Miss Foodwise

Celebrating British food and Culture

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Alexis Soyer’s Oxtail Soup with simple suet dumplings

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19th century Victorian England saw a rapid growth of population and urbanisation stimulated by the Industrial Revolution. The elite became more wealthy and the poor became poorer.  Eliza Acton noted in her book published in 1845, that soups or pottage was hardly eaten by the English. The poor didn’t have means to heat up the dish that had sustained them for centuries, and often they didn’t even have access to the ingredients to make a soup. This was an era of slum housing, starvation and disease.

Alexis Soyer, who was chef at the prestigious Reform Club and regarded by many as Britain’s first celebrity chef, saw the horrendous poverty of the lower class and took it upon him to do something about it. He invented a soup kitchen and went to Ireland to give out his ‘famine soup’ during the Great Irish Famine in 1847. During his time in Ireland he wrote ‘Soyer’s Charitable Cookery’ and gave the proceeds of the book to various charities.
His book, ‘A Shilling Cookery for the People’ was a recipe book for ordinary people who could not afford the modern kitchen utensils or large amounts of ingredients.
In it he writes about how he goes around London and sees the poor attempt to cook but can’t quite manage because of a lack of knowledge. He takes it upon him to teach an old lady to cook an ox cheek in her one precious pot, over a coal fire. The old lady learns and is surprised to find out that the ox cheek is tender and that there is even enough liquid to make a soup from it.  After tasting it and approving it, she said she would teach her neighbours how to do it. Soyer, possibly very pleased about this, said to her that if she would do that, he would sent more recipes for her to learn and teach to her neighbours.

Of course the old lady was illiterate and Soyer realising that he might have sent a useless bit of paper to her, went to see her and found ‘six elderly matrons and an old man holding council together’, trying to make out Soyer’s writings. He then read the recipes to them.

Of soup he says that he finds it is no wonder that people have abandoned this dish as the recipes in most cookery books are complicated and expensive. Many contemporary cookery writers like Mrs Beeton made notes on how to cook economically but showed their ignorance by not grasping the fact that most lower class families were lucky to have some kind of roof over their heads, so a kitchen or fire would most probably been a luxury they could only dream of.

Soyer saw that knowledge was the next big in the poor being able to feed themselves and had the dream of opening a school to teach the poor how to cook. On this notion he remarked “Some of the money spent on our new palace prisons would be much better employed for this purpose.”
As my local farm doesn’t offer ox cheek – although they probably would if I asked – I made Soyer’s oxtail soup instead. I had been saving these oxtails – which are always sold out at the farm so quite precious – for a special occasion. Since I finished the first part of my book, I thought, let’s get out the Oxtail! That’s how it is with meat you buy straight from the farm, you treat it with the utmost respect and it becomes so much more valuable.
I had Soyer on my mind, because this week there is a fabulous lecture about him at the Guildhall Library in London. Sadly because of the book deadline I couldn’t spear a day to head over to London to attend this lecture, but at least I have now eaten his oxtail soup.

To make this into a main dish for your supper, you can add dumplings, I give you here the recipes as adapted from Soyer’s book The Modern Housewife or Menagerie.

 

 

Oxtail soup with dumplings

Some might find this soup bland, this might be so for our modern palate, this dish is not laden with salt – sweet – spicy like we are so used to today. Give it a go, and try to taste. It really is lovely to have these pure flavours. And then after you’ve tasted it, make it again and use white wine instead of water.
  • 1 oxtail
  • 1 carrot
  • 1 turnip
  • 3 medium sized onions
  • 1 stalk of celery
  • 2 bay leaf
  • a few sprigs of thyme
  • a few sprigs of parsley
  • 600ml water
  • 1tsp of peppercorns, or about 15 corns
  • 1tsp salt

 

Preheat your oven to 140°C
Cut up your vegetables in dice of around the same size; no smaller than 0,5 cm.
Add a generous know of butter to a cast iron pan and melt.
Add the vegetables, and glaze for flavour, then take them out
Add another knob of butter, wait until it is melted and gently brown the two sides of the oxtail, when the juices are starting to stick to the pan, add the vegetables and then add about 600 ml water to deglaze the pan and drown the oxtail. Make sure the meat is completely covered in water.
Now add the pepper, salt and herbs and bring to a boil, uncovered.
When the water boils, put on the lid and place in the oven for 3-4 hours, or until the meat falls from the bone and the fat is nearly all melted away.
When ready to eat, strain the soup, pull the meat off the bone and keep aside.
Now make your garnish for the soup, or use the soup as it is, without straining it – I prefer this as I like to just use the soup as it is with flavoursome mushy veg. I don’t like to throw this away.
Garnish (optional)
  • 1 carrot
  • 1 stalk of celery
  • 1 leek
  • 1 turnip
Cut all these vegetables in small dice of about 0,5 cm.
Put them in a pot and pour over the strained soup, simmer for as long as it takes to cook the vegetables but make sure you don’t reduce them to a mush.
Just before serving:
Place your pulled oxtail meat in a saucepan, add some of the soup and heat up.
Serve your soup with some of the pulled oxtail in each plate.
To make this a main meal
Plain Suet Dumplings (makes 8-10)
  • 220 g plain white flour
  • 110 g shredded suet
  • 0,5 tsp salt, the same of pepper
  • 150-180 ml water
  • optional: a tsp of thyme leaves or parsley cut finely

