Cooking The Books

Scottish Scotch Eggs

"Yes!" Wallace shouted back. "Fight and you may die. Run and you will live at least awhile. And dying in your bed many years from now, would you be willing to trade all the days from this day to that for one chance, just one chance, to come back here as young men and tell our enemies that they may take our lives but they will never take our eggs!"

Even with William Wallace's fierce devotion to the snack his knowledge of its origins are somewhat misplaced as, contrary to what the name would suggest, Scotch Eggs aren't remotely Scottish, they were invented by Fortnum & Mason in the 18th Century and take their name from the Olde English verb 'to scotch', meaning to wrap in meat and breadcrumbs then deep-fry. As such the Scottish in the name of these Lorne sausage wrapped beauties is far from redundant.

Paint your face blue and white and tuck in.

Scottish Scotch Eggs Recipe

Ingredients

Makes 4

500gr of Lorne Sausage, bought or made (recipe here)

5 medium eggs, room temperature

Breadcrumbs, made from 3 slices of liquidised stale white bread

A little plain flour

Method

Bring some water to a light boil then boil 4 of the room temperature eggs for 6.5 minutes.  Remove, crack the shells all over (this will burn your fingers) and then dump in iced water for 10 minutes to cool.

Split your Lorne sausage into 4 and wrap aropund your eggs.  To do this I spread each lump on a piece of clingfilm till about 15cm round, then wrap around the egg.  Once it's a nice shape (pinch the joins so well connected) you can peel the clingfilm off.

Beat the final egg with a pinch of salt.  Dust each meat-covered delight in plain flour, then dip in egg then breadcrumbs, coating well.

Heat oil to 160C then deep-fry the eggs for 6-7 minutes, until golden and cooked through, before draining well on kitchen roll.

I like to serve with mustard, just make sure it's not English.

Veal Holstein

Restaurant reviews out the way I can now get back to my real passion, cooking, so carrying on the trend of recreating dishes from London's most blogged restaurants is the dish of veal holstein, this time from the almost cult Bob Bob Ricard.  I've not got around to eating there myself but of all the blog posts about it I've skimmed through the veal holstein really piqued my interest. 

Sticking things in breadcrumbs and frying rarely has a bad outcome and I could imagine the rich egg yolk and salty capers and anchovies combining to create something covering the whole flavour spectrum - assuming that spectrum is meat, crunch, fat and salt. 

I wasn't disappointed.

Veal Holstein

Per person

Veal escalope, 120gr (English rose - obviously)

1 egg

2 anchovies, sliced lengthways

2 ts salted capers, well rinsed

To coat

Plain flour seasoned well with salt and pepper, white pepper has a nicer fine texture

Egg

Fresh breadcrumbs, dried slightly in warm oven

Method

First off beat you escalopes a bit until they're very thin, they tend to shrink when frying so oversize is good.

Season some plain flour with salt and pepper and place on one plate, beat the egg in a bowl and place the breadcrumbs on another plate.

Flour, egg and crumb the veal then chill for 15 minutes to set the coating a bit.

Melt the butter in a small saucepan and add the capers, only enough to heat through rather than crisp up.

Heat 1cm oil in a frying pan over a medium hot heat then fry the veal for 3 minutes a side until golden.  Remove to rest on kitchen roll in a warm oven.

Fry the egg.

Place the veal on a plate, top with the egg, make a cross with the anchovy pieces and spoon the capers in butter over the top.

Serve with whatever you see fit.

Cháo Vịt - Vietnamese Rice Porridge with Duck

Rice porridge is eaten all over China and South East Asia where it takes many names.  In Hong Kong (and the UK) it's called congee, in mainland China zhōu, the Thai know it as โจ๊ก (joke) and in Vietnam it's cháo (the ch is j pronounced I believe) - to name a few.  In it's most basic form it is rice boiled in water and a little rice goes a long way as with prolonged simmering it goes beyond tender and starts to break down, thickening the water with its starch.  This transformation of small amounts of rice into big bowls of food may well be how it came about, making a reduced crop go a long way after a poor harvest.  During the Cambodian revolution it certainly took this role, with the ousted city dwellers sustaining their back breaking lifestyle with nothing but a watery rice porridge.  On bad days they were lucky to find a few grains in the bottom, let alone a meal's worth of carbohydrate.

By the addition of various flavourings though it can be transformed from a basic meal to something luxurious, a fine start to the day that may seem weird for the temperature of South East Asia but for some reason works well. It's salty and soothing, filling the stomach for the day ahead.

