chapter XXV - mamon wellman cooks 12

sunday roast meats - pork

Mum's roasting techniques were very simple, place the chicken or joint of meat in a roasting tray, pour in a little water or smear with lard and place into the oven and leave until cooked. Nothing wrong with that, but a little refinement, a few additions can make it oh so much better, and add different flavour dimensions to it.

So follow me here and I will give you my top tips for the roasting of various meats.

I have always loved pulled pork, ever since first experiencing it in the USA in the late 70's or early 80's. It was served to me in a bread roll, piled high and with lots of sauce; basically a Sloppy Joe. So here is my preferred version of roast pork, along with how to crackle pork. My mother liked nothing more than a good piece of pork crackling. Unfortunately it was always a bit of a hit or miss affair every Sunday, whether we got nice crisp crackling, or a chewy version of.

recipe - cheffie's pork crackling
These days pork crackling is readily available as a snack just like potato crisps etc. But if you like making your own ......

Successful pork crackling is obtained by ensuring plenty of air gets into the skin, this forms that familiar bubbling and dries it out to be crisp and gorgeous. All that is required here is a sharp pointed knife, however I always keep a Stanley knife in my knife roll for just this job.  

But first if you really want GREAT crackling cook it separately from the meat. Either remove it yourself, have the butcher do it or buy some extra separately, most supermarkets sell it now and lets face it who doesn't like extra crackling? 

Bring a pot of water to the boil, gently place the raw crackling into the water an cook for two minutes, remove and allow to cool. 

Run the blade over the skin to score the surface (breaking the surface but not cutting deeply), scoring it in definate diagonal lines approx 1/2 cm apart, then repeat in the opposite direction. Drizzle a little oil on the surface and rub it all over the surface. Sprinkle with salt all over (or use garlic, onion or celery salt). Place under a preheated grill until browned, all bubbled up and nicely crisp. Ensuring it is kept a good distance from the heat source to prevent burning. 


                                                                                                                                           

recipe - cheffie's pulled pork shoulder

001  pc  pork shoulder
001 cup soy sauce
001 cup tomato ketchup
001 tsp  chopped garlic
001 tsp  chopped ginger
1/2  tsp  chopped chilli
001 tbs  brown sugar
001 tbs  honey

recipe - method of preparation

Pre-heat the oven to 130C (the pork must be cooked ultra slow) 

Combine all the marinade ingredients and pour over the pork shoulder and rub in. Cover and marinade at least overnight (turn every few hours if possible) 

Drain off the marinade and simmer until a sticky thick sauce is obtained. Set aside

Place the pork shoulder into a roasting tray, add a cup of water, cover tightly with tinfoil and place into the oven, cook slowly for 6 hours. The water will prevent it drying out and the low heat will prevent it burning. So no need to worry, you can safely go out for the day and leave it. 

Remove from the oven and carefully remove and discard the tinfoil. If there is any liquid remaining, drain into the sauce and reboil it for 3 minutes. The pork shoulder meat should literally just fall off the bone. Using two forks, pull the pork off the bones and shred the meat apart; it should shred apart in long strands. Discard the bones and pour the sticky sauce all over the pork and combine it all together. 

next week - mum's roast chicken ....... 

chapter XXV - mamon wellman cooks 11

sunday roast yorkies
"it's amazing what we take for granted is what we miss the most. Now that your no longer with us, I miss your Sunday roast"

My last blog was for mum's crispy roast potatoes, this time we are talking Yorkshire puddings. Yorkshire puddings were a must in our household. Classically an accompaniment to roast beef, my mother served them with every roast dinner regardless of the meat. My father loved them made as one large pudding (made in a large pie mould or roasting tray) and cut into portions, he also loved to take the batter and make like large savoury pancakes, one each, then he would place it on the plate and then serve the rest of the Sunday roast on top it. 

My recipe for yorkshire puddings is essentially the same as my mother's, except she never measured anything. Like all good home cooks who had done it a million times, she just new how much by sight and feel. She would simply crack in the eggs, add a dash of milk and then eough flour until she got the right consistency.

I am proud to say my recipe was listed on Google top three recipes for over five years. That is until they tweaked the way they listed search results (with paid commercial websites listed first). But for years, I was always in battle with Delia for first place.

