Tuesday 1 May 2007

Creeping Pedantry......


Julian Barnes must be catching! I found myself critically analysing Rowley Leigh's recipe in this past weekend's FT for Squab with Peas and Mint, and harrumphing quite damningly about the fact that the recipe fell to pieces in the middle. It got to the point where the birds went into the 250 degree oven, and then before you knew it the temperature was reduced to 200, and they were cooked to brown for a further ten minutes, without there having been a first period of cooking for the further period to succeed. If you follow me.......

And then he talked vaguely about what to do with the vegetables in the roasting dish, without focusing on the fact that he'd already got two different lots of vegetables in two different roasting dishes, and it was entirely unclear which one he was talking about. Oh, it was all capable of being untangled and I pretty much sorted out what was actually supposed to happen, but by the time I'd done that, the gastric juices had dissipated, and decided I couldn't really be bothered with it. I could practically hear JB throwing saucepans against the wall in frustration.......!

In my list of larder staples, I realise I forgot Duck fat. I always have a pot of Duck Fat on the go, and dismember a Gressingham or Aylesbury every couple of months, in order to keep supplies up. The bones get used for stock, the breasts for grilled Magrets, and the rest is confited, while the fat is trimmed and rendered, normally providing a couple of pints of first-class usable stuff (plus a bowl of wonderfully crisp pieces of Duck 'crackling' - which last for all of about two minutes in this household!) . Much to recommend it.

Tonight's Dinner............is in Moreton Terrace, and so as yet unknown. With luck it will be the Moreton Terrace version of Cow Pie, which is stunning!

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