Low 'n' slow - Feather blade beef and pork ribs

And so it begins.. (BBQ season that is!)

(Ok, this is a little freakish - I just had dejavu of declaring BBQ season has arrived, so thought I would go back and check whether BBQ season has started earlier than last year, and found that last years BBQ article was the exact same date! 18th April..)

There is likely going to be a bit of a shift in focus here on the blog for a bit. There are two reasons for this:

1. I have just splurged and bought myself a smoker (a Weber Smokey Mountain Smoker to be precise)
2. I have entered two food based competitions at the end of July: A chilli cook off and my very first attempt at competitive BBQ!  Both very exciting, and I think competitive BBQ is probably something on my bucket list (if I had one), so really glad to be able to tick that off (although expecting to get hooked on it, to be honest).  Also, I have only once made a legitimately serious chilli, and that wasn't that sophisticated, so there could be a lot of chilli eating between now and then..

Sunday was the first forecast dry day since I put the smoker together, so gave it a whirl. It was only my wife and I eating, but didn't want to have it smoking all day for just meat for two, so I went with feather blade beef joint and a few pork ribs.

As it was my first try, I was just getting a feel for it and didn't want to have too many variables to consider for the experiment - so I just banged them in with a few handfuls of smoking chips and tried to keep the temperature at around 110 degrees centigrade (it varied hour to hour by about +/-10 degrees).

I was aware that ribs generally take shorter than feather blade, but didn't want to disrupt the temperature by opening too frequently (opening can apparently add around 20 mins to overall cooking time) so just left them all in for around 7 hours. 

The ribs had quite a bark on them, but were still very soft and moist inside (relatively high fat content on ribs), they were ok but a little too salty with the rub. I used the same rub on the beef and that tasted very nice - it is somewhat disturbing seeing the meat look quite sooo charred (with normal associations of BBQ & charred crust = ruined), but I have discovered that the "bark" is actually very tasty and an integral part of traditional BBQ (apparently with beef brisket and pulled pork, the bark is the most in demand part).

I don't have the ingredients I used to make my dry-rub to hand, so I will post those up later.

Recipe: Burgers Re-visited

Last weekend, I had another try at burgers.  The good thing about burgers is that you can get great results with very little time or effort - just some carefully timed preparation and you can have a meal pretty quick.

I followed a similar approach as last time, except rather than the single, larger patties, I went for slimmer, "smashed" patties - but with two in each bun. I also added a cheese slice to the experience.  The end result was agreed to be better than the last attempt, so will modify from here.

There really isn't much to it, but here's the details (quantity for two complete burgers, 4 patties) :

Ingredients

• ~400 grams beef mince - as per previously, exact blends of meat are most often personally guarded secrets, but even just ground braising steak (or chuck)  is a pretty decent option to get started.  This time around I actually just used 15% fat content Aberdeen angus beef, and was still fine
• Salt
• Two rolls - depending on your preference, I go for Brioche burger rolls
• Sauces - I go for yellow mustard on the base and relish/tomato sauce on the top
• Two cheese slices
• Mature cheddar

Method

Pre-head the grill/broiler and a heavy bottomed frying pan on the hob, for about 10 minutes on a high heat.

1. Split the mince into 4 even balls and squash into a patty shape - ideally about the diameter of the bun, it should be pretty slim
   
   
2. Cut the buns in half and lightly toast under the grill (cut side facing the heat)
   
   
3. Sprinkle salt on the top of each of the patties, and depending on the size of your pan put them in salted side face down - ideally I guess two at a time - with a spatula press down on the tops of each patty (for the smashed effect) - cook for a few minutes until nicely browned on the underside
   
   
4. Sprinkle salt on the op of patties and flip & repeat
   
   
5. Once buns are lightly toasted, add a few slices of the cheddar to the top half of the bun and toast further until melted
   
   
6. Apply yellow mustard to inside base of the bun and relish to the top half (the cheese half)
   
   
7. Once patties are nicely browned both sides, place one on the base of the bun, followed by a cheese slice, followed by the top of the bun.
   
   
8. Eat!

Cooking time probably won't take more than 10 minutes, so if you have the buns, cheese and raw patties ready to go at the start, you can get it done pretty efficiently (if not frantically!)

Chorizo Mac & Cheese

A little while back, a pasta place opened up near the office - It's called Coco di Mama and is a London chain.  I got lured in there a while ago because they had a board outside saying they were selling mac & cheese (marketers take note, that is all it takes to make me come to your shop).

