Alex Heaton – Digitally Social

Beer is one of the most if not the most popular alcoholic drink in the world.  It’s also thought to be the 3^rd most popular drink after water and tea.  It’s made through the scarification of starch and the fermentation of the resulting sugar.  Malted cereal grains such as barley and malted wheat often provide the enzymes for this process.  Most beer is flavoured with hops, which helps to preserve the beer and add the bitter flavour.

Beer production has been referred to in some of humanities earliest writings. Today beer production is carried out on a global scale by large multi nationals as well as many hundreds of thousands of local and micro producers. In particular western European nations are known for their love of beer and beer making.  Germany and in particular Belgium have a long history of beer production. Belgium is particularly interesting as they have a very strong tradition of supporting micro breweries. Some compare the skill, passion and commitment to the best of the vineyards in neighbouring France.

While the Belgium’s may be masters of the micro brewery the British have a special relationship with beer.  In quantity they certainly consumer more than any other nation! The beer and social pub culture of the nation is an intrinsic part of the British psyche and social scene.  Lager is the most popular beer in the UK as is true in the rest of the world. However the British drink a lot of what is referred to as ‘real ale’ which is a more traditional beer which is more bitter than lager in taste.  In particular there is a thriving microbrewery culture with many pups stocking local produced ales which changed frequently based on local supply.  The variety and quality of these beers has helped to raise the popularity with the young as a an alternative to lager beer.

Slight up date to the method discussed previously. Pre oven use a vegetable oil on the skin to get perfect all over crackling. The piece shown came off the joint in 1 piece!

It was a very hot sunday and cooking inside didn’t seem quite right… If you haven’t tried this before then please do. Yes it looks kinda funny but the meat stays incredibly moist and slightly beery. Simply choose a good ale (I tend to use Old Speckled Hen as i think its ironic), empty 2 thirds and place the can up the chicken, ensure the chicken is propped up at one end so that beer can only escape through evaporation. Now close the lid on your BBQ and come back in 1.5 hours. During the cooking process you should hear the beer boiling – you know then that it is at least 100 degrees or more.

Since i discovered how to spatchcock I won’t go back to the days of 1.5 hours of chicken cooking.

Simply:

Take a strong pair of scissors (I’ve broken a few pairs so be careful) or a pair of garden shears and cut down either side of the chicken’s spine leaving about a 1cm gap as you cut. Once you’ve removed the spine flip the bird and press the bird out using the palm of your hand. The bird will now roast in about 45mins and will retain a lot more moisture and be a lot more evenly cooked as a result.

I tend to make a honey and mustard marinade (2 parts mustard to 1 part honey) then i make incisions in the skin, being careful not to put other wholes in the skin I pull it apart from the meat before inserting spoonfuls of the marinade into the gaps.   The marinade juices tend to combine with the chicken juices to make a lovely gravy.  I like to serve this dish with a selection on “bad vegatables” – see my post on “bad” vegetables for more info

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp oil
• 1 onion, finely sliced
• 6 garlic cloves, crushed
• 4cm/1½in piece of fresh ginger, crushed
• 2 hot green chillies, seeds removed, finely chopped
• ½ tsp ground turmeric
• 450ml/14fl oz can coconut milk
• 4 green cardamom pods, lightly crushed
• 4 cloves
• 5-6 curry leaves (available from Asian grocers)
• 2cm/¾in piece cinnamon stick
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh coriander
• 500g/1lb 2oz tiger prawns, cleaned and de-veined, shells removed but tail intact

1. Acquire a good piece of rolled loin of pork. It really is worth making an effort to get a decent out door bred piece of Pork. I use Wilsons – Ask your butcher to score the outside for you.

2. Boil a kettle and pour all of it over the meat. You will see that the skin around the cracks begins to peel away from the cut.

3. Using a clean tea towel, dry the meat as much as you can. Now use a hair dryer to get as much moisture out of the skin as possible

4. Rub sea salt into the cracks

5. stuff if you wish or simply place in a pre heated over at 180 for around 1.5 hours depending on the size of the meat. I tend to cover the meat once the crackling is looking good.

A quick risotto straight from the larder/freezer

Risotto rice for 2
Can of beans
Broad beans frozen. Peas might be nice to add as well
Pancetta or bacon
Onions optional
Garlic if u want
Salt and pepper
Butter

Fry the pancetta and garlic and then take out of the pan and leave aside.
Cook the rice, use good stock if u can.
Add the juice from the beans to the stock. Add beans 5 mins before the end and finish with butter and salt and pepper to taste.

We used a ravioli tray this time but have used pastry cutters before – not much in it really.

Ingredients
Pasta:
500g flour
5 eggs
A few pinches of salt
1 tbsp of olive oil

Meat filling:
350g beef joint (us any cut that is suitable for braising)
2 -3 tbsp olive oil
1 stick of celery,finely chopped
1 carrot, finely chopped
1 small onion, finely chopped
150ml dry white wine
200ml beef stock (you may need more)
1 tbsp tomato puree(paste)
50g fresh white breadcrumbs
4 tbsp parmesan,finely grated
2 eggs
A pinch of nutmeg
Salt and pepper to taste.

Method
1. First make your pasta. Jamie’s method here

http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/pasta-and-pizza/a-basic-recipe-for-fresh-egg-pasta

Just add the oil to the egg mixture.

2. Filling: Heat up the olive oil in a heavy based pan (i use a Le Creuset cast iron casserole).
3. Over a high heat,fry the meat on all sides till nicely browned. Remove from the pan and set aside.
3. Add the chopped onion,celery and carrot to the pan and fry gently till softened.
4. Return the meat to the pan then add the white wine. Cook till the wine has reduced by about 50%.
5.Next add the tomato puree and the beef stock.
6. Cover and simmer the beef gently for about 2- 2.5 hours, or until the meat falls apart when you pull it open with a fork. You may need to add a little more stock if it gets too dry but make sure you cook out the water before stuffing the pasta.
Your looking to get a nice thick sauce (almost a paste ).

7. When it’s finished cooking, chop the meat VERY finely and add the breadcrumbs, parmesan cheese,a few tbsps of the sauce, nutmeg and salt and pepper. Taste for seasoning THEN add the raw eggs.

8. Stuffing the pasta:
Roll the pasta thinly (i use No.7, 8 being the thinnest setting).
9. Now you can either spread out small tsps of the filling on one sheet of pasta, then top with another sheet, and cut them into ravioli…
OR
you can cut out circles (4-5cms), placing some of the filling on each circle,brushing the edges with a tiny bit of water and sealing with another pasta circle.

Whichever method you use, make sure the pasta is well sealed buy taking each ravioli in your hand and pressing the rim between your fingers,working your way round the whole ravioli.
10. Lay the finished ravioli on a floured work surface and keep covered with a lightly dampened tea towel to prevent them drying out too much.
11. Cook the ravioli in boiling salted water for about 4-5 mins(it may take longer if your pasta has dried out more).

Drain then serve, either in a good beef stock(as a soup) or with melted butter and parmesan cheese (my favourite)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/beefwellington_74657  not sure if this is the one i used