HUNTER-GATHERING: wild & fresh food

Quick Cured Fish & Chasing Mullet.

I do like fish. I must confess that my I much prefer the catching to the eating, coming from ‘hunter-gatherer’ that might sound strange, but then this is the 21^st century- things have changed somewhat in 8000 years, but the thrill of the hunt still has its rewards and as far as I’m concerned that usually means damn fresh and proper free range, like…wild…man. What you shoot or what you pull out of the water is undoubtedly the finest of flesh: wild meats, even wild plants to a certain extent these days are at an all time high, when it comes to wild meats especially and if you’re buying, expect to pay a premium.

This is where we can have the best of both, by hunting or fishing, we don’t only get to indulge in primeval roleplay and flex the natural instincts, we also get to enjoy the fruits of our labour. Anyone can fish, you just need a rod & tackle, a rod licence and the occasional involuntary donation to the water, unless you stick to the coast- then it’s free!

A fine brace of Ouse Mullet that fell to the spinner/ragworm technique.

Shooting might not seem as easy, but can be if you are willing to put a bit more into it: A .22 air rifle doesn’t require a licence of any kind, but you will need somewhere to use. Someone once told me land is the best thing you can own because they don’t make it anymore. We can’t all pay the price for a little slice of countryside- its spenny to say the least. That said, everyone knows someone who knows someone or knows someone else that knows someone rural, I mean proper rural, with land, farms, woods, whatever…land means things to hunt and more often than not these landowners all have pests that they would be happy to be rid of. That means Rabbits and pigeons- both excellent wild meats. Its always worth asking around, someone might even barter you a wood to build a tree house in and live there for 6 months…

  Believe it or not, Turtles and Mullet are closely related...

It also allows you to lose yourself in a bit of nature for a while- always a good thing, you can switch off for a while and enjoy an environment that doesn’t always conform which in itself means there will inevitably be some sort of excitement.

So that’s why I like hunting and fishing, but especially being a brother of the angle- better known as a fisherman. Doesn’t take much to qualify as a fisherman either: get the above and you’re a fisherman (I’m not talking about the crazy fellas that take on the north sea- that’s a whole different kettle of fish).

The best fish scaler you will ever own, plus its a good excuse to drink three beers.

Well, onto the main course, in fact this is more of an apero or starter. In terms of wild ingredients in this one we’re just talking fish, fortunately the one used in this recipe is the most common and easy to seek out around our coastline, harbours and upper tidal sections of most rivers. The Grey Mullet: difficult to catch certainly, pound for pound they fight extremely hard and are therefore the ultimate prize. They are often referred to as the English Bonefish, having caught a Bonefish off the flats of little Cayman, I can whole heartedly agree- Mullet wear jetpacks and on light tackle will give you one hell of a scrap.

Bone fishing in the Caribbiean circa 2009.

I prefer to fly fish with a bit of bread crust. Check out the post I did on how to fish for them here, it was done in France, but French Mullet don’t have the same arrogance or culinary curiosity as there two-legged counterparts living above the surface. They speak the same language as the English Mullet (anyone reading this in Basque country- please understand I am referring to a fish, not a hairstyle- just want to avoid any confusion on that point).

Mullet are bloody fussy eaters, their natural diet is based around sucking up mud and filtering out the microscopic edibles, other than that they like a bit of sea weed to sift through, not easy to cater for. Where converted they will take bread, but most of the time making contact is tough. There is one method that I have been introduced to recently by a fishing buddy of mine that is killer. Apparently its no secret and this article from Angler’s Mail will tell you everything you need to know.

The Killer Mullet Rig: small mepps, weights two single hooks in tandem baited with a ragworm.

In simple terms in consists of using a spinning rod with a few small weights to get style and distance, a small mepps spinner (treble removed) with 6 inch length of line tied to the end and a small single barbed hook attached. The single hook is then baited with a few ragworm. THe way in which works is that the mullet will be attracted by the spinner and follow it, then they see the trailing ragworms (presumably something they eat from the mud from time to time) and snatch at it- fish on! Except they usually end up snatching at the trailing ragworm (expect to rebait every few casts!). A good tip, again from my fishing buddy, is to attach ANOTHER single hook with a short piece of line to the eye of first single hook, so that it sits at the same point as the end of the trailing ragworm. I found that success rate increased dramatically- everytime the mullet snatched at the ragworm it found itself hooked- cunning.

The one that didnt get away: the extra single hook nails them everytime- just make sure your knots are up to scratch!

Fish in the kitchen has always caused a bit of an issue for me, I’m not the biggest fan of baked, poached or pan-fried, but I love it raw, smoked or cured. Ceviche is king (see the post on ceviche here). I think it has something to do with texture, perhaps the added excitement of an age-old process between the obtaining of the main ingredient and the eating. In the case of raw- its all down to the fish gods and your skill to get it as fresh as possible (although luck does play a part, any fisherman who is lying out of his arse).

This is one of the most incredible recipes I have ever come across, and thus, certainly can’t take credit for, but then again neither can Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall- despite it being in his River cottage fish book (Highly recommended).

Clearly it is so good, that he obtained it from the genius that created it: Adam Robinson, former chef/propreiter of the Brackenbury in Chiswick. Mr Robinson used to make it with cod although most white fish will agree:

Bass, Sea Bream, Grey mullet, Pollack, whiting, ling, brown trout, perch and pike are all useful fish, I daresay rainbow, trout and salmon would be perfectly happy to get involved with this quick cure treatment too

Mullet fillets in the herb garden ready for curing.