They have mac & cheese on permanent rotation, but with a few variations: pulled-pork, chorizo and truffle oil.  Of the three, the chorizo variety is definitely the stand out. The pulled pork is fine, but the pork really just sits in the background not bringing much to the dish, and the truffle variation is not really to my taste.


But the chorizo, that is good. it brings a slightly spicy, acidity and brightness to the dish that works like a cross between tomatoes and bacon (the high notes of the tomatoes and the meaty, low notes of the bacon).  So, as if it wasn't already obvious, I have to try and re-create it.  Now I feel guilty making mac & cheese to frequently, as its really not a healthy meal, but I decided it was high time last weekend.


I went with my usual mac & cheese approach, so I will only skim over that, with a few notes at the bottom.

Method

1. Cook the macaroni until al dente
   
   
2. Cook the leek in butter, then use the butter to make a basic roux (I have never actually weighed/measured any of the flour, butter, milk or cheese I use here, so I can't really comment on that, but here is the basic idea)
   
   
3. Add the cheese to the roux - again never weighed the cheese, just add to taste and thickness of the sauce - unsurprisingly, if you use stronger cheddar, it will taste stronger!  I also added 4 cheese slices (see notes below)
   
   
4. Mix the leeks, chorizo, cheese sauce with the macaroni in an oven proof dish and top with more grated cheese and breadcrumbs (if you dont have breadcrumbs, I find grating a piece of sliced bread works well) - put in the oven at ~160 degrees for something like 30-40 minutes

Notes

1. The cooks chorizo I used came similar shape to bacon lardons, small cubes about 1 cm in length - I found these somewhat underwhelming, and really I think I need to go for bigger slices of chorizo to get that brightness - with the smaller size it adds overall flavour to the dish, but not the more direct hit
   
   
2. I added the cheese slices on recommendation from the FoodLab - the reason being it contains sodium citrate, which is used to make cheese slices more meltable - and the theory is helps make the sauce smoother, and bring out more of the cheese flavour. Modernist Cuisine go as far as using the sodium citrate raw in their mac & cheese. Without doing a particularly controlled experiment, I can't say that I observed nay notable difference, but I had the cheese slices (leftover from burgers) so in it went!
   
   
3. I leek in my mac & cheese, but there is no denying it varies from the original, so to be true to re-creating that it might have to drop out next time around..

Birthday cake

I was saying a day or two ago, I often surprise myself at how difficult cake decorating is.

It's not that I am surprised that it's hard, I am surprised that I keep fooling myself into thinking "that looks simple".  In the cold light of day, I know full well that people spend years training and practising cake decoration, but for seem reason that part of my brain shuts down when I think of a cake decoration that looks simple to replicate (see my mothers day cake for goal vs reality!).

This occasion was no different.  It was my wife's birthday and needed to make a cake. and I thought a sponge with chocolate icing, but covered completely with chocolate chips in a densely covered pebbledash type effect (at least that's the best way I can describe it!)


I used the same chocolate-cream cheese-buttercream icing as in last year's cake, but this time I mixed up my sponge approach, moving away from my default food processor method.

The food processor method basically involves throwing all the ingredients into a food processor (just a normal processor using a blade attachment), and processing until smoothe, dropping consistency.  However, having read a bit about flour and how gluten is formed (adding moisture and stirring/beating to form gluten bonds, the more beating the more the proteins are able to move and form more bonds - creating a big gluten network), I wanted to take a more traditional approach to the cake - e.g. beat the ingredients up until the addition of the flour and then fold that in.  Replacing a small (~10%)  amount of the flour for a gluten free alternative (in this case, corn flour) also helps avoid the build up of too much gluten (which would prevent rising, and nice airy sponge).

Switching to the traditional approach, on the basis of a single experiment compared to numerous sponges previously baked, appeared to be a success - the cake definitely rose more than usual.

Latest fad #47 : Burgers

Yep. Time for another random fad.  This one is not entirely my fault though, as I did receive a cook book entirely about making burgers at Christmas (a very aesthetically pleasing and readable one at that), so it's to be expected that I give it a try at some point.

There seemed to be quite a craze about home made burgers a few years back. I'm not sure if it was actually a national thing, or just a craze when I was younger/a student that students go through. Anyways, the craze back then was for non-burger burgers. By which I mean, they never actually resembled burgers you might be in a restaurant or burger place. They were typically big oval-ish balls of supermarket mincemeat with, at the very least, chopped onions, eggs and flour added, often lots of other things (herbs, cheese, etc).