 

Combine the flour, the suet and the salt and pepper – and herbs if you are using them – in a bowl.
Make a well and start adding the water in small portions to make sure you don’t use too much and the dough gets sticky. You might need all the water, you might need less than the 18ml
Use a blunt knife to do this so your hands don’t get covered in sticky dough.
When the dough comes together you can use your hands to knead it into a stiff paste.
Roll into ping-pong ball sized dumplings and place on a tray.
When your meat is at its last 45 minutes of stewing, add the dumplings and allow them to stew together with the meat.
Serve together.
Enjoy

Bonfire, bangers and riots

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Two ways with sausages for Bonfire night: Jacket potato bangers and Toad in the hole

Last year on this day I wrote about Guy Fawkes and his connection to the Gunpowder Plot (see Gunpowder, treason and Bonfire Parkin here) and how it came to be that such plot was, well… plotted. I went back to nearly a hundred years before the plot, to see where that seed was sown.
Today I look at the customs that resulted from this failed plot and how it influenced the way we riot and react today to show our dismay, disappointment and disgust for politics and religion.

The trial of the eight surviving conspirators of the Gunpowder Plot was held on januari 27 1606 in Westminster Hall which would have destroyed had their plot been successful. A statute was passed, declaring that deliverance from Gunpowder treason should be remembered every year. From then on each 5th of november there would be a church service at which attendance was compulsory if you were loyal to the King, or at least wanted to pretend to be loyal. It became an annual ceremony to keep the memory of the failed Gunpowder Plot alive. It continued until it was taken out of the prayerbook two centuries later in 1859. But although it was erased from the prayerbook, it was by now rooted into the culture.

In a way the customs of the 5th of november provided a replacement to the pre-reformation holy days of All Saints and All Souls on the 1st and 2nd of November. On these days the churches would be lit with candles, and torches marking the start of winter and darkness. This catholic tradition in its own right had replaced the old pagan rites of Samhain,  which celebrated the end of harvest and the beginning of winter. It literally means ‘summer’s end’ and is the primary festival marking the end and the beginning of the year.

When the christians needed to convert the pagans, they gave them the 1st of November, a day on which they could light candles and make lanterns in hollowed turnips, just as they had been doing for generations before christianity spread. The reformation to Protestantism left the people with an empty gap where their 1st of November celebrations used to be, so naturally they embraced the new bonfire tradition after the Gunpowder Plot failed in the first years of the 1600’s.

Conveniently to the Protestants, the 5th of november could be used as a celebration of the conservation of Protestantism, a date to mark in the calendar alongside the early death of Queen Mary (a Catholic), the long reign of Queen Elizabeth I (Protestant) and the defeat of the Spanish Armada (to warn off the Spanish Catholics).

When Charles I married the Catholic princes of France, people showed their disapproval of the Catholic queen by burning effigies of the Pope and the devil on the 5th of November. We are now situated 20 years after the Gunpowder Plot and the only effigies that were burnt were that of the pope and the devil, not of Guy Fawkes.
In 1647 was described how bonfires went from simply great fires to spectacles with fireworks and explosives including fireballs. And in 1657 Samuel Clarke’s ‘England Remembrancer invoked the happenings of the plot. 

After Charles II Restoration in 1660, Samuel Pepys wrote in his diary “This 5th of November is observed exceeding well in the City; and at night great bonfires and fireworks.” The next years up until the year of the Great Fire in 1666 (which was for a short time also blamed on the catholics) he also mentioned Bonfires and festivities which shows us the normality of these celebrations by this time. On one occasion he is driving home with his wife after going to see Macbeth “forced to go round by London-Wall home because of the bonefires.”

