I adore a succulent duck breast cooked with a crisp, tasty skin on it. Yet achieving this in the Big Green Egg has proven less effective than the kitchen … until now. I found a way of getting that delicious, crispy skin using the Egg, whilst at the same time cooking a rich and complimentary mushroom side. It’s a simply trick, you just need a cast iron skillet. And a spirit level.
Beef short ribs are a deliciously rich and flavoursome cut of meat, one of our favourites to cook any time of the year. Smoked over cherry wood and then braised for a few hours in a red wine sauce to enhance the deep flavours and you’re on the way to create a winning dish to impress friends and family alike.
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One of our favourite guilty pleasures is a delicious cote de boeuf served with seasonal vegetables. And chips. It must have chips. The trick can be cooking the meat evenly as the cut tends to be quite thick. This is where a sous vide comes in very handy, ensuring a consistent cook throughout the joint of meat. It also allows for the juices to be reserved for a fantastic jus.
With the cold winter nights once again upon us, it’s time to focus on some warm, hearty meals to provide sustenance to both body and soul. We kick off with delicious braised pig cheeks served with a rich red wine sauce. This makes use of a tasty, low-cost and often overlooked cut of meat to deliver a fabulous meal for all the family.
Traditionally cooked over hot coals as street food on the hectic byways of cities such as Hanoi and Saigon, Vietnamese lemongrass pork (or thit heo nuong xa) is one of the easiest and tastiest classic Vietnamese recipes to replicate in your own home kitchen. It’s a great way to experience some authentic, flavoursome food of this exotic country.
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Another new discovery, this time from Hawaii, Huli-Huli chicken is a delicious alternative to your everyday, classic roast chicken dish. Cooked with a simple spice rub and glazed with a sweet, aromatic sauce, it makes a tasty talking-point for your dinner guests.
Lamb shoulder shanks? That was a new one on me, having roasted lamb shanks for numerous dinners in the past. Combined with spicy chorizo and textured pinto beans, and cooked low and slow to extract the rich flavours, this made for a stunning meal on a sunny evening.
It’s the second birthday of The Cook’s Digest! As our Vietnam adventures were the inspiration for becoming immersed in culinary pursuits, it seemed appropriate to cook a celebratory meal using classic Vietnamese ingredients. And thus the Vietnamese pork and lemongrass burger was created, a decidedly different take on the classic burger.
Spurred on by the awesome huckleberry glazed roast mutton, I made another glazed roast this week with apricot preserve glazed pork. The dish has sweetness, with a hint of sour. It was remarkably tasty, and something we’ll be trying again very soon.
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We’d had roast mutton a month ago for the first time, and really enjoyed it. The meat had a texture and flavour that I thought would work with a sweet glaze. We had some huckleberry syrup and jam … so voila, a quick sauce was concocted to make a delicious mutton leg with huckleberry glaze.
This dish came from exploring the depths of our larder in search of a winter warming meal and combining a bunch of stuff to make something with Moroccan flavours and vaguely themed on a cassoulet. Whilst being accurate, that wouldn’t have made a snappy recipe title.
So we called it Moroccan Cassoulet instead, simple and descriptive. Very flavoursome, and perfect for a cold winter night.
Christmas leftovers never seem to run out, the most recent festive season was no exception. We had some smoked ham in the fridge, so I made smoked ham and mushroom carbonara. It turned out to be a diverse and tasty twist on the Italian classic.
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