Meat – Craig Cooks

Muscat Braised Goat

June 28, 2021 by admin Leave a Comment

It all started with Swedes. Not Abba. Tonight’s dinner is based on a James Kidman recipe from his wonderful book Renaissance. It’s out of print. I bought a kilo of goat offcuts for $10 reduced from $20. I used to buy half a goat at the Adelaide Markets for $9 a kilo. Then the price jumped to $22! This was just offcuts, but I love goat. And it is lean and it is the most consumed meat in the world, apparently.

James’ recipe seems to be missing some ingredients, as you’ll see from my description below.

He had a shoulder of goat. I had a kilo of goat bits. My recipe is a bit of him and a bit of me.

You’ll need
Goat – you decide how much
1.5 – 2 litres chicken stock – heated (recipe said 3 litres for shoulder)
1 carrot, diced
1/2 leek, diced (recipe says 1)
1 medium brown onion, diced
2 sticks celery, diced
200ml muscat (the recipe said 300ml. I had no muscat so I used 200ml good sherry and 100 ml good tawny port. It really needed muscat. Adjust the overall amount to suit the meat.)
50g dried porcini mishrooms (we were out of porcinis! So I used several sliced swiss browns and a tsp of porcini powder)
olive oil

See about the veg below….

Pork with Apple Parsnip Puree

June 19, 2021 by admin Leave a Comment

We made panko-crumbed pork loin with crispy parsnip skins. baked fennel, an apple-parsnip puree and poached leek with a mustard vinagrette. It was pretty good and I’m posting a couple of elements here so as not to lose them.

The puree recipe came from F00d52 with slight amendment. It’s a great site, so please go and check it out. You’ll see that the recipe has optional whisky and pecans.

With only two us, I halved the recipe. Here’s what I did.

Apple and Parsnip Puree

2 large or 4 medium parsnips – about 450 gms.
Peel the parsnips. Cut into quarters and core them. Cut into 2 cm lengths and cubes.

1/2 large or 1 small onion cut into 2cm cubes.

1 to 1.5 granny smith apples, peeled cored and cut into 2cm cubes (I used one and thought it needed more apple).

Place the parsnip, onion and apple on baking paper in a baking tray and mix with 1 tbsp olive oil and a little sea salt and black pepper.

Bake at 190C for 15 mins, then use a spatula to turn the food in the pan. Cook for another 10 – 15 mins until it is browning.

Meanwhile, in a saucepan, warm 1/2 cup milk and 1/2 cup cream with 1 tsp butter and 1 tbsp honey.

When the fruit and veg are cooked, place in a food processor. Add 1/2 of the milk mixture and process, then gradually add more until the mixture is creamy.

Our puree tasted quite nutty, but I wanted to taste more apple.

Leeks with Mustard Vinaigrette

The leek was simmered in water for 20 mins and then cut in half. I forgot to leave the base on the leek so the halves fell apart.

The vinaigrette is simple:

1 tbsp white vinegar
2 tsp Dijon mustard
1/4 cup olive oil – the better quality oil, the better
a pinch of sugar

Whisk the above and then stir in 1 eschalot, finely minced (I used a bit of red onion instead)

Leek recipe from goodfood.com.au

Steamed Pork Buns

June 13, 2021 by admin Leave a Comment

I have a goal of becoming a bun gun. That’s right, a dumpling king. It’s going to take years of practice so I might as well get started. Neil Perry’s Spice Temple is my guide. It has a great array of different kinds of dumplings with recipes for dough and filling. The other night I made these northern-style buns.

The filling is made from pork belly braised in a kind of master stock and then shredded and mixed with reduced cooking sauced, thickened with potato starch. The recipe said to simmer for 20 mins but mine took closer to 90 mins to become soft.

But this post is all about the bun itself. The recipe requires Hong Kong flour. I had no idea what this was, and after some research, found out that it is low in protein, lower even that 00 flour, but that would be a good substitute. However in the baking section of your supermarket, you will hopefully find this Lighthouse brand flour for Cake, Sponge and Steamed Bun! Yes! I’m sure that there is actual Hong Kong flour is Asian supermarkets, but this will do for now. You’ll note that it is self-raising flour.

Making the buns
The recipe is as follows and supposedly makes enough for 30 buns. I made half the quantity as there are only two of us.

500g or 3 1/2 cups of flour
1 tsp caster sugar
1 tsp dried yeast
300ml warm water

Sift flour and sugar into a bowl.

Dissolve yeast in water. Stir into the flour and mix together. Knead on the bench for 10 minutes (or put it into the bread machine as I did.)

Wrap in cling film and rest for 10 minutes.

Punch down the dough and knead for another five minutes.

The recipe says to divide into golf-sized balls. I made 16 that were smaller than golf balls. How big is a golf ball these days anyway?

Roll out each ball to 10cm diameter. The recipe said to fill with 2 tablespoons of filling, but my amount was more like 2 heaped teaspoons.

I’ve not had lessons in how to make these things. I should look on Youtube. Anyway I pull up the edges and then try to crimp/fold around the diameter and then at the end twist the top together. They’re not perfect but they’re OK. Leave them for 5 minutes to rise a bit….

Grand Final Sausage Rolls

September 26, 2020 by admin Leave a Comment

Today should be the Australian Rules Football Grand Final – it is always the last Saturday in September. Thanks to COVID-19 and a late start to a shortened competition, the Final is going to be a month late.

Nevertheless, why not still make Grand Final Sausage Rolls. Eat some today and freeze some for next month! It’s a Win-win (unlike the actual game)!

Here’s the recipe that I made up today. It’s pretty good.

750g pork mince
2 eshallots (or 1/2 onion) diced finely and sauteed
1 grated carrot
4 tsp garlic
1 tbsp + 1 tsp freshly, coarsely ground fennel seeds (measure after you grind them)
1 tbsp cracked black pepper
1 tbsp sea salt
1 tbsp tomato paste
1/2 – 1 cup fresh bread crumbled

4 sheets puff pastry
1 egg for brushing
Sesame seeds