Newsletter 01: for fortnight beginning 4th January 2010

The first newsletter of 2010

I’m writing this a little ahead of time. The seasonal Christmas demands of printers means that we have to write the first newsletter of the New Year before we sign off the old one. I hope the following doesn’t seem completely outdated.

On the assumption that life goes on, with autumn and the festive season out of the way, January seems like a good time to launch our stew/soup/casserole winter warmer box. We were going to do it last year but, with one thing and another, the winter flew by and we were all getting excited about a sizzling summer. Well here it is - a healthy selection of those cuts of meat, eschewed through the aspirational nineties and early noughties, but all the rage again now. Contents will change as things run out and others become available but the balance will remain the same. Many, many years ago, when I was posted off to university, my mother’s parting gift to me was a slow cooker. I soon became a dab hand at what was my signature dish for many years; Boston Baked Beans. I’ve been considering getting a new, updated version. BBB lost their allure a long time ago but other classics have taken its place and over the coming months, during bad news fortnights, I thought it would be good to focus on a few of these.

To get the ball rolling, I will start at the top. My favourite beef stew is carbonade/carbonnade à la Flamande. In my book it beats boeuf bourguignon any day. The recipe we give on this website (click here) was shamelessly lifted from our good friends at Wiltshire Tracklements so it naturally calls for a spot of mustard not found in the definitive Larousse version. Mind you, Larousse also calls for making a ‘brown roux’ after frying off the beef. Don’t do it! In my, not very humble opinion, adding flour at any stage later than in seasoned form, to the raw meat, is a crime. The other great crime against the casserole which, admittedly, seems to depend on specific intent on the part of the butcher rather than the chef, is cutting the meat too small. A small uneven dice is a suspicious thing and hides no end of sins. For a good carbon(n)ade you need beef cut no smaller than a 3 cm dice. That is just over an inch in old money. Any smaller and, with or without the roux, you run the risk of this prince of a dish becoming a beef and onion stew. I think chuck steak is the business for a proper carbonnade, and virtually every other casserole for that matter. Coat with seasoned flour and brown in batches. Remove and fry the onions. The recipe on the website doesn’t say so but I think it is good to remove the onions too and then get on with the serious business of deglazing the pan and making the liquor from a combination of beer, stock, mustard, bouquet garni, brown sugar and a splash (no more) of vinegar. I can’t remember which, but one of Wiltshire Tracklements grain mustards has a hint of chilli and that really works for me. The type of beer is also critical. Something with plenty of body, but definitely not too sweet. I’ve tried with stout but it didn’t really work. Our local brewery, Redrock, makes a dark bitter (Dark Ness) but for safety’s sake, you can’t go wrong with Adnams’ Broadside. If you ain’t gonna drink it, don’t cook with it, but don’t drink it all first. Allow the liquid to reduce slightly and put it, with the beef and onions, in a casserole in a medium oven for a couple of hours.

Finishing with a flaky pastry crust is one option but topping with slices of stale baguette is as good as it gets. Scoop out some of the excess liquid. Mix with a spoon of mustard and spread on one side of the bread. Tip the casserole into a lasagne dish and cover with the bread pushing down gently. Finish off in a hot oven with plenty of top heat. If you get the staleness/liquid ratio correct the bread should absorb some of the liquid but remain crisp and crunchy.

Ben Watson