So, nearly a week and a half without an entry is undoubtedly a long time, and I can feel everyone's pain in having to wait so long. For that, I apologise wholeheartedly. However, there is a fairly good reason - that being, last week almost didn't happen.
The first month of this chalenge is basically being used to get the everyday, humdrum meats out of the way, just to give me a solid base for the rest of the year. Things are so much easier when you know you can effectively have what you like from a menu, although it appears as if Spanish and Oriental places are still goingto be out for a while, mainly because I'd be sad about the brilliant seafoods I couldn't yet have. Anyway, with that in mind, the plan was to have some kind of poultry for week three. The thing is, with weeks starting on Thursdays, the weekend comes around all too quickly, and unless I have something interesting and new for Sunday dinner, then I can be over half the way through the week without having had a fresh animal, and suddenly find myself scrabbling for something.
Such was last week. Laura and I had discussed whether to have chicken or turkey as my first bird. Although chicken is clearly the nicer meat (I've personally always found turkey too dry), turkey is leaner, and is more readily available in mince form, which is useful in a variety of ways. So, with this still up in the air, and me on my way to the shops to buy Sunday dinner, I rang her to find out which she wanted. But got no answer. So I tried again. But got no answer.
So I bought beef.
So, creation of an epic Sunday dinner notwithstanding, I was still a meat short. A state of affairs which continued until Wednesday night. At this point, Laura made her legendary turkey burgers.
*FIRST RECIPE OF THE BLOG!*
Granted, not a very exciting recipe, but there you go. Here's how to make Laura's Homemade Turkey Burgers:
1 medium pack of turkey mince;
1 medium onion, chopped;
Spinach, chopped;
Mixed Herbs;
Salt and Pepper;
1 egg;
Some Flour.
As you can see, this is detailed.
Seperate all the turkey mince, and basically mush it up. Add the onion and spinach, and mix in well.
Sprinkle on the herbs, salt and pepper to taste (culinary term there), and mix it all together.
Add the egg and work it through the mix, preferably with fingers, as this gets it through best, or just use a sppon if you're not a fan of sticky fingers. Then throw in some flour to help the micture bind together and what have you.
Seperate the mixture into burger shapes and grill. we use the George Foreman grill, as this allows any fat to run off, although, to be fair, there really isn't any, mainly because turkey mince is about as lean as you can get.
Add the burgers to some buns, lay cheese on top (if that's your thing), and add some mixed leaf salad. Bish bash bosh, you've got yourself some tasty homemade burgers. Past reipes have also included blue cheese in the mixture, which is fairly nice. We tend to have them with chips, made in the oven from REAL POTATOES, or even sweet potatoes. Essentially, it's a chavvy dinner done much more nicely.
So, I managed to scrape home in week 3, and week 4 has dawned. So far, there have been no new meats, but the plan is to have chicken or lamb. I'll let you know how it goes.
As for the future...well, there's some exciting ideas floating around. Laura and I have just got back from the Lark Lane farmer's market, and have seen the massive variety of animals that come to my doorstep once a month. Rabbit, hare, pheasant, partridge, ostrich, buffalo, wild boar, guinea fowl, numerous fish, ox tongue, there are months worth of animals there. I currently have some wood pigeon breasts in the freezer for some point in the next few weeks, so it's all quite exciting. And I'm sure these entries will become the same at same point. But for now, it's enough for me to say...
Stay Meaty.
Saturday, 24 January 2009
Tuesday, 13 January 2009
Nothing better than a good steak.
So, pork week flew by in a flurry of delicious piggy meat, and week two dawned on the 8th of January, also known internationally as My Birthday. I hadn't decided which meat was to be second on my list, and decided in the end to leave the choice to Laura.