Where did these culinary beauties originate? Like many food creations it is lost in the culinary mists of time. Apparently the first known recorded written recipe is from 1737 in the interestingly titled "Whole Duty of a Woman" and then ten years later in "The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy"by Hannah Glasse; the 18th century version of Delia.

The recipe most used is equal quantities of each; flour eggs and milk. I prefer to pack mine with eggs and use the milk sparingly. But the key is to pour the mixture into red hot moulds with smoking hot fat, so lets be careful out there! This starts the cooking off straight away around the edges and forces the empty middle to happen. 

Of course these days here in the UK, most people can't be bothered making their own and have resorted to buying pre-made, frozen ones, care of Aunt 'bloody' Betty.Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh !!!!

I love making these in the pictured wide moulds and serving them for brunch filled with the likes of goulash, buttered chicken, rogan josh etc.

note - feel free to make plenty, and with the leftover spare ones, let them go cold and serve with Sunday afternoon tea with jam and clotted cream or filled with a fruit compote. 

                                                                                                                                           

recipe - cheffies yorkshire puddings

002 cup flour 

010 pc   eggs  

300 ml   milk
              lard or cooking oil

recipe - method of preparation

Melt the lard and pour a generous amount into each yorkshire pudding mould or muffin moulds. The fat/oil must totally cover the base. (a Yorkshire pudding mould is more shallow and wider, but normal muffin moulds are fine) 

Place into a pre-heated oven (200-220C) and heat until the oil is very hot (almost if not smoking). It must be hot so that the mixture must sizzle when poured in, this encourages the pudding to rise quickly on the edges, resulting in the classical hollow centre. 

Beat all the eggs together and add half the milk. Sieve in the flour and beat to a smooth batter, adding more milk if required to form an easily pourable batter (consistency of double cream) Season with salt and pepper. 

Remove the moulds from the oven and working quickly (but safely)pour in the batter until mould is full. 

Return to the hot oven and bake for approx 30 minutes until the batter is fully cooked and crisp. 

next week - mum's roast pork with cracklin ....... 

chapter XXV - mamon wellman cooks 10

sunday roast potatoes
"it's amazing what we take for granted is what we miss the most. Now that your no longer with us, I miss your Sunday roast"

Sunday's was always roast day for the Wellman whanau. We would invariably wake up to mum scurrying around in the kitchen, and the aroma of a roast dinner already cooking. Breakfast was never a big deal in our household, so we would probably just grab some toast while we waited for our Sunday dinner; umm, I mean lunch. Mum loved her Sunday roast, as we all did. We all loved the food and the way she cooked it, but for mum it was more than that. It was an institution not to be messed with. 

When I was growing up in Wales, we were big church goers. Well us kids were. Every Sunday morning we would be appropriately attired, "in our Sunday best" and myself and my two sisters would be sent packing to morning service, with a penny clutched tightly in our hands to put in the collection box. We would often go to afternoon Sunday school as well. To this day I can still recite the New Testament books in order. It wasn't until we were adults, mum confessed that the main reason for us going was so that her and dad could have some alone time!

The meat varied; roast chicken, pot roast beef, roast lamb or roast pork. But what never varied was that we always had Yorkshire pudding with it, there was always two vegetables and always, "no one makes 'em like mum' crispy roast potatoes. Mint sauce was not reserved just for roast lamb, mum loved it with her roast beef too.

One of the vegetables that we had, more often than not was cauliflower. Mum would always buy a fresh cauliflower (frozen vegetables were a luxury item back then) and cook both the florets and any outer green leaves or stems with it. She would cook them until very soft and then mash the two together. This was delicious when lavished with mum's thick, roast gravy. Cauliflower puree seems to be quite a trendy item these days, again our mum was decades ahead of the game ;-)

roast potatoes

I say no one makes roast potatoes like our mum, and no one did. But it seems every TV chef is now using her recipe and knows her secrets. It took 30+ years, but the world is finally catching up with my mother's cuisine. This recipe is basically how mum would have done it, with a few extra tweaks from myself

secret number one   - make sure you pick a good floury potato for them; desiree, king edwards, maris piper or my personal favourite Agria, that have a lovely yellow flesh (see picture) to them and end up looking really golden in colour when cooked. 

