Meat and Potatoes

Meat and Potatoes


One pot dishes abound across the North of England and Ireland. From (Loppe) Scouse in Liverpool to Lancashire hot pot, Shepard’s pie, Irish stew, Corned beef and potato hot pot. The basics are the same a way of stretching a meagre amount of meat to feed a lot of people. Great dishes each with its own distinctive character and different accompaniments that make them unique. The red cabbage or beetroot with Scouse or Lancashire hot pot to the bland silky sweetness of the barely in Irish stew and the vinegary mushy peas with Corned beef Hot pot, all add another flavour dimension to everyday dishes. Made with a little care and pride these regional dishes can become fantastic and economical family meals. All these dishes retain a lot of local character and every person you speak to will have there own family recipe for each dish, my interpretation come from speaking to and cooking with many people. The basics of each dish stay the same but different people add different things, I have listed as many variations as I can think of but I am sure there will be many more I haven’t discovered yet.

Scouse or Loppescouse

The oldest recipes that I have discovered for Scouse are very simple and have very small amount of meat in them, 4oz for ten people! The original Scouse is said to of been brought over to Liverpool with Scandinavian sailors in the nineteenth century where it was known as lapskojs or labskaus. However its links with Lancashire hot pot and Irish stew are undeniable. The name of the dish gives the name to the people of Liverpool, therefore you would think it would be treated with great respect, unfortunately you will struggle to find anywhere serving it in Liverpool. Properly made it is soup come stew made from Lamb, mutton or beef with the addition of potatoes water and other vegetable often served with dumpling and pickled red cabbage or beetroot. My version of Scouse is of the lamb or mutton variety and I have it on good authority that it is a traditional recipe; many people will dispute this and say that you should use shin or flank of beef. I think lamb adds a better flavour that goes with earthy sweetness of the root vegetables. Scouse is dish you should cook for as many people as you can muster. It is great for a cold winter’s day; eat it with a pint or two Guinness and a whisky, some of which should end up in the Scouse, for a truly great feast. It can be also made blind (with out the meat) however it does become a little bland and require more of a quick from the pickles and whisky.

For 8-10, you could half it but making it for any less people isn’t really worth it

3lb of neck of lamb on the bone or shoulder chops or 3- lamb shanks, if you could buy lambs head one of them would add a tremendous amount of flavour
6 onions peeled and roughly chopped
6 carrots peeled and roughly chopped
10 large potatoes and roughly chopped in to large chunks
2 small turnips peeled and chopped
2 parsnips peeled and chopped
( any root vegetables can be used these are my favourites, just go for a ratio of double the quantity of potatoes to meat and the same quantity of meat to vegetables)
A handful of barley or whole wheat grain
A bouquet garni of parsley bay and marjoram
Brown sauce and Worchester sauce
Salt and pepper
Water or stock (don’t use a stock cube just use water instead)

Place your chosen meat in a deep pot covered in salted water bring to the boil and boil hard for two minutes, now throw away the water retaining the meat. Now in your pan place the meat at the bottom followed by the onions then carrots and every thing apart from the potatoes cover with water by a good inch, bring to the boil season generously with salt and pepper, simmer gently for a good hour, now drop in the potatoes and cook till they have completely dissolved. Take off the heat and fish out the bones (and bouquet garni) which by now will have come free of the meat, give it a good stir to break up the meat add brown sauce, Worchester sauce and a splash of whisky some more seasoning if needed . Remember this is a dish about meat and potatoes so its quality lies in the quality of ingredients, they to get good quality lamb even if you are buying cheap cut as described. If you can get hold of mutton much the better the flavour will be better, just increase the cooking time to 3 hours. Now served your Scouse with bread and butter, red cabbage and pickled beetroot adding them to the Scouse as you eat it.

This is dish that is even better if made one day and reheated the next and the health conscious can skim off the fat. I would scrape it off and put it on some bread to have with it but, I know that is not to every bodies liking, but I love it!

