Category: 1 Ingredients

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Sugar and all things sweet…

Sweet is one of the five tastes our tongue detects, it’s a fundamental part of the eating experience, and there are whole books dedicated to cooking with it. I’ve not got a sweet tooth, but still I keep and use several types of sweet things in my cupboard.

First a tiny bit of chemistry. Sugars are small organic compounds made as either a source of readily available energy or as building blocks for other things. They are called carbohydrates and there are loads of types – monosaccharides are the simplest: one sugar molecule like glucose, disaccharides are two sugar molecules (like lactose made of glucose and galactose, or sucrose which is glucose and fructose) these need to be split into mono saccharides by the body before being used. Then there are poly saccharides – long chains of sugars, starch is the most well known example, but so is cellulose. These more complex sugars need more processing (and time) to release their energy. Humans can’t digest every sugar, and so some passes through our gut (like fibre).

So for a quick hit use glucose, for a long burn use starch, for low calorie and filling use fibre. Simple.

This post is about the sweet stuff.

Unrefined (golden) sugar

This is my staple, I use it in tea (if someone wants it) and in cakes. It is my basic go to sugar for things I eat with sweetness in them, I prefer it to white, so I don’t use white – simple. This is the sugar I use for all my syrups and preserves.

Glucose (sugar from corn starch)

Glucose is cheap, and I use it in fermentation (cider, vinegar etc). It’s very sweet compared to soft brown and I use it for yeast cultures. So breads and brewing – that’s it. Oh and if I need a sugar syrup for crystallising leaves (like attar of roses) I’ll use this, just because it’s easy and doesn’t change the taste of the delicate preserves.

Malt

Malt is the sugary extract from germinating seeds. I use two types – wheat and barley. I wouldn’t have them in the house except for brewing, but having them here I use them to flavour breads, and cakes. They add a richness beyond unrefined sugar, and I use it as a substitute for soft brown sugar if needed.

Of course malt loaf isn’t possible without it and a wheat malt loaf (rather than the traditional barley malt) is a thing of loveliness.

Vanilla extract

Vanilla is naturally sweet and adding a little of this to muffins allows you to cut the sugar content quite a bit. The extracts are often in corn sugar syrup, so extra sweet.

Fruit

The last thing I use for adding sweetness is fruit. Fruit is naturally quite high in sugar, so a handful in a curry or couscous adds a sweetness to mellow the heat. Apples sliced in a pork hotpot do the same, as do figs served with venison, or quince with cheese.

When you look at recipes think about the flavours, see what sugars are there and that will allow you to think about substitutes. That can be to experiment, to lower calories or because it’s just what you have to hand.

Have a fiddle – go on I dare you 🙂

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Infused oils (basil and tarragon)

Tender herbs are a key part of my cooking. Unfortunately, not all herbs last all year, and I don’t like drying herbs from the garden (with the exception of fennel seed). I never like the taste of dried leaves – it always seems dusty. I know it’s not true but I just don’t like the flavour or texture.

So I make oils for the winter. I freeze the blitzed herbs in cubes too, using a little veg oil and store coriander, basil and tarragon that way. But tarragon in particular makes a fabulous oil.

So, how do you do it? easy. Pick the plant before it wilts and the leaves die pack, just before it goes. For basil I take the whole plant, stems and all. For tarragon when the leaves start to die I harvest 90% of whats there. The plant then just sits over winter and it you keep it frost free it will come back happily next spring.

In both cases I blitz in olive oil and steep in luke warm oil for a few hours or overnight. Avoid heating the oil too much as it changes the texture and taste – turning cis-unsaturated oil chains to trans. These trans fats are not as good for you, and do less to lower cholesterol. So cool steeping is best. When its good and smelly with the herb strain through a fine sieve and muslin.

If you only used the leaves you can still use the leaves in oil as a paste, for basil it’s ideal to make pesto, for tarragon I just freeze and note it’s in olive oil.

