Thursday, September 30, 2010

Pork Pies




TODD:
The history of the world, my sweet --
LOVETT:
Oh, Mr. Todd,
Ooh, Mr. Todd,
What does it tell?
TODD:
Is who gets eaten, and who gets to eat!
LOVETT:
And, Mr. Todd,
Too, Mr. Todd,
Who gets to sell!
TODD:
But fortunately, it's also clear
BOTH:
That [L: But] ev'rybody goes down well with beer!


I googled various Pork Pie recipes but ended up using the Hand-Raised Pork Pie recipe from Mary Norwak´s The Farmhouse Kitchen.

I really wanted to try the hot water crust, which I´ve never done before. I have to say - it worked great! Much faster and more straightforward than the traditional cutting in of cold fat and then adding miniscule amounts of cold water to get the right consistency.





I made 2 using minced pork and 2 using cubed just to see if there was any noticable difference. I also added a dash of Worcestershire, because I can´t do anything strictly by the rules.

I even went to the trouble to make the stock, using some roast pork bones I´d put in the freezer for a future occasion, but when the pies came out of the oven, they didn´t have any space between the top of the crust and the meat - so that was wasted effort. I guess I´ll freeze it for stew.

350g/12 oz self raising flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
100 g / 4 oz lard
150 ml / 1/4 pint water
1 egg

Filling
575 g / 1 1/4 lb. shoulder pork
1/2 teaspoon powdered sage
Salt and Pepper

Jelly
450 g/1 lb pork bones or a trotter
1.1 Litre/2 pints water
1 onion
Seasoning
1 tsp gelatine

Sieve the flour and salt into a bowl. Boil the lard and water in a pan. When dissolved, pour into the centre of the flour while hot. Work all together until a smooth dough is obtained. Cut off a third of the dough and reserve for the lid. Work the remainder on a floured board, gradually moulding to form a bowl shape. (A cake tin can be used as a guide.) Put on a greased baking sheet and fill the centre with the diced pork, sage and seasoning. Roll out the reserved third for the lid, brush edges of the pie with beaten egg and seal on the lid. Use trimmings to form leaves for decoration. Make a hole in the top and brush the pie all over with the egg. Bake at 400 F, 200 C, gas mark 6 for thirty minutes, then reduce heat to 360 F, 180 C, gas mark 4 for a further one and a half hours. Make a jelly from the bones, water, onion and seasoning by boiling for about two hours. Strain, and add the dissolved gelatine. Allow to cool but not set. Pour enough into the hole in the lid when the pie is cool to fill it, leave to set before cutting.

Well that whole thing about forming the dough around a shape was a non-starter. First of all, I don´t own anything bowl-shaped that isn´t smaller at the base than in the middle - I finally tried a clamp topped preserves jar as a last stab, but the whole thing slumped flat onto the cutting board when I tried to slip it off. So I did what I remember my Mom doing - separate base, sides and top and sealing all the seams. They were fondly called ¨Elephant´s feet¨ at our house.



And they stuck like the Dickens to the cookie sheet, and leaked pork juice all over the oven. I´ll be very curious to see if they´re done all the way through. Traditionally, they´re eaten cold for lunch, so I´ll let you know tomorrow.




My childhood friends listened in fascinated horror to my descriptions of Bubble and Squeak, Toad in the Hole, Steak and Kidney Pie and, I swear to God, Spotted Dick. The Farmhouse Cookbook has absolutely wonderful sounding things. I´m really looking forward to Bedfordshire Clanger, Kentish Huffkins, Yorkshire Fat Rascals, and Tyneside Singin´ Hinney. Join me?

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Happy Monday



How did we survive the 80´s?

Saturday, September 25, 2010

Spanish style Pot Roast

I have a terrible time at the local markets because there are real live butchers behind the counter and I have little or no idea what part of the cow the cut I´m looking for comes from or what it´s called in Spanish. Don´t even get me started on the fish.

