Food & History: Cheshire Pork Pie Recipe 1841 - Sherry's not just for trifle...

I came across this recipe during some of my research and felt it should get a bit of an airing:

'Cheshire Pork Pie - Divide a loin of pork into chops and cut away the skin and the greatest part of the fat; season the meat with salt, Cayenne, and a little nutmeg. peel and core a dozen pippins, filling up the centres with fine Disbon[sic] sugar. Line your dish with a good crust paste, then put in a layer of pork, then a layer of pippins, and so on until you have filled your dish;pour in a pint of sherry, and cover down with paste for top crust. Two hours baking will not be too much to insure the meat is perfectly done.'

(The Carlow Sentinel - 1841)

Pippins were small, crisp apples of which the Cox's Orange variety is probably the best known now; Disbon sugar should be Lisbon sugar - presume - which is a refined cane sugar; paste is of course pastry ... and what about that pint of sherry!

I haven't tried to make this yet but between the cayenne, sugar and sherry it would certainly be an interesting experiment!

I'll keep you posted...

Liam

(With thanks to the Carlow library local studies room.)

Recipe: Anchovy, Bacon & Potato Pie

I really like old cookery books...

It's a mix of the almost-musty smell combined with the softness of the well-worn pages, plus the curiosity of who owned them before me. Often there's a name but in one I found recently there was only a handwritten recipe for a Porter Cake, which I have still to make ... but this was still a connection to a previous owner and their cooking, which is something special.

The book is called 'The Good Cook's Encyclopedia' and was published in 1962 so it's hardly ancient, and while I was thumbing through the pages for a recipe for a meaty pie I came across this one instead:

Something appealed about it - probably the thoughts of the salty anchovies combined with the mini-chips and a silky smooth creamy sauce. So I decided to cook it with a small amount of variation. I felt a little bacon would help - as it often does generally in life -  and added a little extra zing with a bit of mustard, black pepper and a sprinkle of parmesan

So here it is...

Ingredients:

• 4 Large Shallots chopped in rings
• 4 Medium Potatoes cut in to mini-chips, rinsed and dried
• 50g of Anchovies in oil
• 300ml Cream
• 1 Streaky Bacon cut into thin strips
• Olive oil
• Butter
• Mustard
• Black Pepper
• Parmesan

Recipe:

• Fry the bacon in olive oil until crisp and remove
• Soften the shallots in the same oil
• In a small ovenproof dish add half the chips, then a layer of anchovies combined with the bacon, top this with the shallots and then finish with the rest of the chips
• Dot the top of the pie with a small amount of butter and drizzle some of the anchovy oil over too for good measure
• Cook in a hot (200C) oven for 10 minutes
• Mix a teaspoon of mustard with the cream and pour into the dish, top with a dusting of parmasan and black pepper
• Cook for a further 30-40 minutes until the chips are cooked and there is some colour on the top of the pie
• Let cool for 10-15 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!

Liam

Food: Recipe - Pickled Hop Shoots

My hop plant husbandry took an unexpected turn recently, but one that tied in neatly with another of my interests...

Faced with a bunch of prunings from cutting back the first growth on my hops, and not wanting to waste the wonderfully coloured and fresh shoots, I decided to try my hand at pickling them. I've pickled before, especially eggs, and I knew that asparagus could be treated in this way so it seemed like an interesting experiment. Looking online the processes and ingredients seemed to vary somewhat so I ended up just doing my own thing - as usual.

So here we go...

Ingredients:

• A Big Handful of Fresh Hop Shoots (See Photo)
• 1 tsp Dried Juniper Berries
• 1 tsp Black Peppercorns
• 1 tsp Mustard Seeds
• 1/2 tsp Caraway Seeds
• 1 tbsp Sugar
• 1 tbsp Salt
• 1 cup (250ml) Cider Vinegar
• 1 cup (250ml) Water

Recipe:

• Wash and rinse the hop shoots removing any bugs or large leaves.
• Sterilise a thick, sealable pickling jar.
• Add all the ingredients except the hop shoots to a saucepan and bring to the boil.
• Meanwhile blanch the hop shoots for a few seconds in boiling water and wind them carefully inside the jar, taking care not to break any.
• Carefully pour the boiled liquid and spices into the jar with the hops, adding boiled water to top up if needed.
• Leave to cool, then store in a fridge for at least a week so that the flavours blend and permeate into the shoots.

