Tag Archives: slow cooking

Beef and stout stew

Posted on by

Beef and stout stew

If you’re anything like me (gluttonous, food-obsessed and perpetually peckish) then healthy light meals will only get you so far on cold January nights. But bigger meatier fare doesn’t have to be totally unhealthy. It makes you happier, and a healthy mind leads to a healthy body, right? Right?.

With that in mind I spent a Sunday lovingly cooking this little beauty. And red meat aside it really isn’t particularly unhealthy. The motivation came after spotting a big ol’ hunk beef shin in Meat N16 (our local butcher), all gnarly and full of connective tissue. Just what you need for a bit of slow cooking magic. Continue reading →

Beef ragu with linguine: the first of the autumnal dishes

Posted on by

Beef ragu with linguine
There’s something about that first mouthful. Intensely meaty, enough oil to coat your tongue with a rich deep flavour. Very savoury, but with an underlying sweetness as well. There’s the slightest tang of decadence as the pleasure centres of your brain light up in oily delight.

If eating a slow cooked ragu sounds just a wee bit dirty, that’s because it is. There is nothing sophisticated or subtle about it. Slippery and sticky, strong and beefy, the moist saucy meat just slides across your tongue leaving wobbly-legged, dazed but wide awake taste buds in its wake. Pure gourmet porn, this is the sensuous libidinous mistress to haut cuisine’s sophisticated lady.

Continue reading →

Lamb shank, caramelised apricot and almond tagine

Posted on by

Lamb shank & apricot tagine

I’m on a slow cooking binge, it’s like being in the grip of a treacly monster, slowly but surely dragging me stickily along as various meats and sauces burble and belch away on the stove. I can’t help it. The only way forward is to see it through to the end with this lamb tagine.

In many ways shanks are the ultimate in slow cooking cuts – all bone, sinew and connective tissue, and packed full of flavour. And they were the original (at least for me) thrifty cut of meat, before even pork belly rose fattily to the attention of cooks. Continue reading →

Beef short rib ragu

Posted on by

Short rib beef ragu

It was with a little skip of joy that I spotted some short ribs in The Ginger Pig on Lauriston Rd, home of Borut, the butcher king of London town. They were tucked shyly away behind some steaks, just waiting for some happy soul to come along and give them a home. And boy, I thought as I scuttled away clutching my treasure, do I have a home for you.

I’ve been itching to get my claws on some short ribs for ages, keeping a beady eye on all my local butchers. I’d seen them in the US, usually marinated and slowly barbecued until the fatty meat is falling off the bones. But here, where pork and chicken rule the BBQ roost, no sir, no short ribs. Continue reading →

Chinese style pork belly braised in cider

Posted on by

Chinese style pork belly braised in cider

If you’ve been to Koya, you’ll know exactly where the inspiration for this dish came from. The end result is nothing like the delicate, tasty and – above all – neat version you’ll find at this delightful Japanese udon specialist. But the key ingredients are there.

I can’t believe I haven’t come across this particular combination more often. Apples, after all, are a natural partner to pork, their tart fluffy flesh an ideal match for fatty rich flesh. And their acidity matches salty umami-rich soy blow for blow too. This a gentle assault on the senses, a slow motion hammer-thwack of a dish. Continue reading →

Slow cooked ham hocks and red cabbage

Posted on by

Smoked ham hock and red cabbage

This is rib sticking food for when you’re in the mood for your meat to be red (well pink) in tooth and claw. When you have finished cooking, the leg bones stick out of a cabbagy nest like the remains of some knight who fell foul of a feathery dragon.

It most definitely isn’t a crowd pleaser, but if you like flavours to be bold, brash and in yer face then my word, you’re in for a treat. Continue reading →