The recipe calls for shallots, slow roasted tomatoes and a dose of thyme. The best thing about this recipe is in the cure: with this you can go crazy: perhaps a nice far east version with spring onions, a drizzle of soy sauce quick pickled cucumber and generous helping of chillies, chopped ginger & garlic…

And here it is:

Slow roasted tomatoes.

Very easy to do and will keep for sometime in a jar of olive oil. Cut the tomatoes in half, de-seed with a spoon and then cut them into quarters. Arrange on a roasting tray drizzle, with a little olive oil, salt and pepper and a few sprigs of thyme. Roast gently in the oven at 140C for 2 hours.

Quick Cure.

I say quick, but this actually takes about 6-8 hours! Depending on the size of your fillets, the recipe is based on a fillet of 400-500g or two of around 250g each.

• 150g salt
• 50g white granulated sugar
• 2 bay leaves finely shredded (or lemongrass if going oriental)
• 5g of freshly ground black pepper

Mix together the ingredients for the cure, and sprinkle a handful on the bottom of a rectangular tuppaware. Place the fillets in skin side down and then cover with the remainder of the cure. Cover and place in the fridge for 6-8 hours, anymore and they will be over salted, the smaller the fillet- stick to 6 hours.

Pre-cure.

Once curing time is up- remove the fillets, give them a good rinse and pat them dry. Prepare the fish by thinly slicing from the tail end- as if you were slicing a side of smoked salmon.

 

After Cure, and below: stiff as a board (almost).

The next stage is up to you- but whatever you are mixing it with be it the traditional version or the oriental one, allow a least an hour for the fish and the other ingredients and oils to marry and mingle before serving.

 

The Oriental version.

Bon ap. 

NEW WEBSITE & 2013 COURSES.

We have a brand spanking new website at: 

www.huntergathercook.com

Please drop by and check out who we are, what we do and our epic courses for 2013!

Duck Hams: Easy Charcuterie.

I find that the beauty of eating duck is that its a relatively guilt free experience; I spent half my childhood feeding them, so its only fair to have the favour returned.

Duck. Not only has this humble fowl enriched the lives of many across the globe, but it has even lent its name to the familiar term of ‘get down’ when in the line of fire and being out first ball (that would be cricket to the uneducated). Everyone loves duck, whether it is from Peking: crispy with lashings of hoi-sin and pancakes or dished up with an abhorrant combo of orange. Duck, duck, duck and duck: the tastiest bird I have ever tucked into (although my wife might beg to differ). Chicken? Turkey? Both bland, both white and none should really be eaten raw. So in short, disappointing fowl with very few double entendres to back it up.

It appears I have now been ‘French’ for over a year. Life in South West France is grand…in the summer. Come winter, imagine English weather, regular storms charging into the Bay of Biscay and not a warm fire and country pub in sight. These are dark days indeed messieurs-dammes and blighty beckons like you wouldn’t believe, as far as I’m concerned this is karma paying me back for bragging about beaches, surf and 30C temperatures for the last six months to my UK counterparts- no one likes a willy waver (Al Humphreys-circa 2011).

Every Brit Ex-pat who ends up in France IS a willy waver. And if you know one- tell them they are. Big time. They all like to lay claim to living in a region that produces the best this and cooks the best that. All I will say is that I live in Aquitaine so that’s: Bordeaux wines, Armagnac, Perigord truffles, Bayonne ham, and Espelette chillis. But, above all else, this is foie gras country where the duck is king.

Whether you agree with the ethics of foie gras production or not (I have noted the absence of protesting folk around these parts, but mind you I’ve never met anyone that would want to be dissected with a blunt pitch fork), Foie gras is good stuff, so is veal, badger, lamb and horse, but I don’t want to get sidetracked- this is about the bird itself, not its liver.

Here in Landes, the Frenchies have developed a cunning way to hunt their Duck. Rather than chase fowl, they sit back comfortably in a sort of ‘bunker’ and eat and drink until the duck & geese come to them. Clever. Just down the road from us is L’etang Blanc, which hosts many of these hides known as ‘Palombieres’. Traditionally a palombiere is a high-rise platform in the trees that the armed Frenchie uses for nailing pigeons, often they have cages strategically placed in the surrounding trees where they keep live decoys to help bring in the unsuspecting pigeon.

On L’etang Blanc they have just taken the same concept to water. These elaborate man-made ‘islands’ are built on stilts in the middle of the lake and camouflaged to buggery (see picture).

Many of these Palombieres have running water and electricity piped in, stoves, tv's, fridges, beds, tables and chairs. Surrounding the palombieres are lots of plastic decoys sat on the water and attached to one side of the hide are the live decoys in a cage. These are not your standard live birds, but ones which have been specifically bred for their call- they are responsible for calling in passing duck or Geese and also alerting the hunters to incoming fowl.

All the Frenchie 'Chasseur' has to do is place down his Claret, spit out the baguette, flip open the flaps in the roof and fire away at the approaching silhouettes. Most hunting is done from dusk till dawn on clear moonlit nights, hence the reason for having beds to sleep in. Well thought out indeed, these are not simply hides but an elaborate setup that takes a lot of looking after- plenty of times when I’ve been out fishing for pike I’ve seen dedicated Chasseurs rowing out to their palombieres to take care of their harem of live decoys. Good lads.

