CountryWoodSmoke Backyard BBQ Pop Up

Well I’ve been writing this little blog for a whole year now, so I wanted to do something a little bit special to celebrate, so I thought I’d host a Backyard BBQ pop up and invited a few local food producers who have inspired me, and a few friends for an evening of outdoor cooking.

My new outdoor cooking and dining den came in most useful due to the terrible weather. I’d planned a menu that would give me time to spend with my guests and not be slaving over a hot BBQ.

So we enjoyed home made Rosemary and Sea Salt Focaccia with rapeseed oil and chive flower vinegar to dip in. My special bourbon laced CountrywoodSmoke Chilli. Apple and Maple smoked Pulled Pork in a roll with my rainbow slaw. Some wonderful flower salad leaves from Maddocks Farm, and my speciality Chilli Chocolate cake with clotted cream.

A fab evening, celebrating outdoor cooking and local produce.

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Cafe-ODE Sand Eels and Pulled Pork

In a break in the rain, we had a wonderful meal sat outside at Cafe-ODE recommended by Grazing Kate recently, down in sunny South Devon near Shaldon. It sounded right up our street for a catch up with some lovely friends.

We’re always looking for fab foodie places that welcome kids, and this is certainly one of those places. I’d heard that they do a mean sand eel dish, that I was really looking forward to trying, as I’ve always felt it was a bit of a waste to use these solely as fishing bait.

The little fish were stunning, deep fried in a fine crumb, served with a cinnamon topped mayo and I had them with some really good chips. My wife and the kids had pulled pork rolls, I did sneak a taste, and they were sooo good, moist rich meat, slaw, with a side of potato salad and crunchy crackling toothpicks.

We ended the meal with a walk down to through the smugglers tunnel to Ness Beach, and an ice cream.

 

My Perfect Burger

I was asked a while ago by a fellow blogger, what my perfect burger was….

Well I can finally reveal it…..

Some of the ingredients are going to be controversial, some that I have left out too, but a burger can be an individual statement, and this is mine.

Handmade Abeerdeen Angus burgers, made by my own fair hand, sandwiched together with a slice of pungent Stinking Bishop cheese in the middle, with the edges squeezed together. I then press some finely diced onion on to one side so it caramelises. Onion on the inside doesn’t cook properly and stays crunchy.

Cook in a dry medium hot griddle pan on both sides, until the meat and onions are caramelised, and cook to preference, I like mine medium/well done, with just the slightest blush of pink, but cook as you will, the cheese will keep it moist inside.

Layer up on a lightly toasted burger bun, again, my choice would be brown with sesame seeds. A smear of good BBQ sauce, then the juicy oozing burger, a sliced pickle, some garlic mayo, a smattering of rocket, and pop the top of the bun on. The Stinking Bishop adds a wonderful creamy savouriness and gives the burger a juicy extra beefy hit.

I enjoyed mine with some further pickles, and an ice cold American Lager.

So tell me what is your perfect burger??

Venison Char Sui

Venison is such a wonderful meat, it’s not as expensive as you would think, it’s lean, and it’s packed with protein, it’s best either cooked quickly and pink in the middle or very slowly. I chose to cook this lovely Scottish venison I was given, very quickly indeed.

I marinated the cubed venison in a couple of tablespoons Char Sui sauce, a really delicious chinese barbecue sauce for an hour, with a little chopped ginger and soy sauce added. I flashed the venison in a very hot wok with a little wok oil, for a few minutes until browned and smelling wonderful. A little lime juice was squeezed over, along with a splash of sesame oil and soy sauce.

I served this succulent meat on a bed of noodles tossed in sesame oil, and some chinese greens drizzled with sesame oil and sesame seeds. Topped with a little sliced chilli, some chopped cashews and some finely sliced spring onions.

Cold chinese beer went perfectly with it.

Sausage making in Aberdeen

I’ve just had a fantastic fun Sausage Making evening at Andrew Gordons  Butchers in Aberdeen. It was great fun, and I learned a lot about how they produce their high quality sausages and burgers, and was able to have a play myself, there was a lovely mixed bunch, families with children and other friendly people, it was great to see the kids getting stuck in. I left with a nice bag full of the sausages and burgers I had made, and had some yummy tasters.

It’s great to hear the passion Andrew has for his fantastic meat, and seeing the obvious kick he gets from the kids getting stuck in, and learning more about the food they eat, in my opinion it’s people like Andrew who are true food heroes, helping Aberdeen to take a big foodie step forward.

Thank you Andrew, I’ll be back for more courses, and I like the sound of the Man Vs Food style events you have planned.

Here’s a gallery of pics from the evening.

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Baby Back Ribs City Style

Well I’m still away with work and seriously missing my BBQ food,  I thought about doing a follow on from my Waitrose “BBQ style” brisket with some ribs from a supermarket “BBQ” range, I had a look, reached out….paused….and then thought sod it! I can do sooooo much better myself.

Ok so I haven’t got my BBQ handy that I’d automatically reach for to do some ribs, but I thought I’d have a damn good shot at having some half decent ribs.

I picked up a couple of racks of baby backs, removed the membrane on the inside, and used a combination of BBQ rubs from M&S, mixed together the Hot & Spicy and Sweet and Smokey rubs were a pretty good approximation of the home made rubs I’ve been concocting recently. So I used the two rubs, and worked into the ribs with my fingers and left for an hour.

I then cooked the ribs at 180degC for one and a half hours until just browning and softening, and then brushed with some fantastic Bone Suckin’ Sauce from Lakeland and cooked for another 20 minutes.

Not bad, not bad at all, ok it wasn’t up there with my usual BBQ ribs, but it was a whole world away from vac packed pre marinated ribs.

Noodles with Trout and Langoustines

I love to use the best local ingredients that I can, and as I’m spending a bit of time away from my home in Devon, up in Bonny Scotland, I saw these alien like Scottish Langoustines and snapped them up.

I also have managed to catch myself a lovely Rainbow Trout yesterday evening, a beautiful 3 lb slab of silver and rainbow colours and as fresh as it gets.

I made up a Thai style broth, with a litre of light fish stock, which I brought up to a simmer with a stick of lemongrass, a crushed clove of garlic, a little piece of galangal or ginger, a few slices of red chilli, and half a lime squeezed and thrown into the saucepan.

I pan fried steaks cut from the trout until brown both sides in a little wok oil, and halfway through popped the langoustines in the pan to cook. Meanwhile I cooked some green noodles with a few branches of choy sum greens until soft and drained them. I popped these in a lovely earthenware soup bowl that I’ve treated myself to. Topped with a couple of langoustines, a trout steak, and added a few drops of fish sauce, some sesame oil, soy sauce, coriander and a good squeeze of Sriracha chilli sauce.

I enjoyed this immensely with an ice cold bottle of Kirin lager.