The shoots take on a good deal of the flavours of the vinegar and spices so feel free to add your favourites. They also retain a vegetal bitterness, which can probably be increased by reducing the blanching time. This was probably overkill but I was concerned about sterilising the shoots, in theory the acid in the vinegar should keep everything  safe anyway... (Please do your own research on this - I'm not a food bacteria specialist!)

I served them with some cheddar, pork pies and celery salt, paired with a nice almost savoury, thyme and orange peel saison called Curious Orange from Dungarvan Brewing Company but the shoots also work well on cheesy omelettes, bacon quiche or even on a hot dog with a dollop of mustard!

It's certainly whetted my appetite for trying to pickle more plants.

I must try some nettles next ... but they will need blanching...

Liam

Recipe: Pulled Pork Shoulder - Real, Cheap, Slow Food...

I thought it was time to share a favourite recipe of mine, although one that I have changed - and continue to adjust in different ways - over the years.

I've bought pork shoulder from the same local butchers for a long time, and I buy it there because of the quality, price and convenience as much as - logically - the local aspect. Not all butchers have it in stock but most should source it for you easily.

As I say, the recipe has changed a bit over the years and I've cooked it on the barbecue and in a slow cooker, but this is the oven method, as it will suit more people. As ever, remember I am not a trained cook so use common sense when handling food and follow best practice when cooking anything.

Ingredients:

1.5-2kg  Pork Shoulder - deboned, and if it's tied up untie it.
1 Apple - Sliced
1 Onion - Sliced
1 Garlic Bulb - Split and cloves slightly crushed
6 sprigs of Rosemary or 2 tsp of dried
I tsp of Caraway Seed
1 tsp of Fennel Seed
1 tsp of Juniper Berries
1 tsp of Yellow Mustard Seed
1 tbsp of Cider Vinegar
Salt
Pepper
Water

1 tbsp of Mustard
1 tbsp of Tomato Sauce
1 tbsp of Barbecue Sauce
1 tbsp Brown Sugar
1 tsp of Smoked Paprika

+

Anything else you fancy!

Method:

1. Set the oven to 150°C.
2. Make a bed with the apple, onion and garlic in a large, deep roasting tray and place the shoulder, skin side up, on top.
3. Put good splash of water in the tray, enough to cover the 'vegetables' half way up then add the cider vinegar, caraway, fennel, juniper, mustard and rosemary into the water.
4. Season the pork with salt and pepper, and cover with two layers of tinfoil. Place in the oven and cook for at least 4 and preferably 6 hours.(Check when cooked that the inside temperature is at least 185-190°C.)
5. Remove tinfoil and put the shoulder on a rack on a new tray, remove the skin and place on another tray. Place both in the oven at 200°C for 20-30mins until the shoulder starts to brown a little and the separated skin is crisp and blistering.
6. While this is happening heat the tray that has the vegetables, spices and liquor on a hob until it starts to boil. Mash the vegetables and add the mustard, tomato sauce, barbecue sauce, smoked paprika and brown sugar, stirring constantly. Add more water, or pork - or chicken - stock if necessary to prevent the tray from burning.
7. Sieve contents into a saucepan and boil on the hob, reducing to a thick gravy consistency, skimming off any fat. Adjust flavour to suit your palate by adding more of the core ingredients.
8. Remove pork from oven and let sit for 15 to 20 mins, then shred using two forks. (I cheat by cutting the beef into large, thick slices first!) Discard any large pieces of fat.
9. Place meat in a large saucepan and add the reduced, hot gravy. Let sit for a few minutes.
10. Remove crackling and let it cool, season to taste.

That's it!

