Roast Beef

Roast beef is soo English, it’s what the the French still call the English as a nick-name/ insult- “les rosbifs”- although wikipedia believes this may be because the English have a reputation for turning up in the France, and burning their lilly-white skin in the hot sun.

For a few years, you couldn’t get beef on the bone. You can now, and it’s worth tracking down, because it adds to the flavour of the beef. The other thing you need is some fat on the meat. Without the fat it just doesn’t taste, well, of beef. 

The other thing it needs is a little bit of colour. Perfect beef, for me, is on the bone (beef rib) with some fat marbled through it, roasted in a hot hot oven for not quite long enough. It needs to be dark on the outside, and pink and juicy in the middle.

To the outside of the beef, before it goes into the oven, run in a mix of salt, dijon mustard and worcestershire sauce. To rest the beef on, under the beef, throw in some whole garlic cloves, 1/2 or 1/4 onions (2). This’ll help the stock flavour up as the beef roasts. Roast for 20 minutes in the hottest oven you can (240C ) then for 20 minutes a a kilo, at 190C . Less for Rare beef, and more for well done. 

Once the meat is roast- AND THIS IS REALLY IMPORTANT- let the meat rest for at least 30 minutes. It will be mildly warm when you carve it. If you’re serving it with gravy then carve it nice and thin- it should be mild pink and tender. 

Steak and Kidney Pudding

My Dad always goes on about a steak and kidney pudding- but I’ve never made one. I found this recipe- and intend to make i one day

 
To serve 6

First make the filling.

Trim and cut into large cubes a kilo of beef skirt, shin or chuck.
Cut up and remove the cores from about 500g beef kidneys. Season 50g plain flour well with salt and pepper.
Heat a little fat or oil in a large, heavy frying pan until fairly hot but not smoking. With floured hands, toss a couple of handfuls of beef in the seasoned flour, then put it in the pan. Brown well on all sides, then transfer to a large saucepan.

Brown all the meat like this, including the kidneys, in batches to avoid overcrowding the pan.
When all the meat is browned, deglaze the empty pan with a glass of red wine, stirring and scraping up any burnt, crispy bits with the edge of a spatula.

Add the deglazed juices to the meat in the casserole. Heat a little more fat or oil in the now-clean frying pan, add 1 large or 2 medium onions, sliced, and sweat for a few minutes, until softened.

Add to the meat. Add a scant tablespoon of tomato ketchup, a teaspoon of good English mustard, a bay leaf and about 750ml beef stock or water (it should barely cover the meat). Stir gently and bring to a gentle, tremulous simmer. Cook for about 11/2 hours, until the beef is fairly tender but not ‘finished’. It is going to get another couple of hours in the pudding. Note that skirt and shin will take a little longer than chuck steak. Check the seasoning towards the end of cooking and adjust as necessary.

At this stage the filling can be left, covered, in the fridge for a day or two. Or it can be very successfully frozen. If you like mushrooms in your steak and kidney pudding, gently fry about 250g whole button mushrooms or sliced larger mushrooms in a little fat or oil for a few minutes to let the juices run, then add to the filling before you make up the pudding (they will cook through in the pudding).
Now make the suet crust. Mix 250g beef suet with 500g self-raising flour and a pinch of salt. Add cold water by degrees (up to about 150ml may be necessary) until you have a workable dough that is not too sticky. Set aside about a third for the lid and shape the remaining two-thirds into a ball. Roll out on a floured surface to about 1.5cm thick and use to line a greased pudding basin of about 1.5 litres capacity. Pile in the meat with its gravy. Roll out the lid piece. Wet the edges of the lining crust and place the lid over it, pressing firmly with your thumb to stick the lid to the lining.
Tie a double layer of pleated greaseproof paper over the top of the pudding basin, then tie up the whole basin in muslin or a cotton cloth, if you like, to make it easier to raise and lower into the pan. Place on an upturned saucer inside a large pan of simmering water that comes a third of the way up the basin. Steam, with the saucepan lid slightly ajar, for 2 hours, topping up with boiling water from the kettle to stop the pan boiling dry.
Unwrap the pudding basin and run a palette knife carefully around the edge to loosen the pudding. Place a warmed plate over the top and invert the basin. Give it a shake to turn out the pudding. It should hold its shape – at least until you cut the first slice!

Serve with steamed seasonal greens, such as Savoy cabbage, winter greens or Brussels sprouts, and good English mustard. On a cold February day a real trencherman could no doubt manage a dollop of good buttery mash as well.

Tartiflette

      I’ve been trying to find a good recipe for this savoyard region – and this is a bit of a mix of a few. I’ve seen a few recipes with cream, but am pretty sure this is wrong. I’m going with the bacon, spuds, onion and cheese version.
      • 5 medium potatoes (waxyish, or something that won’t fall apart)
      • pancetta (cubed smokey bacon. 1 big handfull/ 2 supermarket packs.)
      • an onion, sliced 
      • 1clove garlic
      • 1 petit reblochon cheese (bottom crust cut off

Tripe & Onions

OK -first the warning. I’ve never made this dish. My mum told me about Grandma (Aunt Nora) making this. She told me the tripe was cooked in milk, and I’ve sniffed round the internet to find a Lancs recipe for Tripe and Onions – for the sake of history rather than gastronomy.

Tripe is a cow’s stomach lining. You can get blanket, honeycomb or thick seam – depending on which stomach it comes from – 1st, 2nd or 3rd respectively.
Tripe is usually sold cleaned and parboiled. (AKA white tripe). Undressed tripe is green tripe, and usually only tackled by a butcher (who cleans it and par boils it)

1 lb dressed white tripe
1 pint full milk
3 medium onions,  sliced in 1/2 moons
pinch of grated nutmeg
1 bay leaf (optional)
salt and pepper to season
1 oz butter
3 tbsp plain flour
chopped fresh parsley, to garnish

In a saucepan cover the tripe with cold water, bring to the boil for  couple of minutes then drain and rinse under running cold water. Cut the tripe into 1 inch pieces.

In the pan, add the tripe, onions, milk bay and nutmeg and seasoning. Simmer for 2 hrs, or until tender. Strain off and keep 1 pint of ‘stock’ back.

 In a pan, make a white sauce with the butter, flour and milk stock. (melt the butter, add the flour, and stir till the roux is thick, add a little milk at a time, and cook out till smooth and thick. repeat till you have a sauce of the right consistency)
Add the cooked tripe and onions back to the sauce and serve. parsley on top for a spot of decoration.
 

Twice cooked Pork Belly

 

Pork belly, skin on, in a roasting pan, with foil on top.

cider (enough to cover the pork)

1 tblspoon sugar (less if using a sweet cider)

1/2 tsp salt

tightly wrapped, cook the pork for about 5 hours in a low oven (160c).

Take the pork out of the stock and into a plastic bag. but the pork between 2 chopping boards with a weight on, so that it cools  perfectly flat. It’ll keep in the fridge for several days.

When you need it, you can cut a piece of pork and roast for 15 mins in a hot oven. The skin will crisp up and bubble (crackling) and the meat warm through again. serve immediately.