The reason for that was that she was to prepare my birthday tea (I'm a giant child, you see, and so was having a fancy tea. For anyone who doesn't know what a fancy tea is, it's essentially a buffet, and is so called because it's the kind of tea that you get at weddings or parties or something - fancy places. Ergo, fancy tea. True story.) and so I decided that she should be allowed to choose, in line with whatever she wanted to make, although I did suggest either beef or chicken, as those would be the two that would be easiest to get on with if I could only eat two types of meat. In her infinite wisdom, she chose to do a joint of beef, which she managed to cook perfectly - so that there was almost as much blood left in the middle of the joint after it had been cooked, as there was when it was raw. Having only tasted pig products for the last week, the change in animal pace was wonderful, and the fact that it was a great piece of meat made it all the better. Thank God my friends don't need their meat cooking too well, or the whole moment would have been spoiled.
Anyway, as I've said before, the first month or so probably won't be that interesting for anyone reading this, as nothing's going to taste horrific (unless it's really badly cooked), I'm not going to have any problems or jolly japes in figuring out animals or sourcing the meat, and you will all know what I'm talking about. Still, stick with us, I'm sure things will improve.
Anyway, Friday night saw me heading into town to Hardman Street with a couple of friends, and a little restaurant there, recently opened, called Vida. Situated opposite the Flute, it used to be a Greek place, but has expanded somewhat, and was where we decided to have a light bite before meeting people later on. The restaurant was entirely empty, and so we received excellent service from the lady there, although she was friendly enough that you could quite easily believe she would have been the same with ten times as many customers (as us 3. Not ten times as many as the zero that were there before us.) The restaurant was beautifully, and tastefully, decorated, and the menu, though not exactly enormous, had enough on it to make an actual choice neccessary (if not much of a choice for me). In the end, I went for a beef lasagne. Now, the lasagne was slightly odd, in that the meat and pasta were kind of seperate from the sauce, which was all around and on top of the pasta, but not between the sheets. This made the meal rather dry, as I hadn't expected that and had eaten most of the sauce before I tackled the pasta. If I'd known, I would probably have enjoyed it more, but as it was, I was slightly disappointed. However, my companions very much enjoyed what they had had, and with all three of us eating for around £30, including drinks, Vida was well worth a visit. I'll probably be going back some time later in the year when I can have a bit more of a free run at the whole menu.
Anyway, Saturday led to another birthday night out, and another meal. We had planned on going to Baby Blue down by the docks, a we had been there once before and had amazing steak. However, that had been during Liverpool Food Week or somesuch, and we had got three courses for about 10 or 15 pounds, which was very reasonable. Unfortunately, this time round, I checked the menu online and found that a steak would have cost upwards of £20. Given that there were seven of us goingout, and not all of us could happily spunk away nearly 50 quid for a meal, I took an executive decision that we would go somewhere else. Where, however, was a more difficult question.
In the end, we decided to go to Maranto's on Lark Lane, just round the corner. I'd been there a couple of times before and the food had always been good, so it seemed like a plan. We had a good 45 minute wait, due to how busy the place was, which is generally a good sign, and tonight was no exception. Despite being very busy, the service was excellent. Staff were attentive, yet didn't rush us into decisions, and there were plenty on hand to help out with anything we needed. Now, we all had starters, but as I only had minestrone soup, due to the meaty restrictions, I'll skip over that and get straight to the crux of the evening - the main course. I ordered a fillet steak, bleu, naturally, and was incredibly surprised. Although I knew the food was pretty good, I hadn't expected it to be so good. The cut was a good inch and a half thick, with approximately 2mm browned all around. The rest was a beautiful, rich purpley-red, and was so flavoursome that it defied logic. I have to find out who their meat supplier is. Even better is the fact that it stayed hot enough to eat and properly enjoy for the whole meal, as, too often, I've found that you will get a bleu steak that doesn't quite hold its temperature long enough. Not this time.
Other than that, everyone else's food also looked excellent, although there was not a great deal I could have tried (Laura has taken to purposely ordering meats I can't yet eat.) Laura's brothers steak was underdone, although he got round that by just not looking at it, lest it freak him out. Also, nothing was too expensive. All in all, it cost us around £20 each, not including drinks but including service charge, added automatically for a group of our size, and everyone had a really good meal, so you can't ask for more than that. I'll definitely be going back more often, and can't really figure out why I haven't been there more frequently in the four and a bit years I've lived just around the corner.