Serve whatever way you like, but I prefer it in a bread roll or or a wrap with mustard coleslaw and bacon jam, with a serving of roast veg, stuffing and the crackling on the side.

It's great the next day in a pie too, just add peas and parboiled potatoes. (Make up a little stock and add it to the mix to keep it moist.)

Kids love it on a sambo for lunch too with tomato sauce and mustard!

It should do you for 4 to 5 meals at the very least, just be sensible about its storage, so it works out great value for money.

Enjoy your cheap meat!

Woo hoo!

Liam

Recipe: Brewer's Banana Bread - with Spent Grain

I'm a bit of a hoarder.

Our shed and both attics are chock-full of all kinds of books, electronics and other items from our past because I hate the idea of throwing out anything just in case I might need it. This affliction has also had an affect on the food, drink and leftovers in the house too, as we try as much as possible to use, re-use, freeze or pickle anything that's hanging around in the darker recesses of the various food compartments.

This reached a new disturbing level a few months back when I started drying vacuum and packing some of the spent grains left over from my homebrew mash.

But what to do with them? My previous attempt at flapjacks turned out pretty good so I decided to press on to something more akin to proper baking, which I'm normally not too good at to be honest, but after a bit of trial and error (Mostly error to be honest!) I ended up with this recipe.

I'm pretty happy with it in general but feel free to tweak it to suit your taste. I used a porter grain that had a chocolatey character but you could add chocolate chips instead of the sultanas ... or perhaps some nuts either.

Enjoy!

Liam

Ingredients:

150g Softened Butter
75g Soft Dark Brown Sugar
75g White Sugar
175g Self-Raising Flour
100g Spent Grain
2 Eggs
2 Ripe Bananas
40g Sultanas

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 175C
• Butter the base and sides of a 22cm x 11cm x 6cm loaf tin
• Beat the butter and sugars in a large bowl until well mixed
• Blend in the flour, spent grain and eggs
• Mash the bananas, add to the bowl and mix well
• Finally fold in the sultanas
• Bake for an hour or so but I'd advise checking after 50 mins by inserting  a skewer to see if it's baked - if it comes out clean the bread is done!
• Leave to rest and cool before slicing. It can be served as is or sliced, toasted and buttered if you're up to it! (By the way, the texture is quite light and loose so take care when cutting it.)

Food: Scotch Duck Eggs with Chorizo, Bacon and Black Pudding

One of my all time favourite food combinations is bacon and eggs.

OK, not just bacon of course but any piggy food products - black pudding with a runny egg yolk is a thing to be revered in our home.

So the thoughts of wrapping a rich duck egg in a duvet of bacon, chorizo and black pudding seemed like a natural thing for me to do.

In fact I'm astounded I never did it before now!

So here we go ...


Ingredients:

8 Duck Eggs
200g Bacon - chopped
200g Black Pudding - chopped
200g Chorizo deskinned and chopped (I wanted to use cooking chorizo but settled on the cured one.)
Half a small Apple finely chopped
Half a small Onion finely chopped
2 Chicken Eggs for binding and dipping
50g finely crushed Crackers for mix
50g finely crushed Crackers for coating
1 big pinch of Black Pepper and a small one of Salt
1 tsp of Sesame Seed
Flour to coat

Method:

• Boil the duck eggs for 9 mins then plunge into cold water and set aside.
• Put the bacon in a food processor and pulse for a few seconds, add chorizo and pulse again. Add the black pudding, apple, onion and blend to a coarse paste.

• Put mix into a bowl with 50 grm of crushed crackers and 1 egg, and mix with your hands into a gooey paste.
• Flatten the mix with a rolling pin between two sheets of clingfilm.
• Peel eggs and dip in flour, wrap the egg in a blanket of mix.

• Dip the covered eggs in flour, then whisked egg and finally a mix of the remaining crushed crackers combined with the black pepper, salt and sesame seed.

• Place on a baking tray and bake at 180C for 30 mins, turning once - very carefully. (I assume these can be deep fried too but I haven't attempted it yet!)
• Leave to cool and then enjoy with mustard mayo and a pint of homebrew stout - or similar!