Celebrations of the 5th became larger and intense rather than festive after the brother of Charles II Duke of York publicly declared to be a Catholic. This was followed by the Exclusion Crisis to exclude the him from the throne because he was Roman Catholic. When the Tory’s started to declare being agains the Exclusion, this created probably one of the first bonfire night riots. In 1682 the 5th fell on a sunday so celebrations started on monday the 6th. Reputedly crowds of people took to the streets attacking Tories and shouting their support for the King’s bastard son, the Duke of Monmouth, who was Protestant. This Bonfire night, it was not a celebration of the failed Gunpowder Plot, it was a warning and objection against the possibility of being ruled by a Catholic king.

The next year on the 5th, bonfires and fireworks were banned to keep the calm. But you know what, two years later James did succeed Charles and England had a Catholic King… Needless to say that the Bonfire night celebrations were forbidden although the ‘Gunpowder Treason-Day’ church service remained.

Under the rule of  James’ daughter Mary Stuart and her Protestant husband William of Orange, the celebrations of the 5th commenced and got entwined with the restoration of the Protestant religion in England by William of Orange. That double meaning didn’t stick though and years after this, it was forgotten and the 5th was yet again a celebration of the failing of the Gunpowder Plot.
Gunpowder Treason-Day’ church sermons changed each year, always highlighting another political event. Leaving the people a reason to take to the streets each year.

By the 18th century the festivities on the ‘fifth’ became less and less fuelled by hatred against Catholics and more about other political issues. The Catholic Relief Acts of 1778 and 1791 made life easier for Catholics, granting them the same rights as Protestants. Of course this sparked resistance leading to a week of rioting in 1780. But eventually the Catholics emancipated, helped by the Irish situation, with Catholic Irish members of Parliament. Of course in Ireland the troubles between the Irish Catholics and English Protestants remained.

Another change happened to the Bonfire night celebrations when anti-catholicism became less acceptable. By the early 19th century effigies of the pope were no longer burnt and the crowds needed another figure to ‘blame’. Strangely enough that figure became Guy Fawkes, the person who was least named in contemporary writings about the Treason and Plot. Although Guy Fawkes is mostly remembered on Bonfire night today, it was Robert Catesby who was chief instigator of the Gunpowder Plot (read my previous post to learn more of the plot).

So why did our Guy Fawkes become the figure of Bonfire Night? We can of course not say for certain why, but in 1793 just before the turn of the century, a play was performed at the Royal Haymarket Theatre. The prelude in one act was entitled: Guy Fawkes or The Fifth of November. In 1835 a comic pantomime called Harlequin and Guy Fawkes: or the 5th of November was performed in London’s Covent Garden. Many different stories about the Gunpowder Plot were told in plays after that, maybe the truth drifted away and the name Guy Fawkes just sounded best in playwright, maybe it was because he was discovered with the gunpowder…

But now Guy Fawkes has become the Gunpowder Plot, and the night of the fifth got often referred to as ‘Guy Fawkes night‘. He became the new face of the tradition, the scapegoat of the Plot, the symbol of opposition and disapproval.

Our story takes more turns in the 19th century with Bonfire night celebrations turning violent and dark. Victorian times saw the coming of a different sort of celebration, a night of rioting and criminal behaviour. A night when the honest should stay indoors and the dangerous ruled the streets.
The processions of ‘the night of the fifth’ would be fired with local social issues of politics and religion. They became manifestations, uprise agains local authorities and they became so dangerous and organised that they needed another organised organisation to contain them. So the police force grew to counter the protesters.

Today we live in a time with organised demonstrations, approved by the local authorities and contained for the safety of the protesters as well as the opponents and those who have nothing to do with it. But when the demonstrations do get ugly today, we see Guy Fawkes appear in the crowds…

Much like in the early 19th century plays about the Gunpowder Plot, a movie was made from a 1980’s graphic novel in 2005. ‘V for Vendetta’ is set in a near-future dystopian society in England, with the main character being ‘V’ a man wearing a Guy Fawkes mask, who wants to destroy the corrupt fascist regime and its leaders. One of the authors of the graphic novel commented that “The Guy Fawkes mask has now become a common brand and a convenient placard to use in protest against tyranny – and I’m happy with people using it, it seems quite unique, an icon of popular culture being used this way.” By many political groups the film was seen as an allegory of oppression by government. Anarchists, libertarians and activists of any kind have used the Guy Fawkes mask in their demonstrations after the movie came out. It has been seen in demonstrations agains the G8 summit and in other economical and political protest. It has become the emblem of anonymity and dissent.

The ‘Guy’ has gained another face, 400 years after he was just one pawn of the Gunpowder Plot. He has now become the face of disappointed people, the face disapproval in modern times. The face saying, we have had enough… For now at least.