So, cow week has been going well. I've eaten in nice places, and had excellent steak, which is, let's be honest, the greatest thing around. Hopefully the rest of the year will be as flavoursome.
And hopefully I'll remember to update this thing more often. Once a week isn't quite up to scratch for me, but I promise to try harder. I know you all hang on my every word. So, till next time...
Keep meaty.
The reason for that was that she was to prepare my birthday tea (I'm a giant child, you see, and so was having a fancy tea. For anyone who doesn't know what a fancy tea is, it's essentially a buffet, and is so called because it's the kind of tea that you get at weddings or parties or something - fancy places. Ergo, fancy tea. True story.) and so I decided that she should be allowed to choose, in line with whatever she wanted to make, although I did suggest either beef or chicken, as those would be the two that would be easiest to get on with if I could only eat two types of meat. In her infinite wisdom, she chose to do a joint of beef, which she managed to cook perfectly - so that there was almost as much blood left in the middle of the joint after it had been cooked, as there was when it was raw. Having only tasted pig products for the last week, the change in animal pace was wonderful, and the fact that it was a great piece of meat made it all the better. Thank God my friends don't need their meat cooking too well, or the whole moment would have been spoiled.
Anyway, as I've said before, the first month or so probably won't be that interesting for anyone reading this, as nothing's going to taste horrific (unless it's really badly cooked), I'm not going to have any problems or jolly japes in figuring out animals or sourcing the meat, and you will all know what I'm talking about. Still, stick with us, I'm sure things will improve.
Anyway, Friday night saw me heading into town to Hardman Street with a couple of friends, and a little restaurant there, recently opened, called Vida. Situated opposite the Flute, it used to be a Greek place, but has expanded somewhat, and was where we decided to have a light bite before meeting people later on. The restaurant was entirely empty, and so we received excellent service from the lady there, although she was friendly enough that you could quite easily believe she would have been the same with ten times as many customers (as us 3. Not ten times as many as the zero that were there before us.) The restaurant was beautifully, and tastefully, decorated, and the menu, though not exactly enormous, had enough on it to make an actual choice neccessary (if not much of a choice for me). In the end, I went for a beef lasagne. Now, the lasagne was slightly odd, in that the meat and pasta were kind of seperate from the sauce, which was all around and on top of the pasta, but not between the sheets. This made the meal rather dry, as I hadn't expected that and had eaten most of the sauce before I tackled the pasta. If I'd known, I would probably have enjoyed it more, but as it was, I was slightly disappointed. However, my companions very much enjoyed what they had had, and with all three of us eating for around £30, including drinks, Vida was well worth a visit. I'll probably be going back some time later in the year when I can have a bit more of a free run at the whole menu.
Anyway, Saturday led to another birthday night out, and another meal. We had planned on going to Baby Blue down by the docks, a we had been there once before and had amazing steak. However, that had been during Liverpool Food Week or somesuch, and we had got three courses for about 10 or 15 pounds, which was very reasonable. Unfortunately, this time round, I checked the menu online and found that a steak would have cost upwards of £20. Given that there were seven of us goingout, and not all of us could happily spunk away nearly 50 quid for a meal, I took an executive decision that we would go somewhere else. Where, however, was a more difficult question.