For the oil you’ve made leave it to stand for a day or three then decant it. The reason is that you will see a small amount of brownish water at the bottom – this will ferment over time and produce a vinegar that will ruin the flavour of the oil. So you want to decant the oil and leave the liquid. The oil then stores for months.

The only way to avoid this issue is to pasteurise the oil (heat it to at least 72c for 15 sec) – but this also changes the taste, and degrades the flavours of the herb and benefits of the oil. Up to you, but I prefer to fiddle a bit to keep the taste and avoid handling hot oil wherever possible.

When you use infused oils, add them at the end, as a drizzle or to coat the pasta before mixing in the sauce – less cooking means more flavour…

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Venison

A lot of the recipes so far have been venison. In part it’s because it’s winter when I started the blog, and in part it’s because I cook it a lot. Each year I buy two or three whole carcasses and butcher then freeze the meat for the year.

I don’t buy venison because I’m a food snob, I do it to save money. That may seem bonkers when you see it priced in a supermarket, but it really depends on where you live. Before I moved here I’d only had venison in restaurants, often posh restaurants. And beef was my red meat of choice. But that’s changed. It helps that it’s local, and it helps that the deer need to be culled to protect the environment, so they are not bred for meat but free-range. I know it would be better to be veggie, but I like meat and bluntly I’m not going to waste what’s there.

Types of Deer

You can read all this elsewhere so I’ll keep it brief. There are several (six) types of deer in the UK, when you buy a beast round here it’s a Sika by default, you can get Red, and Red-Sika cross but the gamekeepers normally expect you’ll want Sika. Why? well it’s more tender and just as tasty. If you have Red it normally needs a couple of extra days hanging to be as tender, and most of the time you can’t tell between well prepared meat. It is noticeable in a side-by-side comparison. So I tend to have Sika.

The one thing I would recommend though is knowing the season. If you buy at the very beginning of the season you’ll get a male. That’s fine, but if they are in musk the meat will taste different – not to my taste, sorry. So I tend to buy when hinds are in season (21 Oct to 15 Feb around here). Keeps it simple, and I like simple.

Dealing with a beast

I buy whole animals, some come with the skin on, some skinned. All have their head and hooves removed, and are cleaned and inspected before sale. If you want the offal you can get it, the hearts are seen as a delicacy, the rest is less used. I like the tongue, but it’s all personal taste. If you want the offal you may be disappointed. Often older animals can have liver flukes and the inspection will throw them out. Often the heart is damaged by the shot – so again thrown out. A good gamekeeper with a licence to sell the meat won’t apologise for that, they will keep you right and only give you good quality produce.

Again there are great videos on butchering deer, so I’ll not labour the point. The value in butchering the beast yourself is that you control the cuts and the portions. You know what is going in the mincer, and if you would rather have chops or a saddle or the fillet.

The first time I butchered a beast it took me five hours. It still takes me two to three to get it all squared away, but that’s usually about 70-80 packs for the freezer, so it’s not so bad when you look at it like that.

Cuts and what to do with them

Sika Leg

This is the easy part – treat it like beef. The fillet, sirloin and rump are best cooked as little as you can stand. The blade is tender too, but the rest of the shoulder does better roasted or in a pie/stew. The hock love a long slow cook. The belly and brisket I typically mince. The ribs as racks or dried and spiced as jerky. The neck stewed. You get the idea.

Keep the bones too for stock – I bought a stainless steel pull saw to deal with the bones – worth it. And you can batch make the stock and freeze it it you like.

if you’re not sure what a cut will be good for cut it with a sharp knife – that will tell you everything. The easier it cuts the less you cook. If it’s got tendons and white connective tissues then it needs longer cooking or mincing. If it’s on the bone you need to cook and rest to get the flavour out. Another rule of thumb – the darker the meat the more tender and the less cooking.

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Courgette base for soups and sauces

Courgettes are incredibly productive plants. In the summer they are one of the first first veg to flower and fruit, and the flowers are awesome in pasta, battered and fried as tempura or as part of a ravioli filler. There are also substitutes for courgettes – tromboncino is a climbing squash which is a perfect alternative, slightly richer flavour and used exactly the same way.

