Pies certainly have a very long culinary history. The first written reference to the word pie appears in 1301 (1). There remains some slight controversy of what constitutes a pie. Pastry all round or is a pastry top enough to qualify?. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a pie as: a baked dish of fruit , meat, fish or vegetables, covered with pastry (or a similar substance) and frequently also having a base and sides of pastry (2).  So I think we are safe to assume a pastry top qualifies, especially if it is not one of those ‘precooked’ lids that is popped onto a casserole in a pot in too many pubs!!

This is a recipe from Chef Tom Kerridge who still has the only pub in the UK with two Michelin stars. This is a very fine recipe (3). The only substantial modifications we made was to cook the filling over charcoal in the Big Green Egg, with a little chestnut smoke.  We also replaced the suet top with a puff pastry one (as we had  some to hand).

I liked that the recipe used a weighed amount of flour to toss the meat in before cooking.  Any excess was used later as a general thickener for the sauce, so nothing left to chance!  The flour was seasoned with salt and pepper.  The cubed venison was tossed in the flour then seared in a handleless pan cooked over direct heat on the BGE.

The meat was browned on all sides and then set aside.  It is important not to crowd the pan and so this was done about a third at a time.  The remaining flour was reserved.

The shallots were diced as was the carrot and celery. The carrots were cut into approximately half centimetre cubes (larger than for a soffrito) and the celery cut to a similar size.  The garlic was finely chopped.

After the last of the venison was set aside we added a further slurp of the oil. The shallots and carrots were added to the pan and cooked for around 5 minutes.

The celery and garlic were then added and cooked for a further 4 minutes until lightly coloured.  At this stage we were building flavours and so the tomato purée was stirred through and left to cook for 2 minutes before adding the crushed juniper berries.  Finally the flour that had been left in the bowl from coating the venison was added and stirred for a couple of minutes before pouring in the wine to bring it up to a simmer.  This was then cooked to reduce the volume by half and evaporate the alcohol.  This mix was then transferred to the Dutch oven together with the venison.  The stock was used to deglaze the original pan and the stock too was transferred to the Dutch oven. The herbs were tied together with a piece of string and also dropped in.

The Big Green Egg was then reset for indirect cooking by adding the platesetter and the temperature was reduced to around 130C.  The casserole was reintroduced without the lid and cooked gently for around 3hrs until the venison was meltingly tender.

At this point the herbs were removed and the prunes, chestnuts and parsley were added and stirred through the mix.

The casserole was divided into 4 pie dishes filling almost to the top.  These were placed on a tray and set aside to cool before putting into the fridge to really chill down (they were going to be used on the following day).

The Kerridge recipe then went on to make suet pastry, which is lovely.  As we had some left over puff pastry that I had made for another cook we decided to use that. The edge of the pie dish was egg washed and circles of pastry put on top to carefully seal the pie dish. Bits of excess pastry were then removed from round the edge of the dish allowing around 1cm to be stuck to the side of the dish.

To finish some pastry leaves were shaped from the pastry offcuts. These were popped on the top and then the whole pastry top was egg washed. Finally a little salt was sprinkled on the top.  We elected not to put a steam hole into the lid (which would normally be done) and this didn’t seem to cause any problem at all.

When ready to cook they were put into an oven at around 180C for around 30-40 mins until the pie mix was well up to temperature (above 74C) and the top was a lovely golden colour.

They were left to rest for 3-4 mins before serving.  It is probably easier to control the browning of the pastry in a domestic oven – but that or the Big Green Egg will both do the job well!!

We served them with triple cooked chips and broccoli which worked really well but there are so many potential options!  You can see from the last picture that the pastry was lovely and flaky and the pies were really well filled!

……………………… all in all a really rewarding outcome!!

References

Time to get my personal prejudices on the table – I have never enjoyed watching Gordon Ramsay on the television – but I really do like some of his recipes!  There you are – all out in the open!  This recipe is a perfect example!  We have modified it very slightly to cook on the Big Green Egg.  Additionally, as I really don’t think it benefits at all from the addition of chilli flakes, these have been omitted from our cook.  The recipe below includes chilli as on option.  We have included a link to Ramsay’s original recipe and YouTube video (1).