Christmas Baking

Rhian’s Christmas cake

This cake had evolved with my cooking originally it came from the Good House keeping book, still a fantastic cake recipe, however I have adopted it somewhat, adding new types of dried fruit as I find them. The types of fruit are not important the ratio of fruit to flour and the ratio of butter and sugar are the most important. The only other important issue is the soaking time for the fruit which I think is essential, the type of alcohols you use are again your personal choice, I use brown ale and brandy, but a combination of a beer, ale or cider or Perry and a smaller amount of a stronger booze such as brandy, whisky, port sherry or calvados, depending on your budget. Every October when I decide to make my Christmas cakes and puddings I buy a bottle of not too expensive brandy and use through out the whole festive period, in many things, its warm flavour just seems right at this time of year. My other favourite if you are feeling flush is using English cider brandy, fantastic stuff if a little pricey. This year my types of fruit I have found have been very varied. I found soft dried pears and massive dried prunes in a health food shop, giant black raisins and juicy golden sultanas and bright green raisins which have all gone in to my cake. Along with soft dried figs, mixed peel and glace cherries. Try to find the uncoloured ones they are much juicier and taste like cherries, like wise with the mixed peel but it whole and chop it up your self. Your reward will be evident when you try you cake on Boxing Day with a little dry sherry or the incredibly sweet Pedro Ximinez sherry which must have been made to drink with all things sweet and Christmas like.

To produce a large prodigious cake that will last from Christmas day to New Year’s Eve.
(Approximately 16 slices of a 24-26 cm round tin or two 12 cm tins.)

For soaking the fruit in

500ml of Brown ale, Cider, Perry (see above) or cold tea and orange juice if you don’t won’t to use alcohol.
2-3 large measures of your chosen hard liquor (brandy, whisky, rum, sherry or port etc.)

The Fruit

1 kg of dried fruits, apricots, prunes, died cherries, blue berries, figs, dried cranberries, dried soft pears, dried soft or dried figs. As long as the fruit you chose are soft and juicy and you don’t use too many of a strongly flavoured fruit such as pears or bananas. And try to include a 100g at least of candied peel and glace cherries.
500g dried vine fruits, such as raisins, sultanas and currants. However you can also you can also use the fantastic golden sultanas, or the green raisins from Pakistan, Muscatel raisins are expensive but add an air of luxury to your cake.

Any large fruit such as apricots, figs, prunes and pears will need to be chopped up, Tedious but essential so your great aunt doesn’t choke on a giant whole prune. I usually leave the glace cherries whole but you can chop them in half any smaller and they loose there character. The peel if it is not chopped up ant I hope it isn’t, the whole stuff is much superior also has to be chopped again tedious but an excuse to give your self a little tipple as you have to open the bottle for the cake, well that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it! So after all this weighing and chopping place all the fruit in to you chosen roomy receptacle and cover with the booze or tea and orange juice. Cover it with cling film and leave for a few days, as long as a week an definitely overnight. If you don’t go down the alcoholic route it will be necessary to refrigerate the mixture.


Now for the cake

To complete, line your cake tin with a double thickness of greaseproof paper and tie newspaper round the outside of the tin to protect the cake on its long slow baking. And set the oven to Gas 3/325oC/160oC
350g butter unsalted for preference
175g light muscovado sugar
175g dark muscovado sugar
5 large free-range eggs
100g ground almonds
150g shelled hazelnuts/almond/walnuts or a mixture
zest and juice of an orange
zest of a lemon
2 tsp baking powder
350g plain flour or half whole meal for a denser cake 1tsp ground ginger, ground cinnamon and mixed spice, plus a good rasp of nutmeg.
Begin with the butter beat it till soft with a wooden spoon add both the sugars, continue beating till you have and fluffy brown sugary mess. You can do this in a food processor with the beating attachment fitted but working up a sweat makes it more satisfying, but the choice is yours. Now add the eggs one at a time it may curdle but a mixture contain this much goodness can’t go wrong. Next fold in the flour, spices, baking powder and ground almonds. Last fold in the fruit and the orange and lemon juice and zest. Give it a good mix to make sure everything is well distributed.
Transfer the mixture to the prepared tin or tins. Flatten the surface of the cake with the back of a spoon making a hollow to give a level cake when it rises. Then drop the cake from a height of about 30cm to make sure that all the air pockets have been removed. You may need to cover the top of the cake with a circle of greaseproof if it is browning too fast. Now bake for 2 hrs at 160Oc then lower the heat to 140oc for a further 1hr. Test with a skewer which should come out clean. Allow to cool completely be for you do anything with it.

