The Meerkat cometh

Sorry to disapoint those who saw the title and thought that maybe I had eaten a Meerkat, but this is one of my other passions.

The next update to Ubuntu Linux will soon be with us.  I can't wait.

Details of what is new here:

If you haven't used Linux for a while or wondered what all the fuss is about, then release day is the perfect time to try a new install.  If you do, I will promise to answer any questions you have in a friendly and accommodating way.  It is the least I can to for a community that has been providing me with free desktop software for over 5 years.

Return of the Quack, once again

As only did half a job of eating the duck in the last instalment, there was more eating to be done.  As you may recall I had made some stock and reserved the duck breasts.

In my mind I had a lovely cleansing oriental soup to wash away the excesses of the weekend.

I warmed up the stock (this really should be clarified for the perfect effect, but it doesn't affect flavour) threw in a couple of star anise, rehydrated Chinese mushrooms and let it bubble for a couple of minutes.  At this point I added some good quality udon noodles and cook until tender.

Meanwhile I scored the duck breast and seasoned lightly with 5 spice and seared, leaving very rare in the middle (it is going to sit in hot stock until you eat it).

Dish up the stock, mushrooms and a portion of noodles into a bowl, add some fresh watercress and finish with the sliced duck breast.  Awesome Sunday tea.

Better start eating some gamebirds before they go out of season.  Until next time.

Return of the Quack

Well, a quick trip down to the supermarket produced a special offer on ducks.  One whole duck for £6..  What do I do with all this meat between 2 ?

As it was Friday night and I was hungry, I decided simple is best.  I butchered the duck, removed the legs and wings and filleted off the breasts.

For tonight, I decided that I would fast roast the legs and wings and serve with salad and chips.  Oven set to 220C wings and legs in for 40ish minutes.  Chunky oven roast chips in at the same time et voila !

All very good, very nice and just what I wanted.

Whist I roasted the legs and wings, I chose to roast the carcass (and subsequently boil for a couple of hours) to produce a deep flavoured stock.  I will use this later along with the duck breasts.

Billy goat gruff

This week I bought a goat shoulder from Manchester market in the Arndale.  This is close to work and is a pretty good butcher.  The cut of meat was not quite what I expected, rather than a "square" lamb shoulder, this cut of meat was more of a blade end of shoulder plus some neck chops (scrag end, where I'm from).  No mind, this is still perfect for what I had in mind for this meat.  Tonight we have a goat curry (Indian style) prepared by the Yorkshire lass.

I cubed the meat and saved the bones.  All will be used in thus curry.


Spice mix - I don't tend to mess with these rough measurements much, except to adjust the heat.
1.5 tsp freshly crushed (with a good pinch of sea salt) coriander seeds
1.5 tsp freshly crushed (with a good pinch of sea salt) cumin seeds
A couple of bay leaves
0.5 tsp black pepper corns
4-6 cardamom pods
1-2 dried chillis, crushed
0.5 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp turmeric

A little oil
2 x medium onion, 1 shredded, 1 diced
2/3 cloves garlic
Lamb / Goat Meat of your a stewing cut such as shoulder, ideally including bones cubed into mouth-size chunks.

4/6 fresh large tomatoes, or 1.5 cans chopped tomatoes
3 good handfuls of Lentils, Yellow and / or Red (red will just vanish, so do use a mixture)

Spinach; as much or as little as you like. I wouldn't omit this, as I think it's pretty fundamental, but if you don't like it.....
Further veg of your choosing (mushrooms are always good, fine beans, but anything goes here)
Bunch of fresh coriander, stalks chopped fairly fine, leaves roughly chopped.
Fresh chillis as required


Method

1. Oil and all spices in on a medium heat, fry until fragrant, add onions and garlic, and fry to soften. Add meat and bones, and colour these. Add 1.5 pints of water (to just cover meat), pop on a lid and leave for a minimum of 1.5 hours on a lowish heat. The longer the better, to get really tender meat. 