I really love working with these secondary cuts of meat that need to be cooked slowly and in doing so can take on such bold flavours.  In addition they are often relatively inexpensive – this is a real case in point.  The recipe was based round a 750g rolled lamb breast.  It was picked up at our local supermarket reduced from £4.70 to £2.29!! A true bargain – though even at full price it would have been excellent value!

The first thing to do was unroll the piece so that we could add additional flavours to the inside of the joint.  The roll had been made up from 2 separate pieces, again illustrating the versatility of this cut.
It was laid out on a cutting board and seasoned generously with salt on both sides. This was followed by the dried oregano, lemon zest and anchovies.  The ingredients for the dish gave it a very Provençal feel. From our experience chilli is not used to any great extent in Provence and so we omitted the chilli flakes that were suggested in the original recipe.

So time to re-roll the meat.  We used some small elastic poultry bands to hold it together.  These work so well on small cuts of meat like this as well as on poultry!  If you don’t have any to hand, then a conventional butcher’s string tie at each end and one in the middle would be fine.

We did the first part of the cook in one of our handless Tefal pans.  This could be done directly on the BGE or on a conventional hob.  The pan was heated and some olive oil added.  The lamb was then rolled around the pan until it took on some good colours all over. As the outer layer shrinks a little as it cooks, the inside seems to squeeze out of the middle as in the picture.  Don’t worry about this as it will largely correct itself in the second part of the cook.  Whilst the meat browned, the onions were cut into large chunks (as it was going to be a slow cook and we don’t want  them to disappear into the cooking sauce). The meat was set aside, a little more oil was added, and the onion put straight into the same pan to fry with the partially crushed garlic.  The capers were then popped in with the onions and cooked through, followed by a little more lemon zest.  The pan was then deglazed with white wine and a good squeeze of lemon juice.  The final addition was the tinned tomatoes which were gently crushed and stirred into the mix.  The rolled lamb was then placed on top and we were ready to go.

If cooking indoors this needs to be covered with a lid or a foil top to prevent too much liquid loss. It can then be placed in the oven on 170C for 2 – 2.5 hours. We were cooking in the Big Green Egg which had been set up for indirect cooking at around 140C.  Cooking in the EGG this way we usually leave the dish uncovered.  Very occasionally the liquid may need to be topped up a little with some water.

At this temperature I would expect to cook for 3-4 hours until the meat core temperature was between 88-93C.  At this point the meat would be very tender but not quite at the stage you might have for pulled lamb.  It is however perfect for slicing.

After about 3 hours – the lamb was lifted out and the sauce stirred to check on the consistency.  It really didn’t need any more liquid so the lamb was popped back in and left to complete the cook.

When the core was around 90C the meat was removed and allowed to rest prior to carving.   At this point the final consistency of the sauce can be checked.

When ready to serve, carefully remove the bands or butchers string and carve into generous slices.  These can be served directly on the sauce.  We also added some French beans from the garden – well it is a Provençal dish!!

We will be doing it again ……………

………………… do give it a go!!

References (1) Gordon Ramsay’s Braised Stuffed Lamb’s Breast – https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VaWYE8dvDGk

A recent raid on our freezer turned up a 1Kg pack of pig cheeks that we had completely forgotten about.  Well time to correct this omission immediately!  I really think that pig cheeks are an overlooked resource so often just turned into pork mince.  They are also often difficult to get hold of, even from small artisan butchers – simply as each pig only has two!  Wanting to do something a little different with them we found an inspiring recipe from Javier De La Hormaza, the owner of Basco Fine Foods.

We were not going to use black Iberian pigs known as Cerdo Ibérico, which I am sure are stunning, but we did follow a very similar recipe modified slightly for cooking on the Big Green Egg.  The initial prep was quite conventional and done indoors on the hob this time before (more…)

It We need to start with two small confessions.  Firstly, we have not found an authentic Italian recipe for this dish (yet)! And secondly, we have taken longer to name the dish than it did to cook and eat it!!  Lets start with how we came to make the dish and you will get some idea why the naming took some time!!