I harvest courgettes small – much smaller than supermarket size, if they are more than 3cm diameter they are too big! But even harvesting small you occasionally miss one and you always end up with more than you can use fresh.

So, what to do? Well if the courgette you miss gets more than 5cm diameter then compost it. You can eat it, sure, but the smaller ones are tastier and you’ll have plenty. Larger courgettes are bland and watery, so make rubbish soup – hence the compost.

For the rest you can make a base soup with them to use in other recipes and store them as blocks in the freezer. If you like you can dehydrate them too – these can be used to thicken sauces, either as slices or (I prefer) crushed. Works well in couscous too or mixed with lentils in curry.

The soup base is simplicity itself – blitz the courgettes in a little water and cook to a thick paste. I don’t add salt or pepper – I do that when I’m using them later – just a basic courgette base. If you have other stock made up (e.g. chicken or partridge) you can use that instead of water and that makes an excellent starting point for a soup. Store them as 250-300ml blocks – it’s a good soup size portion for one or sauce portion for a meal.

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Making Meatballs

Meatballs are a basic way of getting something awesome out of something that seems a bit boring (mince). There are lots of types, but the basics of making them are the same.

You start with your mince – course ground if you do it yourself. Remember that different meats have different fat content. Lamb about 20%, I use 12% beef, venison is leaner but still about 8-10% for the cuts I use. It doesn’t make a difference for the meatballs but it should make you use more (or usually less) oil in the cooking because sealing the meatballs will make them give up some of their oil to the pan.

I use a portion of about 200g of mince then mix this with the other ingredients, it depends on the style of dish what the additions are so…

Italian

1 dstspn plain flour

1/2 onion grated

pinch of salt

1/2tsp pepper

Moroccan

1 dstspn plain flour

1/2 onion finely chopped

1tsp cumin

1/2 tsp coriander paste or 1dst spoon finely chopped fresh coriander

salt and pepper

Indian

1 dstspn plain flour

1/2 onion finely chopped

1tsp cumin

1tsp coriander

1/2 finely chopped chilli

salt

Spanish

1 dstspn plain flour

1/2 grated onion

1 tsp paprika

salt and pepper

Greek

1 dstspn plain flour

1tsp corriander

1/4tsp finely chopped thyme

salt and pepper

Meatballs being browed

When everything is well mixed then form the meatballs. keep them small – 1.5 to 2 cm so you get lots each and they cook quickly in the pan. cover them with cling film and chill for 20min (at least) before using them. Two reasons for this: first it helps them bind together so they are less likely to fall apart when you stir the dish; and secondly, it also allows the flavours to marinade. I tend to make them up after breakfast.

Oh, and just to say I sometimes make the Moroccan meatballs and use a dozen as part of a tapas.

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Flour

Flour comes in a huge range of types, and is a pretty basic ingredient. Unlike some other things where I try to minimise choice and just rely on one or two types, flour is something where you need several.

Things to think about. Firstly how much will you use? like any ingredient you want to have a reasonable turnover. Especially for things like wholemeal or rye you might use them less so be sensible how much you buy at once.

The second is about choice and taste. I do make fresh pasta, but I don’t use tipo 00 flour, I find I can make excellent pasta without it. I could also live without rye flour quite easily, but I like the taste. So there is a compromise – I need to use it enough to make it worth having. For most people it’s probably not an issue, but I have to buy rye flour online, about 6kg at a time.

So what’s in the cupboard and why:

Plain Flour

A basic workhorse. Plain white flour is for white sauces, tortillas, samosa, gyoza wraps, part of a mix for pasta, pastry, cakes. I only keep one bag in at a time, and when I use it it’s in 50 – 75g batches normally. But I use it a few times a week. Even if it’s just as a base to mix spices into then coat meat before sealing in a pan – it’s my go-to thickener. I don’t have arrowroot or cornflour in the house, and most of my gravies are stack based rather than bisto based.

