Game pies

Sort of

I cheated and put the pastry inside tins instead of outside a jar. It's odd stuff to use and needs to be handled quickly as it's a bugger when it cools.

Pastry
265 g	Plain flour
55 g	Strong bread flour
55 g	Unsalted butter
65 g	Lard
1 tsp	Salt
135 ml	Boiling water
1	Egg, beaten

Filling
1	Big onion
300g	Mixed game
130g	Belly pork
	Herbs, salt, pepper
2 leaves	Gelatine
300 ml	Chicken stock

Filling

I used cooked game leftovers and raw pork.
Traditionally the game is cut into chunks but this results in big blobs of aspic which I don't like so I used a very coarse mincer plate with 8mm holes
Mince the game and the onion
Mince the belly pork and lightly fry with garlic and black pepper
Mix all the meats and add the herbs, salt and pepper

Pastry

Put the flours in the mixer bowl, mix and add the butter in cubes until it looks like breadcrumbs
Put the lard in a jug and melt in the microwave. Add the salt and boiling water and stir
Line the tins with lard
Pour into the mixer bowl and mix until it forms a ball
Divide the ball about 60% for the base and 40% for the tops. Put the 40% in a plastic bag and keep warm in hot water
Roll out the 60% until 3mm thick

Cut out the shapes and place into the tins. I used that yellow thing around a cardboard template
Fill
Roll out the 40% until 3mm thick
Cut out the lids and place over the fillings
Fold the bottoms over the lids and pinch every 30mm or so
Make a hole in the tops

The tins are 135mm x 100 ovals and 110mm circles, the chopstick made the holes

Brush the tops with the beaten egg and bake at Gas Mark 5, 190°C, for about 45 minutes.

Aspic

Soak 2 leaves of gelatine in cold water for 10 minutes.

Microwave the stock until just boiling.

Squeeze the water from the gelatine, add to the stock and stir well

Pour mixture into holes

Tada!

Based on Paul Hollywood's Pork Pie recipe on page 294 of 'How to Bake'.

There was too much aspic and some meat left over, I did make a note of the excess but I've lost it

Here's another of his recipes that I maybe should've found earlier

Charter's Chips

Peel spuds.
Cut into proper slices, 12-15mm thick.
Put into jug with cold water for a while to remove starch.
Drain.
Add salt and boiling water, plate on top for 10 minutes.
Drain.
Fry for a minute each side in 1/2 olive oil, 1/2 butter, black pepper and garlic.
Oven at Gas Mark 4 for 25 minutes.

Turn over and then another 10

Econolade

"Marmalade, I like marmalade", as a famous bloke once said.

Following on from two weeks ago

1kg Seville oranges
1squirt of concentrated lemon
1kg jam sugar (with added pectin) or granulated
650ml water

Wash, debutton and peel the oranges.

Make a gentle cut from North to South on each orange so that the peeler will produce smaller strips.

Swear. Finish with knife.

Cut the peel into bite sizes, put into mixer bowl, add 350ml boiling water, put a plate on top, wrap up in towels and sheepskin to keep it warm. About 12 hours later the temperature had dropped to 23°C, which is a bit warmer than the room, and saved an hour boiling; we could save the planet if more people made marmalade this way.

Juice the oranges. The press

 does a good job at flattening the oranges and makes it easier to peel the membraney bits away from the pith so pull all that off and keep the pips too,

Strain the juice into the peel and put the caught bits into a pan. Add the membranes, the pips and 300ml water. Simmer/ stir for 20 minutes with a lid, the idea is to get as much pectin as possible. Strain and add to the rest.

Set Kenwood to 60°C and constant stir, add lemon juice and sugar.

Set Kenwood to 110°C and occasional stir for 1 hour. 

Test, boil, test, bottle, the extra pectin worked wonders. Clean lens.

Made today                                                 Made two weeks ago

My new gimbal - part 1

It's a Lensmaster RH2. 

Arrived in three days.
Beautifully packed.

Beautifully made in England.
Beautiful smooth action.

Two Arca Swiss compatible plates

One 1/4 - 3/8 British Standard Whitworth adaptor

Two hexagon keys

The mount

And a partridge in a pear tree

All it needs now are some birds and scratches.

Davalade

It's that time again, the Seville oranges have arrived

Peel

Cut in halves, juice and keep the pips. Also juice 1 lemon.

That will yield about 300ml strained juice.

Put a small plate into the fridge.

Chop the peel into 10 - 20mm chunks, put in pan, add 300ml boiling water, cover and simmer/stir for an hour. I use a Kenwood Cooking Chef, the rest of you will have to stir it yourself :-) .

In a separate pan, place the pips, add 200ml boiling water and simmer/stir for 15 minutes, no lid, the idea is to extract pectin to help setting.

When the peel is done, add the juice and 1kg jam sugar. Add the gloopy pectin liquid without the pips using a tea strainer.

Back on the heat, stir and bring to the boil then simmer for an hour; set Kenwood to 110°C.

Test by dropping a spoonful onto the cold plate and form into a circle, put plate back in the fridge for 30 seconds. Take it out and poke it with your finger. If it wrinkles it's done otherwise try again after a few more minutes. Lick finger.

Turn off heat and allow to cool for 15 minutes before filling sterilised jars or else all the peel will sink to the bottom.

If it's scummy

Add a knob of butter and stir

No scum.

It was a pig to set and must've had 2 hours boiling in total hence the colour.

Tastes great though.

Thanks Delia

All that effort for these

1kg Seville oranges

1 lemon

1kg jam sugar (with added pectin) or granulated

500ml water

Teguise

Formerly the capital, now mostly famous for the market on Sundays

and drain covers

 Mrs Doughnut gets a lesson in the ancient Lanzarotian art of sticking a pin in your hair

Well at least three people appreciated him

Automatic lighting in the khazi

El duende azul or the blue elf as we say in Ruislip

Bleughhhh. I expect that the food is terrific it's just that the concept is sh1t.

Happy New Year