On to the food part of this post. Bonfire
societies organise the Bonfire parades now in a safe and family
friendly manner. The streets of Lewes particularly are the place to be
for elaborate bonfire displays. People watch the parade and the fireworks and look forward to warming their hands on hot food and drink.
For this years bonfire night I give you two ways with bangers which are perfect for bonfire night celebrations at home. Toad in the hole is a traditional meat & batter pudding dish that evolved from the Yorkshire pudding-type puddings and other types of fired pudding.
It is bound to be a success with the little ones as who doesn’t love a good old proper sausage. The other dish is a banger jacket potato, an easy dish that even the most inexperienced cook could make. The potato just needs time to cook in the oven so do that in advance. It’s a perfect little bomb of warmth when you are planning to do some bonfiring of your own in the garden!

Toad in the hole

 

  • good quality sausages, 3 or 4
  • a few sprigs of rosemary (optional)

For the batter

  • 280 ml milk
  • 110 g plain flour
  • a pinch of salt
  • 3 medium eggs

preheat your oven to max 250° C
Fry your sausages in sunflower oil in a pan until nearly done
Pour 1 cm of sunflower oil into a baking stray or cake tin and place in the middle of the hot oven.
Place a larger tray underneath in case the oil drips over, you don’t want extra cleaning afterwards
Make your batter in the manner of making pancake batter
When your oil is hot, you will see as it will be spitting, arrange your sausages into place along with the oil you still have in your pan from frying your bangers
Carefully but swiftly pour the batter into the hot oil, stick in the rosemary sprigs and close the oven door. Bake for 20-25 minutes until puffed up and nicely colored.

Serve with mustard, braised red cabbage, jacked potato or mashed potato and caramelised onions if you like

To braise red cabbage

  • red Cabbage
  • a cooking apple, cubed ( for a football size cabbage you need 1 large cooking apple)
  • a teaspoon of cinnamon

Cut your cabbage very finely, and heat some butter in a pan.
Add your cabbage and apple and braise, adding a little water when needed.
When soft, spice with a little honey and cinnamon
Serve warm, o so good with sausages

—————————————————————————————————-
Jacket potato bangers

For the potato

  • 1 potato per person You need a floury kind like a Maris Piper, King Edward, or for Belgians ‘Bintje frietaardappel’
  • +- 20g coarse sea salt
  • good quality sausages
  • 3 onions, braised and caramelised

Wash the potatoes and let them dry
Preheat your oven to 220° C
Put your salt in a tray and roll each potato in the salt and rub it in
Prick your potato with a toothpick a few times to prevent them bursting
Place the potatoes straight on the rack in the middle of the oven
Bake for 1 hour, then squeeze the potato slightly to see if it appears soft inside, if that doesn’t appear so, place back in the oven for another 15-30 minutes.
When the potatoes are nearly ready or when you are about to have dinner caramelise some onions, add one teaspoon of pomegranate molasse of balsamic vinegar, whatever you prefer and let it become nice and sticky. You could do this in advance too and just cook the sausages when you need them.
Finally fry your sausages in oil or butter, I prefer butter and oil in this case. Finish them off with 10 min in the oven along with your potatoes to heat them up again or on their final bake.
Then cut into the potato, add some of that caramelised onion, add a banger and serve!
Also very good with braised red cabbage.

Pudding!
Last years Bonfire parkin might take your fancy, find the recipe here >

Bonfire Parkin

What are you doing for bonfire night?

Jo’s Hotpot – British family recipes

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I think she didn’t realize how much she filled my heart with joy when she handed me a jar of pickled red cabbage to go with a Lancashire hotpot she cooked for me to take home. Insecure about what I was going to think of her dish, she provided me with the instructions for heating the hotpot at home.
Joanne, a bridal gown designer originally from Lancashire, moved to Birmingham a few years ago to open her fabulous bridal studio in the old Custard factory. She cooks this hotpot a lot for her family and I was lucky enough to have a taste myself.

The Lancashire hotpot is the most famous dish to come from the county of Lancashire. Traditionally it is made from mutton, topped with sliced potatoes. It’s a quick and simple dish to prepare with long slow cooking, the tale goes that the women who worked at the cotton mills prepared this dish in the morning and placed the Hotpot in the oven to simmer. Hours later when the family returned home, they would have a warming dish to enjoy. This is an economical dish, making the most out of cheap cuts of meat. Nowadays lamb is mostly used but in the old days cheap cuts of mutton were used as they have a strong flavour and therefore little would go a long way.

Jo’s Hotpot is made with a pastry lid instead of being topped with sliced potatoes on top. The pastry gives some extra texture to the dish that I quite like!
I’m sure this dish will be a favourite in our house like it is at Jo’s. Thanks so much for sharing Jo, you are amazing!