So there’s the background on how we get our duck around these parts. On to the hamming…

This recipe for duck hams is based on one I came across in Paula Wolfert’s ‘Cooking of Southwest France’ and quite a fine read it is too. The recipe is fairly standard piece of charcuterie:

Ingredients.

2 Large duck breasts

½ cup Salt (100gs)

2 TSP of Ground black pepper

½ TSP of Herbes de Provence (or Thyme on its own work well)

2 TBSP cider or red wine vinegar

Other.

Muslin

String

1. The duck should have its skin and fat intact, shave off the skin leaving a good layer of fat behind. Score the fat cross-hatch fashion just to the flesh.
2. Rub the salt, pepper and herbs into both sides of the duck so it is completely covered and place on a few pieces of kitchen roll on a plate, cover with kitchen roll and put in the fridge for 24 hours.
3. The next day remove the duck breasts and wipe off all the seasonings with a damp cloth. Put the red wine vinegar in a shallow dish and dip the flesh side in for 20 seconds and then dry well.
4. Place the breast fat side down onto a piece of muslin (20 inches by 20 inches) and roll up in a nice tight cyclinder to ensure there are no air pockets. Tie up nice and tight with string from end to end.
5. Hang the hams in a cool dry place such as a garage or cellar for 2 weeks, they should be done when they have a bit of give when pressed between thumb and forefinger.The hams will last in the fridge for 1-2 weeks although you will probably devour them in one sitting! To seal them once used, just dip the cut end in some red wine vinegar.

 

So there you have it: ham of duck. Well worth doing, especially if you haven’t delved into the world of charcuterie before. Another particularly good one is this homemade Bresaola that I did a few years back.

Just returned from Christmas up in the mountains, some great snow and far too much indulgence on and off the slopes. Now back in Hossegor for a busy start to the New Year.

 

Adios 2012, and hello 2013, hope you all have a super New Year wherever you are and do please come and see us at Hunter Gather Cook for one of our courses next year, if you are interested in a joining us for a group day or a private day just drop us an email: 

[email protected]

This will be the last blog post here before our brand spanking new website and branding comes online in January with a shop full of our favourite kit, all our courses and a new blog packed full of HGC Recipes.

Kimchi.

I have never been an avid fan of January. It’s shit. Mind you, it rarely starts well: the post-festive period culminates with New Year’s Eve and the first day of the year kicks off with the inevitable hangover. The rest of the month is cold, wet and grey. It’s a time for being inside and if your house isn’t much warmer than outside (and our beachfront apartment certainly ain’t built for winter) then you just spend everyday wrapped up looking like the Michelin man. Warm food and warm drinks constantly needed. Another thing I have always found bizarre is the amount of people that give up drinking for January...if there was ever a time of year it is necessary, its now. Wierdos.

January is always a quiet time for me- that’s the nature of seasonal work, but it does have one redeeming feature- The first month of the year is a time for plotting, planning, scheming and conniving. I spend most of it playing in the kitchen and reading- ready for Spring and armed to the teeth with new ideas, recipes and knowledge to make Hunter:Gather:Cook courses the best they can be. Summer will fly by and before I know it, it will be Autumn- at least living in SW France gives me an extra 2 months of summer.

Anyhow, back to the subject of this long overdue post. Kimchi. The first time I came across this wonderful ‘condiment’ was 4 years ago in New York. My Brother was living out there and had found, what he could only describe as ‘tasty jarred farts’. I cannot imagine anyone, not even those you trust most, being able to bring you around to taste something with such a description: but I did…and by gad was it fine!

Kimchee has been on the to-do list for ages, actually since coming back from the big apple with my two tubs, which didn’t last long- but hey ho. Kimchi originates from Korea and is a fermented mix of vegetables and seasonings. It has been around for 3000 years and is a national institution in it’s home country- so much so that in 2010 there was a national crisis in Korea, a spike in the price of ingredients and kimchi itself left the Korean government having to subsidise imports of cabbage. Political food for thought indeed.

 

Coincidently, I noticed that Kimchi was tipped by the Telegraph as one of the top ten food trends for 2012 along with Ceviche (see that post here).Apparently natural fermentation of all kinds (esp.sourdough) is getting chefs very excited- Really? So as it was January I thought I may as well jump on the bandwagon and make some myself, being much in need of chilli heat at this time of year. Afterall, winter is a good time to put the wild food to one side and play with other ingredients, mainly because there is very little to forage.

Sinister Cabbage.

You can get very bogged down in search of a simple Kimchi recipe- seasonal variations are rife in Korea, so here is one stripped down to its birthday suit.

Ingredients:

• 1 large Chinese Cabbage (also known as ‘Napa cabbage’, stateside)
• 100g salt
• 4 cloves garlic
• 4 spring onions
• 1 inch piece of Ginger 
• 2 chillies or 30g of dried chilli flakes

First off, chop up the cabbage and place it in a bowl and toss well with the salt- the idea here is to get the salt to suck out some of the moisture from the cabbage and help create a brine. Leave for 1 hour.