After a lot of advice from Meg at Moat Goats we bought a half Goat Kid from them in early 2023.  We challenged ourselves to cook each of the pieces that arrived without venturing into any form of curried goat (this time at least).  We have already cooked a (more…)

There are no authentic ‘Venison Bourguignon’ recipes in the same way as there are no authentic  ‘Vegetable Bourguignon’.  In food terms Bourguignon is a classic beef dish.  That has not stopped us playing with ideas for a similar tasting, but vegetarian dish.  We first published our original Vegetable Bourguignon in March 2021 and our amendments to the recipe in October 2022.  These are dishes we cook regularly and are also very popular with others on the website.  So when we wanted to try a venison based Bourguignon it seemed the ideal place to start.

We have no intention of ever becoming vegetarian, but we have been reducing our overall meat consumption over the last few years.  We have added a range of vegetarian and plants-centric dishes to our cooking repertoire over the same time.  We refer to some of the dishes on the site as plant-centric because although they are predominantly vegetable based they may not be entirely vegetarian.  For instance they may be based on a meat stock rather than vegetable stock, or may be largely vegetable based, with just a little meat included.  This is the way we decided to go with this Venison Bourguignon. So we have built it on our Vegetable Bourguignon, but included a little venison and pork lardon in the recipe.  We toyed with the idea of calling it Vegetarian Bourguignon with Venison but didn’t want to offend anyone who was vegetarian.

As this dish was only going to use a relatively small proportion of meat we were going to include all the steps we had previously taken to add texture to the vegetarian dish.  We therefore kept  the swede and the celeriac and kept the root vegetable chunks much larger than you might normally.  We also kept our addition of dried wild mushrooms including porcini as these offer a different texture from the fresh mushrooms.   The first change we made though was to use beef stock rather than the porcini stock cubes we had used previously, though they would have still worked well.

The first thing to do before anything else was to soak the dried mushrooms.  Ideally, we now soak them for 2-3 hours before using them.  If that isn’t possible we try to make sure they are soaked for more than the 30mins we used to do it for!

We lit the Big Green Egg and prepared the vegetables as we let it come to a steady temperature of around 180C.  We try and use round shallots for this dish and just peel them and leave whole,  the carrots celeriac and swede were cut into large chunky pieces and the garlic was coarsely chopped.  The button /chestnut mushrooms were left whole if not too large or were halved or quartered.  We had some other fresh woodland mushrooms so these were included too.   Once the EGG was up to temperature we added the fresh mushrooms to a dry sauté pan and began to toast them until they took on a little colour and then finished them in a little olive oil and set them to oneside for later. We did the same with the dehydrated mushrooms and set those aside but kept them separate.  Save the mushroom liquor.

The rest of the vegetables were then added to the sauté pan with some more oil and cooked until they too started to colour but we tried to avoid them softening (unlike in the original recipe). The vegetables were seasoned and transferred to the dutch oven which would be used for most of the rest of the cook.  Before dispensing with the sauté pan the lardon were lightly coloured and set to one side and then the venison was browned off and these left in the warm pan whilst we set the BGE to indirect cooking and we switched to the Dutch oven.

We added the tomato puree to the partially cooked vegetables.  They were then tumbled so that all vegetables were coated with the puree.  This was then left to cook for another 5 minutes or so.  Once at temperature the tomato puree undergoes a Maillard reaction (the same as meat does when roasted) adding to the overall intensity of the tastes. The browned venison was then added followed by
the lardon

Then it was a matter of adding back the venison and the rehydrated mushroom  and the red wine.  Then once the alcohol had been driven off we added the stock, the reserved mushroom liquor, Tamari and thyme.

By this time the steady temperature of the BGE was at around 140C and so the Bourguignon could be left to cook for the next hour.  We could then see how the meat and the vegetables were cooking.  It needs to be long enough for the venison to be soft and tender whilst the vegetables still have a good and reasonably firm texture.  We left it cooking for another 30 minutes, adjusted the seasoning and added the rest of the mushrooms the had been previously set aside.