First step is to cook the rice in stock and not water and then near anything goes.  Soft pork and the black and purple century egg make a fine congee, the pig and egg are again bedfellows in the Thai joke moo, or pork porridge, where minced pork is added to the simmering slurry shortly before serving and even nearer to the bowl an egg is broken in.  You can choose to leave this to poach slowly in the residual heat or stir through straight away, adding rich yellow streaks of yolk.  It's not finished then either as toppings are provided - spring onion and ginger are seen nearly everywhere and soy, fish sauce or black vinegar are all used as seasonings, not to mention salt, sugar or white pepper depending on where you are.

Duck legs lend themselves well to this dish as the prolonged simmering they need to tenderise provides a base stock for the rice (for other everyday congees I tend to turn to the Oriental favourite chicken powder for my stock - quick, simple and pretty authentic).  The duck flesh then shreds easily from the bone, providing texture and rich strands of meat.  When I eat this for breakfast I prepare the night before up until the rice is cooked then shred the meat, add to the porridge and warm through when I get up.  It makes a fine lunch too and is even meaty enough for an evening meal.  As I've made this as a Vietnamese cháo I've seasoned with fish sauce, if this isn't to your taste then the aforementioned black vinegar cuts through the richness well.

For other flavours simply boil the below amounts of rice in stock to get your base porridge and add things as you see fit - whether it's meat, fish or seafood - topping with whatever you fancy.  It's pretty much a do what you want dish like noodle soup or fried rice.

Cháo Vịt - Vietnamese Rice Porridge with Duck

Ingredients, for 4 people

2 duck legs

120gr jasmine rice

2 spring onions, halved and crushed

2" ginger, crushed

To Garnish

Greens from 2 spring onions

1 red chili

Fish sauce

White pepper

Method

Chop the duck legs in two to expose some marrow then simmer in 2 litres of water, with the ginger and spring onion, till tender.   This should take about an hour to an hour fifteen.

Remove the duck and flavourings, strain the stock through a fine sieve and then make back up to 2 litres with water.  Add the rice, bring to the boil and then simmer, again for one hour to an hour fifteen, until the rice has broken down and the cháo has thickened nicely.  The stock is very light so it will need to be seasoned, using salt and fish sauce and - if you like the stuff - the ubiquitous chicken powder.

Whilst this is happening and when the duck legs are cool enough to handle remove the meat from the bone and shred.  Just prior to serving add the meat (and skin if you want) and warm through.

Provide your diners with sliced spring onion, red chili, fish sauce and white pepper for them to add as desired.

Mexican Chorizo and a couple of uses for it

During the Spanish invasion of Mexico in 1519 Cortes and his conquistadors did a lot of taking, whether it was of gold or local lives.  It wasn't entirely one way traffic though as they gave them chorizo (and the rest of the words in the Spanish language for that matter too), but 500 years is a long time and now what constitutes chorizo in Spain and Mexico differs greatly.  Maybe the heat of Mexico doesn't bode well for the long cool periods required for curing as the Mexican version is a fresh sausages, spiced heavily with chili, paprika and garlic.  Whilst the Spanish slice their cured sausage thinly and eat it as is - or in a bocadilla or on tostada - the Mexican affair is more a flavouring.  Small amounts of the pungent minced meat are fried then added to scrambled eggs or quesadillas, transforming them with spice and heat - a little goes a long way.

My recipe is based on a recipe from Lourdes Nichols and it has served me well for near two decades.  Her 1980s Mexican cookbook doesn't look remotely dated today, and it's only a little paperback from Sainsbury.

Mexican Chorizo

300gr minced pork, fatty is better than lean

3 TB malt vinegar

1 ts salt

1/2 ts black pepper

2 cloves of garlic, crushed

2 ts powdered de arbol chili, or other hot (assuming you like the heat) chili powder

1 TB paprika

1 ts coriander seeds, ground

1 ts oregano, preferably Mexican but normal will suffice

Pinch of grated nutmeg

2 cloves, ground

Method

Mix well, leave overnight in the fridge to mature, use.

I split into 6, approx. 50gr portions, wrap in clingfilm and freeze.  I find these portions are suitable for knocking up something for 2 people, whether it's scrambled eggs, quesadillas or fried cheese tacos.

Here's a couple of serving suggestions, they're more ideas than recipes as I knock them up on the fly.  Hopefully there's enough info to repeat them though.