secret number two   - use a good animal fat; dripping, lard, goose or duck fat. My mother always used a rendered pork fat (lard) made by our local butcher. 

secret number three - boil the potatoes with the potato peelings. The peel hold an immense amount of flavour, that is imparted into the potatoes as they cook

secret number four   - roughen the potato edges, to encourage crispening

secret number five    - sprinkle the potatoes with a little flour (or semolina if your feeling flush) 

                                                                                                                                           

recipe - cheffies roast potatoes a la mamon

012 pc  potatoes 
200 gm pork fat  (or duck/goose fat if you prefer)

recipe - method of preparation

Place the roasting tray with the fat in, into a pre-heated oven (200 - 220C) it must be hot, hot, hot. 

Wash well, peel and cut into even sized pieces. Rinse well and place into cold salted water and simmer gently until the potatoes are cooked; to the point of almost falling apart. Drain the potatoes into a wide colander. Give them a little shake to break up the potato's surface a little, so the surface looks fluffy (this broken surface is what will crispen) Allow to steam and dry out. 

notes

• placing the boiled potatoe on a tray and sprinkling with a little flour or fine semolina, will really aid crispening
• for maximum flavour, boil the potatoes along with the peel (which can be wrapped in muslin if you have it to make for easy removal), this adds that real potato flavour punch

Carefully remove the hot roasting tray from the oven and carefully place in the potatoes; ensuring they really sizzle, (do not over crowd the pan)  if not remove the first potato and continue to heat the fat. 

When all the potatoes are in, use a large spoon and baste the potatoes all over. Or place the roasting tray over a high heat and turn the potatoes to fry all the edges (or fry and baste). This will seal the outside and help prevent the final potato being too greasy inside

Place into the oven and roast until golden, crisp and cooked (turning potatoes as required), approx 1 hour. 

next week - mum's yorkshire's puddings ....... 

chapter XXV - mamon wellman cooks 09

cottage pie

This great British favourite would have been what Mamon Wellman would have called a 'poor man's meal'; that is one that was created by the working for the working class, using cheap ingredients or left overs. In this case probably the latter, and would have no doubt, been originally made with left over foods from the Sunday roast, (be it beef or lamb - see below)

It never fails to amaze me how often people will call shepherd's pie, cottage pie or vice versa. How many times I see Shepherd's pie on a menu, only to find out it is in actual fact Cottage pie. No, cottage pie, Shepherd's pie are not interchangeable names for the same thing.

How can you make Shepherd's pie with beef mince? Since when did shepherds look after cows? ....... "while shepherds watched their herds of Jersey cows by night, all seated on the ground"? I don't think so!..... Yes I am looking at you Aussie Sissy Sue!! Mind you, given the fact it doesn't have a pastry top, technically one could argue it's not really a pie at all.

There is also Cumberland pie, which is cottage pie with a layer of breadcrumbs sprinkled on top.

In our house it was always cottage pie by name and by nature. Mum always would have used minced beef, and her cottage pie was always eagerly looked forward to.

And at least back then it WAS beef, minced by the local butcher, from local cows. No fears of EU contaminated with horse-meat then. Mind you I don't know what all the fuss is about at the moment, we always said; "I'm so hungry, I could eat a horse"!

This time around I have put up my recipe for a real gourmet version of shepherd's pie, that is best made a day or two in advance and enjoyed when all the flavours have had time to infuse. 

recipe - cottage pie a la mamon
001 pkt  instant mash potato

500 gm  minced beef  

001 pc   onion 
002 pc   beef oxo cubes
              flour
              grated cheese

recipe - method of preparation

Pre-heat the oven to 170C

Roughly chop the onion and fry in a good knob of butter, until lightly browned. Add the mince and fry until browned. Sprinkle in some flour and stir in. Gradually pour in 1 cup of water, sprinkle in the oxo cubes and stir to combine. Season and pour into a casserole dish or similar. Make up the potato as per instructions and spoon on top of the mince, flatten out with a fork. Sprinkle with some grated cheddar and place in the oven for approx 40 minutes, until hot and golden brown on top. 