The next day, remove form the tin; upturn the cake and piece with skewer. Poor a little hard liquor in to each hole, repeat this once a week until you decide to ice it a week or so before Christmas. To store it, wrap in cling film and place in a biscuit tin or other air tight container.

Ham and Pease pudding stotties, a great Geordie institution.

Ham and Pease pudding stotties, a great Geordie institution.

More good things for sandwiches……..

Pease pudding a Victorian paupers dinner, fit for royalty. The French may have foie gras and truffles but the North has pease pudding.

Pease pudding hot,
Pease pudding cold,
Pease pudding in the pot
Nine days old.

Some like it hot,
Some like it cold,
Some like it in the pot
Nine days old.

So goes the nursery rhyme. I would neither suggest you reheat pease pudding many times or keep it for nine days I have and it’s not very appealing. However when freshly made spread on to warm stotties with thickly sliced home cooked ham it is a real treat.

For the pudding

1lb of dried split yellow peas
1 unsmoked ham shank or small gammon joint or a packet of bacon scraps of you are feeling dented
1 carrot
1 onion
1 egg
flour
a pudding cloth or new dish cloth


Soak the ham in water overnight and the peas separately. Place the peas in a bundle in the cloth and tie them loosely they will expand a lot. Put the pudding in the pan with the vegetable all peeled and left whole and the meat cover with water and bring to the boil simmer gently the peas will take about an hour, then remove the cloth and tie it over the sink to drain. Continue cooking the meat till the small bone on the shank can easily be removed, or in the case of a gammon joint it gives little resistance to a knife when poked. (For bacon scraps an hour will be plenty) Retain the liquor for soup just add more vegetables carrot and onion diced and simmer till soft mix in ant spare pudding and meat scraps and you have a hearty soup for a cold winters day.

Back to the pudding remove the peas from the cloth and either put them in a food processor and blend till smooth or use a potato masher mixing in the egg as you go, at this point some add bits of meat chopped up I don’t. Now place you pudding mix back in to the cloth which has been floured and hang it again over night over the tap in the kitchen sink. The heat of peas will cook the egg, some recipes require you to boil the pudding again for a further hour you don’t need to. The next day thickly slice the ham butter the stottie cakes and smear with pease pudding. Any excess pudding will keep in the fridge for 4-5 days the ham it is best to keep for three days but both can be frozen with good results.

Stotties

Stotties are a speciality of the North East, a large flat bread bap the size of a dinner plate with a soft texture, soft crust and a small indent in the middle to stop them rising. They can be made at home but it’s a good excuse to go the Newcastle to the Grainger market just to buy them in my opinion. If you haven’t got the time or inclinations don’t despair, white bread baps as long as they are fresh will make an adequate substitute.

Tongue sandwiches, mash and the art of mushy peas.

Tongue sandwiches, mash and the art of mushy peas.

My induction to cooking and baking didn’t end there, not only did I learn how to bake I was also shown many traditional dishes that have all but disappeared from the tea table. As in Aunties Jean’s house tea time was the high light of the day, and one of her favourites was in sandwiches was pressed home cooked tongue with beetroot , not to everybodies liking but a fantastic combination of the rich tongue and sweet beetroot in harsh malt vinegar. A glorious combination. A whole tongue can look quite daunting and it does stink! Your perseverance will be rewarded; one tongue will produce many sandwiches of course. However in can be used in many things, thinly sliced in a salad with hard boiled eggs and a sharp vinaigrette it is fantastic, don’t tell your dinner guests, they will love it. It can be served hot with mash and mushy peas with plenty of malt vinegar another favourite of mine. It also keeps in the fridge for a week or you can freeze it pre sliced in between sheets of cling film for when you have a craving!