Now that the weather has cooled off, the idea of braising and baking is more appealing, so I got a little more than a kilo (+2 lbs) of an añojo de ternera that´s normally for filetes. These are giant hunks of meat, so I can only imagine the size of the ¨ternera¨ (veal) they come from. Filetes are thin slices which, no matter how thick, thin or how I cook them always come out more or less like shoe-leather. V loves them, especially breaded, which produces something like chicken fried shoe leather, in Spain known as a Milanesa.These are ubiquitous at neighborhood restaurants and picnics and at the poolside lunches in the summer.

I brown this in a pan.


Remove the meat and add a few cloves of garlic. De-glaze with whatever alcohol is one hand, normally red wine which on this occasion I didn´t have so I used beer.
Add 1 large onion finely sliced and some rinsed jarred garbanzos (hence the Spanish in the title and if I soak the dried kind they never soften - even after hours of cooking) and a couple of carrots (if it were American style pot roast it would have celery, but V says it tastes too ¨vegetable¨)put the meat back in and scatter some more onions on top.


Then bake at approximately 170C or 350F for 1 1/2 - 2 hours, covered. Remove cover and continue baking for another hour or so. Serve with a steamed green vegetable - preferably brussels sprouts, but in this case Chinese cabbage and crunchy bread.



Future project - try rabbit. Which I´ve only had in Italian restaurants, and while I liked the flavor, it seems really boney and frankly, not worth the trouble it takes to eat it. That, and it´s just as expensive as chicken - which I can make into almost anything.

Also - farm food Fridays - pies, pasties, and quiches. First up - pork pies.

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Biodiversity and Heritage Breeds



We have a verbal agreement on the house. The lawyer is reviewing paperwork and we hope to have a sales contract soon.

So, aspiring to a life in Galicia, my hypothetical country house of course comes along with a hypothetical garden and hypothetical animals.

Cachena cow


Part of my reading has introduced me to Heritage Livestock Breeds – breeds that were raised for agriculture in the past for their foraging, mothering and hardiness, and carefully raised to thrive in their local environment.

Porco Celta


This is contrary to the economic forces which have resulted in the factory farming we have now. Industrial meat production focuses exclusively on animals which gain weight quickly and uniformly by virtue of a variety of cheap energy inputs – from confinement and grain feeding to mass application of antibiotics. I´m convinced that as fossil fuels become increasingly expensive and difficult to obtain, that economic model will become increasingly unsustainable.

In addition to the economic argument, industrial production has also resulted in a staggering loss of biodiversity.

From sustainabletable.org:


According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), we are currently losing an average of 2 domestic animal breeds each week, iv and half of all domestic animal breeds that existed in Europe in 1900 are now extinct. v In the past fifteen years alone, the FAO has identified the extinction of 300 out of 6000 breeds worldwide, with another 1,350 in danger of extinction. vi


In the US, a few main breeds dominate the livestock industry:
83% of dairy cows are Holsteins, and five main breeds comprise almost all of the dairy herds in the US.
60% of beef cattle are of the Angus, Hereford or Simmental breeds.
75% of pigs in the US come from only 3 main breeds.
+60% of sheep come from only four breeds

It seems only prudent to preserve diversity in case of outbreaks of disease, or to try to increase survivability along with climate change. And, aside from the practicalities that preserving local traditional breeds present in terms of better flavor, more economical production through breeds that survive better on pasture alone or free ranging – I think there´s an historical and cultural appeal in maintaining ties to traditional food production methods.

Gallina de Mos


So, from time to time I am going to blog about Galician heritage breeds, even though we´re unlikely to have enough space to actually raise a cow or sheep without finding pasture to rent. Frankly, there seem to be plenty of cows in Galicia already, although mostly Holstein. Blogging will necessarily involve doing some translating both from Spanish and Gallego, which can only help since translation work is likely to form part of our domestic economy once we´re there.

Mostly I desperately need an excuse to have a couple of these:
Spanish Mastiff


More on heritage breeds.