                                                                                                                                           

recipe - cheffies cottage pie

001  kg  peeled potatoes (agria or king edwards) 
200 gm  butter

001 pc   onion 

001 pc   garlic clove
500 gm  steak mince
002 tbs  flour
002 cup beef stock
001 cup grated cheese

recipe - method of preparation

Pre-heat the oven to 170C

Cut the potatoes into even sized pieces. Place into cold, salted water and bring to a boil. Turn down the heat and simmer until cooked (feels soft when pierced with a pointed knife) Drain in a colander and leave for 5 minutes so the steam escapes, the potatoes dry and the outsides go floury in appearance. Mash by hand, or push through a sieve. Beat through the butter, taste and season with salt, pepper and a little grated nutmeg. Add a little warmed milk if required to loosen up the mash. Keep warm. 

Finely chop the onion and cook in a good knob of butter over a low heat, until softened but not browned, add the chopped garlic clove and cook gently for another 2 minutes. Add the mince, turn up the heat slightly  and fry until lightly browned. Sprinkle in the flour, stir in and cook for 2-3 minutes. Gradually pour in 1-2 cups of a strong beef stock, until the preferred consistency is achieved (some like the mixture quite dry, some wetter). Taste and season. 

Pour into a large casserole dish or similar, or into individual moulds. Spoon the potato on top of the mince, flatten out with a fork. Sprinkle with the grated cheddar and place in the oven for approx 40 minutes, until bubbling hot and golden brown on top. 

                                                                                                                                           

recipe - cheffies gourmet shepherd's pie

001  kg  peeled potatoes (agria or king edwards) 
200 gm  butter
001 cup grated mature cheddar
004 pc   lamb shanks 

001 cup red wine 
002 cup beef stock 
002 tbs  worcestershire sauce
005 pc   anchovy fillets 
001 pc   garlic clove
001 pc   onion 
001 pc   carrot 
001 pc   celery stalk
002 tbs  tomato paste
001 cup mushrooms of choice (cut into slices or 1/4's)
001 cup peas (defrosted, but not cooked)

recipe - method of preparation

Pre-heat the oven to 160C

Heat a large frying pan over a medium heat, add a little olive oil. Lightly dust the lamb shanks in four and brown them all over, remove and place into a large braising pan. Add the red wine, sliced garlic clove and anchovy fillets, cover and allow to simmer gently for 10 minutes, remove the lid and simmer until the wine has  reduced by at least half. Add the stock, worcestershire sauce, chopped vegetables and tomato paste,  replace the lid and braise in oven until the meat is fork tender (can easily be pulled away from the bone using only a fork); approx 3 hours. (the mash can be made during the last hour of cooking)

When cooked, remove from the oven, and place the lamb shanks into a large bowl to cool slightly while making the sauce. 

Remove and discard the thyme stalk and bayleaf, simmer until only 2 cups of liquid remains. Pour into a food processor (including any vegetables etc) and blitz to a smooth sauce, strain if required. Taste and season . 

Pull all the meat of the bone and shred with a couple of forks, moisten with sufficient of the sauce to taste (not all may be required) Place into appropriate oven proof dish (es) cover with the peas and the mushrooms. Carefully cover with the mashed potato (see below), sprinkle with the grated mature cheddar and place into the fridge overnight.

Three hours before required, remove from the fridge and allow to come to room temp for one hour while the oven pre-heats to 170C. Place into the oven and heat through gently for approx 90 minutes. 

for the mash - cut the potatoes into even sized pieces. Place into cold, salted water and bring to a boil. Turn down the heat and simmer until cooked (feels soft when pierced with a pointed knife) Drain in a colander and leave for 5 minutes so the steam escapes, the potatoes dry and the outsides go floury in appearance. Mash by hand, or push through a sieve. Beat through the butter, taste and season with salt, pepper and a little grated nutmeg. Add a little warmed milk if required to loosen up the mash. Keep warm. 

next week - mum's ultra crisp roast potatoes....... 

chapter XXV - mamon wellman cooks 07

pies 

My mother used to make a standard steak pie, I don't remember it ever having kidney in it. As far as I recollect it was just straight steak and potato and I don't remember her making any sweet pies very often either. Jam tarts, yes, but not pies

I still have her porcelain pie funnel, that I believe was her mother's. A pie funnel is used by placing in the middle of the pie prior to covering with the pastry, the pastry is place on, crimped etc and the funnel poked through the pastry. It elevates the pastry and prevents it getting soggy and allows steam to escape as the pie cooks.