By this time the sauce had darkened and thickened but we still finished it by thickening with a very small amount of cornflour (about 1tsp).

The Venison Bourguignon was served on this occasion with a baked potato cooked at the same time in the BGE together with some of our spiced red cabbage and some French beans…………..

………………….. but it works well with rice, mashed potato or couscous too!

We have been wanting to experiment with goat for some years and have simply never got round to it.  That changed when we came across Moat Goats on a UK cookery programme with the ‘Hairy Bikers’. They are based in Pembrokeshire in Wales and have Boer Goats bred for their meat rather than for milk.  Meg has been really helpful with the ordering and offering advice. Based on that, our first purchase has been a half Goat Kid, the plan being that it has both ‘quick cook’ pieces, such as a rack but also slow cook joints like the shoulder (more later).

Buying a half animal you do get just about everything.  This is great as (more…)

This quintessential Roman dish is a perfect example of Roman food history.  This particular recipe dates from 1887 and is an iconic dish, but one probably few people know about, and certainly very few outside Italy.  In Rome, until late in the 20th century, prestigious cuts of meat were reserved for the rich.  The butchers (vaccinari), slaughter house workers and lower classes of Rome ate the off cuts and the offal.  These were referred to as the ‘quinto quarto’ (the fifth quarter) – see below.  It was the inventiveness of (more…)

We are continuing to plan our way through the diversity and breadth of the history of ragù in Italy.  Some time ago we published our first ragù recipe from that master of Italian food;  Theo Randall (you can find that recipe here) – if you have not come across Theo – check him out here.

This dish has a lot of similarities to that recipe of Theo’s in that it is not Bolognese in style (more…)

The first thing we bought from our local butcher after the first batch of pandemic ‘lockdowns’ was a good piece of belly pork.  This is something we have never really managed to find in our supermarket deliveries as they are just too thin and lean!  True ‘low and slow’ recipes render out so much of that wonderful pork fat out of the pork.  It does leave enough thought to give fantastic taste and texture that only fat layers can provide.

For this cook we went to our ‘go to’ pork belly recipe here.  If going to cook and eat on the same day then just follow the recipe on the link.  For this cook though the cook was going to be in two phases.  The first a standard slow cook on the EGG.  Before the second phase, the finishing and production of a lovely crispy crackling we planned to portion up the pork, vacuum pack, and freeze until needed.  Finishing was done portion by portion when needed.  The steps are exactly the same but with a pause between the first and second part of the cook.  We were cooking a 1.6Kg piece which should yield 8 portions of deliciously rich pork.

Rather than give all the cooking details that are there in the link – here is a brief summary.  Our recipe has grown out of Nic William’s recipe for belly pork.  The dry skin was scored and rubbed with Maldon salt.  It was then massaged with olive oil and more salt added.  The Big Green Egg was set up for indirect cooking at 120-30C with the platesetter in the feet up position.   We used the expander system so the pork could sit on the top layer and drip quietly into a roasting pan on the second layer away from the hot platesetter. For the first hour the meat was placed with the skin up and then the pork was turned over with the skin down for the rest of the slow cook.  It would take around 6-8 hours for the pork to reach an internal temperature of  90+C.  We took the belly pork off at this stage.

Once removed from the BGE the piece was allowed to cool in the fridge overnight and was portioned and vacuums packed in the morning.  At this stage the fat in the skin has been rendered but is anything but crispy!!

To finish off the pork – defrost the number of portions required and place on a roasting tray in a domestic fan oven at around 200C.   Once the meat is back up to a suitable core temp (above 70C) add some top grill heat to your oven.  This crisps the skin very quickly – so don’t let it burn (yes we have learnt the hard way!).

There are so many ways to serve this delicious piece of meat.  On this occasion we served with baked potatoes cooked on the Big Green Egg using Nic Williams excellent recipe.   The other star in this dish was our spiced red cabbage.  The spicing and the residual balsamic recipe off sets the richness of the pork perfectly.  It works with so many other dishes too – and the recipe can be found here.