This is the first of hopefully many recipes sent to me by readers, friends of readers, mums and aunties for my British family recipe challenge. Do you have a family recipe for Huffkins, puffkins, pudding or any other traditional recipe?
Something you mum made a bit differently because her mum told her to?
 
Submit your recipe and I will cook the dish and post it here on the blog!
Do
let me know where you got the recipe from, it could be your grandmother
or even your grandmother’s grandmother! And tell me the story behind
the dish if you like!
Can’t wait to read all about it!

More in info here  >
You can send you recipe to: recipe@missfoodwise.com   Cheers x

Jo’s Hotpot 


What do you need
2 tsp of olive oil
500g of minced lamb, or lamb cut into small pieces
2 medium onions, chopped
1-2 garlic cloves (optional) chopped
2 large carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
1 kg Potatoes, sliced 0.5cm thick
2 pinches of salt
200 ml Lamb or beef stock
1- 1 1/2 level tsp of ground black pepper
2 bay leaves
Shortcrust pastry to go on top
1 egg for eggwashing the pastry

Method

  • Peel and slice the potatoes in 0.5cm thick discs, Par boil in water with 2 pinches of salt
  • Whilst potatoes are boiling: lightly fry the garlic in the oil with half the pepper in a large stew pan. 
  • Add the lamb and brown
  • Add the onions and fry until they soften
  • Add the carrots
  • Add 200 ml of stock
  • Add the rest of the pepper and the bay leaves
  • bring to the boil then simmer for about 10 minutes
  • preheat the oven 160°
  • Check potatoes after 10 minutes and as they are starting to go soft at the edges, add them along with some of the water they are cooking in, the water level should cover the food just.
  • Cook for a further 10 minutes to allow the flavours to blend
  • Thicken the juice with corn flour or some other thickening agent, it should still be runny liquid and not too stodgy/glupey (I didn’t need to do this, as I cooked it a further 10 minutes to thicken the sauce)
  • Transfer to a casserole type dish and the add shortcrust rolled pastry to edges, seal edges of pastry to side of dish, glaze with milk/egg and prick with a fork
  • Put in the lower part of the oven and cook for 40 -50 minutes until the pastry is golden on top

Serve with Pickled red cabbage, mushy peas and crusty buttered bread

Jo tells me black pepper is the key to this dish, and I agree so give it a good dose!

Enjoy

‘Osso Bucco’ and why we should eat Rosé veal

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We should all eat veal
If we don’t, a lot of bull calves in the intensive dairy industry will be shot at birth.

Veal is a byproduct of the dairy industry, so if you eat a lot of cheese and dairy… eat veal. Even to the vegetarians out there who do eat dairy, please eat veal.

Bull
calves are of no use to the dairy industry if there is no demand for
veal and therefore the little animals need to go. Numbers reached 260
000 male dairy calves in 2007.To feed our milk and cheese habit, dairy cows are kept constantly pregnant but while female cows can grow up to become dairy cows like their mothers, there is no room for their brothers. Male dairy calves are not always suitable for producing beef therefore (Rose) veal can offer a good alternative.

TV farmer Jimmy Doherty, is trying to persuade people to try veal.
“Dairy calves are being shot at 24 to 48 hours old and if we drink milk
we all have to share in this instead of leaving the burden of it to the
farmers. Eating rose veal is utilising those calves and solving a
problem,” said Jimmy Doherty, who is raising veal calves on his own farm.

 

When
you buy veal, try and find ‘rosé veal‘ this high-welfare veal comes
from calves that are not fed the restricted diet mainly consisting of
‘milk replacer’ that is needed to produce the ‘white veal’ meat, it keeps the meat light colored.

Rose veal is high in protein and has a pink color, hence the name ‘rose veal’.
The calves are raised alongside their mothers in open fields, and have access to their mother’s milk. After a few weeks they will get a diet of cerial and grass. This is why Rose veal has more flavour than the ‘white veal’.
The UK is the best country if you want to buy veal, the RSPCA’s Freedom Food programme label is very strict. Sadly the veal being produced in the rest of Europe is not of the high welfare standard like the British and Irish.
I have been wanting to buy veal for months, I can’t get it at the butcher or at the farm where I buy my beef and pork. So I don’t eat it. I refuse to buy white veal.
Last saturday I found a butcher who is selling free range ‘rose veal’ in Brussels. Happy days. I came out of the shop holding my veal shanks as if it were a bunch of flowers.
If you are a vegetarian/vegan and you are still reading, thank you.
I hope you see my point.
Especially if you are a vegetarian and still consume dairy.
this little one couldn’t get enough of mommies milk…
If there is one type of meat we should be eating, it’s veal. Meat is more costly to produce in terms of energy and resources then vegetables. In times where we have to mind our ecological footprint and eat less meat, veal is the most responsible choice.
To help the Rosé veal and dairy beef farming industry I wanted to feature a few farms or shops that sell Rosé veal. Thank you for your tweets and emails with details, answering my question on Twitter.
Update: 