For many sandwiches, six for a main course

1 salted ox tongue soaked over night and rinsed
1 carrot peeled whole
1 peeled onion studded with clove
1 stick of celery
1 bay leaf
handful of parsley stalks
( I but garlic in but I don’t thing Auntie jean knew what it was)
cold water cover tongue

A very large oven proof pot, she used a an enamel oval dish with a tight fitting lid you might se one in a charity shop if so buy it they are fantastic for this and many other long cooked dishes

Place everything with enough water to cover in large pot, bring to a rapid boil and skim of the scum (there will be loads) Transfer everything to you chosen container with tight fitting lid or tin foil and place in a an oven at 140oc for up to 3 hours check it is cooked buy inserting a knife there should be no resistance have a patience. When cooked allow to rest for twenty minutes then drain and place on a chopping board, Wearing rubber gloves it will be very hot still peel of the skin like peeling a large tongue shaped banana., this must be done when its still hot or the skin will never come off! Then place the tongue on a china dish with a board on top and place a Victorian family bible on top and leave it over night to press. Next morning chill it in the fridge, when its gets to tea time thinly slice and place in white bread sandwiches with thickly sliced beetroot

To serve the tongue as a hot main course with mash and the best mushy peas in the world requires a bit of planning but it’s worth it

For six

The mushy peas

8oz marrowfat dried peas soaked overnight in water
1 carrot peeled
1onion peeled
1 bay leaf
malt vinegar
salt and white pepper freshly ground

When the tongue is half cooked put the big in a large pot with the vegetables and bay leaf. Cover with cold water bring to the boil, skim off the copious amounts of scrum that appear and lower the heat to a gentle simmer. Leave it bubbling away for approximately 1 hour, or until the peas have all but collapsed When they are nice and soft drain off the liquid, leaving enough to give the peas an unctuous lava like quality, discard the veg. Place back on the heat and cook till they have collapsed, season generously with the salt and white pepper (black pepper just looks wrong) and add vinegar to taste, quite a lot of vinegar to go with the rich tongue is a good thing in my book, 5-6 tablespoons.

Now to prepare the mash.

Place as many peeled potatoes as you feel you can eat in to a roomy pan all previously chopped in to similar sized chunks. The type of potato you use should be a a large main crop, variety, Maris piper or Maris barb are good, as are King Edwards a and red Desire, the main to look for is type of potato that is not to young and will have the right texture when it is mashed, so any so called ‘new’ or salad potatoes will not do.

So back to the mash. Place your pot with potatoes covered in cold liberally seasoned water 2tbls spoons per 2 pints is good guide. Most of this salt will not be consumed remember it is there to season the potatoes which are large bland lumps of carbohydrate. Bring to rapid boil and turns down the heat to a gentle simmer for 10-15 minutes till cooked but not falling apart. Drain thoroughly and mash with a masher or put through a food mill if you have one. Now on a low heat and start by adding to a splash of warm milk and some salt. (2-3tsp), I don’t put pepper in mash but doesn’t it stop you, beat that in with a wooden spoon, add cold unsalted butter in small pieces, beating well after each addition. For six 8oz of butter is a good idea but you can add less but it wont taste as good! This may sound a bit long winder but it does produce the best mash, and once you have done a few times it will not seem so arduous.

Now serve up your tongue sliced thickly on a great platter moistened with a little of the cooking liquor. Hand round the mash and mushy peas. Allow people to add more vinegar if they feel the need and hot English mustard in a must!

Mushy Peas and mash….

Mushy peas and a mash two very basic things that we have all eat in various guises, and probably not rely thought much about them. However when made correctly they are two fantastic English dishes much abused which such be treated with the respect they deserve. Mushy peas of course can be served with many things, fish and chips, of fish cakes and my favourite corn beef pie amongst many other things. More on that later.