In the end, we decided to go to Maranto's on Lark Lane, just round the corner. I'd been there a couple of times before and the food had always been good, so it seemed like a plan. We had a good 45 minute wait, due to how busy the place was, which is generally a good sign, and tonight was no exception. Despite being very busy, the service was excellent. Staff were attentive, yet didn't rush us into decisions, and there were plenty on hand to help out with anything we needed. Now, we all had starters, but as I only had minestrone soup, due to the meaty restrictions, I'll skip over that and get straight to the crux of the evening - the main course. I ordered a fillet steak, bleu, naturally, and was incredibly surprised. Although I knew the food was pretty good, I hadn't expected it to be so good. The cut was a good inch and a half thick, with approximately 2mm browned all around. The rest was a beautiful, rich purpley-red, and was so flavoursome that it defied logic. I have to find out who their meat supplier is. Even better is the fact that it stayed hot enough to eat and properly enjoy for the whole meal, as, too often, I've found that you will get a bleu steak that doesn't quite hold its temperature long enough. Not this time.
Other than that, everyone else's food also looked excellent, although there was not a great deal I could have tried (Laura has taken to purposely ordering meats I can't yet eat.) Laura's brothers steak was underdone, although he got round that by just not looking at it, lest it freak him out. Also, nothing was too expensive. All in all, it cost us around £20 each, not including drinks but including service charge, added automatically for a group of our size, and everyone had a really good meal, so you can't ask for more than that. I'll definitely be going back more often, and can't really figure out why I haven't been there more frequently in the four and a bit years I've lived just around the corner.
So, cow week has been going well. I've eaten in nice places, and had excellent steak, which is, let's be honest, the greatest thing around. Hopefully the rest of the year will be as flavoursome.
And hopefully I'll remember to update this thing more often. Once a week isn't quite up to scratch for me, but I promise to try harder. I know you all hang on my every word. So, till next time...
Keep meaty.
Monday, 5 January 2009
First difficulties...
So, no posts for 5 days, then 2 in 1. That's the way things go, mi amigos.
Tonight was the first time that things were a little difficult. In fact, to be honest, these first couple of weeks are probably going to be the hardest, mainly because I can't eat just as normal. You see, tonight, we went out for a meal. Unfortunately, out of the whole scrummy menu, I could choose from but a few dishes. Richard, my best mate, and Laura, my significant other, on the other hand, purposely, PURPOSELY MIND, decided to choose things they knew I couldn't have. So, while I had my, admittedly delicious, char sui pork with mixed veg and noodles, they were swapping and trying each others duck, beef, seafood and other types of animal, food.
We had gone to Tokyou, a wonderful Japanese noodle bar by the bombed out church in Liverpool. It's the sort of place just about anyone will love, as it's smart, looks up market, and yet is extremely cheap. For the three of us to eat, with a drink apiece, cost less than £30, and we were all fully sated. The staff are very attentive and helpful, and Laura in particular loves it. With a menu full of Japanese and Chinese dishes, I can't imagine anyone would leave unsatisfied.
Anyway, this isn't going to be a massive restaurant review, as, to be frank, I can't be bothered right now. Suffice to say, it's a great little place and most people will love it.
So, why the extra entry tonight? Well, apart from to tell you the difficulties that have arrived, at last, there was something I'd forgotten to add earlier.
In the rules, there was provision for a week off, which I had decided to forego. Well, over the New Year period, I decided I would take that week, but, as a nod to all the hippies in the world who might feel that my quest is somehow wrong, and that I'm unneccesarily looking to eat more animals than is usual (although it's always neccesary to eat animals), I've decided that I'm going to take one week in the year to try and view life from the other side of the tracks, and go vegetarian. That's right, for one week this year, I will be entirely vegetarian. At the moment, with that week a long way off, it feels like that will be fairly easy, but I know I'm just going to be gagging for a steak half way through.Still, I think that will be a good challenge. Well, a challenge anyway. Foregoing meat can never be good...
Keep meaty.
Tonight was the first time that things were a little difficult. In fact, to be honest, these first couple of weeks are probably going to be the hardest, mainly because I can't eat just as normal. You see, tonight, we went out for a meal. Unfortunately, out of the whole scrummy menu, I could choose from but a few dishes. Richard, my best mate, and Laura, my significant other, on the other hand, purposely, PURPOSELY MIND, decided to choose things they knew I couldn't have. So, while I had my, admittedly delicious, char sui pork with mixed veg and noodles, they were swapping and trying each others duck, beef, seafood and other types of animal, food.