Rosewood farm raises their dairy bulls for beef, they deliver England, Wales and Scotland
Calf at foot dairy produces raw milk and grass fed ruby veal from her gorgeous Jersey cows

*I’m not claiming the calves shown in my picture are rosé veal calves, I took this pictures before I thought about doing this post but I think it shows well that we should not reduce animals to waste.
Where to buy Rosé veal:
London
Allens of Mayfair (Heaves farm veal)
Barbecoa Butchery (Heaves farm veal)
O Shea’s of Knightsbridge (selling Irish rosé veal)
Union Market (Heaves farm veal)
Provenance butcher (Midshires Rose Veal)
bashford and co – Croyden

Cumbria
Heaves farm veal (selling their own veal, watch the video on the website)
Steadmans Butchers (Heaves farm veal) 

Cotswolds
Scotland
Overton farm shop (Clyde valley veal)
West Midlands
Midshires Farm shop (selling their own veal)
Alternative meats (Heaves farm veal)
Devon
Somerset
Kent
Cuckoos Pit Farm. Susans Hill Woodchurch TN26 3TF
Sussex
Cowdray farm shop Cowdray Park, Easebourne, West Sussex
Yorkshire
J Brindon Addy (Heaves farm veal)
Rosewood Farm
 
Wales

Marcross Farm

 
Online UK
Alternative meats (Heaves farm veal)
USA
Chapel hill farm Virginia (selling their own veal)
Belgium
O Shea’s Brussels (selling Irish Rosé veal)
Please do contact me if you like to be included in this list.
Finally, I have my favourite veal recipe for you. It’s a classic: Osso Bucco, braised veal shanks. The meat is wonderfully soft and full of flavour.
Serve this dish with mashed potatoes, pappardelle or another wide pasta. Also delicious with a slice of humble home baked bread!
What do you need
2 veal shanks
1 carrot
2 stalks of celery
1 medium onion
1 clove of garlic
30 ml of dry white wine
2 bay leaf
a few sprigs of fresh thyme
a tin of skinned tomatoes
30 ml of beef or vegetable stock
salt and pepper to season
flour to dust
olive oil
knob of butter
*optional: some bread for the marrow…
Method
– preheat your oven to 180° C
– get your butcher cord out and bind the shanks so they stay in one piece
– season the veal shanks with salt and pepper anddust them with flour.
– chop you vegetables finely.
– heat 1 teaspoon of butter and 1 teaspoon of olive oil in a heavy based or cast iron casserole.
– add the vegetables and glaze them
– put them to one side and add the veal shanks
– brown them slightly on each side
– add the white wine and let it simmer for a while
– add the stock and finally the tomatoes
– let it simmer for a while and finally lay some of the tomatoes on top of the veal and press down so they stay there.
– add the herbs
– press some baking paper down in the casserole until it almost touches the food
– Put the casserole into the oven and let it simmer for 2 hours or until the meat is nice and tender
– When the meat is cooked, transfer it from the casserole to a serving dish and cover with tin foil.
– Transfer the juices into a saucepan and boil for about 10 minutes or until reduced
– add the veal to the juices again and start covering it with the sauce until completely glazed.
Enjoy!
Leftovers?
Why not pull the meat into strings and add to a nice tomato sauce for a pasta dish!
You might also like:
Please leave a comment, I love reading them!

Apple glazed ham – Best of British

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I went to London 3 days before christmas for a ridiculously short visit. We arrived with the Eurostar at 10:30 and left again at 5.
My bestie Vanessa and I wanted to shop for food and bras, that was our mission.
After the bras were sorted we started the food shopping and ended up with a full backpack each and more to carry in our hands. I was actually relieved to be on the train again as the 
2 kg Gammon and the quarter wheel of Stilton were doing my back in. To be fair, I did buy some dinner plates and bowls too and those might have been the heaviest of all.
I wanted to cook a glazed ham for ages, we don’t get that cut of meat here so I had to buy it in London that day. Because there were strikes going on in Public transport the cancellation of our trip was pending for a week. To much of my regret I couldn’t risk ordering a gammon from the butcher I wanted it from. I was looking forward to a ham from a rare breed pig rather than a pig that was kept indoors as I don’t approve treatment like that. Luckily I found a nice piece of gammon that came from a farm where animals are raised naturally and outdoors, but no rare breed sadly.

