Food

Can't tell if ridiculously bad
Or good

Anyway, this thread feels a bit meated out. Here's a veggie curry feast for your delectation:

Recipes: Smoky Aubergine Curry and Butternut Squash Coconut Curry
Oh my, that looks fantastic, as does your blog. Thank you for bringing veg back to the thread!

Where's the bacon?

.

Yay, the veg is back on.

Oops.

anyone know where I can get some really nice olives in central london?

Too many vegetables on this page!!

Did the sausage making course at the Ginger Pig in Marylebone last night and these are the result.....

Great night, learned a lot, very hands on and finished with the best bangers and mash i have ever had accompanied with some very nice wine as well as over 3Kg of handmade sausage to bring home. Would recommend it and i think i might try do one of the butchery courses now.

Looking great, nice coarse grind and good form apart from the pesky air bubble :-)
Out of interest, did they place any importance on chilling the meat/fat during the process? Did you use any rusk or other adjuncts, or 100% pork?

Pascalo, dry cure or wet?
(not euph)

It's a pretty dry rub, but then left it to soak in a freezer bag in it's own juice for a week ... turning it every night.
The result is ... nice, but slightly odd. If there's a better way please let me know. I want english bacon!!!!

Looking great, nice coarse grind and good form apart from the pesky air bubble :-)
Out of interest, did they place any importance on chilling the meat/fat during the process? Did you use any rusk or other adjuncts, or 100% pork?

Yep, pretty happy with them. Pesky airbubble was because the instructor was messing with the speed of the filler at the time!

They said to keep things cool but the main thing was to use 'Hard' fat from the top of the back, neck and shoulder rather than 'Soft' fat which is found inside the beast and on the belly because hard keeps its shape when it is cooked whereas the soft melts down. They would not use ice or anything to keep it cool as it adds water.

They are fans of good meat coarsely ground for most sausages, fine for chipolatas. They only use rusk occasionaly for traditional English sausages and this is simply because it is what people are used to and are therefore expecting. Its only use is as a bulking agent to save money so they are not fans.

All in all a really great course, would recommend.

Good stuff, all tallies with my limited experience of snag making. I hope you have a freezer? Or lots of mates. I can be a new mate if needed?

Miss Mouse, thanks for compliment, made my day!

I wonder if b&d and his gf are still waiting in the queue...

Yep.

Señor Bear on Piccadilly outside Hatchards last night. Good to walk and talk.

Went to the opening of Dirty burger tonight which is out the back of the new Pizza east at the bottom of my road pretty much.

Burger was alright, pretty greasy but at £5 for a burger, chips and a pint of camden pale ale i wasnt complaining. Half price night though but open till 1am and you can take bikes in. good for a quick spot of food.

^ faaaaaark how did i miss that!?

got a few prepared mackerel on the cheap today and so am gonna do them tomorrow for a mate and i... have never actually cooked with them before though! was hoping to do some sort of middle-eastern thing, spicing the fish and griddling them with some sort of grains and salad.

any good recipes along those lines out there? google is failing me.

also, to griddle them, do you do it skin-down only, or both sides (having split down the middle first of course)?

cheers peeps

Snags looking good Omar impressed. Good course, well taught, etc?

Also, olly's aubergine curry ay the top of this page looks great, its going on my to do list for sure. May bulk it up with some chickpeas though

Thanks Jim. Your idea sounds yum. IME mackerel is fairly soft and delicate and can stick like a bugger to a griddle. Me, I'd do it under the grill, but if I only had the griddle, skin side down and have the commitment to leave it undisturbed until the skin has blackened and frees up at the contact points. Ftw, serve with fresh lemon wedges. Oh, and open the windows before you cook dat fish.

Sorry for cross-posting from this thread but I'm sure peeps on here can think of a few cheap London eateries to add to the map - LFGSS Cheap Eats in London

Had that steak last night. fucking hell, even had seconds. I'm back next week.

closes on sunday ^

asked them last night, and they said they're open next week too, until the 3rd

I wouldn't chance it though, go this weekend if you haven't been. If you're lucky, you can go again next.

I'm scheduled in for burgers on sat so will hold back til end of next week

btw, that tenner is probably the best tenner you can spend on London. I can't think of anything that's more value.

From their facebook:

Exciting news! Our time upstairs at The Owl and Pussycat has been extended by a week! Our last day will now be September 1st.

Hmmm... A 3rd visit? No chips, 2 steaks.