Self Raising

I use this much less than plain, typically in cakes and muffins. In muffins I’ll often use it instead of baking powder and plain flour, because I prefer the rise I get. I don’t use it that often, so I tend to keep one bag in, it’s still a 1.5kg because just a few trays of muffins during soft fruit season and it’s all gone…

Strong White Bread Flour

Okay so there are loads of types of bread flour. I use strong, not very strong. Why – well because it’s plenty good enough. You can read lots of good articles on the difference, but to my understanding it’s about a higher gluten and protein content in very strong flour.

Strong white flour is the backbone of my baking, it’s 50% of my pasta mix, by pizza dough, naan, pitta, ciabatta, basic white. I buy it by the 16kg sack and it’s about 3 months before my next order. It’s worth noting that from October 2022 (I think) all UK flour (except wholemeal) will be fortified with 4 key things – Iron, Calcium, Thiamine and Niacin (Vit B1 and B3). Some flours also contain extra folic acid, but many (most?) do not. My understanding is that wholemeal and gluten free flours are more often fortified with folic acid than other types. For most people it’s invisible, but for some they will want the extra folic acid and for others it can cause issues. I’m no expert, but if you are going to bake your own bread find something that’s right for you and then stick to it, or at least know what your looking for if you change.

Wholemeal Bread Flour

For basic brown bread, brown baton and for brown pastry pie toppings. In a shortcrust pie topping it adds a great nutty rich flavour that goes well with red meats. I don’t use to much so I only keep one bag in at a time.

Rye Flour

Rye is a dark strong tasting flour, it has less gluten than white flours and therefore makes denser bread. The taste is fantastic and I always add some rye to a brown loaf for that reason. However, because it has less gluten the bread doesn’t rise as much or as quickly – so a longer rise is sensible. Occasionally I’ll make a 100% rye loaf, cut into wafer thin slices it is great with meats and cheese – stronger cheeses and smoked meats can be just superb with rye. Not to everyone’s taste but I’d not be without it.

Semolina Flour

Perhaps the most unusual choice for my selection. Semolina is a must have for me. It makes pasta awesome as it is milled from durum wheat kernels, unbleached – it has high gluten and protein ensuring the right texture to a fresh pasta. I use it to fortify breads as well. My sourdough starter is 60% semolina, my naans 25% – you get the picture… My pizzas just wouldn’t be the same without it.

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My Spice Shelf Part 2 (G-Z)

Garam masala: A mix of spices used in lots of Indian (and other) dishes. When I was growing up I found out that lots of families had their own personal mixes passed down through generations to make their families food their very own. Beautiful and romantic as that is, and while a basic mix is made up of other things on the shelf, the skill in the blend and the roasting is beyond my skill to make consistently and my own. So for simplicity I use the pre-mixed stuff.

Mixed Spice: As it says a mix of spices – it contains things I don’t keep on the shelf – like allspice and mace. Used in some spicy dishes but just as often in cakes and desserts.

Nutmeg (whole): Whole nutmegs keep for ages without losing their edge, even better if they have their kernels on – not only do they keep better but you can get the fresh mace, wrapped like lace, around them too. Even without this and in their inner case they keep for years. Fresh ground is an aroma that fills the kitchen and add to cakes, syrups, spiced food, tea, the list goes on…

Paprika: Dried and ground red peppers. It adds a taste of capsicum without the heat and colours dishes a deep almost oily red. For me it’s though some Spanish and Mediterranean dishes. It adds a depth and a pungency which is hard to get with anything else. I’ll sometimes add it to tomato sauces to spice them up instead of (or along with) chilli, and it goes amazingly well with shellfish, rice dishes, as a sprinkle on chilli and (of course) in sausages.

Paprika (smoked): The louder bigger brother of paprika – the smokiness works better when using a darker heavier meat, like goose or venison. It can add a hint of BBQ to kebabs from the oven and packs a real punch when added to a sauce.