Now I have nothing against this brand of home-made burgers, but really, as my tastes (and I suppose my understanding) has evolved, I am more inclined to make burger-burgers. The type that burger joints make, the type that I guess you could say burger-snobs prefer (if you can truly be a snob about something as dirty as a burger?).

There are lots of these burger purists about, on the internet, or in the aforementioned Hamburger Gourmet book, who focus on three things:

1. The only ingredients in your patties should be: beef & salt
2. Everyone has their own "secret" blend of three beef cuts that they use (for some reason, three is the magic number). Kenji over at the FoodLab has a great run down of different beef cuts for burgers along with tasting notes and fat content.
3. Cooking technique is very important - They need to be seared at a high temperature (for the maillard reaction and to hold the patty together)

So I decided to have a pop. Due to a fairly limited choice at my local Waitrose meat counter, and on the basis that I was just testing out the technique, on Kenji's recommendation, I went with the standard chuck mince (no blend here!), which is more commonly braising steak in the UK.

I found it took quite a while to get my pan up to a high enough temperature to effectively sear the patties, I pre-heat for about 10 minutes but still didn't seem as hot as it should be. I will try a different pan next time.  Applying pressure whilst cooking also helps sear quicker (and also helps for a more "smashed" effect burger)

In the end, it tasted pretty good. The problem I have with burgers, is that for all the effort, they just taste like burgers. Now this isn't a bad thing, they are satisfying, warm, soft and definitely fill a need, but they rarely blow you away. Great burgers are great, but run of the mill burgers from half-decent fast food burger places can taste pretty great too..  For me, the magic really lies in the combination of cheese, relish (maybe mustard) and meat wrapped in soft bread soaking up the juices.  So for all the effort you put in, I'm not sure you really a proportional increase in return on your effort.

That said, its actually pretty low effort required, so I will do it again soon. Who knows, maybe this weekend..

Recipe: Lasagne

I have never understood people who don't like lasagne. Admittedly, I haven't met many of these people, so maybe they just don't exist? For all it's simplicity, I think the pairing of cheese and tomato has to be one of the greatest (I mean, just adding it to a piece of the most basic sliced white bread can make for an incredible snack when under the grill a la "toast pizza"), and throw in the warm, savoury meatiness and what more could you want, right?

(I know that's not a very appetising picture, to be honest I have been putting in less effort with my photos. I largely forget/don't get a chance to try and get good ones, and usually just use my phone)


Growing up, lasagne was always my favourite meal - although I did have the advantage of growing up with my mums lasagne, which is awesome. Maybe these mythical people who don't like lasagne simply grew up eating crappy lasagne (if such a thing exists?). I remember having the lasagne at the college canteen, which I think probably ranks as the worst of my lasagne experiences, but even so, lasagne-day in the canteen was still something to look forward to.

When I say it was my favourite meal, it's not that it's fallen out of favour in any way, its just that my tastes have expanded and some of my favourite meals now are the kind of thing that I would have groaned at on hearing they were planned for dinner as a kid (for some unknown, un-explicable reason, I was never that fussed for roast dinners, casseroles, stews etc - possibly just the fact that they had visibly whole vegetables in them?  Possibly just because I was a stupid child. Either way, these are now amongst my favourite meals).


Anyways, on to my lasagne.  This is not the recipe for the best lasagne, or a special lasagne, this is just the way I currently cook it. I feel like it should be better, but I can't really put my finger on what particular characteristics should be stronger.  It will undoubtedly go through changes each time, but either way, it seems to be well received on the occasions I have made it so far, so here it is..

Ingredients

The meat ragu:

• 500 grams pork mince
• 500 grams beef mince
• 200 grams bacon lardons (or just chopped bacon)
• 1 tablespoon butter
• olive oil
• 2 sticks of celery, chopped
• 2 large carrots, chopped
• 1 white onion, chopped
• three cloves of garlic, chopped or minced
• 1 teaspoon of oregano (dried is fine)
• 400 grams tinned tomatoes
• 3 tablespoons tomato puree
• Worcester sauce
• 400 ml stock
• milk (a few splashes)
• 100 ml red wine 
• flour
• 3-4 bay leaves (optional)

Cheese Sauce (optional):

•  1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• flour
• 200 ml milk
• 200 grams cheddar
• optional: 1 bay leaf and nutmeg for grating

Essentials:

• lasagne sheets
• 100 grams fresh mozarella
• 100 grams ricotta

Method

Pre-heat fan oven to 160 degrees centigrade

The meat:

1. First, we will cook the meat sauce, that will go in the oven for a few hours giving us plenty of time for the cheese sauce right at the end. Melt the butter and a glug of olive oil in a big pan
   
   
2. Cook the onions, garlic, carrots and celery in the butter and oil over a low heat until they are beautifully soft and aromatic - about ten minutes - at this point I don't really season with salt, as we will be adding bacon and stock later, which can both be salty.
   