Do give these dishes a go at some point …………….

………….. they are worth coming back to!!

Below is a copy of the linked recipe for crispy pork belly

Our youngest daughter has been a French citizen for more than 20 years and when I said I was going to cook a vegetable Bourguignon her reply showed the initial contempt one might expect from a French woman!  The term for the brilliant (more…)

Venison is such a lovely meat to casserole on the Big Green Egg.  The EGG seems to overcome that one problem you can have with venison – its tendency to dry out.  To be able to combine this with a seasonal ‘bounty crop’ was just too good a chance to miss.  We had been given some beautiful cubed venison which seemed to contain a mix of the more obvious stewing pieces of venison with some of the more tender braising cuts.  Unfortunately, this was all the information we had, nor did we know from which type of deer the venison came.  In reality any venison listed for braising or casseroling would be fine.  The most likely source would be shoulder venison.  We also had some  fresh chestnuts that we had picked when walking in Italy and had brought back to the UK in our cool box!  We also used our own dried porcini mushrooms that we had dried when in Italy which made the dish very special for us.

Preparation was relatively simple and was done on the stove top – but could have been completed on the EGG if it hadn’t been raining so heavily.  The mushrooms were covered in cold water and left for 5 mins.  This first water was poured away to remove any debris and then they were covered again with around 300ml of just boiled water and left for 20 mins.  Meanwhile our Dutch oven was heated and a little oil added, followed by the cubed pancetta and a couple of bay leaves.  We were using some homemade pancetta, but shop bought would work equally well. Once the pancetta pieces were lightly coloured and some of their fat had been rendered they were removed from the pan and set aside in a bowl.

The venison was then lightly floured with a seasoned flour and fried off in batches in the Dutch oven.  It is important to fry them until each piece takes on some colour.  These were then set aside too.  Then into the pan we added the roughly chopped onion and as soon as that was taking on some colour the chopped garlic followed by the carrots and finally the celery.  Usually in a dish like this we would chop the vegetables finely – but on this occasion we wanted a combination of finely chopped for flavour and coarsely chopped for texture and visual appeal.  These were all stirred through the oils to lightly sauté.  The herbs and spices were then added and cooked for around 15 mins in total.  It may be necessary to add a little more oil at this stage.   The tomato puree and some red wine were then added and the heat on the Dutch oven turned up to deglaze the pan.  In the absence of any juniper berries a slug of gin was also included.  Once the pan was deglazed the venison and pancetta were reintroduced together with the rehydrated porcini (chopped if too large.)

Finally the mix of beef and chicken stock, together with the porcini soaking liquor was added and the whole pan was brought up to a simmer.

The uncovered Dutch oven was put into the large BGE set up for indirect cooking at around 110-120C for around 2 hours (1.5-3hr depending on the toughness of the meat).  

Around 30 mins from the end of the cooking 2 large handfuls of cooked chestnuts (these had been boiled and peeled) were added together with a tablespoon of redcurrant jelly.

Venison chestnut and Porcini Casserole

November 25, 2019

Servings: 6

Prep: 40 min

Difficulty: Straightforward

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A venison casserole enhanced with the autumnal tastes of chestnuts and porcini mushrooms

By: Mark

Ingredients

• 25g dried porcini mushrooms
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 100g pancetta (or smoked bacon) lardons
• 1kg venison shoulder, cut into 2-3cm dice
• 1-2 tbsp flour
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 2-3 cloves of garlic sliced finely
• 3 celery sticks, coarsely and finely chopped
• 2 large carrots, coarsely and finely chopped
• A sprig of thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• A pinch of ground cloves
• A pinch of ground nutmeg
• 1 tbsp tomato puree
• 200ml red wine
• 200ml of mixed chicken and beef stock ! Suggest one stockpot of each
• 1 tablespoon recurrant jelly
• 1 tbsp butter
• 2 large handfuls or 1 pack of cooked chestnuts added near the end
• 400g mushrooms sliced added at the end
• 2 tbsp parsley, chopped
• Salt and black pepper