Meanwhile finely chop all the other ingredients. Chillies are particularly difficult to find in France, partly because the general consensus in my experience is that the French are fannies when it comes to heat so they don’t stock them in the mupersarket- there is a reason the French word for man is ‘homme’. Fortunately the merry little town of Espelette (see here) is just down the road and Basque folks love a bit of fire! A bunch of dried chilli flakes and a sprinkle of cayenne pepper will give you more than enough heat if you are at a loss.

Back to the cabbage- it should now have decreased in volume by almost half, drain off the liquid, rinse the cabbage in cold water to remove any excess salt and pat dry with a tea towel.

Now mix all your ingredients together in the bowl, cover with a towel and leave in a cool place for 4 days, stirring once a day and tasting. You can pot it up earlier if you are happy with your level of fermentation.

Pot up in a jar tightly and add a little water so that the kimchi is covered by brine. It will keep in the fridge for up to 2 months, provided you haven’t demolished it by then.

Basically what is going on in the bowl is that the various microorganisms present in the raw ingredients, most notably lactic acid, is able to grow and perpetuate because of a more than 3% brine that you have created for your kimchi to live in.

Food porn comes easy in Hossegor.

Other stuff:

HGC is still taking bookings, although there is barely any room left in May! Winner, winner, chicken dinner. Please do get in touch if you fancy becoming a 21^st Century Hunter-gatherer: Not a bad idea considering the world is due to do something negative by the end of the year and according to the press, PETA are getting scientists to grow artificial meat. And here was I thinking  vegetarians were just harmless and a little depressed because of a lack of protein.

Fresh off the slab at Capbreton Fishmarket.

Life in France is grand, plenty of January surf, although it is colder than a witch’s tit. Lots of fish being purchased from Capbreton Harbour. I thought since I lived by the sea I would go big on this in 2012- Bream is the current favourite. Moving inland this week to join the inbreds, have a garden instead of a balcony and build an entire kitchen from scratch- can’t wait! The French Kitchen and HGC France to come soon complete with tree houses.

Adios, Au revoir, Peas x

PS. Due to spam, of which some is difficult to work out if it is or not- I don’t reply to comments on the blog- if you wish to say sommat or have any questions, please drop me an email- [email protected]. 

Back in the day: Fish-eyes and tree houses.

 

How to skin, gut and cook Rabbit: Potted Rabbit with Chimichurri

I am somewhat bewildered by the fact I have been doing this blog for almost four years and never dedicated a post to that most plentiful of wild meats: the rabbit. Yes, the furry little critters have featured: in marrows and pan-fried etc. but never properly dealt with, so as it is the year of the Rabbit, what better time to delve into the art of Lapin gastronomy?

As with every 10 year old who gets an air rifle for their birthday (I believe mine was a BSA super sport- lightweight, silenced and scoped to the hilt), the ultimate goal was always going to be fur: grass-addicted, white-bellied, myxomatosis-free fur. The fields around our house had no shortage of Beatrix Potter bunnies and I spent more time sneaking about dispatching, as such the Nintendo was well neglected, other than the occasional game of the heavily pixelated Duck hunt.

In 2009, whilst living amongst the leaves, Rabbit became a staple protein provider. It was the ‘chicken’ of the woods (not the bracket fungus!), over 6 months I consumed around about 50 rabbits (that’s two a week) and I shot more than that when I include the ones I felt inclined to put out of their misery that were suffering from myxomatosis- I will eat most things, but even I draw the line at eating diseased animals!

Red Onion, Port & Chilli Chutney.

For me, the start of December is synonymous with chutney making, for many it is much earlier- an ideal way to make the most of the oversized courgettes and other such legumes left over from the summer glut. I always make red onion chutney, the perfect accompliment to all that left over turkey, goose, squirrel or badger served up on Christmas day (I know, my house is a little ‘eclectic’).

How to make Salt: Fleur de Sel…Atlantique

Mastering the basics is a must for anyone who cooks: whipping up a béchamel, making mayonnaise, pastry, ragu, stock, bread, the list goes on…

One thing that is always overlooked and is perhaps the most frequently used ingredient of all time is salt. Without seasoning food would be dull. Too much is bad, not enough is disastrous. But how many people have actually made it themselves? It is so ludicrously simple to make: collect a jug of seawater, boil it and reduce it down till you are left with a white residue= salt. Done. I could end the post there…that is all there is to it. But to really sell it to you and hopefully urge you to give it a go yourself, I shall continue.

Salt is something that has been used for 1000’s of years, Sodium chloride has been found as far back as the Neolithic around 6000BC, mainly used in the context of preserving, but no doubt our ancestors found it had the ability to heighten the flavour of whatever they were eating. Along with fire, salt was probably man’s second greatest discovery.

Pine needle vinegar...

 

Just a quicky today, I am bogged down with plans of all kinds, desperately trying to make one come to fruition!

The wild larder offers slim pickings in the winter months, thankfully there is a slight hint that spring is steadily making its way back to Britain: snow drops are in abundance, the first wild garlic shoots are appearing and even the daffodils are erupting from the earth…good stuff! I hate winter.

Decoying for Snacks...

 

One thing I am always on the lookout for down in the woods is a tasty snack: a quick-fix solution for a rumbling stomach that doesn’t need skinning, cleaning or cooking first. There have been a variety of different treehouse titbits: Pickled eggs, pickled samphire, flatbreads & stinger pesto, apples, stock cubes & boiling water, blackberries…etc. Now autumn has arrived Chestnuts and hazel nuts are becoming incredibly popular.

