Newsletter 04: for fortnight beginning 18th February 2010

a challenging box?

When I came up with the projected contents of the Winter Warmer Box starting on the 15th February ‘challenging’ was the response. That was for you, the customers, rather than the butchers. Well I hope you are up for a challenge. Beef short ribs are something I have been waxing about for ages without getting much positive feedback. They seem to be popular everywhere else but here where they are associated with ‘Jacob's ladder’ or long ribs which include meat of inferior quality that will take a month of Sundays to cook. Braised short ribs are an American classic and a staple of many of those iconic New York steak houses. Mark Hix had a recipe in the Independent a few years ago (google search; Mark Hix + short ribs) and there are several more on the web and in American cook books. The vegetable/stock components might vary but the method is consistent. Brown the ribs, deglaze pan and braise in a lidded casserole at approx 140°C for 2 hours plus. Remove the ribs, reduce the stock if it is a little thin and you have redefined the word ‘hearty’.

Second on the list, but higher on the challenging front, is breast of lamb. I confess to not being a fan and, over the years, at least 95% have been trimmed up and minced. Periodically, the butchers in the shops will bone them out and roll them up with some stuffing but it doesn’t do it for me. The meat shrinking to next to nothing and all those breadcrumbs absorbing all that fat seems like a non starter. Slow cooking lesser cuts is great but there needs to be an escape route for most of the fat. I feel the same about stuffed shoulder v shoulder on the bone. The latter keeps its shape and texture, most of the fat drips out and it tastes sweet and good. The boned shoulder might be easy to carve but the meat dries out and the stuffing absorbs the fat. So what to do with your ultra challenging breast of lamb? A quick search on the web led me to Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s method ‘Ste Ménehould’, As well as being an affluent village in the Champagne region of France, Sainte Ménehould also gives us the method of braising, boning, pressing, slicing, crumbing and frying or grilling. It is most commonly applied to pigs’ trotters (I remember eating them at the Carved Angel in Dartmouth when Joyce Molyneux was cooking). Boning a pigs’ trotter, even after cooking, can be tricky so we will save that for later and stick to the breast of lamb.

HF-W suggests gently braising in a casserole with onions, carrots, s & p, herbs and a glass each of white wine and water, covered with foil, for about three hours at 140°C. Turn every half hour to insure even cooking. After cooking, remove the lamb and when it is cool enough pull out the bones, place on a flat board or tray. Put another board on top and weigh down with a couple of tins of beans. Leave in a cool place until ‘set’ and cut into 2cm wide strips. Mix a spoon of Dijon mustard with beaten egg, dip the strips and then crumb them. Those mustard breadcrumbs from the last box but one would be good if they are still lying around. Place your lamb fingers, or ‘yehudis’ as I have christened them for obvious rhyming slang reasons, on a wire rack and roast at 180°C for fifteen minutes before finishing off under the grill or in a very hot oven. They should be well toasted on all sides. Salsa Verde, tartare sauce, mustard or even horse radish would all be ideal accompaniments.

We also have, on the not so challenging front, coarsely minced beef which will be ideal for pies or, better still, chilli. Chilli definitely needs bite or all you get is the beans. We also have, much under rated, minced pork which shouldn’t be too much of a problem to use.

The taster this fortnight is our home made herby Harissa Paste. You could try it with your ‘yehudis’ or in a ‘Lebanese Pizza’. Fry up with some minced lamb and sunflower seeds and serve on crispy flat breads spread with hummus.

Ben Watson