Pies have been a part of British cuisine and culture for centuries. So popular they were even immortalised in no less than four nursery rhymes that I can think of; Georgie Porgie, Little Jack Horner, Sing a Song of Sixpence and Simple Simon.

We love pies of any type, savoury or sweet. Chicken and mushroom, steak, steak & kidney, beef and ale, not to mention all the sweet pies; apple, blackberry, gooseberry, bakewell tart etc. Even Charles Dickens immortalised a pie/pudding in Pickwick papers; known as Pickwick Pie. It was a steak and kidney with oysters added. A dish that a pub in Fleet Street, London served as their only lunchtime dish for over 75 years and still does as far as I know.

So what differentiates a pie from a tart from a flan? These days not a lot. But originally:

• a pie would have a pastry base and top or a top only
• a tart would have a pastry base only
• a flan would have a pastry base only, and its filling would be dairy based. Such as creme patisserie. 

recipe - meat pie a la mamon

500 gm stewing beef steak 

001 pc  onion  (large)

002 pc  potato (large)

002 pc  oxo cubes 

200 gm short pastry 

recipe - method of preparation

Cut the beef into good bite sized pieces and brown in a frying pan, place into a pie dish. Add the chopped onion, cubes peeled potatoes. Sprinkle over the oxo cubes and barely cover with water. Place in the pie funnel. 

Roll out the pastry into a relevent neat shape (depending on the pie dish) egg wash the edges of the pie dish and place on the pastry, crimping to seal the edges. Using a knife poke a hole where the funnel is. Place into a pre-heated oven (200C) and lower the temperature to 170C. Bake for approx 1 hour until the pastry is cooked and golden brown. (make a thickened gravy if you prefer a thick sauce - mother never did, but I prefer it thickened) 

                                                                                                                                              


recipe - cheffie's meat pie 

400 gm lamb shoulder meat

001 pc small onion
001 pc egg

200 gm short pastry 
or 
200 gm hot water paste

recipe - method of preparation

Cut the lamb meat into very fine dice, so it almost looks minced. The meat should have approx 4 part meat to 1 part fat, if it is too lean the pie will be dry and tasteless. If the meat is too lean, add some finely chopped suet. Finely dice the onion and combine with the meat, Season well with a little cumin, cinnamon, sea salt and freshly milled pepper. Portion into 4 golf sized balls, and then flatten slightly to a sausage shape.  

Roll the pastry out and for each pie, cut two 8cm rounds and one rectangle 10cm x 5cm. 

For each pie, take a rectangle and form a 6cm diameter tube, pinching the edges together. Working carefully and quickly,  place the tube onto a circle and blend one open end into the base. Keeping one hand inside the tube to prevent it collapsing, pick up one of the meat balls and place into the tube. Pressing the meat into the tube working it to almost fill the tube, leaving half a cm of pastry free and curl it outwards, brush with some egg wash. 

Place the second pastry round on top and seal together, to form a pie that has a cotton reel shape. Repeat to make the other three pies. Place onto a lightly oiled baking tray, brush carefully all over with the remaining eggwash and bake in a pre-heated over (180C) for 45 - 60 minutes. Remove, allow to cool slightly and serve with a selection of pickled baby vegetables (see recipe below) and picked baby greens


recipe - pickled baby vegetables
004 pc  baby leeks 
004 pc  baby carrots 
004 pc  cauliflower florets 
004 pc  baby silverskin onions 
001 pc  candy beetroot
001 lt    cider vinegar
 1/2 tsp salt 
001 tbs brown sugar
001 pc  garlic clove
001 pc  chilli (red)
001 pc  clove
001 pc  cinnamon stick

recipe - method of preparation
Peel and trim the vegetables, slice the candy beetroot into paper thin slices. 

Combine the vinegar, salt, sugar and spices in a frying pan. Bring to the boil, stirring to dissolve the salt and sugar. Taste and adjust with more salt or sugar as required. Remove from the heat. 

Immediately add the vegetables into the vinegar in the order they are listed (largest first), cover the pan and leave to oneside to cool. Once cooled, place into a bowl and chill overnight. They can be used within an hour, but best left to pickle overnight. 

next week - mum's corned beef hash .......