Sea salt (Maldon flakes and large granules): I like sea salt. It tastes stronger to me and therefore I use less. I use sea salt granules for salting water, and Maldon salt for everything else. I’ve tried other salts and basic table salt is so much less tasty – I end up over-salting everything. So I spend more and use less. It has the added advantage of (when sprinkled on top) of adding a crunch and intense shards of flavour. Some ingredients are worth the extra and to my mind sea salt in all it’s incarnations is definitely one of these.

Turmeric: A root, vaguely like ginger root in appearance (same family), and like ginger you can grow it in the UK with a little care. To my taste buds turmeric is a bitter drying taste, with a depth of almost overpowering earthiness, but on top (or underneath) that is a complexity – acid when fresh, acidic in aftertaste when dry. Brilliant with lime or lemon flavours and a colour that makes my potato curry look just right. Often overlooked in my opinion, a really versatile spice that brings out the flavours and adds contrast to a host of dishes.

So that’s it… Not too many, and all refreshed at least every year through use. I’m having a go at growing saffron, but we’ll see if that makes it onto the shelf, or not… I’ll keep you posted

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My Spice Shelf Part 1 (A-F)

I like to minimise the number of spices I have on my shelf as much as I can. The reasons? well mainly it’s so they don’t get too old before they’re used. And when I made the shelf I kept it small to enforce the rule.

The time was that I’d slavishly follow recipes, and buy herbs and spices especially for one dish, but no longer. Gone are the days when, reaching the end of the supermarket aisles I would still be missing one ingredient and would have to trapes back round replacing things and wondering what the hell I was going to cook now?

It’s also worth saying I don’t keep dried herbs on my shelf. I grow pretty much all the herbs I use and tend to freeze the tender ones as a paste or make flavoured oils to take me though the winter. The spices are ones I use often and I’ve found can substitute for others in recipes if I need too.

So, whats on the shelf…

Black pepper corns: In a grinder – used in just about everything and with a taste a world away from pre-ground pepper. I buy 500g bags and keep them in air-tight bags inside an air-tight box to keep them as fresh as possible.

Beef stock cubes: For when I don’t have the bones or the time to make fresh.

Bisto gravy granules: Because they are easy and work well for gravy in pies, but not used in anything else…

Boullion: An excellent veg stock powder that adds good flavour to other stocks without adding too much salt. I’ll often fortify my stocks with a teaspoon of boullion, or use it to add a bit more depth to a spice mix.

Cardamon pods: I buy these in bulk too, 250g bags. I use the seeds, but they keep better as pods. In rice, cous cous, curries and even in some cake recipes – love the aniseed flavour. I’ll use them interchangeably with Fennel seeds (which I collect from the garden in season). And of course anything that needs an aniseed edge gets them in as a substitute for star anise for example.

Chinese 5 Spice: Most of my Chinese style recipes have this in – it’s easy and smells like my earliest memories of Chinese food. Not sophisticated but a great staple flavouring.

Cinnamon: Who doesn’t like the smell? in muffins, cous cous, danish, some curries, syrups – awesome spice. Don’t use much but couldn’t be without it.

Cloves (ground): A strong pungent flavour – not for the faint hearted… As part of a rub on a roast ham, in some curries or pickles – packs a real punch. Typically added in tiny quantities but really makes its presence felt.

Cumin: A mainstay of my cooking. From Africa through to the far East. Cumin is at the heart of many, many spice mixes. Just try a roast chicken rubbed with cumin and olive oil and try not to drool as the smell fills the kitchen – go on I dare you! Again I buy in 500g bags and it lasts maybe 3 months…

Curry powder: A simple mix for basic curries. You can mix your own (and I sometimes do) but sometimes speed and ease is more important…

Fennel seeds: From the garden. I harvest some in the autumn, but the birds love them too. Most often used through naan-style breads (or similar) to add an aroma that, to me, turns bread into joy. I’ll only use a teaspoon through a bread, and this is the one ‘herb’ I dry to prolong the shelf life. But in reality 80% plus of the seeds are eaten by the birds and I only keep about 1 spice jars worth for us to use over the winter. Because as soon as it’s spring I’ll use the fresh fronds instead.

