Archive for December, 2010
The Whole Hog-Carol Wilson and Christopher Trotter
The Whole Hog By Carol Wilson and Christopher Trotter (rrp. £25.00) Click here to see The Whole Hog on Amazon.co.uk
This is a celebration of the humble pig and all its tasty parts. It has great pictures and a fascinating history of the pig. It contains about 100 recipes. This book would make a great gift for someone like myself, who loves making sausages and charcuterie style products.
Smithfield Q Guild Gold Awards
On the 9th of November Stuart Baker, our Manager, and Sam Denning, a young star on our butchery team, travelled to London, to Butcher’s Hall to receive awards for their products that they had put into the Smithfield Q guild competition.
We had 4 Gold medal winning products;
- Our dry cured back bacon, which has received medals in the past;
- Our now famous hotdog sausage;
- Yorkshire Black bacon-our dry cured bacon that is finished in Molasses to give it a sweet dark edge.
- And, one of the products that we are really becoming famous for are our Great Yorkshire Hams, which received an amazing 100 points out of a possible 100.
BBC3′s Young Butcher Of The Year 2010.
We have now finished filming for BBC3′s “Young Butcher of the Year” and are excited that it will be shown on Monday the 20th of December at 8pm. You will see Justin Preston, a butcher from Mayfair, myself, and George Lamb sorting through the young apprentices to find out who is the best to carry home this award.
The programme has received a great write-up in the Radio Times, and has been chosen as pick of the day for the 20th of December. The Review says “Judges Justin Preston and David Lishman know what they are looking for; knife skills, clever presentation, and a proper awareness of the value of meat” The review continues “it is almost irrelevant who takes the prize-they are all winners-and it is pleasing to note that they all work in proper butchers or farm shops”
It is great to be part of a really good programme promoting a true craft that people can appreciate.
Honey and Mustard Glazed Christmas Ham
This is a really succulent way of cooking one of our two famous hams; either our great Yorkshire Ham, which is on the bone, or our Abbots Cure Ham-a boneless, dark, sticky ham which has been cured in a brine with beer and black treacle.
Ingredients:
- 1 whole or half Great Yorkshire Ham, or 1 whole boneless Abbots Cure Ham
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 onion
- 2 carrots
- 2 celery sticks
- ½ a jar of runny honey
- 3 tablespoons of wholegrain mustard
Method:
- Place the ham into a deep roasting tin and fill with water.
- Put the ham, the halved onions, the halved carrots, the bay leaves and the celery sticks into the water.
- Cover with foil and place into the oven at 180 degrees centigrade for 40 minutes per kilo plus an extra 20 minutes. If you are using a cooking thermometer the ham needs to reach 75 degrees in the centre.
- Once the ham is cooked through, remove the foil and then peel the skin carefully back to expose the glistening white fat beneath.
- Mix together the honey and mustard-it should be a nice thick pouring consistency.
- Diamond score the fat and pour over the honey and mustard to coat the ham.
- Turn the oven up to 200 degrees centigrade, put the ham back in to the oven, uncovered, and allow to glaze and caramelize for about 20 minutes.
- The Ham is wonderful eaten hot with warm Cumberland sauce and is also a great cold dish throughout the next week. Cold ham, hot chips and onion sauce is a real favourite of mine. A ham will keep perfectly in the fridge for one week.
- The stock from the roasting tin can be used to make soup such as pea and ham soup.
A Simple Game Terrine
I made a really successful Game Terrine this weekend. Having been on a few shoots recently, I have now collected some game which included rabbit, partridge and pheasant, and I thought I would use this for one of my favourite starters-Game Terrine.
It is a very simple dish to make, and if anyone has access to a supply of game, then this is ideal for using those birds that may be more damaged than usual.
Ingredients:
- 2 rabbits
- Breasts from 2 pheasants
- 2 partridge
- 1lb pig liver
- 1lb of cumberland sausage
- 1lb of streaky bacon
- Thyme
- Salt and pepper
- 2 onions
- 2 cloves of garlic
- A splash of port
Cooking instructions:
- Take the meat off the rabbit legs and loins.
- Take the partridge breasts off the bone and remove the skin.
- Pan fry the pheasant and partridge breasts to seal in the juices.
- Place the liver, the onion the garlic, the sausage and the rabbit into a food processor and wizz to a course consistency.
- Season this forcemeat with salt, pepper and thyme.
- Line the terrine dish or loaf tin with the streaky bacon.
- Put in a layer of the processed forcemeat. Layer over the pheasant and partridge breasts and then top with the rest of the forcemeat.
- Wrap the bacon over the top
- Put the lid on or cover with foil
- Place into a roasting tin, with water half way up the terrine dishes.
- Put this into the oven at 180 degrees for approximately 2 hours until the centre of the terrine has reached 75 degrees.
- Put some weights on top to press the terrine down and chill.
These terrines freeze really easily, and you dont’ have to use the same game each time, just use any game that is avaliable. Perfect served with a nice chutney!
My recipe makes two terrines of the size in the picture.