We had gone to Tokyou, a wonderful Japanese noodle bar by the bombed out church in Liverpool. It's the sort of place just about anyone will love, as it's smart, looks up market, and yet is extremely cheap. For the three of us to eat, with a drink apiece, cost less than £30, and we were all fully sated. The staff are very attentive and helpful, and Laura in particular loves it. With a menu full of Japanese and Chinese dishes, I can't imagine anyone would leave unsatisfied.
Anyway, this isn't going to be a massive restaurant review, as, to be frank, I can't be bothered right now. Suffice to say, it's a great little place and most people will love it.
So, why the extra entry tonight? Well, apart from to tell you the difficulties that have arrived, at last, there was something I'd forgotten to add earlier.
In the rules, there was provision for a week off, which I had decided to forego. Well, over the New Year period, I decided I would take that week, but, as a nod to all the hippies in the world who might feel that my quest is somehow wrong, and that I'm unneccesarily looking to eat more animals than is usual (although it's always neccesary to eat animals), I've decided that I'm going to take one week in the year to try and view life from the other side of the tracks, and go vegetarian. That's right, for one week this year, I will be entirely vegetarian. At the moment, with that week a long way off, it feels like that will be fairly easy, but I know I'm just going to be gagging for a steak half way through.Still, I think that will be a good challenge. Well, a challenge anyway. Foregoing meat can never be good...
Keep meaty.
Days of pork
Happy New Year all!
I saw in the dawn of 2009 in a converted barn in the middle of nowhere (also known as Wales) without internet connection or phone reception, but with thousands of stars blinking down from a clear, light pollution-free sky, warmed by an open (well, enclosed in a metal in, but that's not so poetical) fire, a sense of peace and calm and some lovely people. After I had done first-footing, we raised a glass or two, bade farewell to the old year and looked forward to the new. We discussed our ambitions for the 12 months ahead, and a real sense of optimism filled the room, and our hearts.
The first cloud of the year appeared on the horizon at around half an hour in. Having paid my first visit to the little boy's room, I passed the table on which our New Year's Eve buffet had been laid out and stopped dead. There, taunting me, was the gorgeous beef we had had. And which I no longer could...
You see, my first meat of the year was to be pork. Pig products seemed the best idea for week one, as there are so many of them, which, I felt, meant that I wouldn't get bored of just eating the same thing for a week. So, bacon, pork chops, pork joint, gammon, ham, brawn, trotters, all that kind of thing, would be fine, but the sumptuous bit of beef I'd had but a few hours before, was off limits. I couldn't even pick at the little cocktail sausages, as they had turkey in, apparently.
Thankfully, New Year's Day lunch had been taken care of, with an excellent joint of pork expertly cooked by Ben, with all the trimmings. I couldn't have asked for a much better way to start.
Since then, I've eaten pork products. The problem with these early parts of the blog is that I'm going to be having the more usual meats, just so that I can have them for the rest of the year. So, pork, beef, chicken and lamb, then, for the first month, which will lead to some fairly dull entries, as everyone knows what these things taste like, and how to cook them. It's when we move on to the more exotic things that life, and these pages, will get more interesting. So, for now, I'll just fill in some of the blanks on some other interesting things that have happened...
Firstly, I received a card from Mandoran, or Norwegian Jonathon as I call him in my head, outlining some ideas from his homeland for later meals. Now, for some reason, nearly all Scandinavian fish dishes sound like they'll be distinctly horrible, and these are no different. Herring with banana, cream and mayo sounds ok, if a little unusual, but then it gets really weird. Rakfisk (fermented fish, buried to rot) sounds particularly appetising, although not quite as good as Rakhai, which is fermented shark, apparently pissed on, and then buried to rot. Yum. And that's before we even get to dung-smoked fish... Still, I'll try to have a go at at least one or two of them.