A snackfood down here needs to be able to pack some serious protein for the amount of energy I use. Beef jerky or biltong have always been good friends of mine, so much so that I got my hands on a biltong machine and posted the results here sometime ago. Without a fridge or freezer, a glut of meat needs to be processed for future use. My degree in archaeology, in which I specialised in Hunter-gatherer societies finally becomes handy…what to do?

Homemade Cheeeeee-eeeese!: Basic, simple, easy Cheese.

 

“A dessert without cheese is like a beautiful women with only one eye”.

Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin.

 

Of all the Garbage that came out of this particular French Gastranome’s mouth, this is the only real gem. The more well-known and much publicised “Tell me what you eat and I will tell you what you are” have graced many a food writer’s page- clearly a quote for the uninspired…

Inverawe: Smoking, West Coast style.

 

It wasn’t until the age of 12 that I first set foot across the border into Scotland. It was only a matter of time, as a young lad obsessed with fishing and longing to see a salmon for real, I couldn’t believe my luck when I found myself balls deep in the swift, peaty waters of the River Carron surrounded by the vast heather draped highlands. I even managed to tuck into my first Salmon- a fine 6 pounder fresh from the sea. Somehow, after a battle of biblical proportions, I managed to get the fish in with my 8ft split cane trout rod…I was also the only person to catch that week! On the same trip I went deer stalking for the first time, which is where the antlers that adorn the front of the treehouse came from…so this time I was keen to bring something that would add more than just aesthetic value to my treehouse.

Eager for a bit of company after my first 2 months living amongst the leaves, I took a brief trip to the west coast of Scotland for a “couples” holiday-myself and my lady, Emma & Justin and Jimbo & Clare. Not too far from Oban is the Inverawe Smokery, owned by Robert & Rosie Campbell-Preston, Emma (their daughter) invited us up for a short break…like most things I find myself thrown in to these days, I had an underlying motive: what could I learn from the finest smoker’s in the Country?

 

Bresaola: Home-curing for idiots.

Between making plans to live up a tree for 6 months (which you can follow on this here very blog and Twitter), I have been finishing up my city days playing about with a few preservation techniques that might come in handy in the woods, as lack of fridge/freezer will prove a problem.

As you may have guessed, Mr Fearnley-Whittingstall has proved himself a fine source of inspiration over the years; he may very well be the man responsible for many of my culinary adventures here and there. He is a good fellow and even let me into his kitchen once, in my drunken state, to help make crème brulees for all his other guests. Trusting to say the least…

Home smoked Garlic & Salt.

 

When man first realised the benefits of smoking, an entirely new sect of food preservation and flavouring suddenly hit the gastronomic world, little did primitive man know just how important the discovery was…he was probably still excited over the invention of the wheel.

None the less, early man was clearly partial to a smoky flavour; otherwise the discipline wouldn’t have survived (although the use of smoke in preserving was way more important). How could bacon ever be as good without a little smoke blown up its backside? The Scottish economy would suffer without it’s most famous export- both of the above are products of cold smoking, but what of hot smoking? A small hot smoker may cook a couple of trout to perfection in 10-15 minutes but it isn’t a tool for preservation. This useful bit of kit is great for cooking meat and fish to scoff immediately, but what else can you do with it?

 

Dusting off the Biltong Machine and a brief trip to Borough.

Clare couldn’t have been happier to see the back of my biltong machine, at the old flat it sat by the front door and, when not in use, had become a handy dumping ground for keys and coats or anything that you were carrying as soon as you got in. Useful…yes. Unsightly, I suppose… but then again, the enormous tungsten carbide drill used to bore the Euro tunnel was an equally ugly behemoth, and look what that achieved.

When we moved into my Brother’s flat last year, the addition of a cellar was a godsend for all the unwanted garb that we, sorry I, had accumulated in the last residence. I admit it, I am a hoarder, be it shoeboxes, jam jars, rocks, sand, wood, pointless leaflets, string, rubber bands and pens: at least if the world comes to an end I have stacks of useful ‘stuff’. As a child my pockets were laden with rubbish, but what my mother didn’t know every time she emptied them before washing, was that what she thought was rubbish, was in fact a rudimentary Survival kit.

 

Gentleman’s relish.

 

As I sat nestled in the most enormous armchair in a quiet pub somewhere in Fulham, I turned to Nick and said quite innocently “I made some gentleman’s relish today.” His reply wasn’t quite what I expected.

 “How many gentleman did you use?”, I couldn’t help but have a mild chortle.

In a bit of a pickle...

 

It hard to say which absolute genius was responsible for inventing the sublime art of pickling.  An hour or so of research drew the rather vague conclusion I was expecting; archaeologists & anthropologists believe that by 2040BC, the Ancient Mesopotamians were into their pickling. Regardless of being able to take my hat off to anyone in particular, all I can say is thank goodness someone did!

Pickling evolved more out of necessity than anything else, as a method of preserving food when it was available for the future. Ancient peoples palates were no doubt blessed and cursed with the same tastes for different flavours as us. Hence pickling must have become a favourable way to process foods because they were enjoyed as well as preserved.

Did you say Crab-apples or Crap apples?