Directions

• Step 1 Cover the mushrooms with cold water and leave for 5 mins. Pour away this first water. Cover again with around 300ml of just boiled water and leave for 20 mins.  
• Step 2 Heat the Dutch oven and add a little oil followed by the cubed pancetta and a couple of bay leaves. Once the pancetta pieces are lightly coloured and some of their fat has been rendered remove from the pan and set aside in a bowl.
• Step 3 Flour the venison with flour lightly seasoned with salt and pepper and fry off in batches in the Dutch oven till the meat takes on some colour. Set aside.  
• Step 4 Add the roughly chopped onion to the pan and as soon as that was taking on some colour add the chopped garlic followed by the carrots and finally the celery.  Stir through the oil to lightly sauté.  
• Step 5 Add the herbs and spices and cook for around 15 mins in total.  It is may be necessary to add a little more oil at this stage.  
• Step 6 Add the tomato puree and some red wine and increase the heat on the Dutch to deglaze the pan.  In the absence of any juniper berries add a slug of gin.  
• Step 7 Once the pan is deglazed reintroduce the venison and pancetta together with the rehydrated porcini (chopped if too large).  Add the mix of beef and chicken stock together with the porcini soaking liquor and bring to a simmer.
• Step 8 Put the uncovered Dutch in the large BGE set up for indirect cooking at around 110-120C for around 2 hours (1.5-3hr depending on the toughness of the meat). When within about 30 mins of the end of the cooking add the cooked chestnuts and a tablespoon of redcurrant jelly.  Heat some butter in a large frying pan and cook the chopped fresh mushrooms until they start to wilt. Season well and cook until they take on some colour then tip into the venison pan and stir through.
• Step 9 Taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary. If the casserole is too fluid – mix a little cornflour in cold water and add some of the stock to this and then stir through the casserole and cook for 10 mins more. Serve with mashed potatoes and add some freshly chopped parsley

We were given a venison joint by a good friend!  The details of the beast from which it came were a little unclear – the cut was in doubt too (but probably boned leg)!  It was thought to be Roe Deer but we did not know how old the animal was.  When ever in doubt as to the age of the animal I tend to assume that it would be old.  This way we treat the meat as though it may be a little tough and cook accordingly.  So for this reason we planned a ‘slow cook,’ cooking at a low temperature but for a longer time. (more…)

We had very much enjoyed the Osso-Bucco we made on the Big Green Egg last year (see here) so when we came across some Red Deer shin cut in the same way as veal for Osso-Bucco it seemed too good an opportunity to miss.  The pieces were smaller than when using veal but that would give the advantage of hopefully more marrow being released into the sauce when the meat was braised.  As the venison was likely to be a little more robust than the veal, the sauce was made with a little more tomato and a combination of Bay, Thyme and Oregano to match the richness, so a further step away from the Milanese original but exciting because of that!

The venison was no thicker than the veal we used last time but the diameter of the pieces was less.  I did wonder if we could dispense with the butchers string tied round each piece to preserve the meat intact, but in the end we decided to tie the pieces anyway These were then lightly floured and seasoned, then gently caramelised in butter in the Dutch oven to intensify their flavour.  They were then set to one side.

A little more butter was then added to the pan and the onions were sautéd to slightly soften, then the carrots and celery were added and lightly cooked.  At this point we added 4 garlic cloves, the zest of 1.5 lemons, 2 Bay leaves, some dried Thyme and Oregano and cooked for a few minutes more.  There is no place for mushrooms in an authentic Osso-Bucco – but they had worked well for us last time and seemed even more appropriate with venison, so these were added together with whole and halved stuffed green olives  that we had to hand!.  We also added 2 cans of chopped tomatoes to add further richness to the sauce.  Then all that was needed was to add the white wine.  The heat was turned up to begin to concentrate the sauce.
After about 10 minutes the meat was tucked in between the vegetable mix and the dutch oven was moved out of the kitchen and onto the Big Green Egg.  This had been set up for indirect cooking at around 120C.   Once gently bubbling, hot chicken stock was added.  The pot was allowed to simmer in the closed EGG without its lid.  As we have said previously cooking without the lid on the Dutch oven works well in the EGG as the EGG naturally retains moisture in the food being cooked so the pan does not tend to dry out, but the absence of the lid allowed the whole dish to pick up some very gentle ‘smoky tones’ from the charcoal. This time we also added a little Chestnut wood to the fire to add further gentle smoky overtones .