   
3. Add the bacon and teaspoon of oregano and cook for a further few minutes (don't worry about how cooked the bacon is, we will sit this in the oven later and it will become meltingly soft then)
   
   
4. Remove the ingredients from the pan and sit aside, leaving a little of the oil/butter in the pan. Add the pork and beef, and brown, gently mixing and breaking up with a spoon.
   
   
5. Once browned, stir the tomato puree through the mince and cook for a few more minutes.
   
   
6. Add a tablespoon of flour or so to bring together the juices and stir through
   
   
7. Next, we will de-glaze the pan with the red wine - pour it all in and cook for a further few minutes, the wine will probably reduce a but here
   
   
8. Mix the cooked vegetables and all the oil/butter with them back into the meat and mix through
   
   
9. Add the stock, Worcester sauce and bay leaves (if using them), stir through and stick in the oven. Cover the pan but slightly crack the lid (we want some reduction in the sauce).
   
   
10. The meat can stay in the oven for as long as you need - if it is reducing too much just add a splash of water and reduce the temperature - I keep it in for about 2 hours, but depending on timing. Once done, pour a few splashes of milk in and stir through - this will bind it together and make it a little glossier (can also use cream for even more indulgence!)

The cheese:

Really, the sauce is optional - sometimes I just replace the cheese sauce entirely with torn mozzarella and ricotta, but if you are feeling more decadent, then you can make a bechamel sauce to top the lasagne for an extra cheese hit!

1. We will put the constructed lasagne in the oven for about 40 minutes, so about an hour before you want to eat, start the white sauce
   
   
2. This is a basic bechamel sauce, so make as you normally would - you can be as fancy as you like, adding bay leaves to the milk, grate in some nutmeg at the end, whatever. I normally keep this simple as there lots else going on and this is not the star of the show  - melt the butter, stir in the flour until it forms a a smooth paste, add the milk gradually, still over the heat, whisking it until smooth as you add it.
   
   
3. Once the milk is added and sauce combined and starting to bubble, take off the heat and add the cheddar

Construction:

1. Put a layer of lasagne sheets at the bottom of an oven dish, follow with a layer of meat sauce. Then using a teaspoon sprinkle a few blobs of ricotta on top of the meat, chop the mozzarella to approximately 1 cm cubes and sprinkle some of those on. Repeat the pasta-meat-cheese until all sauce used
   
   
2. If using cheese sauce: top the lasagne (assuming your top layer is currently meat topped with ricotta and mozzarella) with sheets of pasta and then pour over the cheese sauce
   
   
3. Put in the oven and cook for 40 minutes

Shortbread Swirls for children

The original recipe for this one came from a Green and Blacks chocolate recipe book.  As it is basically just shortbread, I just use my normal ratio that I use for brownbutter shortbread.

This is a really simple one, but more visually satisfying, which is good for doing with children (which is really the only time I make these).

Ingredients

• 210 grams plain flour
• 100 grams caster sugar
• 10 grams cocoa powder
• 150 grams choc chunks
• 180 grams unsalted butter

Method

Pre-heat fan oven to 160 degrees centigrade

1. In two separate batches, cream together 50 grams of sugar and 90 grams of butter
   
   
2. In one batch mix in 110 grams of plain flour and beat further until combined
   
   
3. In the other batch of sugar/butter mix the remaining 100 grams of plain flour and the 10 grams of cocoa powder
   
   
4. Roll out the plain dough in to a rectangle, so its approximately 1/2 cm thick
   
   
5. Roll out the cocoa dough to roughly the same size (these are very much rustic looking, so don't worry if they are wonk or not very rectangle - just rough rolling is fine)
   
   
6. Lay the cocoa dough on top of the plain one, now spread the choc chunks across the top of the dough
   
   
7. Carefully holding the dough, roll it up so it makes a cylindrical shape (like rolling up a rug!) - again, don't worry if bits of the dough break due to the choc chunks, just squeeze/pat it together
   
   
8. Once rolled, cover it in clingfilm and pop in the fridge to cool a little, 30-60 minutes is probably fine
   
   
9. Once chilled, remove the roll and slice into discs, about 1/2-1 inch thick, place on a lined baking tray and pop in the oven for about 15minutes, or until the plan dough starts to lightly brown