2. Add lentils now, and coriander stalks, along with your tomatoes. Take off the lid, and simmer, making sure it doesn't dry out. This stage can take from 45 mins to as long as you have. 
If you want to make it a day ahead, leave it at this stage. 
3. Finishing touches; when you are nearly ready to serve, throw in the prepared veg you have chosen, along with any chilli or further salt you want to add. Allow the veg to cook through to desired crunchiness. Chuck in the spinach and the coriander leaves (save some for garnish), wilt and mix those in, warn through and you're done. 
Serve with raita, chopped coriander, bread of your choice, and a cold beer. 

Goat is an excellent meat for this type of preparation, a bit tougher and richer than lamb (and about half the price) try and seek this out.  Indian or Caribbean shops and butchers will usually have some goat on sale.  I must get a lamb's leg to try a roast or turn into steaks.

Pousin, Done

This weekend, on the menu, it is Poussin.

The Yorkshire girl and I discussed at some length as to whether the Poussin is a different breed or just a baby chicken. Well disappointingly it is just a baby chicken. The ones we bought said " slow reared for a better flavour", you go figure!

Because it was Friday and I was hungry, a simple approach was taken to cooking these small birds.

The Poussin were put in a baking dish with potatoes, Olive oil, lemon juice, Garlic, salt and pepper and roasted in the oven for 45ish minutes at 230 degrees. Served with baby veg.

Well what about the taste? Surprisingly it tasted just like chicken! There are some points of note though. This Poussin did taste particularly tasty, whether this was it's young age (normally a factor against flavour) or it's "slow rearing" i don't know.

The birds are perfectly man sized. One Poussin per hungry man is about perfect.

Due to size, and the fact you can cook it hotter and quicker, you get crispier skin (and more of it per unit volume of meat).

And again thanks to the above reason, the meat was cooked perfectly, while the cartilage was still quite tough.  On a well cooked chicken the cartilage can sometime drop off with the meat. This matters to the Yorkshire girl, who is not a fan of all things gristly or fatty.

All in all very good. Will buy again (2 for a fiver at the nations market leading supermarket).

Poussin. Done.

Next up: The Yorkshire Girl's Goat curry.

A Meat feast

OK, and some deliberation I have come up with a list of meats that I believe to be available and legal.  If by some chance I was in Korea or China and had the chance to eat cat or dog, I would.

The list below, at my count include 53 separate meats, even though I may need to hit a number of separate insects to hit the target.  I will try to make them as interesting as possible on the journey.

Anything else anyone can think of would be appreciated.

(Crossed out items are complete)

Animal
Horse
Donkey

Beef
Bull
Veal

Pork
suckling pig
Wild Boar

Lamb
Mutton
Hoggart

Goat

venison
Reindeer

Squirrel

Rabbit
Hare

Kangaroo
kudu
Springbok
Ostrich
Blesbok
Wildebeest
Bison
Crocodile
Zebra
Impala
Buffalo


Bird

Guinea fowl
woodcock
pigeon
quail
pheasant
Partridge
Grouse
Ptarmigan
Snipe
Cappercaile
Plover

Chicken
Poussin

Goose
Duck

turkey
Capon

Ostrich
Emu

Reptile


Crocodile
Alligator
Snake


Other
Frogs
Snails
Insects

Camargue Bull meat

As I mentioned in my last post, I am (was) on holiday in the south of France, specifically Nimes.  The Nimoise and the people of the Gard region of France seem to have an obsession with the Bull.

This extends from breeding the famous Camargue bull for fighting, in the Nimes Feria, Bull racing, and also for eating.

It seemed somewhat rude not to partake in this local speciality.  I this case I had a bull steak (or Taureau) with chips.  Not very refined, I know, but possibly the best way to taste these things.

I have to say it was good, a little darker than your common or garden supermarket beef steak and maybe a little "older" tasting.

This isn't overly surprising as a proportion of the beef we eat in the UK, is male cow that is the offspring of a milk cow and a meat Bull.

I guess, and this is a guess, that the difference is that the age of the male bull is older in the Taureau case to develop the the characteristics of a bull, such as horns etc.

As I didn't cook I can't provide the recipe, can can probably work this one out for yourself, but instead I do provide a Bull recipe, a Gard speciality.