The pot was then cooked very gently for around 3hrs making sure the meat was kept moist by the surrounding sauce.
An occasional gentle stir allowed us to make sure the venison remained below the surface of the liquid and let us keep an eye on the cooking process.

As the dish cooked it took on a wonderfully unctuous character as the sauce became richer and looked to be a good match for the venison.  The venison softened but held together well.  The meat was removed from the sauce, covered with foil and set aside in a warm spot whilst the sauce was finished.  Sometimes, at this point it is worth adding a suspension of cornflour in cold water if the sauce is a little runny and just a fresh sprinkle of herbs in the last few minutes of cooking.  The sauce was finished by adding a few dots of butter and stirring.  The string was removed from the meat before serving with the sauce.  It works really well with plain rice though my favourite is with some crispy roast potatoes and broccoli or a root vegetable.  This is a delicious dish and the sauce with the enriched bone marrow is delightful, but it does have one downside and that is we are yet to find a delicate way of plating it!.  This has been the same with the Veal Osso-Bucco that we made earlier and with this Venison version too.  I think if we could find a supplier with whole shin we would get them cut at around 4cm thick. I think they would then hold their shape a little more easily and that would make plating easier too.

A note for next time – with the size of our dutch oven there was perhaps a little too much meat to manage easily – so next time perhaps reduce the volumes a little!!

We had planned to make a very rich casserole using some cubed shoulder of wild venison that we had picked up just before Christmas.  With all the festive excitement it had been popped in the freezer.  Once defrosted I was a little disappointed to see that the cubes were a little smaller than I had thought – it was clearly not destined to make a venison equivalent of “Daube of Beef”.  A quick rethink took us from France to Italy and from Daube to Ragù!  The recipe is simplicity itself. (more…)

Having finally come to the conclusion what we were going to include in the Christmas Terrine it was time to put it all together!!  The one thing we have learned this year making terrines is that (more…)

We had fun making terrines on the Big Green Egg over the summer when on holiday in Tuscany.  So now it was time to put some of that experience together as we get ready for Christmas.   (more…)

This is really a footnote to the recipe “Slow cooked rabbit with boozy apricots”.   Slow cooked meat dishes with a rich sauce are often served in the same way that the Tuscans serve their rich soups, (more…)

Rabbit has been a European staple for certainly the last 3000 years and was introduced into Britain by the Romans in the first century AD under the Emperor Claudius.  Its popularity throughout Europe has remained strong but in the latter half of the last century became much less common in Britain.  This is a real shame as it is an excellent protein source and a reasonably versatile meat.  On the whole it should be cooked either very quickly or very slowly – when it can be fantastic – cooked somewhere between these extremes and it tends to be tough, dry, or both!

The way we have cooked it here is a slight variation on Jackie’s classic rabbit with prunes recipe which we have enjoyed together for the last 40 years or so!  This particular recipe is cooked with ‘boozy apricots’ (more…)

Osso bucco is a classic Italian dish which, as long as you don’t translate it into English (bones with holes), has lovely romantic overtones and memories of Italian holidays.  The dish is based on slow braised veal, but the bones, or more importantly the marrow from those bones, adds a delicious something else to this dish – whatever you do – make sure that the bones do go back to the kitchen ‘hollow’ with anything that still resides in their centres after cooking eaten and relished.  The dish can also (more…)

This is a very short blog (and modified recipe) about our second attempt at the Tuscan Terrine (see the first version here).

