Got a couple of racks of ribs to do tomorrow and looking for recommendations if anybody has any for them. Have looked at most of the obvious sights for them but nothing is appealing. I don't like anything too hot but open to suggestions for chinese/bbq styles etc. Got plenty of time to prepare and slow cook them if needs be.

Just about to eat my second curry of the evening. Interspersed with a few crumpets, a snack of cream crackers and a few glasses of milk.

Rub them with course salt ASAP. Rinse when ready to cook and pat dry.

Pre-heat oven to 150˚C.

Quarter and core some sharp dessert apples (Granny Smith are ideal). Place in a roasting dish that just large enough for the meat. Add a peeled and sliced onion and a couple of sprigs of thyme. Pop the pork belly on top, cover with foil and cook in the oven for three hours.

Remove from the oven and lift off the skin. Cover the rest of the meat in foil and leave in a warm place.

Increase the oven to 180˚C. Place the pork skin on a baking tray and bake for about 10 minutes until crisp. Slice the crackling into pieces and serve with the pork belly.

Remove the thyme and any large amounts of fat from the roasting tray; transfer the apples, onion and cooking liquid to a blender and blend until smooth

Check and adjust seasoning. Serve on the side of the meat.

Christ, I'm feeling horny after reading that.

a) The young lady from the cafe seems not to be conversing with me anymore.
My free cooked delicacies appear to be at an end.


b) My next door neighbour and I dined on chip shop fish and chips with mushy peas and gravy Sunday teatime. Large fish and chips twice. 2 pots of mushy peas. 2 pots of gravy. 2 buttered breadcakes. Lashings of salt and vinegar.
Outstanding value at only £11.
c) I am considering a warming corned beef hash for tea on Monday evening.
It may combat the coming cold spell predicted.

Check out what Suntory (Japan) or Penderyn (Wales) make ... i.e. whisky.
There is also at least one English Whisky, e.g. made in Norfolk.

I'd say the rule is ...
Whisky - Made anywhere but not usually Ireland or USA
Whiskey - Made anywhere but usually Ireland or USA and not Scotland
Scotch whisky - ONLY produced in Scotland.

New must-visit stop when in Huddersfield. [url=http://www.examiner.co.uk/news/west-yorkshire-news/huddersfield-chef-barrington-douglas-opens-6388527Jerk. Pork. Pies.[/url

Before the Domino's thread morphs into another food thread, I'd like to bring tnings back on track and ask what others are planning for christmas lunch/dinner. This year I will be serving:

Roast monkfish in Parma ham

Roast rib of beef (on the bone obviously) with a mustard crust, served with marrowbone, roast spuds, parsnips, beetroot & shallots, mash and Yorkshire pudding

Haven't decided on dessert yet but will probably go with a raspberry/wine jelly or something similarly light

Me and my next door neighbour mate are going to see our landlord mate in our local establishment.
Opening hours are 10-30am until 4pm so we shall be in for the duration.
Our other mate is cooking for his good lady and two daughters and is insistent on plating up a meal for the pair of us and delivering it after our sesh.
We have not complained.

What is he cooking?
Oh, I don't know.



n.b.

The mate cooking for us is the ex-landlord of our local establishment and knowing his modus operandi his reason for cooking for us is that he can escape his family and sneak a couple of hours in his old pub with us.

Christmas dinner will probably be the usual:

Smoked salmon
Roast Turket, etc
Christmas Pudding

I'm hoping I can persuade Tayyabs to do takeaway.

Here, it will be:

Mushroom consommé to start.

Home-cured salmon (vodka, juniper, lemon zest and salt) with endive, orange segments and a classic vinegarette.

Slow-roasted chicken with a stuffing of boar paté, truffle, chestnut and grated Cox apple, and served with fondant potatoes, sprouts and serrano, a butternut purée and a chicken and thyme gravy (the latter prepped yesterday and now in the freezer).

Individual sachertortes (with orange jam rather than apricot), mandarin sorbet, mandarin dust and a biscuit or tuile of some sort to add texture and height.

Keep thinking I must go there one evening!

Bought the Rover Cottage Meat book for £10 from TK Maxx the other day - got about a 5th of the way through it, very interesting. Also got a mincer with sausage meat stuffer attachment, going to try sausage over the weekend if the skins arrive in time and also potted dog.

Ooo. Mincers are great – I've got one that's an attachment for my mixer: never yet made sausages, though, although I keep intending to give it a go.

Let us know how it goes.

No surprise that you think so.

Mixed results - machine worked very well and was easy to get the hang of the production side of things. 2kg pork trim from the farm shop with 200g fresh breadcrumbs, 300g water and some salt, white pepper and sage into hog casings. Minced twice on a medium plate - came out very dry and with a strange texture. Flavor wise they were OK, pretty plain but something to work from.

Think I need to add more breadcrumbs (or replace with rusk) and water and possibly increase the fat content a fair bit judging by how little came out from them during cooking.

What was the fat ratio?
How long did you let them set up for in the fridge before cooking?

Try mincing on a course plate and then the medium plate maybe even the medium to fine plate for half of the mixture. Add some ice when you do the final grind, it keeps the temp down at the grind plate and just use a little lest water. Also try adding a little onion when doing the final grind.

As for flavour just fry up a small amount of the mix before filling the casings, it is easy to add more seasoning that way.

I'm finding a way to bookmark this post.

Its amazing what you lean from Diners, Drive-ins and Dives

Fat ratio was probably in the region of 40% or so as it was pork trim but thats a guess really. I didn't leave them in the fridge before cooking, but have cooked some more from the same batch tonight and they were basically the same after being in the fridge for 24 hours or so.

I didn't use ice, but the meat was chilled and the mincer itself was just about ice cold when used as it's been kept in the garage.

Bought a seasoning/rusk mixture from a butchers supplier that I will try next, I reckon the rusk may let me increase the water content will also add the ice and use the plates suggested above.

thanks

What the ice does is keep the fat from emulsifying at the grind plate through localised heat (something like a 2:1 by weight water to rusk ratio) as would the finer grind, some put some grated onion into the final grind to add texture, sweetness and flavour.

Also it is a good idea to refrigerated them for a good few hours as this lets the fats harden up and lets the filler (rusk or breadcrumbs) set up and it gives you a better chance of keeping that moisture in until it has done its job.

Also be sure to mix the result of the last grind, you are looking for a typical sausage meat look rather than mince, half ground fine half ground courser will help this.