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Roses

To my mind there are three types of rose in cooking: for the colour; the aroma and of course; the taste.

Depending on which of these I’m majoring on in a recipe I’ll use a different rose, or rose substitute.

So lets start with taste.

The best way to do this is to taste you own rose petals. Take a few from each rose you have (wild or cultivated), wash them and do a side by side taste test. Whats important is the taste and flavour of the petal – because a lot of the scent is from the centre of the flower, and when the petals are separate and stored the flavour is different to when you can smell the bloom.

Tasty!

A rule of thumb I read, and agree with after tasting, is that pink roses tend to taste the best. Darker roses from my garden tend to be a little more bitter, and the whites less flavoursome. Maybe its the pigments – but I don’t really know…

So pink roses – I harvest them at their peak or perhaps one day after and take the perfect petals as I dead-head. For these petals I blitz with a tiny bit of veg oil (one with no taste of its own like sunflower oil) then freeze as cubes. I’ll use the petals direct into couscous and as part of my rose harissa. Basically anything with spices and not desserts.

Next for aroma

This is where I cheat. For aroma I use Pelargonium ‘attar of roses’. It’s a geranium, tender, but thrives and survives in my unheated greenhouse. Takes cuttings well and also acts as a good companion plant (attracts pollinators and deters pests).

For Pelargoniums use the leaves – not the flowers. The flavour and aroma of rose is intense – it’s the taste of Turkish delight. And bluntly not the taste of Roses but the taste of the smell of Roses.

I use this in tea – makes a beautiful rose tea or addition to an infusion. In cakes and desserts this is king. You can crystallise the leaves to keep the best flavour for months, and I use a mix of pink Rose and Pelargoniums to make rose water.

Finally for colour

This is where you can play. My favourite for adding colour is ‘Hot Chocolate’ a beautiful rose, dark red – like claret mixed with dark, dark chocolate. I use the petals roughly chopped to mix though basmati rise (often alongside calendula petals and nasturtium), or in bread dough (Moroccan and focaccia). Sometimes a sprinkle though a muffin or finely chopped through a sponge (especially if I’ve flavoured it with Pelargonium).

So there you have it – Roses – I use them for cooking more than I cut them for the table, but mostly I just admire them in the garden.

A rose in November

So when you pick Roses for the garden think about all of their uses. Repeat flowing is awesome, I prefer singles or semi doubles, because I want bee-friendly, size colour, habit, and massively important is disease resistance.

Luckily there are many, many types to choose from, and one for every space, soil and situation. Underplanted with geranium or viola they are a source of delight for me all year round and, even with some frosts, I often have blooms right up until mid December.

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Tomatillo

Tomatillos

Tomatillos or ‘Mexican husk tomato’ originate, unsurprisingly, from Mexico. They are a member of the Physalis family. It grows very easily in my greenhouse as a bush up to about 1.5m high and needs supporting to stop it becoming too unruly.

The fruit appear as ‘lanterns’ wrapped in a papery leaf and swell until they fill and ultimately split the pod. When de-husked they look like green or greeny-yellow cherry tomatoes and are slightly tacky to touch. They keep for a couple of weeks off the plant on the sideboard, and just need a wash before using.

When you look online to find out what to do with them salsa verde is probably every one of your top ten recipe hits! but this little fruit is amazingly versatile. It has a slight lime tang and is brilliant raw or cooked. I use it in salsa (of course), but also in things like Thai green curry and spicy lime dips. It cooks like tomatoes and adds a great glossy/stickiness to sauces, raw it has a similar texture to tomato and can be (as tomatoes can) sweet or firm or squishy or tart… I love it.

When I first grew it I wasn’t convinced, but now I’m a convert. Never seen it in the shops so I grow 4-6 plants a year, use the fruit fresh while I can (July to November) and freeze the rest as pre-cooked blocks in 150 ml and 500 ml cubes (smaller for dips and larger for bigger curries etc. ) .