Auntie Jean’s Ginger Snaps

Auntie Jean’s Ginger Snaps

One of the first things I watched and helped make were these biscuits. My Great great aunt made them almost every day of her life! She baked every day form getting up till going to sleep and supplied everybody in the family with cakes, scones, sandwiches, pies, puddings and everything else you could imagine. Miner’s wives teas for hundreds would all come out of tiny kitchen, no recipes ever written down just a mixing bowl and spoon and some scales but most of the time she just knew how much to but in the bowl and they of course always were fantastic. These biscuits are one of my first memories of her that and endless cups of tea with her and her two sisters all widowers with whom I spend many days being looked after before I was older enough to go to school! Back to the biscuits which don’t keep long ( they loose there crunch after two days) but they are so good you can’t keep them. And you have to like ginger a lot

1 lb of plain flour sifted
large pinch of salt
2 tsp ground ginger or less in desired
8oz caster sugar
6oz butter softened
8oz warm golden syrup or black treacle (my alteration if you like the liquorice taste of treacle)
2 eggs
2tsps baking powder

Makes 20-30 depending on size

Melt butter and syrup or treacle add sugar, salt followed by egg then beat in the flour and baking powder. A splash of milk might be required to make a thick batter of dropping consistency. Then place desert spoons of the batter on greased baking trays well apart making then in to rough circles with the back of the spoon. Bake at 180oC for 12 – 15 minutes till golden brown allow cooling and crisping up, ready to be devoured with hot strong tea and good conversation.

Venison Pie

This is the venison pie I made for Brian Turner on UKTV Food Television programme August 2007.

Haltwhistle Roe Venison Pie with red currant jelly and Black Velvet Durham porter.
This makes a pie for twelve people
Ingredients
3 kilos of stewing venison on the bone cut into large joints (i.e. shoulder, shin, and neck)
or 2 kilos of stewing venison of the bone plus one kilo of venison bones
6 large carrots peeled and roughly chopped
3 onions peeled and chopped
One head of celery washed and chopped
1 kilo of large field mushrooms broken up
1 head of garlic sliced through the middle
1 Large bunch of sweet herbs tied with string i.e. thyme marjoram, bay leaves and rosemary.
2 pints or 1 litre of Durham black velvet Porter
Enough chicken or light beef stock to cover
Maldon sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
A little vegetable oil for frying

Pastry
1 kilo of strong plain white flour. I use Gilchester Organic stone ground flour as it makes very good pastry.
½ kilo shredded beef suet
2 teaspoons of baking powder
2 teaspoons of salt
2 teaspoons of mustard powder
2 teaspoons of picked thyme leaves
Enough cold water to make a dough approx ½ a litre

Method
Using a little oil brown the joints of meat in a large frying pan till well browned. Add the vegetables and herb bundle towards the end. Deglaze with beer and allow to evaporate. Cover with stock, bring to boil, season the liquid and cover tightly with tin foil. Place in an oven at 180 centigrade or until the meat is falling off the bone.
Once the meat is cooked take it of the liquor using a sieve, reserving the vegetables and liquor. Shred the meat into large chunks. Add the reserved vegetables and season to taste. Place the reserved liquor in a pan and reduce over a high heat, skimming off any scum that appears. Reduce until the sauce is of a strong flavour adding a little redcurrant jelly to sweeten.
Making the pastry
Mix all dry ingredients together then add enough water to make a firm dough. Roll out onto a floured surface to ½ cm thickness. Line a 12 inch quiche ring with the pastry allow it to hang over the sides. Cover the pastry with cling film and fill with baking beans. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 180 till pastry is cooked. Remove from oven and remove cling film. Pack the pastry case with the meat and vegetable mix adding a little of the gravy to moisten. Roll out enough pastry for the lid ½ cm thick. Dampen the edges of the pasty with water and place the lid on top crimping with fingers. Cut to fit.
Bake in a pre-heated oven at 180 after brushing the top with a beaten egg for 45 mins till pastry is slightly risen and browned.
Allow to rest for 15 mins before serving.
Serve with creamy mashed potato and a green vegetable, in season, lightly seamed and the reserved sauce.