As usual, feel free to change ingredients to suit your palate!

Liam K.

Recipe: Spent Malt, Oats & Apricot Flapjacks - Stuck Mash

I don't really have a sweet tooth, so it's rare for me to make or bake desserts or cakes, but occasionally my palate gets turned by my brain's ridiculous requirement to occasionally eat something sugary.

Yesterday I fancied something sticky, sweet and sickly but with limited time and resources - plus a scrounger's need to use some spent malt from my homebrew at the weekend - making a batch of flapjacks seemed to make sense. Firstly they were easy to make, secondly I had all the ingredients and finally they ticked the aforementioned alliterated criteria.

So here we go!

Ingredients:
175g of Butter
175g of Brown Sugar
175g of Dried Spent Malt
175g of Oats
2 tbsp of Golden Syrup
2 tbsp of Dried Apricots - Finely Chopped

Method:
Put the butter, sugar and golden syrup into a large saucepan and heat gently until butter is melted. Stir in the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Spread out evenly in a 30cm by 20cm tray and cook in a 170 C oven for 25 to 30 mins. Leave to completely cool and then cut into squares.

That's it!

You can substitute any dried fruit for the apricots, or leave them out completely. The taste of the biscuity malt shines through and complements the oats, although next time I might use slightly more of the malt and less oats, as I like how the malt tastes.

As ever, feel free to adjust quantities to suit your palate.

Recipe: Pretzel? Logic...

Food should be simple sometimes...

While contemplating what to have for lunch, I spotted a lone pretzel sitting in its bag beside the toaster. It was a leftover from a beer tasting night and was a tiny bit stale but I couldn't leave it there, as they are too nice to consign to the freezer for making stuffing - although great for that too.

I hate waste, especially in food, and love to combine a few stray, leftover ingredients together to make a meal. So out came some cheese, leftover pork, a little butter and my magic ingredient - caraway seed!


Poor caraway... sometimes mistaken for its cousins cumin and fennel and often just ignored on both the supermarket shelf and in the cupboard. I first came across it in any meaningful way in Uerige Braurieri in Düsseldorf, served with beer marinated Mainzer cheese and a rye roll with a a little butter. And once you've tasted caraway you will never mistake it for anything else. It's great with cheese or pork, as a pickling spice, or in bread.

Anyway, I'll revisit that in a future blog but for now it's back to lunch...

It was easy-peasy to make after that, slice the pretzel carefully to split it in two, scrape on some butter, put on some chopped pork, a few thin slices of cheese and finally sprinkle with the caraway seeds. 10 mins or so under the grill - carefully watched - and lunch is ready.

Served with a nice beer - and a blob of mustard - of course!

Keep it simple. It's logic really.

Recipe: Bacon Jam with Dungarvan Black Rock Stout

I'm always a bit of a sucker for chutneys, preserves and pickles, or in fact almost anything that comes in a jar, and last week I stumbled across something labelled 'Bacon Jam'. Amazingly I hadn't come across this concept before, which is strange given my love of piggy products and...well jam...

I bought it out of curiosity and it was certainly nice but not really to my taste - not sweet enough, or bacony enough for that matter - so I decided I should make make my own. I came across a few recipes floating around the internet but none that really suited what I wanted to do so I decided to start pretty much from scratch, using a caramelised onion base.

One or two recipes I came across mentioned adding coffee or spirits but neither appealed to me, although the idea of using a bitterish chocolate to contrast the sweetness did and and that combined with the need for a cooking liquor meant a good stout came to mind - hence my use of Dungarvan's Black Rock. Along with O'Hara's stouts, I've always had a soft spot for this beer. It's full bodied and has the cocoa flavour I wanted to add so it seemed to make sense.

Many recipes suggest sliced bacon, chopped and fried but I want a more shredded texture, hence my use of a piece of streaky bacon, slow cooked. Go for good bacon, I use a local craft butcher for most of my meats as they seem to have the quality right. (Having said that use whoever you like, 'craft' doesn't always been quality as we know, and it's getting to be a word that's a little over used these days.)