I had also been sent another card from Emily in the US, with acrab cake recipe on the back. I will be making these at some point in the year, and I'll let you know how they turn out.
And finally, I discovered I had become a trend-setter. Mr Timothy Kennington got in touch to ask if he and his friend could do the same thing as me. Although they are having fewer rules, mainly because of the constraints of them being able to meet up to have a different meat every week, they are still going for the 52 meats in the year, and it makes me very pleased to know that I have given people ideas. Their exploits will be outlined at the website www.subsphere.co.uk, which is currently being updated for the challenge. I urge you all to visit and have a look, as I'm sure it will be a valuable resource for all devoted carnivores.
So there you go, my first entry of the year. I'm sorry it's not more interesting, but such is the nature of the (very tasty) beast, this early into the challenge.
Stay meaty.
I saw in the dawn of 2009 in a converted barn in the middle of nowhere (also known as Wales) without internet connection or phone reception, but with thousands of stars blinking down from a clear, light pollution-free sky, warmed by an open (well, enclosed in a metal in, but that's not so poetical) fire, a sense of peace and calm and some lovely people. After I had done first-footing, we raised a glass or two, bade farewell to the old year and looked forward to the new. We discussed our ambitions for the 12 months ahead, and a real sense of optimism filled the room, and our hearts.
The first cloud of the year appeared on the horizon at around half an hour in. Having paid my first visit to the little boy's room, I passed the table on which our New Year's Eve buffet had been laid out and stopped dead. There, taunting me, was the gorgeous beef we had had. And which I no longer could...
You see, my first meat of the year was to be pork. Pig products seemed the best idea for week one, as there are so many of them, which, I felt, meant that I wouldn't get bored of just eating the same thing for a week. So, bacon, pork chops, pork joint, gammon, ham, brawn, trotters, all that kind of thing, would be fine, but the sumptuous bit of beef I'd had but a few hours before, was off limits. I couldn't even pick at the little cocktail sausages, as they had turkey in, apparently.
Thankfully, New Year's Day lunch had been taken care of, with an excellent joint of pork expertly cooked by Ben, with all the trimmings. I couldn't have asked for a much better way to start.
Since then, I've eaten pork products. The problem with these early parts of the blog is that I'm going to be having the more usual meats, just so that I can have them for the rest of the year. So, pork, beef, chicken and lamb, then, for the first month, which will lead to some fairly dull entries, as everyone knows what these things taste like, and how to cook them. It's when we move on to the more exotic things that life, and these pages, will get more interesting. So, for now, I'll just fill in some of the blanks on some other interesting things that have happened...
Firstly, I received a card from Mandoran, or Norwegian Jonathon as I call him in my head, outlining some ideas from his homeland for later meals. Now, for some reason, nearly all Scandinavian fish dishes sound like they'll be distinctly horrible, and these are no different. Herring with banana, cream and mayo sounds ok, if a little unusual, but then it gets really weird. Rakfisk (fermented fish, buried to rot) sounds particularly appetising, although not quite as good as Rakhai, which is fermented shark, apparently pissed on, and then buried to rot. Yum. And that's before we even get to dung-smoked fish... Still, I'll try to have a go at at least one or two of them.
I had also been sent another card from Emily in the US, with acrab cake recipe on the back. I will be making these at some point in the year, and I'll let you know how they turn out.
And finally, I discovered I had become a trend-setter. Mr Timothy Kennington got in touch to ask if he and his friend could do the same thing as me. Although they are having fewer rules, mainly because of the constraints of them being able to meet up to have a different meat every week, they are still going for the 52 meats in the year, and it makes me very pleased to know that I have given people ideas. Their exploits will be outlined at the website www.subsphere.co.uk, which is currently being updated for the challenge. I urge you all to visit and have a look, as I'm sure it will be a valuable resource for all devoted carnivores.
So there you go, my first entry of the year. I'm sorry it's not more interesting, but such is the nature of the (very tasty) beast, this early into the challenge.
Stay meaty.
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