Scrambled Eggs with Chorizo

This is one of my favourite breakfasts.  Fry the chorizo in a little oil till browned.  Remove from pan, add a little more oil and scramble the eggs in it, add the chorizo once set.  Warm a wheat tortilla till soft, spread with frijoles refritos (refried beans), top with the chorizo scrambled eggs, some fresh salsa (diced red onion, tomato, coriander and lime juice), a little grated cheese and hot sauce of your choosing, here I went for a green habanero based one.

Fried Cheese and Chorizo Tacos

These aren't tacos in the Old El Paso deep fried basket sense, just soft tortillas (wheat or corn) wrapped around a filling.  My nan always used to fry cheese as part of a fry up, I grew up thinking everyone did it but have literally never met anyone else that ate it.  Big handfuls of cheddar were dumped in a frying pan were they separated, bubbled and eventually rejoined into a crisp around the edges but chewy slice, kind of like a lump of cheese pulled from a pizza.  Judging by the amount of yellow fat left in the previously dry frying pan it must be one dish were frying reduces the calories.

Normally I do the same, just frying a lump and having it as part of a breakfast, but I recently read of a Mexican dish of fried cheese rolled around homemade chorizo so gave it a go.  The results are similar to quesadillas, obviously, but the frying concentrates the cheese flavour and gives it a decent bite in the middle of the tortilla.

To make simply heat a dry frying pan and dump in a big handful of grated cheese.  As it melts and spreads keep pushing it into a nice shape with a spatula and hopefully after a while it should come together enough that you can lift the slice out.  Place it in a small tortilla, sprinkle browned chorizo on top then add fresh salsa, roll up and enjoy.  As before some hot sauce is always a welcome addition.

Chorizo and Potato Quesadillas

I've blogged about these before so the recipe is here and just needs the chorizo above, remember to fry it till cooked before using though.

Sandwiches of America - The Monte Cristo

My new favourite food TV show is Man v. Food.  It would appear it's on satellite TV but I'd never heard of it until a friend in the US recommended it.  A quick download and I was hooked, knocking out a couple of episodes a night catching up.  In the show the host Adam makes his way across the US, city by city, with the main event being him attempting one of the city's famous food challenges.  I've only heard of a couple of eating challenges over here before - and not for a while - but it seems like they're a big thing in the states.  Whilst I find it quite amusing watching him trying out a 5lb burger or 72 oz steak I'm equally in love with the show for the glimpse it gives me of cheap US eating.  There's no expensive restaurants here, focusing - as Adam puts it - on chow down joints, the kind of place I would definitely be eating if I go over there.  One thing that has struck me is the sheer variety of sandwiches there so I thought I'd investigate a few.  Some sound delicious and some a little weird.  It wouldn't be right for this blog if I didn't start with a weird one.

The Monte Cristo is basically a ham, turkey and cheese sandwich, not very weird at all so far, especially by US standards where they love a good combination of cold cuts.  It gets a bit stranger when it's dipped in egg and fried (although not too out the ordinary - there's mozzarella en carozza after all) but it's - for me anyway - the strawberry jam to dip it in that takes it over the edge (not to mention a sometime dusting in icing sugar, but that was a step too far even for me).  I had to try it.

Having done so I must say it works.  Initial thoughts are it shouldn't but when I try and rationalise it it starts to make a bit more sense.  Turkey and cranberry are frequent bedfellows, and cheese and ham certainly don't mind a sweet chutney, the outside french toast is definitely served sweet on occasion.  When I started out I thought I'd take a cursory dip in the jam just to see how it was served over there and then eat my sandwich plain, I ended up taking jam with every mouthful though and wiping the plate clean of the sweet stuff.  What started out as something weird ended up something tasty, I suppose I shouldn't have doubted the American palate so much, something wouldn't last from the 1930s to now if it wasn't tasty - would it?

Monte Cristo Sandwich, makes 4

8 slices of white bread, I used an organic batch loaf

150gr roast turkey, thinly sliced

150gr smoked ham, thinly sliced

4 slices of gruyere, or other Swiss cheese

3 eggs

Method

If you want, butter the bread.  Seemed a bit superfluous to me though so I didn't bother.

Layer turkey then ham then cheese on one slice of bread and top with another.

Dip in egg and fry, slowly, in some butter and oil.  Set the pan so it takes a few minutes a side as you need the heat to penetrate to the middle.  Whilst it's cooking give it a squash with a spatula and hopefully the sides will stick and seal.

Serve with jam, and if you're feeling really sweet toothed a dusting of icing sugar.