If you are in London and wonder where to get that wonderful rare breed meat, these are a few places you can buy from:

The Ginger pig: shops in Sheperds Bush, Marylebone, Hackney, Waterloo and Borough market
www.thegingerpig.co.uk

Daylesford farm shop: shops in Pimlico, Notting Hill and Selfridges. 
Main farmshop in the Cotwolds
http://www.daylesfordorganic.com

Preparing this glazed ham is actually very easy, I was surprised how easy it was. Imagine how much you can save by cooking your own ham if you have a large family to feed.
If I could get my hands on this cut of meat easier I would cook this a lot!

What do you need
2 kg gammon
a lot of cloves

for the cooking tray
1 teaspoon of cinamon (or 1 stick)
10 peppercorns
half an apple cut into small wedges
2 bay leaves
a small sprig of thyme
1 small onion

for the glaze
4 teaspoons of apple syrup
2 teaspoons of mustard
2 teaspoons of brown sugar
1 teaspoon of cider vinegar

Method
preheat your oven to 160° Gas
Cook the gammon by filling half a roasting tray with apple juice or water, add the mix of spices and finally the ham.
Cover with tinfoil and leave to cook for about 45-60 minutes.

Prepare the glaze by adding all the ingredients to a small pan and warm it through.
 
When ready, take the ham out of the oven and let it rest for 30 minutes, covered.
After the ham has rested and cooled, take of the skin but leaving a generous amount of fat on the meat.
Score the meat with a sharp knife and stick a clove in each crossing.

Now you can start brushing the glaze onto the meat.
Brush on one generous coating and put the ham in the oven for 30 minutes. Add another coating of glaze after 15 minutes. 

Ones removed from the oven, leave to rest in the baking tin for 10 minutes while you set the table.

We ate this ham with roasted potatoes and a fresh salad.

The leftover ham is great in pasta dishes or in a sandwich, the options are endless.

Other recipes in the Best of British category:
Pork stew, braised with cider and apples

This recipe was inspired by one of Jamie Magazine #december

Please leave a comment. I appreciate every single one.

Smoked chicken and a little compassion

by 6 Comments

I am having a strange feeling of happiness…
It’s sunday evening, I’m ready to go to sleep and I m looking back on my weekend.
This weekend was all about a chicken, not any chicken, a chicken that was reared with care and had lived a worthy life.
From the moment the ‘Poelier’ handed over this *chicken to me I felt like I had the task of giving this animal the send off it deserved.
It might sound strange but I truly felt that it was my duty to continue to care for this animal.
Someone had taken good care of this -very large- chicken, it had been roaming free in the Vogesen in France for at least 120 days. Knowing that the chickens we usually come by have only lived 40 days and sometimes less, this was a big bird.
After I picked up the chicken, my whole weekend started to evolve around it. First I had to clean it, quite a task as it was the first time I had to clean a bird from scratch.
I stood there for a minute, until I came to my senses. If I am going to eat this animal I might as well look it straight in the eye.
If you buy these chickens you get everything, the whole bird. This is so you can see first hand how this animal has lived.
What might be disgusting to some, really made me feel humble.
I wasn’t going to let anything go to waste out of respect and gratitude for the life this beautiful animal has given.
This is a feeling we have often forgotten in Western civilization, raising and caring for an animal and then when it comes to the point where it’s going to be eaten, use every part so not one single bit of this animal will go to waste. 

So this is what I made of my beautiful bird.
On saturday I smoked the whole bird for 6 hours and had it for dinner, on sunday we had the leftovers and froze what was left of the leftovers to make chicken pie next weekend and sunday evening I made stock from the bones, smoked chicken stock! So this chicken will be enjoyed for months to come.


For the smoked chicken

1 free range/Organic chicken, mine was a 4,5 kg Bresse* Chicken
(Just try and find the best quality animal and ask your butcher for advice)
1 onion
a hand of fresh parsley
a hand of fresh sage
a few sprigs of fresh thyme
apple juice
1 apple

For the smoker
Wood chips, wood from fruit trees works best. I used wood from old Whisky barrels which gave an extra flavour.
Coals
Extra wood, I used wood from old grape vines. As coals do have some glue and/or additives in them most of the time, I think it’s best to use wood when the chicken is already in the smoker.

I served the chicken ‘old school’ with apple compote, carrots and hand cut chips which I baked in the oven.


