Be Excellent To Each Other

We (well, Hel) did goat shanks in the slow cooker yesterday.

Goat is nice, it rather predictably turns out - and thankfully, since we'd got loads more in the freezer.

I now own some of these burgers. And some chicken of Aragon pie. I went to waitrose to buy a pint of milk.

If by my life or death I can protect you, I will. You have my short crust...

Hah! I've got two of those in the fridge for later this week.

NPasty hobbit!

Doing the chicken gallotine/balotine thing again tonight. Deboned the chicken already, maybe not as pretty as pepins but looks ok, using the carcass and wings to make a stock for the sauce. Going to be good I hope!

Down to the third page? Shocking.

I had an idea yesterday that worked out really well; Fried sea bass fillets (seasoned on the skin side) served on a bed of sliced leeks gently, slowly fried in butter and olive oil to soften and avoid adding colour, accompanied by steamed sprouting purple broccoli and skin-on boiled potatoes.

The leeks are mature but baby-sized because they're homegrown, likewise the potatoes (approaching the end of last year's crop, time to get the new ones in!).

Lovely.

I am experimenting with brining pork chops. By brining some. Pork. Cooking them up tonight.

I have been cooking steak recently, and I've think I've got it just about nailed, but I have trouble with it going cold during the 'resting' phase.

Do you really have to rest it? And how do you make it not go cold?

Rest it somewhere warm, on a warm plate. An oven set to the lowest setting, for example.

And yes, resting is always a good idea.

Some people say steak's supposed to be served barely above room temperature.

They're wrong, obviously.

We put a plate next to the hob while we cook to warm it, and rest the steak on it while finishing everything else off. There's generally so much cooking action going on, and our kitchen's small enough, that there's plenty of heat knocking around.

Especially as I put the skillet on the giganto-hob set to full, which on lowest can boil a couple of litres of water in a few minutes.

The oven is cooking the chips, though

I clearly need another oven.

Just microwave it for a minute as you plate up then.

Yeah, two ovens. The element is busted in one of mine so I'm down to one. It's annoyingly limiting.

Sour vide steak with hot water and a beer cooler: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/ ... 39&index=0

Definitely trying this.

I have that exact cooler.

Brined pork chops with smashed potatoes.

http://objection-salad.com/post/1969052 ... at-brining

You've made salt beef before, haven't you?

Oh. Yeah. That, uhh, didn't count, somehow.

Goat's cheese, red onion balsamic reduction, pearl mozzarella, sun-dried tomato and spinach pizza last night. 24 hour cold fermented (extra yeasty) dough, and a garlic/basil/oregano sauce. It was spectacular.

And also much easier than I remember making pizza to be. Few ingredients = good.

You know that's about eight more ingredients that you need, right?

You didn't eat it, man, you couldn't understand.

Edit: Though a minimal pizza is a good idea for next time Hel's out and I'm drinking beer and watching movies, especially as there are two more doughs in the freezer.

So 70's
\

Pasta alla carbonara.

Yeah, that looks good.

This was entirely because Danielle fell in love with an obscure goat's cheese called Wigmore at L'Enclume, so we had to order some from http://www.melburyandappleton.co.uk/ (as we couldn't find a local dealer), and that place was so stuffed with great things I ended up spending north of £60 on random goods. One of which was a slab of pancetta.

Luther burgers are win.

You didn't...!

Yup. On Grim...'s bbq.

Bah. London cleeq massif.

Grim...'s just eaten a chicken drumstick that's been on the barbecue for four and a half hours.

Was the BEEXBECUE this weekend, or are you having a test run?

Oh wait, is it date night?

A dry run.

Depending on your perspective, that could be either the barbecue or date night.

Mother fucking

Now I am even more sad.

Lex Luther?

Is that what you made? Or stock photography?

That's Wikipedia. There was no bacon in ours (but there will be next time).

Mother of god.

Why is it impossible to buy crab meat in supermarkets? I can never get any whenever I look. Wanted to make a chilli crab linguine. Had to settle for fucking tinned stuff. Urgh.

I am totally obsessed with the concept of chocolate bacon now.

I'm thinking a bunch of fine-grated 100% cocoa mixed with a dash of smoked paprika, cayenne and pepper, rubbed into the rashers before barbecuing.

I'd be tempted to cook it and then have a chocolate dipping sauce.

1kg of cooked BBQ ribs from Costco, with home made sweet potato fries? Yes indeedy!

I'm stuffed.

So the linguine was nice, but tinned crab meat is shite. There wasn't a bit of meat in there larger than a grain of rice. Totally the scrapings off the fishmonger's floor.

thought this might be relevant to That London-based, meat-fascinators

http://www.ribstock.co.uk/

Oh my.

Fucking sold out

Does anyone else consistently burn their tongue when cooking? I always taste what I'm cooking and burn my tongue. Then when it comes to sitting down and eating the meal, I can't taste it because my tongue is all burnt off.