Author: Notnick

Traditional Cured Ham


1 whole or half leg of fresh, free-range pork, on or off the bone

Ingredients:

• 4 litres water
• 1.2kg salt
• 2 teaspoon dried red chilli
• 1 tablespoons cloves
• 2 tablespoons white peppercorns
• 6 juniper berries

Combine ingredients, mixing well to dissolve the salt.

Boil all the brine ingredients together in a large pan and leave to cool. Transfer to a non-metallic brine tub and chill to 3–4°C. Place your piece of pork – also chilled, ideally to almost freezing – in the tub and submerge completely, using a non-metallic weight. Leave the pork in the brine, in the coolest place you can find, for 3 days (minimum) to 4 days (maximum) for every kilo. The maximum time is for a ham you intend to keep a long while; the minimum will suffice if you plan to cook and eat it soon after it is finished.

After its allotted time, remove the ham from the cure, wipe it dry with a cotton cloth and hang it to dry in a muslin bag in a cool, well-ventilated place for 24 hours.

You can then smoke it if you like: hang it high above a hardwood fire or place it in your smoker and either smoke it continuously for 24 hours or intermittently (6–12 hours a day) for 5–7 days. Ideally the air temperature where the ham is smoking should not exceed 40°C (27°C is perfect but a little variation will not hurt).

Smoked or unsmoked, this ham keeps well if you go for the maximum cure time: hang it in a well-ventilated outbuilding, or covered porch where a draught can get to it but the rain can’t, and it should keep right through the winter months. In warmer weather, hams are at risk from flies and other bugs: best get them cooked before too long. A minimum-cure time, unsmoked ham should be kept in the fridge, wrapped in a cloth or muslin, but not plastic, and cooked within a month of curing. Don’t worry if a few specks of mould appear; just wipe them off with a cloth dipped in vinegar.

Hams should be soaked in plenty of fresh water, changed every 12 hours, for 24–48 hours (depending on the length of the cure) before boiling. Bring to the boil and simmer gently for 2–5 hours, depending on size. If the water tastes very salty after the first hour of cooking, pour at least half of it away and top up with fresh boiling water from the kettle.

Macaroons

These crisp little almond biscuits are a speciality of the Lorraine region in France. They’re easy to make and are particularly nice served with fruit fools or ice cream.

Ingredients
For the macaroons
6 oz (175 g) ground almonds
1 oz (25 g) icing sugar
1 level teaspoon ground rice
8 oz (225 g) granulated sugar
3 large egg whites

a few drops of almond extract some caster sugar
about 12 blanched almonds, cut into strips
some rice paper
Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 2, 300°F (150°C).
You will also need 2 large baking sheets, lined with rice paper, and a piping bag.

In a bowl, mix the ground almonds together with the sifted icing sugar, ground rice and granulated sugar. Now stir in the unbeaten egg whites and a few drops of almond extract and continue stirring until very thoroughly mixed. Place the mixture in a forcing bag fitted with a 3⁄4 inch (2 cm) plain nozzle and pipe out rounds of the mixture on the the rice paper, allowing room between each one for the biscuits to expand during cooking. Then sprinkle each one with caster sugar and top it with a piece of blanched almond. Now bake the biscuits for about 25-30 minutes or until they are tinged a light golden brown. Leave them to cool then strip off the rice paper surrounding each biscuit (or remove them from the paper). Store them in an airtight tin as soon as they have cooled if you like to eat them crisp or, if you prefer them a bit chewy, leave them overnight before storing in a tin.

This recipe is taken from Delia Smith’s Book of Cakes.

Flapjacks

 Preheat an oven to 160°C for soft flap Jacks, or 170°C for crispy ones

10oz butter
4oz brown sugar
1 tblsp golden syrup
20oz oats

Melt the butter  in a large saucepan. Add sugar and  golden syrup.

After all of the fat has melted and sugar dissolved,  stir in the oats to produce a uniform mixture.

Spread the mixture evenly in a baking tray. Bake in the pre-heated oven for 15 – 20 minutes, the longer it is baked, the crispier they will be.