So, here we go!

Ingredients:
1 kg Streaky Bacon - unsliced
1/4 cup Chorizo - finely chopped
2 large Onions - finely chopped
2 cloves Garlic - minced
1/4 cup Cider Vinegar
1/4 cup Balsamic Vinegar
1 cup Dark Brown Sugar
2 tbsp Honey
1 cup Dungarvan Black Rock Stout
1/2 tsp Black Pepper
1 tsp Smoked Paprika
1/4 tsp Chilli Powder
1/2 tsp Chinese 5 Spice
Salt to taste


Method:

• Simmer the bacon for 30 mins in a saucepan and then roast on a rack in the oven at 150C for 90 mins. When cooked leave aside under tinfoil to rest and cool a little
• Fry chorizo in a large saucepan until a little crispy then remove - leaving the fat in the pan - and set aside
• Fry onions on medium-low in the chorizo fat until softened but not brown, add garlic for the last couple of mins
• Deglaze the saucepan with the stout, add all of the other ingredients and simmer for 20 mins
• Shred and chop the bacon removing as much fat as possible
• Add bacon and chorizo to the saucepan and mix well (now is the time to adjust any of the spices to suit your taste), reduce to a dryish consistency - stirring constantly near the end - until most of the liquid has boiled off
• Allow to cool then pulse in a food processor to the desired texture but not too fine
• The jam should keep for a couple of weeks (If it lasts that long!) in jars in the fridge but use common sense when storing

I love it, it's probably one of the best things I've made recently. It's great just spread on crackers or toast, and works well with most cheeses, especially goat's or a strong cheddar. Nice on burgers or on hot dogs too, or great spread on bread with good bangers for the ultimate sausage butty! I think it might be nice with chocolate too but haven't experiment yet...

Pairs up well with good stouts like Dungarvan and also with sweet Belgian-style tripels or malty red ales.

Adapt as you wish but give me a little credit if reposting!

Enjoy.
Liam

Recipe - Chocolate, Stout, Chili and Black Cardamom Cookies

I've always liked dark chili chocolate with some of the stronger stouts or porters. I enjoy the combination of rich chocolate with the warming chili, washed away by the coffee-cocoa taste of a really good stout.

I am not a baker. I'm not really even a cook but I do like to dabble and experiment so my recent visit to Savour in Kilkenny and Caroline's chocolate brownies got me thinking about baking something spicy and rich to go with a stout for yesterday's International Stout Day. Rich dark chocolate is more savoury than sweet and lends itself to the use of spices. I wanted to use a whole bottle of stout and also smoky black cardamom pods and an Ancho chili, so I adapted this recipe from one I found in an old baking book. Winging some of the method and ingredients if I'm honest!

As you will appreciate when you look at the ingredients, these cookies are not for the fainthearted! They are very rich and although not very spicy they almost beg for a cool but complimentary soothing rich stout.

I think they work well together but I'm not a baker as I say so I might have missed a trick or two. Anyway, feel free to adapt or change to suit your own palates.

Just promise me you'll eat them with a really good stout!

Ingredients:

200 grms Plain Flour
125 grms  Dark Chocolate (I used 81%)
2 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Bread Soda (Bicarbonate of Soda)
50 grms Dark Soft Brown Sugar
100 grms Butter
2 tbs Cocoa Powder
1 tsp Cayenne Pepper
500ml O'Hara's Stout (My localish craft brewery)
6 Black Cardamom Pods
1 Dried Ancho Chili

(Makes 24 smallish cookies)

Method:

Pour the stout in to a wide bottom saucepan and bring to a strong simmer. Chop up the Ancho chili, discard around half the seeds and add the rest plus the chili to the stout. Chop the black cardamom pods in half and add to the stout too. Reduce liquid by more than half until it gets a little syrupy. Pour through strainer to remove chili and cardamom bits. You should have around 150ml of concentrated stout-chili-cardamom light syrup to set aside.