 

 

Unfortunately for the poor Crab-apple, I have taken to calling them crap-apples over the years, call me childish if you will, but they are crap apples: Never one to please you on an autumn stroll, a crab-apple straight of the ground won’t do much for your taste buds, that tart sharpness is better put to use in the kitchen with a few store cupboard staples, than wolfed down straight off the tree.

In the same way as hawthorn berries, crab-apples pack a lot of pectin, especially in the skin. It is for this reason crab-apple jelly is the most obvious choice when converting this fruit into something edible. Surely there can be other uses for them than just jelly? After having a good think about it, I decided there were.

 

The strange properties of Hawthorn.

 

I never used to be overly keen on the hawthorn, as far as trees went. As a child I found it wasn’t really one to climb due to its thorny branches, in bush form they made impenetrable boundaries across the countryside that often thwarted my journeys everywhere I went, oh the obstacles! Why have thorns? It’s not as if it had anything worth stealing…or so I thought.

 

 As I have grown older so has my appreciation for the humble hawthorn. When thinking about it, three uses spring to mind: year round it has excellent firewood, when it burns it gives off enough heat to melt raw (pig) iron. In spring it’s leaves (often the first of all leaves to appear) are a useful addition to any meal. The third is its berries which form in bright red clusters come autumn and have some rather strange properties.

So other than being employed as a primitive barbed wire fence, what makes the hawthorn useful as part of the wild larder?

 

Ya bru! British Biltong!

 

Preserving meat is a tradition that has been around for centuries, what do you do when you kill a large animal? You can’t eat it all at once, smoking and salting or even air-drying are all possibilities. Biltong (South African) or Jerky (yank) are two forms of dried meat sold commercially. The difference is in the cure that is applied at the start, biltong uses vinegar and jerky uses salt.

 

 I first tried Biltong on my first trip to South Africa and instantly fell in love, beef, ostrich, kudu they have them all. It is the best snack in the world, savoury, chewy and spicy-perfect! Unfortunately, we have the Dutch to thank for Biltong. The early pioneers or Voortrekkers who first explored the Cape used to make biltong for their long journeys in the 1830’s & 1840’s and it is now firmly engrained into South African Culture.

Chatney: worth talking about!

Chutney: The ideal Condiment.

Chutney is super. You cannot deny it. We all eat it in some form or another. The most common I suppose being mango chutney or Branston pickle, as well as other forms like lime pickle and piccalilli, we are all over it. Chutney has been around for hundreds of years, making its way to Europe in the 1600’s as a luxury product from East Asia. It is the Asia’s answer to the South American salsa in the way it is used.
Chutney is essentially made from fruit or vegetables reduced down with vinegar, sugar and spices. Naturally the vinegar acts as a preservative, often lemon/lime juice is also used. So this blend of sweet, sour and spice makes chutney an incredibly versatile addition to any kitchen and can be used with meats, cheese, fish, curries…the list is endless!
Traditionally, chutney is laid down at the end of summer when your garden should be jam packed with produce. I had planned to use the remainder of my toms and courgettes but had a brief sojourn in the Cooks islands for 3 months hence, my chutney making is a little late! Making a chutney is very much a labour of love and you really can use whatever you fancy in the veg and spice department, as long as you have a form of vinegar and sugar. I would say it is probably a good idea to make your first batch based on a recipe. For that there is a superb little book I would highly recommend, made by the infamous Mrs B; Mrs Beeton’s jams, pickles and preserves. Once you have mastered your first batch you can mix & match your own ingredients.

This recipe below is one I concocted as a perfect partner to cheese. I love chutney with a nice chunk of cheddar and a couple of good friends of cheddar are celery and apple, so in they went. As far as the spices went I know that apple and cinnamon are also pretty good mates. Chilli is a must to pack a little punch and a little smoked paprika to give it a more mature finish. To give it more of a country appeal and to maximise the apple hit I used cider vinegar. That was the basic train of thought when I was writing my list of ingredients!

• 1kg courgettes
• 1kg tomatoes
• 500gs apples (Coxs! Peeled, cored & diced)
• 500gs onions
• ½ packet of celery
• ½ packet of radishes
• 1 green chilli
• ½ red chilli
• 500gs sultanas (leave whole)
• 500g of light brown soft sugar
• 650ml of cider vinegar
• ½ tsp of smoked paprika (la Chinata)
• 1 tsp of salt

The spice bag:
• 30g of ginger, chopped into pieces
• 2 tsp black peppercorns
• 1 tsp coriander seeds
• 1 cinnamon stick

The method:
To begin with, which is a bit of a bugger, finely chop all the ingredients. This will take a while, so put on your favourite tunes and chop away! You could put it in the food processor but I feel you have more control over the size of the bits if done by hand, it looks better when potted and its much more satisfying.

You will need a big saucepan for this (something I should have thought about!), ideally stainless steel to prevent it sticking and burning. Put all the ingredients in the pan and add the vinegar and sugar, give a good stir.
The spice bag can be made from a bit of muslin or dish cloth with all the ingredients tied up inside, chop the ginger into small chunks and break the cinnamon stick up a little, once made drop it in the pan.
Slowly bring to the boil and gently simmer for 2-3 hours. Keep an eye on the pan and stir every 10-15mins. After 2 hours give it a taste to see if it needs any seasoning or a little more heat, Tabasco is a great way of cheating in a little extra kick. A good chutney should have reduced to a thick, dark finish. A good rule of thumb to see if it is ready comes from Hugh F-W; run a wooden spoon through the chutney and if it parts to show the base of the pan, the chutney is ready. Quite. My batch took about 3 hours till it was ready. Allow it to cool then you are ready to bottle it up.