The recipe remains largely the same.  In an attempt to have a slightly drier mix, only the gin was used as a liquid addition, forgoing the red wine and orange juice, which meant we could limit the amount of the bread used for the bread crumbs.   (more…)

Perhaps it was all too inevitable – if it works well for cannellini beans it would probably work well for borlotti beans too!   (more…)

The simplest of simple Tuscan dishes.  Slow cooked Cannellini beans infused with sage.  Two hundred and fifty grams of dried beans were soaked for about 12 hours overnight and then put into the our small cast iron Le Creuset casserole dish.  This will just fit onto the Mini BGE and allow the lid to close.  Into the dish was poured a few generous slugs of olive oil and 15-20 torn sage leaves together with some salt and pepper. The dish was then topped up with water so the top of the water almost covered the beans – but not quite! The pot was then put into the BGE at the end of a cook and the residual heat from the Egg used to slow cook the beans – in truth the first time we did this we just let the BGE continue cooking for around 45 mins and then closed off the vents – on other occasions we have closed off the vents straight away – but this sometimes results in partially cooked beans – no problem if you don’t need them immediately – just put them in the fridge and put them back on the BGE during the cooling cycle during tomorrows cook!

These are a great store cupboard/fridge ready dish – served by themselves, warm or cold, with some crusty bread, warmed with a steak or cold with a terrine – a great choice!

Variation

I managed to find an original recipe for fresh beans in Le Ricette Regionali Italian by Anna Gosetti della Salda-  It roughly translates as:

STUFFED BEANS Ingredients: for 4 people, fresh cannellini beans 1kg, some sage leaves “virgin” olive oil a lemon – salt – pepper. Pod the beans and put in a terracotta ‘vase’; cover them with cold water (for four times its volume – not sure of this part of the translation), add a few leaves of sage, salt and pepper. Place it on a very low heat, allowing the beans to cook for about 4 hours (ideally they should be “piped” in a corner of the old wood-fueled kitchen). When they are ready, sprinkle with good olive oil, a little lemon juice, salt and pepper, mix carefully and serve hot. Variation: sometimes pieces of tuna or ventresca(?) are combined, or better still thin slices of onion and fillet herring preserved in oil

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Making terrines is something of a lost art in the UK and we are venturing into this area quite tentatively.  I have to say most of our experience has been in the indoor kitchen and not in the BGE.  As I have found a very inexpensive small Le Creuset oval casserole, on eBay, that just fitted the mini BGE – I was going to see what opportunities it opens up when traveling with the mini BGE. – Was a terrine a possibility?

The plan was to use our standard home recipe – but clearly modified for the products around us. The basis of our standard recipe is minced pork shoulder, diced bacon (more…)

Jackie and I were driving home after a weekend away and found a lovely Kilnford farm shop in Dumfriesshire.  Specialising in grass fed Galloway beef, and farmed by the owners – it seemed churlish not to take some meat home with us.   (more…)

It seems that in the UK that as we are about to move from winter into spring that winter intends to have a last fling with cold coming in from the east across continental Europe.  So how about a suitably warming winter dish?  Travelling around France we have often eaten Daube of beef, and at the moment of eating wondered what daube meant, only to forget to look it up before discovering it on the menu again.  Well it is quite simple really, daube refers to the earthenware cooking vessel – the daubière in which the dish is cooked.  Traditionally shaped to inhibit the escape of the cooking liquid, (more…)

This is a title that will polarise people – some will rush to what is actually a lovely winter recipe, and I can already see others “screwing up their faces”!  If you like ‘pulled pork’ and you like slow cooked winter casseroles you will love this, trust me!! (more…)

Pulled pork is a BBQ classic with its origins in the US.  There is lots of “folklore” attached but in essence it is a very simple dish to cook.  It needs to be cooked slowly, ideally over charcoal with a little dry wood to add some smokiness.  It needs to be given plenty of time to cook (more…)

I am always staggered when we journey through France and Italy at the variety and quality of the meat the local supermarkets carry in contrast to the picture I find in my part of the UK.  We were driving along the Rhone on the way to (more…)