 pieces. Put it into a roasting tin with a head of garlic (crushed up a bit) and some onion segments. Squeeze over the juice from two lemons and chuck the lemons in. Glug with olive oil and stuff in the oven at 180°C for ½ hour. Then chuck a glass of white wine in along with a handful of basil leaves. Cook for 15 minutes more and serve…

…dip ya bread in!

This is even nicer done with preserved lemons.

Pauline can’t have wine, so I used chicken stock instead. She’s going to have to go!

Cheese, Eggs & Dairy, Vegetarian

Butter Making

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Originally posted at Christmas 2009…

This time of year is great for picking up double cream that’s near its sell-by date from the Supermarket. Just after Easter or Wimbledon are also good times.

I make butter using my Kenwood mixer, you could also use an electric whisk, or even make it by hand.

I put the cream in the mixer with a pinch of salt and a small pinch of sugar for every 300ml. I’ve no idea why I use the sugar; it’s just that I saw a lady who had made the butter for Chatsworth house for about 50 years do it. Who am I to argue with her experience?

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