Meanwhile melt 2/3 of the chocolate and the butter together in a bowl over a pan of boiling water.


Chop the rest of the chocolate roughly and set aside.



Mix all of the rest of the dried ingredients (except chopped chocolate) in a bowl then add the melted chocolate and stout concentrate and mix well but don't over work. Add the chopped chocolate and mix carefully again.

Make a clingfilmed sausage from the mix and put in a fridge to chill for a few minutes.

While the dough is chilling rub some butter over baking parchment on two trays and preheat oven to 180C (350F).

Remove the mix from the fridge and mark the roll in to 24 section.

Form a ball from each section and space apart on a baking tray.

Cook for 15-20 mins until barely soft in the middle, and leave to cool.

Serve with a robust stout - I chose O'Hara's Leann Follain as again it's a local brew and thought it would compliment the cookies better than the 'normal' stout I used to make them.

Recipe - Smoky Chili with Leann Follain Irish Stout

It was one of those days... cold, miserable and I was a little out of sorts. I wanted some comfort food and I fancied a 'chili-like'* meal. Trawling through the many recipes online I noted than some featured coffee, chocolate and stout, so the idea of cooking with a beer that already possesses those flavours was hardly a huge leap in the culinary thought process.

O'Hara's Leann Follain is a local stout so it made sense to use it, not to mention the fact that it's a particular favourite of mine. As for the rest of the ingredients, well the beef is from our local craft butcher but most of the other additions were leftover items from the fridge combined with a few cupboard staples.

And that's the secret of this kind of recipe. Pick a style - I wanted something smoky, peppery and chocolaty - and build around it with ingredients that compliment or perhaps even contast with one another. Not to mention the need to use up those left over bits and pieces so they don't go to waste.

And like and good chili - or curry - it tastes better the next day!

Anyway, here's the recipe so adapt and enjoy.

Ingredients:

1 tsp Mustard Oil
1 bottle O'Hara's Leann Follain Stout

1 kg Minced Beef
1 cup Smoked Bacon - chopped
1/2 cup Chorizo - chopped
2 cups Meat Stock

1 Large Onion - finely chopped
1 cup Sweet Red Peppers - chopped
3 Garlic Cloves
1 whole Red Chili Pepper
1 whole Habanero Chili

1 tin of Tomatoes
1 tin of Kidney Beans
1 tin of Butter Beans
4 dashes of Smoked Chipotle Sauce

1 tbsp whole Coriander
1 tsp whole Cumin
2 tsp whole Mustard
1 tsp Oregano
3 tsp Smoked Paprika
2 Bay Leaves
1 tsp Chili Powder (Optional)
1 tsp Black Pepper
Salt to taste

Plus leaf coriander and grated cheese when serving.

Instructions:

Toast the whole spices in a dry pan until the mustard starts to pop. You might want to cover them with a saucepan lid to avoid mustard-seed-eyeball!

Blend the tinned tomatoes, toasted seeds, oregano, garlic cloves, smoked paprika, red chili pepper, black pepper, chipotle sauce and chili powder (if using) to a fine paste and leave to one side.

Brown the beef with the mustard oil in a large saucepan, remove and set aside.

Cook onions, bacon and chorizo in the same saucepan until the bacon starts to brown and sizzle.

Add the beef back in to the pan along with the spiced tomato paste, stock and bay leaf.

Stir and add in the stout!

Simmer uncovered for about an hour until the liquid has reduced and thickened.

Add the beans, sweet red pepper and habanero chili. Cook with the lid on for a further half an hour.

Taste and add more chili powder or chipotle sauce if you want it hotter. Or a little brown sugar or plain old tomato ketchup if you want it sweeter. Remove the habanero before serving.

Done!

Sprinkle with grated cheese and coriander, then serve with roast potatoes and a beer.

* OK, so the reason I have the word chili in parenthesis is because I don't want all the pedants telling me that it's not a real chili as it has this, that and the other in it. You're probably right, but I couldn't think of another word that encompasses the style of dish so live with it!