Meat Club (Secret Meat Business)

At the last sitting of the Guild of Beefsteak, also known as Meat Club our table was graced with forerib of Dexter

Beautifully marbled and aged for the best flavour . . . . .  stunning.

Seared before being roasted low and slow for 7hours until medium rare . . . truly amazing!

Hendrix also pitched in with amazing Beeftini . . . very smooth . . . lovely way to start the evening.

As the night drew in . . . 

A low glow set about the banquet hall and a palpable sense of expectation . . .

and Meat Club comensed . . . oh yes!

Well that's what I hear . . . 

45 day aged forerib (amongst other things) has been acquired for the next Meat Club.

7th Feb

Recipe: Mac 'n' Cheese (Macaroni Cheese - Rigatoni Actually)

by Simon Fernandez of ferdiesfoodlab

Mac 'n' cheese is an uber classic! It was one of the first things I tried to perfect when I left home! It's a super comfort food, and so versatile. As far as the basics go all you need to be able to make are a béchamel sauce and to make that a simple roux. the rest is cheese, your favourite pasta and all manner of variations depending on your mood! It's great for incorporating leftovers and stands on the plate without need for accompaniment. In fact I suggested an accompaniment for this one and got a reet (I think that's a northern term I might be wrong) good re-educating from my Italian flatmate . . . . . You do not serve a salad with a mac 'n' cheese, that's a different course!!

The cheeses I used for this particular mac 'n' cheese - which make's it the mac daddy were these:

murgu - swiss from belp - raw cows milk

vintage gouda 3yr - dutch from het groene hart - pasturised cows milk

schneeflockli - swiss from rougemont - raw cows milk

munster - french from alsace-lorraine - cows milk

They were leftovers form a rather nice cheese board I put on just recently! (sacrilegious I know . . . but soooo goood!)

My flatmate liked the mac 'n' cheese, I chucked the salad out of the window while no-one was looking!! ; )  

ingredients (serves 6-8)

for the mac 'n' cheese

500g rigatoni / macaroni

300g cheese (grated) (your favourite - better to pick a relatively strong one)

4 tomatoes (diced)

2 onions (fine dice)

4 cloves garlic (fine dice)

2 tbsp dijon mustard

1 tsp cumin seed

50ml olive oil

1L water

100g butter

100g flour

Cheese: a nice mix that wont hurt the bank too much - Red Leicester, Parmesan or Gran Padano and Mozzarella.

for the topping 

200g mature cheddar (grated)

apparatus / equipment

stick blender (optional)

Hard to tell but this mac 'n' cheese is over a foot wide!!! 

method - the basic steps are as follows:

* Cook the rigatoni / macaroni

* Make stock for the sauce

* Thicken the sauce with a roux

* Add the cheese to the sauce

* Mix sauce and pasta

* Sprinkle with cheese and bake for 20mins @ 180C

here's how in more detail:

stock

Put 1L of water, the onions, cumin, tomatoes and olive oil in a pan and bring to the boil, then set to simmer for 20mins.

Once the stock is ready use a stick blender to make it smooth and pass the stock through a sieve. If you don't have a stick blender skip this step and go for an artisan style sauce personally I quite like it with a little texture!! Smooth is good too!

pasta

In a separate pan add 1.5L water and 1tbsp of table salt and bring to the boil. Once boiling add the rigatoni and boil for 7mins.

Worth pointing out here that this is undercooked. If the rigatoni was for meatballs for example, or another sauce to be served immediately 7mins wouldn't be enough!!  9mins would be al dente and 11mins would be soft. We want it undercooked because it's going to be in the oven for 20mins in sauce cooking more!! : )

But you can cook it longer if you want to have a softer mac n cheese. 

roux

Next make a roux to thicken the stock. A roux is a mix of flour and fat. This recipe is vegetarian so I'm going to use butter, but you can use most fats, veg oil, bacon fat, duck fat etc for different flavours.

Melt butter and add the flour, mix well, and stir continuously over the heat to cook out the flour.

Add a fifth of the stock and bring to the boil and mix it in to create a smooth paste.

Repeat: adding the rest of the stock to the mix a third at a time, stirring until you have a smooth and even sauce.

add cheese

Next add the cheese to the sauce, stirring until it's melted and completely dissolved in the sauce. Season it with salt and pepper. Then add the pasta and mix well.

sprinkle

Put the mix into an oven proof dish, sprinkle with grated cheese and bake for 20minutes @ 180C until it's golden brown!!

thinking ahead

This is a great dish because, it will last over night in the fridge and be easily reheated in the oven (or microwave if you insist!) and you can also freeze it with very little side effects. 

variations

Are you kidding the list is endless, it's a great way to use up odds and ends: Use a tomato based sauce and just top with cheese for a healthier version. Add aubergine caviar, or ham and oregano. A chicken based variation is also pretty good!! : )

As you can see I tried an avocado topping as an experiment, and although it didn't detract from the dish it was a bit like adding double cream to single cream - pointless!

Aubergine caviar mac 'n' cheese

Classic cheddar and chicken mac 'n' cheese

Experiment - Recipe: Pork Scratching Spirals

by Simon Fernandez of ferdiesfoodlab

I was watching Great British Menu last year and one of the chefs presented a spiral pork scratching, and at the time I was doing a fair amount of experimentation with pork belly so it kinda got me thinking about how he'd managed it.

check out this fine hand crafted chopping board made by @olliebutcher81! 
Get in touch with him or me if you want one - available in oak!

After a little thought this is what I came up with . . . trust me it's lush and if you want your pork belly to have sticky bits you can!!

ingredients (makes porky snacks for 10)

for the pork spiral scratchings

1 side of pork belly skin

1L chicken stock

5g rosemary 

5g thyme

4 cloves garlic (whole)

pork spiral scratchings

Coat the bottom of your baking tray with a touch of vegetable oil.

Sprinkle a baking tray with the aromats and lay the pork over the top, skin side up.

Pour in the chicken stock and lightly salt the skin and cover with a lid or tin foil.

Slow roast at 150C for 3hours checking occasionally to make sure that there is still liquid in the bottom of the tray.

Top up with water if it the tray has gone dry.

Once ready let the pork skin cool down until it's cool enough to handle.

Place it skin side down and roll it into a long sausage shape, then wrap it tightly in cling film and put it in the fridge to set.

Leave it to set for for at least 2 hours preferably over night.

Unwrap it and slice it up, the thicker the slice the stickier the centre will be.

Heat a heavy based pan and add the disks of porky goodness without and oil.

Once the skin has crisped up turn them once and crisp the other side, then remove to some kitchen towel to drain off any excess fat. Season them and serve at will! 

thinking ahead

Once rolled into a ballotine and cling 

wrapped or vac packed the pork belly will easily last for a month in he fridge, it can be sliced when needed and prepared in minutes!! Perfect accompaniment to a beer.

Or you can fry of the scratching and keep them in an air tight container to keep them crisp.