Gardiane de Taureau

Ingredients - For 6

• 1.5 kg of Bull meat (or beef)
• 6 Carrots
• 2 Onions
• Some stoned prunes
• 3l Red wine
• a good handful or 2 of black Olives
• Bay leaves, thyme, salt and pepper
• The chopped peel of an orange
• A double measure of Cartagene wine (Difficult to find, I would suggest replacing with brandy)
• Olive oil 

Put the pieces of bull, sliced carrots, prunes and onions in a bowl and leave overnight in a marinade made from the wine, cartagene, salt, pepper, herbs and orange peel.

On the day of serving:

Remove the meat from the marinade, drain well and brown well in the olive oil.  Once golden, add the juice from the marinate (leaving the solids to one side) to the mean and leave to cook for 2.5 hours.  This can be done either on the hob or in the oven.

To finish, add the solids and cook for 30 minutes.

Serve with Camargue rice for authenticity.

Open Season

Today is the glorius twelfth. The first day of the game season in the UK for some species of wild game. So to complete my challenge, you can expect me to be eating quite a lot of game in the next couple of months.


UK Game seasons


Red Grouse 12 August - 10 December

Ptarmigan 12 August - 10 December

Snipe 12 August - 31 January

Black Game 20 August - 10 December

Partridge 1 September - 1 February

Wild Duck and Geese (Inland) 1 September - 31 January

Wild Duck & Geese (Below high water mark) 1 September - 20 February

Mallard, Teal, Widgeon 1 September - 31 January

Capercaillie 1 October - 31 January

Woodcock 1 October - 31 January

Pheasant 1 October - 1 February


Deer

Roe Buck 1 April - 31 October

Roe Doe 1 November - 28/29 February

Cheval en Nîmes

One of the reasons I decided to start this challenge, after years thinking about it, is because I am on holiday in France. Every time I come to France I hunt down one of my favourite meats; Horse.  Don't let the thought of eating Red Rum put you off this, it is really worth a try.  I believe it is also available in the UK from specialist suppliers.

Horse is a red meat that looks a little like a lean cut of Beef.  It does also taste a bit beefy but with a little liver twang.  A bit like venison but with a more open texture,

I picked up this horse steak in the supermarket and tonight we will be eating in our bijou apartment on the outskirts of Nîmes.

The kitchen is small so the preparation is going to be simple and French.

An "amuse bouche" of pate croute with cornichons. If you have never experienced this, think festival pie, without the pork and egg but with pate inside.  Very good.

Fried Horse steak with a simple salad.

I have some fresh lettuce, cucumber, large beefsteak tomatoes and French breakfast radishes which i will serve with the steak, cooked rare.

Nîmes is famous for its own favourite meat.  I will be sampling this later in the week, I hope.

52 meats in 52 weeks

OK here we go.  This is something i have been meaning to try for some time, but haven't really got round to it.

The challenge is simply to attempt to get through 52 types of meat in one calendar year.  The thing that has been troubling me is the definition of "type of meat" and maybe even the definition of "meat".  Seems simple on the surface but does seem to present some problems.

To this end i will define "meat" and "type of meat" for this challenge.

Meat

Meat is the edible part of any animal, bird, reptile or insect.

Type of meat

This is where it gets subtle.  Because this is intended as a voyage of discovery and my game, I don't want to be too limiting for the sake of it, some people may disagree.  It's my game and my rules.

So for example, I will define Lamb, Mutton and Hoggart as 3 different types of meat even though they are clearly all sheep.  The same goes for Bull, beef and veal.  Pork and wild Boar will also be considered seperate.  Preparations will be excluded, so Bacon is a preparation of pork (unless I decide otherwise or they are particularly interesting.

If i decide i will eat something weird (think duck feet or cows eyeballs etc) I will not count them, but i may write about them for interest.

I will try to post at least a picture of each meat or meal, if not a recipe if I have prepared it at home.

In the coming weeks I will also prepare an aspirational list of target meats.  I may need help!

The clock will start when I publish my first post.