Method

Clean your chicken if your butcher hasn’t done so yet.
Start by firing your smoker or closed up BBQ
Stuff the chicken with 1 onion, fresh parsley, sage and thyme.
Bind the chicken with some kitchen rope so the stuffing doesn’t fall out.
Rub the meat with apple juice.

Soak the wood chips in some hot water

Prepare a jug with water, add a glass of apple juice, some apple slices and thyme.
When your fire is ready, add the watercontainer to the smoker which you then fill with the water you just prepared.
Just before you put the chicken on the heat, add the soaked wood chips by placing them on top of the coals.

The heat inside the smoker has to be at least 80% to cook chicken.
Now the fire is ready to start cooking the meat.
Close the lid and don’t open it again for at least 4-5 hours.
This will prevent any dropping of temperature in the smoker.

After an hour check on the coals and add some new ones or a piece of wood if necessary.
I found it was necessary to do so, to keep up the temperature in the smoker. (I used the old grape vines at this stage)
After 3 hours we added some wood chips again.
You can check on it after 4-5 hours, but with a 4 kg chicken like ours it took almost 6 hours to be perfect.
Remember the juices have to run clear before it is safe to eat chicken. 

 *Bresse chickens are protected by Appellation d’origine contrôlée since 1957 – the first livestock to be granted such protection. The rules about raising these chickens are very strict, for example, stocks are limited by the size of the farm – with a minimum allocation of 10 square meters for each bird.

Today is world food day, I signed up for Blog Action day #bad11 and that’s why I felt I needed to write the next bit:
I haven’t had chicken in my country for years and when I did I felt guilty but frankly more sick then guilty.
The cruelty these animals are raised in is just beyond your imagination.
They live -survive- on a tiny spot in a large closed barn until they drop dead or stop laying eggs.
I hate intensive farming, we do not have the right to let an animal suffer to put food on our table.
The most important thing I feel is “think before you eat”. You don’t have to become a vegetarian or a vegan if you don’t want to, just think before you buy your meat.
Try and find an alternative to the meat you usually buy in supermarkets, search for a farm where you can go, so you can see first hand where and how the animals live.

I used to be a vegetarian for 6 years because I didn’t want to eat an animal that had a miserable life. I found a farm where I can go and see the animals every month, when it’s meat day.
I do not get veal as the children on that farm don’t want to slaughter their calves, so I don’t eat veal. (and one of my favourite dishes is Osso Buco -veal shank- so I would love some veal)

I don’t want to get all ‘activist’ on you, it’s just something I feel very strongly about.
You make your own choices in life. I choose to only eat meat from humanely raised animals.
I firmly believe that happy animals just produce better meat and I know a few chef’s and farmers who will back me up on that.

Buying my meat from a farm changed the way I live.
For example, I missed last months meat day (as you have to order your meat a week in advance so the butcher on the farm knows what to prepare) so now I have no pork or beef for two weeks, and I’m fine with it. We only do have meat once or twice a week anyway.
It does take some planning, but to be honest I like it that way.
Does it cost more, no it doesn’t. 
Not on a local farm, you are a huge help to them if your buy directly from them. The price supermarkets pay the farms for their meat is criminal, the animals cost more to raise then what they get back from the meat. (not saying it is this way in every country) No wonder some farmers resort to cheaper feeds and more animals in one barn.

The system is just wrong.
I’m not saying it’s the same in every country, it is not. 
For example France has ‘label Rouge’ for poultry and eggs which is very strict, the UK has more and more farms with rare breed animals who are allowed to live longer than other livestock.

But if you want the system to change, you have to change your own.
Once you go directly to the producer, you never go back!
The end.

A few good websites to take a look at:
www.action.ciwf.org.uk
www.fishfight.net
www.fao.org/getinvolved/worldfoodday/en/

If you know of a great producer, feel free to post the details in the comments section below.(doesn’t matter where it is, we want to know)
Help others to find meat from animals that are raised with kindness and compassion.
(I will group this information and turn it into a page for all to use.)
Many, many thanks for sharing!

Here are a few to start with:
The Ginger pig
www.thegingerpig.co.uk
Shop’s all over London, farms based in Yorkshire

Foxbury farm
www.foxburyfarm.co.uk
Family run farmshop in the Cotwolds 

Salts farmshop near Rye
Folkestone Road East Guldeford, Kent
‪01797 226 540‬

Daylesford farm
www.daylesfordorganic.com
Farm and farmshop based in the Cotswolds, shop’s in London

Sandfields Farm 
www.sandfieldsfarm.com
Family run farm in Oxforshire  

De zeshoek
Family run farm in East-Flanders, Belgium
www.hoevevleesdezeshoek.be