US:
http://www.albc-usa.org/


Europe:
http://www.euronatur.org/?elbarn
http://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/genetic-resources/actions/f-066/index_en.htm

UK:
http://www.rbst.org.uk/

Spain:
http://www.federapes.com/

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Medievalesque

Watched the first episode of ¨Pillars of the Earth¨ last night. Just what I love about fall - miniseries trashilicious fun. I´ve had a crush on Ian McShane since forever.

I wonder if Rufus Sewell feels like he´s looking into a window on the future.




Ian McShane 1978

Monday, September 13, 2010

A Madrid Visit


My dear friend J came to visit, bringing the delightful B along with him. He was making a swing through Switzerland, Turkey and then Madrid before heading back to Chicago.

It´s great to have people visit, because it makes you appreciate the cool stuff that attracted you in the first place. You get to do all the ¨tourist¨ places and things, and see them again through your guests eyes.



El Angel Caido - Retiro



Estanque - Retiro

In Madrid, we walked the center (Plaza Mayor, Sol, Madrid de los Austrias) they visited El Retiro and the Prado and the Thyssien-Bornemisza and on Saturday V and I took them to Toledo, an easy day-trip, and then we had a long evening´s chat at El Pardo.



Toledo





In short, walks were walked, pictures were taken, gifts were purchased and drinks were drunk (including a magarita with a maraschino cherry and the salt in the bottom of the glass).

The marvelous thing about J is that he is all about what´s possible. J is a ¨more is more¨ person, enthusiastic, adventurous, creative and open. His motto could be ¨Why the hell not?¨ He always fans the dying embers of ambition and creativity in me, for which I´m grateful. More on that in a later post.

In other news - progress made on negotiations. Fingers still crossed.

Spinach lasagna with Setas


I was craving spinach lasagna last week, but couldn´t find exactly the right recipe for what I had on hand.

Ina Garten (The Barefoot Contessa) has some swell recipes, none of them low-fat, but hers had portobella mushrooms, which I´ve never seen here.

Emeril Legasse also had a spinach/mushroom and 4 cheese version that looked pretty delicious, but again with the portobellos.

In both using bechamel instead of the usual tomato sauce seemed key. So I sauteed the setas (shitake?) with half a big yellow onion chopped and some garlic until the liquid was gone. Cooked 2 bags of spinach and drained. Made a bechamel (hint - heat milk before adding to cooked flour) with the other half of the onion finely chopped and about a cup of swiss cheese and then layered sauce, noodles, spinach, mushrooms, grated parmesan twice and finished with a layer of noodles, sauce, fresh mozzarella and parmesan. Baked for an hour at approximately 170, but then gave it another 15 minutes, which made it too brown. But I hate watery lasagna, and it wasn´t - at all.

Next up - I found rennet at a farmacia. A small teaspoonful will do for a batch of 40 liters of milk. Oy.

Monday, September 6, 2010

JK Rowling is amazing

She´s fabulous. Addressing commencement at Harvard. Transcript here.






Damn I miss new Harry Potter books!

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Leilía

While I´m cleaning the house for an impending visit from my dear friend J, I thought I would share.

Leilía is a folk group of Galician women. I picked up their CD ¨Madama¨ at FNAC without knowing what it was and it turns out I LOVE it!

See if you agree.



O meu amor

O meu amor se ti fores
lévame podendo ser
eu teño de ir a cabar
onde ti fores morrer

Eu hei de morrer cantando
xa que chorando nacín
as marabillas do mundo
acabaron para min

O meu amor se ti fores
lévame pudendo ser
eu teño de ir a cabare
onde ti fores morrer


Loosely translated:

Oh My Love

Oh my love if you go
take me with you if you can
I have to end
where you go to die

I will die singing
because I was born crying
the world's wonders
have ended for me

Oh my love if you go
take me with you if you can
I have to end
where you go to die

I´m showing my age - but it reminds me of the Le Mystere des voix Bulgares from the 90´s.