Food

dooks has been there, i haven't. i'd take his word for it.

/thinking of taking Mrs Hell snr there when she's in town next next week. they shall be judged.

It certainly sound a delicious meat based sauce, not exactly a recipe I'd like.. I usually keep it simpler:

• Carrot and Celery in first, softened in water and oil, add the onion, soften further until golden.
  
• Add meat:
  
• 50% minced beef
  
• 45% minced pork
  
• 5% minced pancetta
  
• Crumble the meat down
  
• Add wine and turn on the heat to make it evaporate
  
• Add tomato cans, puree and veal/beef stock (homemade)
  
• Boil for a min of 4/5 hours
  
  

No need for herbs at all imo, adjust salt and black pepper at the end.

But save a jar of it next time you make it, I'd like to exchange it for one of mines and compare ;)

Made ricotta and courgettes stuffed ravioli yesterday, with pancetta, courgettes and saffron sauce. Not exactly courgette season but was craving that sweet taste.

1 Attachment

On a separate note, tried Meat Liquor on Upper Street (don't remember who was talking about it), nice but doubt will go again.

Courtesan is good, just weird decor.

As for basil leaves, can't you do them in a muslin bag or some other form of bouquet garni?

If you get a handful of basil, roll it into a cigar kind of shape on a chopping board an shove it in whole that might be easier to fish out but will also help bring out its flavour. Bit like a bouquet garni.

*sorry I posted that without looking at what @mashton said :(

Weird putting basil in early in a slow cooked thing, I'd have thought. Basil's such a fresh peppery flavour and cooking it down into things like that means it just gets lost.

Personally, I only like basil in a quick and fresh pasta sauce, I find it adds too much of a 'Dolmio' note in a slow cooked sauce... Still sounds incredible, @apone...

No need to add fresh basil too early. Either tear or do a chiffonade.

Spent a couple of hours last night, using the left over sour dough to make grilled cheese sandwiches. But here's the rub, managed to get an assembly line going to make them more efficiently, but out of the 5 made, only ate one, as the other four were going into the freezer for storage.

PS grilled cheese sandwiches rock, though I did spend a shit tonne of money on cheese at whole foods. Made them in the kappacassein style, recipe here, http://boroughmarket.org.uk/kappacaseins-three-cheese-toastie
but used smoked cheddar, comte, and some gruyere alternative, also added in some prosciutto. Was delishious...

no, you do a chiffonade!

Heh.

In other non-news, I am totes hooked on this Sichuan chilli oil, to the point where I am eating it in everything including this cheese sarnie.

1 Attachment

Yep, I always have a jar of that in. It's amazing.

Best dumpling dip:

Teaspoon of that chilli oil
Tiny bit of sugar
1/4 teaspoon of ginger powder
2 tablespoons black rice vinegar
3/4 tablespoon light soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon sweet soy sauce

(approx measures, adjust to your taste)

Mix it up, dunk the dumplings, delicious!

I prefer the black bean dip one...it is addictive.

^^ is that the one with bits of peanut in ? I love that one.

First attempt at breasola. Cured with juniper clove and thyme. Stuffed in beef bung and badly tied then sprayed with mold solution harvested from an old salami. Hanging in my chamber for next 6 weeks or so. Badly timed for Christmas

4 Attachments

Wowser. That's pretty serious.

^^rep.

Is it ready after 6 weeks then? What temp is your, ahem, chamber?

It's regulated to fluctuate between 10 and 12. So when it cools it also dehunidifies. Then when it reaches 10 it shuts off and slowly goes back to 12.

Schweet. Did you mod an old fridge or but something spenny?

I bought an old wine fridge for £60 then have a temperature and humidity moniter hooked up tot the fridge itself and a humidifer in the fridge. So it just does itself.

The moniter and plug were pretty expensive (£60ish) but I have no idea what i`m doing when it comes to electricals so it was for the best.

I would love to buy something purpose built but there is very little on the market.

#nextlevel #welljelly

Next stop Masterchef. Look forward to the shots in six weeks...

Holy heck . srs bznss.

How was dim sum Olly?

It was good (objectively speaking; I am inexperienced in dim sum, so intend to rectify this).
The wagyu & ribeye sliders were very good indeed.
Ditto steamed king prawn dumplings
Fried squid and ribs a bit heavy / greasy
Lots of other tasty stuff in between
Cocktails knockout

As @greenhell predicted, it was empty when I arrived (I did a partridge style "are you sure you can fit me in?!" Cue blank faces) and is cavernous and dark so even when it filled up a bit it's got all the atmosphere of a bilge sump. Came to £50 a head although we weren't holding back on the food or booze. All in all a fittingly middle class* prelude to Slayer at the Academy and 7/10 would visit again.

*but less than the guys who were eating in Brindisa :)