Flapjack 2

300g oats
225g soft light brown sugar
225g butter
100g raisins
a small knob of ginger, cut into tiny bits

Grease a baking tray (mine’s about 20cm/9” square). Set the oven to 160C/325F/Gas Mark 3. Melt the butter in a saucepan and once melted add the sugar. Warm gently, then remove from the heat and stir in the oats, raisins and ginger. Press into the baking tray (if your hands are wet I think the mixture sticks to you less).

Bake for up to 20 minutes. Don’t wait for the flapjack to turn brown, as if you leave it too long it’ll end up far too hard. Cut into squares or slices while it’s warm, then leave in the tray to cool.

These amounts give me 16 chunky squares using my baking tray. You can leave out the raisins and ginger if you like. And you can add 90ml/6 tbsp of golden syrup when adding the sugar; this gives you flapjack that’s more sticky than crumbly. This recipe’s a combination of one in a modern Mrs Beeton book and one my grandma used to make.

Flapjack 3 (Auntie Gwen’s recipe)

100g butter
75g brown sugar
3 tblsp golden syrup
175g rolled oats
50g plain flour
pint of salt

mix as usual, and pack into a 20cm square tin. Cook at 170°c  for 30mins.

Brandy Snaps (or Bosworth Jumbles)

2oz Butter
2oz castor Sugar
2oz golden syrup
2oz Plain Flour
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1tsp lemon juice

put butter sugar & syrup in a pan- melt and mix- but don’t get too hot.
Mix in remaining ingredients

put teaspoons onto a baking tray

bake at 180c for 8 minutes. Once cooked, roll round a wooden spoon handle. Only make 2-3 at a time, they cool too quickly to curl. (If they get too cool, reheat for a minute before rolling.)

Makes 22-ish

Poppy’s Lamb curry

1lb/ 450g lamb (trimmed, boned and cubed)
2oz/63g diced onions (1 med onion)
2 cloves garlic
1tsp grated ginger
1/2“/ 1cm cinnamon stick
3 cloves
3 black cardamom pods
1tsp ground cumin
1tsp salt
1/2 can tomatoes
1tbl chopped mint or coriander
4 fl oz/ 110ml natural yoghurt
1tsp red chili powder (optional)
1/2 tsp garam masala

Soften onions
Add lamb, garlic, ginger, cardamoms, cinnamon, cloves, cumin & salt and fry
Add tomatoes, and a little water
simmer for 2hrs
add yoghurt, and simmer for 20 mins

add mint or coriander and garam masala

yum

Chocolate Fondants

Chocolate Fondants
03 March 2007

Serves 4
Preparation time 1-2 hours
Cooking time 30 mins to 1 hour
 
For the fondant
175g/6oz dark chocolate (at least 70 per cent cocoa solids)
110g/4oz softened butter
40g/1½oz ground almonds
2 large free-range eggs, separated
40g/1½oz cornflour
90g/3½oz caster sugar
4 good quality dark chocolate truffles
cocoa powder, for dusting
 
For the fondant, preheat the oven to 180C/355F/Gas 4.
8. Grate 40g/1½oz of the dark chocolate into a bowl and set aside.
9. Melt half of the butter and brush liberally around the inside of four ramekins. Dust the ramekins well with the grated chocolate, shaking out any excess, then place onto a baking sheet and set aside.
10. Place the remaining chocolate, including any shaken out excess, and the remaining butter into a heatproof bowl and place over a pan of barely simmering water to melt.
11. Add the ground almonds, egg yolks and cornflour to the melted chocolate and stir well.
12. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form when the whisk is removed.
13. Gradually add the caster sugar, whisking constantly.
14. Gently fold the egg white mixture into the melted chocolate mixture, taking care to retain volume in the whites.
15. Spoon half the chocolate and egg mixture into the base of each prepared ramekin. Place a chocolate truffle on top, then fill each ramekin with the remaining mixture.
16. Smooth the tops of the fondants with a palette knife, then transfer to the oven to bake for 10-15 minutes, until risen (the surface should be slightly wobbly), then remove from the oven and serve immediately.
 
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