When it comes to bottling up make sure you have already sterilised the jars you wish to use. Do this by placing them in a pan of water, bring to the boil and allow to cool. Place the jars upside down on a clean towel to dry out.

Spoon your chutney into the jars and seal immediately. The chutney should be left for a minimum of two weeks to give it a bit of time to mature and let the flavours to marry and mingle. You could eat it straight away but if you can bear it, leave it for a few months. Good things come to those who wait!

If you find yourself with a bit of spare time give this recipe a go. The results are incredible and to me it is the best chutney I have ever tried, not just because I made it, it is really good. Branston can kiss my backside, they can also kiss yours if you take the time to make it! You will find it hard to buy chutney again…I know I will. Feel free to share the wealth if you can with family and friends as great presents, after all it is Christmas. Chutney…done.

Ready-to-eat pickle.

Anything that’s been pickled is guaranteed to reel me straight in hook, line and sinker. I have a true love for gherkins, pickled onions, pickled chillies, pickled eggs and banderills…the list is endless. So it came upon me one evening whilst eating crackers with cheddar and Branston pickle and a suggestion from my brother, that I felt it was time to bring my own meagre offering to the table. I cannot claim all the credit for this recipe, a certain Mr Norrington-Davies brought it to my attention in his cook book “just like mother used to make.” The method and pickling ingredients are the same, but I have played around with some of the ingredients to which I devoted an entire afternoon to taste and work out which veggies would most fit the bill, and which flavour combinations would work best. Of course if you have a fetish for carrots like Uncle Monty, then you can just use carrots as applies to any other veggie fetishes you may harbour…

The best thing was I was able to use up some of my own produce from the garden, the kohlrabi and radishes were a dead cert and although I did think about the carrots, they were far too small to warrant using. The trick to making the instant pickle is to chop all the ingredients as small as possible, perfect to put on top of crackers and eat along with curries, drop into soups or even have with a terrines. When I say ready-to-eat I mean it. Once this is cooled it is ready to go, but it certainly benefits from a couple of weeks maturing in the fridge. If you find yourself with a few less than fresh veggies in the back of the fridge rather than throw them, make yourself a pickle.

This recipe will make approximately 1 large jar.

Vegetables: (all to be diced finely)
• ½ cucumber
• 1 red onion
• ¼ celeriac bulb
• Handful of radishes
• 2 carrots
• 1 long sweet pepper
• 1 parsnip
• 2 kohl rabi (golf ball size)
• 50g salt
• 1 tbsp peppercorns

For the Pickling mix:
• 300ml white wine vinegar
• 200ml malt vinegar
• 250g caster sugar
• 1tpsp salt
• ¼ tsp turmeric or cumin
• 2 cloves
• 4 bay leaves
• ½ Scotch bonnet chilli finely chopped
• ½ tsp of coriander seeds

Method:
This really could not be easier…unless you got someone else to do it all for you…but then where’s the fun? First put all the pickling mix in a saucepan with 500ml of water and simmer until all the caster sugar has completely dissolved. Put all your finely diced veggies in a large bowl and pour the pickling mix over them so that they are completely covered.
Once the mixture is cooled, there you have it, pickle! Put it into your large jar and make sure the liquid covers the veggies just. Will keep up to 6-8 weeks in the fridge that is if you haven’t eaten it by then.

So simple and quick, well worth making and great for the summer. I would love to hear from any of you who take the time to have a go and tell me what you put in yours, or even your methods of pickling, other than drinking copious amounts of booze! As the summer draws to an end in the next couple of months my pickle production will turn into full on chutney-making, when I make the first batch, you’ll be the first to know…

The Home made Terrine: Make one Today!

I always regarded a terrine as something that was made by snooty French chefs. These artistes would not bare the thought of an Englishman taking on, nay even attempting something as sophisticated as the art of terrine making. In reality a terrine is fairly simple and has been a staple of British farmhouses for years. So if you fancy something very tasty and an imaginary one fingered salute to our cousins over the pond, set aside a little time and get stuck in!
The name ‘Terrine’ comes from the authentic earthenware dish in which a terrine is cooked. Nowadays they come in metal too. Traditionally, a terrine is a rougher version of a pate with pieces of meat integrated along with livers and sausage meat…not a million miles from a meatloaf. If I were writing this in November I would be making this with game, there is no better place for pigeon, rabbit and pheasant to come together along with their livers and tingle the taste buds. But as it is high summer and scarcely any game is knocking about, chicken is always readily available along with their livers and will just have to suffice.

A terrine can be a truly wonderful thing, best for starters if you have a few friends for supper or pack it up with some homemade bread and become the envy of your workmates at lunch! Even as gifts the terrine comes into its own, I must admit when I did my placements at Olive & Good Food magazine they were gratefully received and gone in a matter of minutes. I definitely try to make one at least once a month, each one following this recipe but in true gastronomic guerrilla fashion I like to tweak the ingredients slightly. Once employing gherkins (a typical accompliment to this dish) as a would-be ingredient, I feel it worked perfectly…but not everyone likes gherkins…crazy folk! The key is to mix and match and I will continue to do so until I find the one that really cuts the mustard, but until then this recipe will certainly fill that void.

As Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall describes the terrine ‘its like building a wall, all you need is bricks and mortar.’ And I quite agree. To make a terrine the dish needed must be about the size and dimensions of a normal brick. The best bit about this recipe is all essential flavourings including the sorrel come out of the garden. The ingredients are as follows:

• 2 chicken breasts
• 300g of streaky bacon (to line the tin)
• 500g of sausage meat (or a pack of good sausages split and cleaned out)
• 175g of chicken livers finely chopped
• 1 egg
• 2 handfuls of breadcrumbs
• 2 tbsp of capers
• 1 handful of small sorrel leaves
• 2 finely chopped garlic cloves
• Thyme, sage, parsley finely chopped, about ½ a cupful
• Splash of white wine
• Splash of whisky or brandy
• Salt and pepper

First of all cut your chicken breasts into thin strips and fry them till browned with a little seasoning. Remove from heat and leave to cool. Preheat the oven to 170C/gas mark 3

For the forcemeat (which consists of everything else apart from the bacon and the sorrel) mix in a bowl till everything is combined. Next comes the architectural part!
Get your streaky bacon and line the tin with both packs so it overlaps and hangs over the side of the tin. First to go in is a layer of forcemeat, followed by a layer of chicken. Next lay the sorrel over the chicken so when cooked a thin seam will be visible once sliced. Another layer of forcemeat and then chicken followed by a final layer of forcemeat on the top. Once all the forcemeat and chicken have been used up, fold over the bacon at either end of the tin and then the sides. For a final flourish a few bay leaves laid on top can make for good presentation although this is not necessary.

Cover the tin with foil and place in a roasting tin half filled with warm water, put it on the middle shelf of your oven for 1 ½ to 2 hours. Test with a skewer to see if it is ready, if it comes out very hot it is ready, if not give it a bit longer. Once out of the oven stick a brick or something of similar weight on top to compress the terrine and then leave to cool overnight if possible.

There you have it! A chicken terrine. I like to bake some bread to give my guests a genuine homemade experience. Serve with nice crusty bread, butter and some chutney or even a little mustard and of course the mighty gherkin. Personally I like to have it with a few fresh salad leaves and a little horseradish, but that’s because I LOVE horseradish.

I would urge you (as I so often do!) to have a go at creating a terrine as soon as possible, if not now wait a few months and once the shooting season begins have a word with a regular gun on a shoot and try to secure a couple of birds. There really is nothing more satisfying than bringing a terrine to the table and the first slice will ensure you will be making these till the cows come home…and if they do why not chop them up and add them to the mix?

There’s no smoke without fire.

Fishing is a massive part of my life, especially fly fishing, trout mostly although the occasional salmon has passed through. Other fish crop up but the amount of trout that end up in my kitchen is ridiculous. On the whole I have never considered the trout a great eating fish, don’t get me wrong a small brownie fresh from the stream and straight in the pan is one of the sweetest breakfasts you could ask for, I mean your bog standard, run-of-the-mill rainbow trout.

Many of the places I go fly fishing stock rainbow trout, the fishery rules stipulate that what you catch you must kill and you have a limit (2-3 fish per person). The fish are often a good size, much bigger than the feeble offerings you may see in a supermarket or your local fishmongers. The big difference is when the fish reach my kitchen they are a couple of hours out of the water and in prime eating condition.

After years of baking and frying trout, the novelty has worn off and I needed a new way to prepare these fish, my father used to smoke his trout all the time and they were extremely tasty. So that was that, a few days before the next fishing trip I went and bought a brand new Abu Garcia Smoker, a couple of bags of oak sawdust and a small bottle of methelated spirits.

After a grand day of thrashing the water down at chalk springs in Arundel, my brother and I returned home victorious, the ever proud hunters delivering fine fish to our respective ladies. We all sat in the garden back up in London and had a few drinks while the fish were gutted and trimmed, by me of course (I always get the rubbish jobs!).
The concept of the smoker is a wonderful thing, we’re not talking proper smoked salmon smoking, but a simple 15 minute hot smoking which renders the fish full of flavour and gives it a wonderful texture.

Once the fish is ready top and tail it, all that is required is to put a thin layer of sawdust on the bottom of the smoking tin and add a few dried herbs, in this case a couple of crushed, dried bay leaves and some dried garlic granules. Then put the grill with the fish on over the sawdust place on the lid and light the meth’s burner underneath. Smoking time is about 15 minutes, whether its meat or fish, you just wait for the burner to go out.

The smell of the smoke is so, so good. Infused with the bay and garlic and the slowly cooking fish, it was one of those smells that took me right back to when my father used to do his trout. The taste of the fish is something quite special too both the fish were stripped to bones within minutes. Smoking allows for serious experimentation from meat to vegetables and even fruit. You can also play around with flavours and add different herbs and spices onto the sawdust tray. Different types of wood also make for interesting finfusions, hickory, oak, apple, birch or beech are all superb (they must be seasoned non-resinous woods). For such a great flavour and simple cooking smoking is a great addition to any al fresco frolics, I can tell you something for free; I know exactly where my future trout are going before they end up on my plate.

Most smokers are available from fishing, shooting or camping shops and the internet. I purchased mine from Farlows, they cost around £30-£40 and your sawdust about £2.99.